OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Fort Worth Housing Finance Corporation Meeting - February 24, 2026

City CouncilTuesday, February 24, 2026
BodyFort Worth, Texas
SessionCity Council
DateTuesday, February 24, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record

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Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

All right, I'd like to call our Fort Worth Housing Finance Corporation uh meeting.

0:07

Um let's see, our first order of business would be our approval of our minutes for our last meeting held on January 27, 2026.

0:18

All right, we have a motion and a second.

0:20

All in favor, say aye.

0:22

Any opposed?

0:23

All right.

0:25

Moving on to our written reports, we have our unaudited financial statement as of January 31st, 2026.

0:31

We have uh Matthew Mondero here.

0:33

If there are any questions from council, there are any questions?

0:36

No.

0:37

And are there any questions regarding our housing finance corporation expense review audit report?

0:43

All right, so if there's no questions, we'll move on to our briefing.

0:46

Um our housing finance corporation expense review audit results and recommendations.

0:50

Patrice Randall will be presenting to us today.

0:57

Good afternoon, Patrice Randall, city auditor.

1:01

Last month, our office released an audit report related to expenses paid by the uh housing finance corp.

1:09

And so I'm here to provide a brief summary of those audit results.

1:12

So our audit period covered October 1, expenses paid from October 1, 2023 through March 31 of 2025, and the purpose for the audit was just to make sure expenses were properly approved, reviewed, and supported.

1:28

And so, based on our audit results, overall the expenses were reviewed, approved as required, they were reasonable, they were allowable.

1:35

We did, however, identify some control weaknesses related to segregated duties, blank check stock, maintenance of supporting documentation, and formal written procedures or policies.

1:48

So, in reference to segregated duties, uh, some examples of what we saw was there were some bank transactions that were approved using a generic user ID.

1:58

So since it was a generic user ID and wasn't specific to a certain employee, we were unable to determine whether those duties were properly segregated.

2:08

In reference to blank check stock, based on our observations, uh, when we looked at the blank check stock as well as the key that allows access to the blank check stock, we concluded there was a security risk for maintenance of supporting documentation.

2:23

There were some expenses where we considered the documentation not adequate.

2:27

Some examples include for like permanent supportive housing.

2:32

There were um bus passes for clients.

2:35

However, the documentation did not show which clients received the bus passes or how many bus passes they received.

2:42

And also when uh looking at some of the expenses, uh, they were there was an allocation.

2:48

However, the method for determining that cost allocation was not documented, and then uh some lack of written formal written procedures and policies.

2:58

So we made recommendations in each of these areas and management concurred with the recommendations.

3:04

They provided us with a target implementation date, and from an audit perspective, once we receive a target implementation date, we follow up to see if those recommendations have been implemented.

3:15

And as you can see from the screen, each of the recommendations that had a January 31st implementation date, we determined were fully implemented.

3:25

We looked at documentation between the finance corp and the Chase Bank, the generic user IDs have been deactivated, we observed the check stock, everything had been fully implemented.

3:36

So we commend staff on that.

3:38

And then there were three recommendations that have a target implementation date of February 28th.

3:44

Of course, that time has not come, but when we went to verify the January 31 dates, we did determine that these three recommendations had already been partially implemented as of that date.

3:55

Now they may have been fully implemented as of now, because that's been a couple of weeks or last week.

4:01

And then in addition to our audit findings, we made some suggestions regarding the mowing contract.

4:08

We recommended that the contracts going forward include the specific address.

4:12

We didn't consider the finding because we were able to trace the addresses and the dollar amounts, but we uh recommended or suggested that it include the um the unit numbers in the contracts for those properties, and then we suggested that for the uh mowing service contract to competitively bid that uh the corp has been using the same vendor since like June of 2016, so we recommended competitively bidding that and that concludes our report summary.

4:42

Are there any questions?

4:43

For me, Garkeisha.

4:45

There are any questions for Ms.

4:46

Randall?

4:49

Um could you quantify?

4:50

I'm just kind of curious about the uh bus passes.

4:53

I mean, uh what numbers are we talking about?

4:55

There were maybe less than three because eight over 80 percent of the expenses were for fine.

5:00

Okay, so it was very the exceptions or minimal.

5:03

Gotcha.

5:03

Yes, oh councilman Martinez.

5:08

Uh just curious about the inventory.

5:10

Is that going to be tracked through a system or is that manually for the blank check stock?

5:16

They're in the process of doing that, so I'll have to defer to Keisha on that.

5:20

Good afternoon, Keisha Light, assistant neighborhood services director.

5:23

The blank check inventory.

5:24

We have a policy, and we actually have a checklist and inventory we're going to do twice a year.

5:29

And so the first one will be done probably by June.

5:33

But will that be within a certain system or is it just a manual?

5:37

It'll be the manual.

5:38

We don't have we don't use checks that often, so we will it shouldn't be too tedious for for the team to take care of.

5:44

Okay, thank you.

5:46

Ms.

5:46

I do have a question with regards to the recommendation about the competitive bidding for mowing services.

5:52

Is that something when would you be able to even make that consideration for that recommendation?

5:58

Is that something that's done annual basis, biannually?

6:01

We're in the process with uh speaking with procurement now regarding that that contract, so we'll can bring that back later and when we have more information.

6:09

Okay, thank you.

6:10

Are there any other questions?

6:13

All right, no.

6:16

All right, are there any um there's no need for an executive section?

6:19

Are there any questions or um inquiries that like you'd like to bring before the corporation?

6:26

All right, there's no final business then.

