Dear Editors:

Your editorial regarding the County's Audit Review Committee was misleading and omitted significant facts.  As Chairman of the Audit Review Committee, I am quite surprised that the Observer did not contact me directly to validate the facts or ask my opinion.  Since you did not, I will provide it here.

Rather than "the top brass [being] largely responsible for determining how county management performed," two County Commissioners, an independent CPA on our committee, and our independent external auditors came to these conclusions.  Your failure to highlight these facts does at least as much to undermine public confidence in our conclusions as having two staff members on the committee might do.

Furthermore, General Manager John McGillicuddy did not "author the committee's report".  It is standard practice for county staff to draft the minutes of committee meetings and present them to the full committee for approval.  He forwarded the draft to the entire committee which Commissioner James and I edited before agreeing unanimously on the final wording.  Implying wrong-doing of a staff member who simply drafted the minutes of a meeting overly sensationalizes the situation. 

I do agree with one thing you said.  The structure of the Audit Review Committee should be reviewed.  We noted this in our first meeting of the term and plan to present our recommendations to the full Board in due time.  In the meantime, I can only hope that the Observer will do its part to fully and fairly represent all of the facts regarding our proceedings.  Without that, the Audit Review Committee and the Board of County Commissioners won't be able to do our job in restoring public confidence in the County's financial management. 

 
Daniel B. Murrey, MD, MPP
Mecklenburg County Commissioner At-Large
Chair, Audit Review Committee