Sec. 102.116. - Selection of auditor for annual independent audit.

The selection of the auditor to perform the annual independent audit required by Section 5.11 of the Charter shall comply with F.S. § 218.391, as may from time to time be amended and shall proceed as follows: (a) The process shall begin with a solicitation by a request for proposal by the City Council's "audit" committee to all interested and qualified firms stating the scope of services to be performed for the City and including factors established for the evaluation of audit services to be provided by a certified public accounting firm, duly licensed under F.S. Ch. 473 and qualified to conduct audits in accordance with government auditing standards as adopted by the Florida Board of Accountancy. (b) Upon receipt of the various proposals from interested qualified firms, the Council Auditor, with the assistance of other public officers or employees (the Committee) shall review all such properly submitted proposals including oral interviews, and select and rank three firms to be considered by the Council's "audit" committee for approval. (c) Upon approval of the ranked list by the Council's "audit" committee, the Council Auditor, on behalf of the City shall enter into formal fee and contract term negotiations for the audit services with the firm whose name appears first in the recommended list, keeping at all times within the guidelines and regulations established by law for any such contract negotiation. (d) If contract terms cannot be agreed upon between the Auditor and the first listed firm, the next listed firm shall be negotiated with, and so forth, until the recommended list has been exhausted. (e) All contracts shall be for a period of three years with two one-year renewal options and the fee shall be reconsidered at the end of the initial three-year term. Each year of the respective contract engagement shall require satisfactory performance by the independent auditor. The contract shall be approved by Council. (f) The annual audit shall include all agencies of the City, except for the independent agencies as defined in Section 18.07 (d) of the Charter and except for agencies which are otherwise exempted by the Council; provided, however, that one or more of such excepted agencies may elect voluntarily to participate in the above annual audit process subject to the approval of the Council Auditor. Any such agency making an award to the successful audit firm may elect to be a party to the contract between the City and the successful audit firm or such agency may make such award and elect to enter into its own separate contract with the successful audit firm. (Ord. 85-1155-700, § 1; Ord. 95-301-152, § 1; Ord. 95-548-290, § 1; Ord. 2003-591-E, § 1; Ord. 2005-466-E, § 1)