Selection of the next City Auditor

[Colleen Pate]

As you know, our current City Auditor, Corrie Stokes, has announced that she will be retiring at the end of the year. The City Auditor is a position that is appointed by the City Council. It also is a position with specific requirements for the appointment that are set out in City Code and the City Charter.

Because Corrie was good enough to give us time to select a person to fill the position so that we might have continuity and avoid any gap, my office has worked with HR to get details of what we need to do and to create a workable timeline for getting it done. Thanks to Rebecca Kennedy (again) for her typical good work.

This memo has two parts to it for future use by each of us. The first part references specific provisions regarding how the Code and Charter say we need to do things. The second part relates to the proposed actions and timeline.

Part 1: How we need to do things.

City Code states that the “members of the council audit and finance committee shall serve as a nominating committee”. The nominating committee needs to make a recommendation no later than 90 days after the position is vacated. This provision shouldn’t be a problem since we’re starting now with hopes of filling the position contemporaneous with it being vacated.

The other key timing provision is that the Council shall select a city auditor from the recommendations made by the nominating committee within 30 days of the recommendation being made. Again, that shouldn’t be a problem and the schedule I offer below will address this.

Here are the relevant links in Code and the Charter:

CHAPTER 2-3. - CITY AUDITOR. | Code of Ordinances | Austin, TX | Municode Library
https://library.municode.com/TX/Austin/ ... -2SEPRAUVA

CHARTER | Code of Ordinances | Austin, TX | Municode Library
https://library.municode.com/TX/Austin/ ... FI_S17CIAU

Part 2: Proposed actions and timelines.

We can kick off this process at the May 19, 2025, Audit and Finance Committee (A&F Committee) meeting. HR recommends that the A&F Committee use one of the search firms that is part of the master agreement the City has with entities that have experience in financial management and audit. Acting as the nominating committee, the A&F Committee can pick a firm at the May 19th meeting. We could decide to do a search for a search firm, but that would add two to three months and doesn’t seem necessary.

Here is a proposed timeline:


May 19, 2025
• HRD reviews the process and provides options for a search firm from the current Master Agreement.
• Selection of Search Firm at Audit and Finance Committee.

June 2025
• Recruitment consultant meets with Nominating Committee.
• Recruitment consultant drafts recruitment profile.
• Nominating Committee approves final recruitment profile.

June 30 – July 25, 2025
• Recruitment consultant launches 4-week recruitment.

July 28 – August 15, 2025
• Recruitment Consultant vets applicants.
• Recruitment Consultant prepares to present candidates to nominating committee.

August 20, 2025
• Candidates are presented to the nominating committee during A&F Meeting.
• Candidates are selected for interview.

September 17, 2025(or special called meeting)
• Candidates are interviewed by the nominating committee and other identified stakeholders.
• Three candidates are selected by a majority of the committee members.

October 7, 2025
• Council receives the nominating committee’s recommendation
• Top finalists are interviewed by the City Council

October 21, 2025
• Council identifies the top candidate.
• Discuss pre-employment job checks.
• Finalize a decision on the top candidate and negotiate with the candidate.

November 6, 2025
• Council names and appoints new City Auditor during Council meeting

December 29, 2025 or January 12, 2026
• New City Auditor Starts


Again, thanks to Rebecca Kennedy, Susan Sinz, and Susana Carbajal (and Colleen Pate in my office) for helping us get this important activity moving. Let me know if you have thoughts or questions about this.

Kirk

On behalf of Mayor Watson