6:29

We are dismissed.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Fiscal Sustainability█████████████████████████████████████████████55%
Affordable Housing███████████████████23%
Procedural██████████████████22%
Summary of Proceedings

Fort Worth Housing Finance Corporation Meeting Summary (February 24, 2026)

The Fort Worth Housing Finance Corporation met on February 24, 2026, to approve prior meeting minutes, review unaudited financial statements, and receive a briefing on audit results for the Housing Finance Corporation's expense review. Key findings included control weaknesses that have been or are being addressed.

Consent Calendar

  • Approval of Minutes: The minutes from the January 27, 2026 meeting were approved unanimously.

Written Reports

  • Unaudited Financial Statement: As of January 31, 2026, accepted without questions.
  • Housing Finance Corporation Expense Review Audit Report: Report accepted.

Discussion Items

  • Audit Results and Recommendations: City Auditor Patrice Randall presented findings from an audit covering October 1, 2023 through March 31, 2025. Overall, expenses were reviewed, approved, reasonable, and allowable. However, control weaknesses were identified in segregation of duties (generic user ID used for bank approvals), security of blank check stock, adequacy of supporting documentation (e.g., bus passes for permanent supportive housing without client details), and lack of formal written policies. Management concurred with recommendations. Recommendations with a January 31, 2026 implementation date were fully implemented (including deactivating generic user IDs and securing check stock). Three recommendations with a February 28, 2026 target were partially implemented as of the review date.
  • Council Questions: Councilmember Garkeisha inquired about the bus pass documentation issue and was told the exceptions were minimal (less than three instances, as over 80% of expenses were fine). Councilmember Martinez asked about tracking blank check inventory; staff responded that a manual inventory will be conducted twice a year, with the first scheduled by June 2026. Regarding a suggestion to competitively bid the mowing contract (the same vendor since June 2016), staff indicated they are in discussions with procurement and will bring back more information.

Key Outcomes

  • Minutes Approved: Unanimous approval of the January 27, 2026 meeting minutes.
  • Reports Accepted: The unaudited financial statement and audit report were received.
  • Audit Recommendations: Recommendations with a January 31, 2026 target were fully implemented. Three recommendations with a February 28, 2026 target were partially implemented and expected to be fully implemented by that deadline.
  • Mowing Contract: Staff will explore competitive bidding for the mowing service contract and report back.

No other business was conducted, and the meeting was adjourned.

Meeting Transcript

All right, I'd like to call our Fort Worth Housing Finance Corporation uh meeting. Um let's see, our first order of business would be our approval of our minutes for our last meeting held on January 27, 2026. All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor, say aye. Any opposed? All right. Moving on to our written reports, we have our unaudited financial statement as of January 31st, 2026. We have uh Matthew Mondero here. If there are any questions from council, there are any questions? No. And are there any questions regarding our housing finance corporation expense review audit report? All right, so if there's no questions, we'll move on to our briefing. Um our housing finance corporation expense review audit results and recommendations. Patrice Randall will be presenting to us today. Good afternoon, Patrice Randall, city auditor. Last month, our office released an audit report related to expenses paid by the uh housing finance corp. And so I'm here to provide a brief summary of those audit results. So our audit period covered October 1, expenses paid from October 1, 2023 through March 31 of 2025, and the purpose for the audit was just to make sure expenses were properly approved, reviewed, and supported. And so, based on our audit results, overall the expenses were reviewed, approved as required, they were reasonable, they were allowable. We did, however, identify some control weaknesses related to segregated duties, blank check stock, maintenance of supporting documentation, and formal written procedures or policies. So, in reference to segregated duties, uh, some examples of what we saw was there were some bank transactions that were approved using a generic user ID. So since it was a generic user ID and wasn't specific to a certain employee, we were unable to determine whether those duties were properly segregated. In reference to blank check stock, based on our observations, uh, when we looked at the blank check stock as well as the key that allows access to the blank check stock, we concluded there was a security risk for maintenance of supporting documentation. There were some expenses where we considered the documentation not adequate. Some examples include for like permanent supportive housing. There were um bus passes for clients. However, the documentation did not show which clients received the bus passes or how many bus passes they received. And also when uh looking at some of the expenses, uh, they were there was an allocation. However, the method for determining that cost allocation was not documented, and then uh some lack of written formal written procedures and policies. So we made recommendations in each of these areas and management concurred with the recommendations. They provided us with a target implementation date, and from an audit perspective, once we receive a target implementation date, we follow up to see if those recommendations have been implemented. And as you can see from the screen, each of the recommendations that had a January 31st implementation date, we determined were fully implemented. We looked at documentation between the finance corp and the Chase Bank, the generic user IDs have been deactivated, we observed the check stock, everything had been fully implemented. So we commend staff on that. And then there were three recommendations that have a target implementation date of February 28th. Of course, that time has not come, but when we went to verify the January 31 dates, we did determine that these three recommendations had already been partially implemented as of that date. Now they may have been fully implemented as of now, because that's been a couple of weeks or last week. And then in addition to our audit findings, we made some suggestions regarding the mowing contract. We recommended that the contracts going forward include the specific address. We didn't consider the finding because we were able to trace the addresses and the dollar amounts, but we uh recommended or suggested that it include the um the unit numbers in the contracts for those properties, and then we suggested that for the uh mowing service contract to competitively bid that uh the corp has been using the same vendor since like June of 2016, so we recommended competitively bidding that and that concludes our report summary. Are there any questions? For me, Garkeisha. There are any questions for Ms. Randall? Um could you quantify? I'm just kind of curious about the uh bus passes. I mean, uh what numbers are we talking about? There were maybe less than three because eight over 80 percent of the expenses were for fine. Okay, so it was very the exceptions or minimal. Gotcha.

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