Although it stirred a debate about whether the changes would be redundant, Hamilton County commissioners intend to take up a proposal next week to create a new audit committee that would include three outside experts.
“It creates a more independent, more focused approach to how we do our auditing,” Commissioner Chip Baker, R-Signal Mountain, said in an interview. “That’s all we’re trying to get to. It’s better transparency.”
No more than two members of the new body would be county commissioners, according to the resolution on the board’s April 3 agenda.
The remaining three appointees would be residents of Hamilton County and would either be certified public accountants, certified fraud examiners, certified internal auditors or accountants familiar with government accounting. They can serve at most nine years and would be approved by the County Commission.
The county auditor, Chris McCollough, and his staff will continue to provide the same services to the county, according to the resolution. His records, equipment and facilities will be available to the newly created committee. The county auditor can be removed from the position if the audit committee recommends it with agreement from a majority of the County Commission.