Washington defends $58,400 cost of external audit

Whether FAMU got its money’s worth from the external audit done by Grant Thornton LLP depends on who you ask.

Last week the chair of the FAMU Board of Trustees (BOT) Audit & Compliance Committee, Nicole Washington, defended the $58,400 cost of the audit. According to POLITICO Florida, Washington “said that she was comfortable with the cost of the audit and that university staff followed procurement procedures.”

“This process allowed the selection committee to compare costs, among other criteria, when evaluating the proposals,” she said in a statement to POLITICO Florida. “Grant Thornton LLP scored higher on the evaluation, based on the quality of their proposal and the interview. Also, the Grant Thornton LLP quote was less expensive. Based on this information, I do not see the cost as unusual.”

Back at an emergency meeting on October 22, the BOT voted 9-0 to hire an external auditor to conduct a report on the renovation projects at the on-campus President’s House and bonuses that were awarded to members of President Elmira Mangum’s staff. 

The report by Grant Thornton appeared to conclude that a garage project at the President’s House was proposed in 2014 by Spurgeon McWilliams, who was the chairman of the BOT Facilities Planning Committee at that time.

But McWilliams, who resigned from the BOT in October, denied that he proposed garage when he was asked by the Tallahassee Democrat. He also said that Grant Thornton never spoke with him about the garage. At a meeting of the BOT Audit & Compliance Committee on Friday, Grant Thornton representative John Reagan admitted that the firm didn’t interview McWilliams or anyone else.

“No, we didn’t contact Mr. McWilliams,” Reagan said in a quote in the Democrat.

Kendall D. Jones, the FAMU Director of Plant Operations & Maintenance, said in an October 28, 2015 memo that that Chuck Badger suggested that the garage be built back when he was the chairman of the BOT. But Badger has also denied proposing the project.

The FAMU contract with Grant Thornton stated that the investigation would cover “Renovations to President’s residence and construction of a garage performed after December 2013 to present.” But the summary report findings didn’t mention the $11,519 door project that had an invoice date of September 23, 2014.

POLITICO Florida reported that “the audit, released last weekend, found that administrators had paid hiring bonuses using taxpayer dollars, which is against state law, and later provided reimbursement from the university’s foundation. It also found that administrators had added a $70,000 garage to the president’s residence without board approval, which under Mangum's contract is required for any expenditures of more than $10,000. Mangum has maintained that she didn't order the addition of the garage.”