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Record of Proceedings

Saint Paul Audit Committee Meeting - May 19, 2026: Data Practices Update and Audit Topic Selection

Budget CommitteeTuesday, May 19, 2026
BodySt Paul, Minnesota
SessionBudget Committee
DateTuesday, May 19, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:13:21
Transcript — Verbatim
7:30

Committee to order.

7:31

Roll call, please.

7:32

CM Coleman.

7:33

Here.

7:34

CM Johnson.

7:35

Here.

7:37

Commissioner Dilworth.

7:39

Committee member Dilworth, sorry.

7:42

Uh oh here.

7:44

Committee member Donnelly.

7:46

Committee member Lasnar.

7:48

Committee member McVay.

7:52

He's gonna be fifteen minutes late.

7:54

In Chair Naker.

7:56

Here.

7:57

Welcome everyone.

7:58

Uh, it has been a minute, so it's good to see everyone back together.

8:02

Hope everyone's got had a good start to spring.

8:04

Um, and we have two items on our agenda today.

8:07

The first one is a midpoint update from Dr.

8:09

Britt about our current uh audit, the data practices study, and then a uh discussion I'm really looking forward to because we have a robust set of ideas to choose from.

8:19

Thank you to Mr.

8:20

McVay and all of the engagement that he's been doing for that.

8:23

Um, to just start thinking about our next topic.

8:26

So um, we'll start though with Dr.

8:28

Britt.

8:28

Um welcome up.

8:35

Hello, hello, everybody.

8:36

Uh glad to be here.

8:38

Thank you for just a few minutes uh to be able to give you all an update.

8:42

Um, as I said to Nia earlier today, we're getting close.

8:44

We're really really close.

8:46

So we are like deep, deep deep in synthesis and stewing and simmering and analysis.

8:52

So I'll do a little bit of a reminder, I'll do a run-through of each one of our sort of data tracks, um, give you an update, and kind of give you a refreshed and slightly tuned timeline with some expectations in it about how we're gonna go back and forth in the month of June, which is which is kind of our plan.

9:10

So, um, here we go.

9:14

Just do this.

9:15

Yep.

9:13

Here we go.

9:13

Oh.

9:19

Can I go back?

9:20

All right.

9:20

Uh reminder, we're talking about effectiveness, efficiency, and compliance of the city's data practices request.

9:27

Processes, tools, policy, user experience.

9:30

We're focusing on uh the use of the city's tool GovQA and just kind of alignment with the broader data practices act and just the framework that the state has and its expectations about how we manage public data requests.

9:43

Uh so if you'll remember, we have kind of three data collection tracks.

9:47

The first one is this kind of document and system review.

9:50

Um, so we have kind of got everything in hand and are in the midst of all of that synthesis.

9:56

So I'll just review all of that, all of the website review, the portal review, the publicly available information, all of the training information, all of the aggregate aggregated sort of performance data, um, all of the record retention information, and then the model policies and templates from the state.

10:12

So we've got all of that, we've had conversations with the state and then staff there about all of this.

10:18

So doing all of that kind of synthesis, um, and I think uh what Audrey and I have talked about is trying to keep that report reasonable in length and giving you a gigantic technical appendix that is gonna have lots of pieces and parts and materials.

10:32

We've also asked everybody we've interviewed if everything that they're sending us, if we can just make it available to you all so it will include as much as we possibly can of other jurisdictions, information, pieces, parts, policies, processes, procedures, all that kind of stuff.

10:47

So we're just gonna stack that into the technical appendix.

10:50

We'll include a summary of those documents inside the report itself, but we wanted to make sure we were giving it over to you in case the city wants to use it in any way to model anything off of for the for the future.

11:02

Um also uh let's see, the League of Minnesota Cities is really excited about this report, and so I think there are gonna be some folks who we come back to you and say, would you be open to the report uh being released to other folks who are really curious about this body of work?

11:19

Because everybody we talked to was like, oh, we'd really love to see this if the city would be comfortable with that.

11:24

So no, the transparency and accountability work of this body is top secret.

11:31

Yeah, so we were excited that people were excited because it is kind of a as you all know, something that everybody's grappling with across the state.

11:38

So uh literature and benchmarking.

11:40

Um so we've done all that peer review look, we've looked at the audits, the sort of precedent audits, we've looked at all the sort of the documentation, everything that is publicly available for all of those jurisdictions that you pointed us to, and so are in the midst of kind of the synthesis for that, or we've completed the synthesis around kind of the peer review literature and the gray literature.

12:00

And then for the stakeholder engagement surveys are closed, and we had all but one of our department heads respond, um, and we did a lot of pestering.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Miscellaneous████████████████████████████████████████████44%
Legislative Advocacy█████████████████████████████████33%
Fiscal Sustainability██████████████14%
Community Engagement█████5%
Public Works███3%
Engineering And Infrastructure1%
Summary of Proceedings

Saint Paul Audit Committee Meeting - May 19, 2026

The Saint Paul Audit Committee met on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, at 4:00 PM in City Hall, 3rd Floor, to receive a mid-point update on the Data Practices Study from Wilder Research and to discuss and narrow audit topic ideas for the next 12–18 months. Chair Rebecca Noecker presided, with members Molly Coleman, Cheniqua Johnson, Stephanie Dilworth, Jeremy Lostetter, Noah McVay (arriving 15 minutes late), and Dillon Donnelly present.

