The November 6, 2023 Tolomato Owwer's newsletter appropriately notes that the Board is in error when the Board stated that "several members have requested" that a financial audit be performed. A "proposal" for an "operational" audit was presented to the board at the June 2023 board meeting (see attached). I authored and presented the audit proposal. As such I would like to address this item in more detail.

1. I did not request a financial audit be performed. With a minimum fee of $15,000, financial audits are not cost effective for small organizations and are typically done in house.
2. I did submit a "proposal" for an "operational" audit.
3. The proposed investment in an operational audit was made for the purposes of producing a "policies and procedures manual" not simply because TIPOA has not been audited in 20 years.
4. I requested that the board review the proposal, attach the proposal to the minutes so that the membership could review and weigh in on the proposal, and include the proposal on the agenda for the next scheduled board meeting.
   
   

What I anticipated happening at the next meeting was for a director to make a motion—maybe to implement the proposal or to put the proposal on the agenda for the annual association meeting where the entire membership could weigh in. Instead, the Board ignored the verbal presentation and the text of the proposal. At the Sept. board meeting the President announced that she was in the process of securing bids for "financial" for a single year (2023) and that it would be necessary to adjust committee budgets to fund the audit.