Internal Auditor Lake Worth

As we all cry for transparency and getting to the bottom of things, having an Internal Auditor is something that we, the citizens, have waited and wanted for several years.

Back on March 20, the city commission ranked their top candidates for Internal Auditor based only on the application and resume and then voted on accepting 5 candidates to interview: Glenn Holloway, Robert Marksmeier, Kathleen Matthews, Christina Seymour and Steven Wolkomir.

The applicants for Internal Auditor were narrowed down to three with Kathleen Matthews withdrawing Friday. Prior to yesterday's public interviews that took place at City Hall before the Commission, each applicant met with each City Commissioner in a private meeting. The IA reports directly to the city commission, not the city manager. The only city employees present at yesterday's meeting were Mark Farrington, Human Resource Director and Pam Lopez, City Clerk. There were less than two handfuls of residents observing this momentous occasion, something that we all have been asking for since the position was eliminated from the Budget back in 2009.

We used to have an internal auditor and he was good. Back in September 2009, the position was not funded because of budget constraints. The Commission went along with the thinking that we had an external auditor and justified the elimination of the internal auditor position. Scot Menke, IA at that time said, "The City Commission needs to restore the independence of the internal auditor in any future internal audit services." Both of the candidates below stressed that the position was not management but independent and that the position be free from politics.

Steven Wolkomir

29 years as an internal auditor--
school districts, Citizens Property Insurance
and for various cities.
BA in Accounting, CPA, Member of IIA, ALGA
and other professional groups.
He is well experienced in internal auditor start-ups
and describes himself as a generalist.
Gives objective and constructive appraisals and mentioned
auditor accountability and independence.
Used to working with politicians in his career.
He was ranked in the top 5 by all 5 commissioners
thus getting on the short list of consideration.

Robert Marksmeier

Senior Auditor and advisor Miami/Dade County for 11 years--
was involved in the GSA investigation audit.
BA, MBA, is a Certified Internal Auditor & candidate for CPA.
Has CIA, CGAP, designations as well as other professional affiliations.
Utilities would be his number one priority.
Says we need the right structure and the IA needs to be transparent
and independent of politics. His job must be objective.
Would involve the entire commission and the citizenry.
Does not want the department set-up to fail.
Based on his submitted resume,
originally ranked in top 5 by 3 commissioners.