UPDATE 2/3/2020 12:30 PM
DeSoto Economic Development Corporation’s Board of Directors who will be holding a Town Hall Meeting to roll out the results of the Forensic Audit related to the Jeremiah Quarles Case (State of Texas vs. Jeremiah Quarles; Cause No. F18- 00136-Q). The meeting will be held on Monday evening, February 3rd, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM in DeSoto’s City Council Chambers (details below). This meeting was originally supposed to be held on January 9, 2020, but had been postponed due to the need for additional review and legal redaction.
Monday evening’s meeting will be open to the public and also streamed live and available the next day for on-demand viewing at https://www.desototexas.gov/DeSotoTownHall . Additionally, the meeting will be broadcast live on cable channels that normally broadcast DeSoto City TV programs within city limits. Those are generally Spectrum (Channel 16), or AT&T Uverse (Channel 99)
UPDATE: 1/9/2020 4:15 pm
THURSDAY PM AUDIT TOWN HALL MEETING POSTPONED
Need For Additional Review & Legal Redaction Leads To Delay
The DeSoto Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors has announced that the Town Hall Public Meeting to review the findings of the recent forensic audit has been postponed due to the need for additional review of the audit and to undertake the necessary legal redactions. They have provided the following statement to provide additional information about the postponement:
“Due to legal concerns arising as a result of receiving an unredacted audit report which contains personal information contained in the financial audit (CC#’s, addresses, SS #’s, etc.), the DeSoto Economic Development Corporation has postponed the Town Hall Meeting scheduled for this evening. Once all personal information has been redacted and the audit receives approval to be distributed publicly by the attorneys for the EDC’s and the City of DeSoto, a new public meeting will be scheduled.”
The preliminary auditors’ presentations to the EDC Board and the City Council are available for public viewing on the City’s website:
December 16, 2019 DEDC Board Meeting
January 7, 2020 City Council Work Session
DeSoto Economic Development Corporation Will Share Forensic Audit Results This Week
DESOTO- Now that the Forensic Audit related to the Jeremiah Quarles Case (State of Texas vs. Jeremiah Quarles; Cause No. F18- 00136-Q) has been concluded, the Board of Directors of the DeSoto Economic Development Corporation (DEDC) is preparing to formally share the detailed results with DeSoto residents and City officials.
The main rollout of information will take place on Thursday, January 9, 2020, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM. The DEDC Board is hosting a Town Hall Community Meeting in the DeSoto City Council Chambers, 211 E. Pleasant Run Road. DEDC Board Vice President Curtis Krohn will conduct the meeting and lead auditors Alan Nelson and Bill Brown from Nelson Forensic & Advisory Services will be on hand to discuss audit details. This meeting will be streamed live online and televised. There is also a portion of the meeting scheduled to address questions from the on-site audience.
On Tuesday, January 7th, two days prior to the Town Hall meeting, auditors Nelson and Brown will provide a brief summary of the forensic audit to DeSoto City Council members during the Council’s work session. The work session is open to the public. This session will take place at 5:00 PM in the City Council Chambers in advance of the regular council session. The work session will be much shorter than Thursday’s Town Hall Meeting, and Council rules prohibit the public question and answer session that will be allowed at Thursday’s Town Hall Public Meeting. Tuesday’s Council work session will also be streamed live and broadcast via cable.
Shortly before the holidays, auditors Nelson and Brown provided a brief update of the forensic audit to the DeSoto Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors at their December 16th meeting. This meeting was open to the public and a video of the meeting was posted online for on-demand viewing on the City’s Archived Meetings and Videos Page.
Complete & Transparent Audit
“DeSoto’s Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors engaged Nelson & Brown in order to ensure transparency and to have access to all relevant information. The Board selected these auditors because they are highly respected and have a reputation for being thorough and precise. Additionally, they were specifically selected due to the number of years in the industry, their accounting expertise, their computer forensic and legal assets, and Brown’s FBI background,” noted DEDC Board Vice President Curtis Krohn.
“The EDC facilitated their inquiry and provided them unprecedented access in order for the audit to be thorough, complete and detailed. When the report is finally available to the public, it will be clear to all that the auditors lived up to their reputation. We believe this highly qualified audit firm will provide us with the information needed to see exactly what occurred and what needs to be done in the future to prevent this type of situation from happening again.”
For more information about the auditing firm, Nelson Forensic & Advisory Services, LLC., visit their website.
