Auditors' 2021 North-South Conference

The Indiana County Auditors' Association held its 2021 North-South Conference on July 13 in Brown County and July 15 in Marshall County. We had a mix of speakers -- some were from county auditor offices and others were from governmental agencies or the private sector. Topics included the American Rescue Plan Act, human resources, county highway departments, Excel tips, and legislative priorities.  Attendance totaled nearly 200 over the two days.   

Thank you so much to everyone --  auditors and deputies, vendors, and guest speakers -- who attended our event, making it a successful learning and networking experience. You can access the presentations with the following links:

"Communication Between Highway and Auditors' Offices" -- Rachel Oesterreich, Starke County Auditor  

"Excel Tips" -- Tiffany Johnson, Porter County Budget and Finance Director

 

"Human Resource Topics" -- Jeremy York, Society for Human Resources Management (South Conference)

"Human Resource Topics" -- Kent Irwin, Waggoner, Irwin, Scheele & Associates (North conference)

"American Rescue Plan Fiscal Recovery Funds" -- Heidi Amspaugh, BakerTilly

"Indiana County Auditors' Association's 2022 Legislative Platform Discussion" -- Nick Jordan, Allen County Auditor

"Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Compliance and Reporting Guidance" -- Matthew Aks and Mark Bussow, senior advisors with the Treasury's Office of Recovery Programs (North conference)

"Oversight of the Federal Pandemic Response" -- Lisa Reijula, Associate Director of Outreach and Engagement, Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (North Conference)

"Government Finance Officers Association Revenue Replacement Calculator" -- Emily Brock, GFOA Director-Federal Liaison (South Conference)

 

(County auditors were emailed information on how to access the last three presentations. Contact Vicki Urbanik at vurbanik@porterco.org for more information).

Here are some scenes of our 2021 North-South conference.

 

Shown here is our South session, held at the Seasons Lodge in Nashville, Ind. Our North session was held at Swan Lake Resort in Plymouth, Ind.

 Jeremy York, representing the Society for Human Resources Management, was our HR speaker at the South conference.

 HR speaker at the North conference was Kent Irwin, of Waggoner, Irwin, Scheele & Associates.

 

The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) is a federal oversight agency of COVID-19 funding. Lisa Reijula, Associate Director of Outreach and Engagement at PRAC, presented at the North session on PRAC's work in tracking and reporting on COVID-19 spending. She is shown in the above photo being introduced by Association President Vicki Urbanik.

A live Zoom presentation with U.S. Treasury advisors was part of our American Rescue Plan Act segment at the North session. Matthew Aks and Mark Bussow, senior advisors with the Treasury's Office of Recovery Programs, gave auditors an update and overview of the Coronavirus State and Local  Fiscal Recovery Funds.

Heidi Amsbaugh, a director with Baker Tilly, presented at both sessions on the American Rescue Plan. She is shown here discussing premium pay, one of the eligible uses of the Fiscal Recovery Funds.

Another eligible use of the Fiscal Recovery Funds is replacement of lost revenue. The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) has developed a revenue replacement calculator that can be used by counties and other entities in calculating their funding losses. The GFOA prepared a video for our North-South sessions that outlined their calculator as well as compliance and reporting requirements.

David Bottorff, executive director of the Association of Indiana Counties, spoke at the North session about an AIC project to collect data from counties on how they are using their ARPA revenues. Dustin Renner, AIC's Deputy Legislative Director, joined us at the South session.

Starke County Auditor Rachel Oesterreich, ICAA Secretary, presented at both sessions on "Communication between County Auditors and County Highway Departments." 

Porter County Budget and Finance Director Tiffany Johnson presented at both sessions on "Excel Tips."

Also joining us at both sessions -- via a Zoom meeting -- was Allen County Auditor Nick Jordan, co-chair of the ICAA's Legislative Committee. Nick presented on our draft 2022 Legislative Platform that he and other committee members have prepared.

Indiana County Auditors' Association 2021 Board members  (left to right): Treasurer Christina Sriver (in above photo); President-Elect Jennifer Flater (both photos); President Vicki Urbanik (both photos); Vice-President Debbie Stevens (in photo at right); Secretary Rachel Oesterreich (both photos); and Past-President Julie Fox (both photos).