On July 26, 2016, our local skews paper, the Coeur d’Alene Press, published an article headlined ‘Audit of fair raises red flags.’   The article is available online for those who care to read it.

Then two days later on July 28, the Press published the Kootenai County Fair board’s response in an article headlined ‘Kootenai County Fair board responds to audit concerns.’  That article was not published online.

As a service to readers, OpenCdA is linking to the complete Kootenai County Internal Audit – Final Report – North Idaho Fair Financial Processes – June & July, 2016.  It is not some tedious tome.  It is readable and equally important, understandable by those of us with no accounting background.  Counting the one-page executive summary and the one-page table of contents, it is 24 pages.

The County’s audit report is well-organized and succinct.  Each  condition the audit team observed is reported.  The remedial recommendations are also reported.  And finally, the responses of the Fair Board accompany each condition and set of recommendations.

In short, by reading the Internal Audit Final Report, readers will have a far more complete understanding of why in late May 2016 the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners ‘… directed the Clerk’s internal audit team to review the Fair’s financial practices as soon as possible.’  It is likely readers will also have a much better understanding of why the Commissioners recommended the addition of two Fair Board members who have ‘deeper financial expertise’ that the existing Fair Board members.

We also suggest that readers read two sets of meeting minutes.  The first is captioned ‘Minutes of Meeting – Fairgrounds – April 19, 2016, 3:00 p.m.‘  The second is captioned ‘Minutes of Meeting – Internal Audit Committee, May 31, 2016, 11:00 a.m.‘   Both sets of minutes are relevant to the Audit Report, but equally important, they provide voters with some insight into the official conduct of elected County officials.