Data Practices Study Mid-Point Update

  • Dr. Heather Britt of Wilder Research presented the status of the audit, which focuses on the effectiveness, efficiency, and compliance of the city's data practices request processes, tools, policies, and user experience (specifically the GovQA portal).
  • Three data collection tracks are underway: document/system review, literature/benchmarking, and stakeholder engagement surveys.
  • The portal user survey invited 2,000 users but received only 31 responses. Dr. Britt noted that survey participation is declining nationwide and that the low response was not unexpected. All but one department head responded to their survey.
  • Interviews were conducted with multiple jurisdictions (Hennepin, Minneapolis, Duluth, Bloomington, League of Minnesota Cities, state officials). Ramsey County did not respond despite repeated attempts.
  • Updated timeline: draft report due June 5, 2026; committee to discuss draft on June 16; feedback requested by June 19; final report on June 30.
  • Chair Noecker recommended members read the draft before the June 16 meeting. Councilmember Johnson asked what type of feedback is most helpful; Dr. Britt advised focusing on substantive recommendations rather than copy editing.
  • Dillon Donnelly requested that the report include language addressing the city's practice of not responding to data requests when the requested data is not captured, suggesting that a non-response is insufficient.
  • Chair Noecker noted that new City Clerk Nicole Tillander should receive a draft of the report.

Audit Topic Ideas Discussion

  • Noah McVay presented a comprehensive list of potential audit topics gathered from district council engagement and surveys. The list included over 50 broad topics.
  • Committee members discussed criteria for selecting audit topics: alignment with core city services, potential for impact, citywide relevance, auditability, connection to taxpayer funds, and ability to produce actionable recommendations.
  • Members expressed interest in several topics, including business licensing (item #6), building code functions (item #7), street maintenance/potholes, district council reform, college savings accounts, TIF (tax increment financing), opioid settlement funds, and snow removal.
  • After discussion, the committee agreed to narrow the list to five topics for further development: 1) business licensing, 2) building code functions, 3) street maintenance/potholes, 4) district council reform, and 5) college savings accounts.
  • Chair Noecker proposed forming a subcommittee (with volunteers Stephanie Dilworth and Jeremy Lostetter, who performed similar work previously) to refine these topics into specific, auditable questions and conduct a risk analysis. The subcommittee will present its findings at the July meeting.

Key Outcomes

  • The Data Practices Study mid-point update was received and filed. The committee will review the full draft report on June 5 and provide feedback by June 19.
  • The committee selected five priority audit topics for further vetting: business licensing, building code functions, street maintenance/potholes, district council reform, and college savings accounts.
  • A subcommittee will be formed to develop specific audit objectives and risk analyses for these topics, with results expected in July.
  • The committee plans to recommend two to three topics to the full City Council for the next 12–18 month audit cycle, contingent on the $50,000 budget (Wilder Research bills hourly; carryover from prior studies may affect capacity).

Meeting Transcript

Committee to order. Roll call, please. CM Coleman. Here. CM Johnson. Here. Commissioner Dilworth. Committee member Dilworth, sorry. Uh oh here. Committee member Donnelly. Committee member Lasnar. Committee member McVay. He's gonna be fifteen minutes late. In Chair Naker. Here. Welcome everyone. Uh, it has been a minute, so it's good to see everyone back together. Hope everyone's got had a good start to spring. Um, and we have two items on our agenda today. The first one is a midpoint update from Dr. Britt about our current uh audit, the data practices study, and then a uh discussion I'm really looking forward to because we have a robust set of ideas to choose from. Thank you to Mr. McVay and all of the engagement that he's been doing for that. Um, to just start thinking about our next topic. So um, we'll start though with Dr. Britt. Um welcome up. Hello, hello, everybody. Uh glad to be here. Thank you for just a few minutes uh to be able to give you all an update. Um, as I said to Nia earlier today, we're getting close. We're really really close. So we are like deep, deep deep in synthesis and stewing and simmering and analysis. So I'll do a little bit of a reminder, I'll do a run-through of each one of our sort of data tracks, um, give you an update, and kind of give you a refreshed and slightly tuned timeline with some expectations in it about how we're gonna go back and forth in the month of June, which is which is kind of our plan. So, um, here we go. Just do this. Yep. Here we go. Oh. Can I go back? All right. Uh reminder, we're talking about effectiveness, efficiency, and compliance of the city's data practices request. Processes, tools, policy, user experience. We're focusing on uh the use of the city's tool GovQA and just kind of alignment with the broader data practices act and just the framework that the state has and its expectations about how we manage public data requests. Uh so if you'll remember, we have kind of three data collection tracks. The first one is this kind of document and system review. Um, so we have kind of got everything in hand and are in the midst of all of that synthesis. So I'll just review all of that, all of the website review, the portal review, the publicly available information, all of the training information, all of the aggregate aggregated sort of performance data, um, all of the record retention information, and then the model policies and templates from the state. So we've got all of that, we've had conversations with the state and then staff there about all of this. So doing all of that kind of synthesis, um, and I think uh what Audrey and I have talked about is trying to keep that report reasonable in length and giving you a gigantic technical appendix that is gonna have lots of pieces and parts and materials.

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