TULSA, Okla. — Another day, another audit for Osage LLC.
At the July 17 meeting of Osage LLC’s board of directors, board treasurer Frank Freeman confirmed that Moss Adams is scheduled to start auditing the company’s finances on July 29.
“Our financial statements are accurate, so this should go pretty quickly,” he said.
Moss Adams is one of three firms that have previously audited the company’s finances since 2017 as part of a rebuilding effort after questionable recordkeeping practices and chronic underbidding on projects by previous leadership led to the company almost being dissolved by the Osage Nation Congress.
“Once we get through the audit, we’ll have a better idea of where we stand cash-wise,” Freeman said.
Once the audit is completed, the board of directors will expedite efforts to look for a chief operating officer and start taking steps to transition from being a management board to a more hands-off enterprise board.
“We need to position ourselves as enterprise board and get a CEO,” Chairwoman Kay Bills said. “The way our articles of incorporation are written … we just need to.”
“When we make that transition, we want to make sure the budgets are complete so we can turn over clean financials to the new CEO and make it clear what they have coming to them,” board member Rick Perrier added.
Meanwhile, slow progress continues on the two rural broadband programs under Osage LLC’s umbrella.
As part of the federal grant financing the projects, detailed updated budgets are being created for both Bowring and Grayhorse and will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture by July 31.
The project is funded through a $3 million Community Connect grant through the USDA and a $450,000 matching money appropriation from the Osage Nation Congress.
By
Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton
Original Publish Date: 2019-08-05 00:00:00
