St. Paul Audit Committee Meeting Summary (Nov 18, 2025)

The St. Paul City Council Audit Committee convened to finalize the scope of an upcoming data practices study, discuss the community engagement strategy for selecting next year's audit topics, and establish a timeline for appointing a new community advisor. The meeting began with technical difficulties regarding audio from Committee Member Dilworth but proceeded to address key agenda items involving scope refinement, stakeholder outreach, and administrative planning.

Consent Calendar

• No consent calendar items were discussed or approved during this session.

Public Comments & Testimony

• No members of the public provided testimony during this meeting as the agenda focused on internal committee deliberations and report updates.

Discussion Items

• Data Practices Study Scope of Work: Dr. Heather Brett presented a revised scope of work for an upcoming audit. The study will assess the effectiveness, efficiency, and compliance of the City's data practices request processes, focusing on the GovQA management system and alignment with the Minnesota Data Practices Act. Key areas of inquiry include GovQA capabilities, reporting trends, resident portal user experience, staff training, and comparisons with other Minnesota jurisdictions (Hennepin, Ramsey, Minneapolis, Bloomington, Duluth).

  • Position: Committee Member McBay expressed the need for consultation with the State Auditor's Office. Councilmember Coleman expressed full support for the revised scope, noting it aligns well with committee goals and the need to support the new data team. Dr. Brett acknowledged feedback to include "Minnesotans for open government" in the stakeholder list and agreed to broaden the survey of frequent requesters beyond just the Department of Safety and Inspections.
  • Clarification: Committee member Dilworth and Councilmember Coleman discussed whether to limit stakeholder engagement to frequent requesters. McBay and Coleman suggested casting a broader net to understand the full user experience, to which Dr. Brett agreed to adjust the survey methodology.

• Year-End Topic Selection (Harvest Phase): The committee discussed the strategy for soliciting audit topics from the community for 2026. Community Advisor McVeigh reported on outreach efforts to district councils, noting a lackluster response rate from several councils despite outreach, while organizations like St. Paul Strong and Insight St. Paul responded positively. McVeigh requested council member assistance in reaching unresponsive councils.

  • Position: Committee members agreed that council members should leverage their influence to engage unresponsive district councils. McVeigh proposed an "audit fair" concept modeled after Seattle to increase public engagement, which the committee agreed to consider adding to their list of ideas.
  • Timeline: The committee agreed to bring a list of topics back at the December 16th meeting to narrow down to four candidates for risk analysis.

• Community Advisor Appointment: The committee discussed the timeline to fill the vacancy left by Ms. McVeigh (formerly Mr. Farnsworth). Staff proposed a two-week posting period ending December 3rd.

  • Position: Multiple members expressed concern that a two-week posting would be insufficient due to the upcoming holidays. Councilmember Coleman and the Chair supported extending the posting period to four or five weeks to ensure a qualified application pool and adequate review time.
  • Decision: The committee agreed to extend the application window, tentatively setting the due date to January 5th, with interviews scheduled for January 20th and a potential seating by March. It was also decided to combine the topic solicitation and advisor appointment posts for a single announcement.

Key Outcomes

• Scope Finalization: Dr. Brett to revise the scope document to explicitly include "Minnesotans for open government" as a stakeholder and broaden the survey targets beyond the Department of Safety and Inspections. The scope is approved for the next step.
• Engagement Strategy: The committee will direct council members to assist in contacting unresponsive district councils regarding the 2026 topic selection.
• Appointment Timeline: The committee voted to extend the community advisor application deadline to January 5th to account for the holiday season, with interviews planned for January 20th. A joint press release promoting both the topic selection survey and the open seat will be drafted to be released by the end of the week.
• Reporting: The next meeting is scheduled for December 16th to review the harvested audit topics.