During the October 24 Americus City council meeting the City Manager, Diadra Powell, commented on the reason the Council was not informed of the $35,000 in additional fees by Mauldin and Jenkins for the 2023 audit. Powell spoke of talking with the auditing firm. “What she indicated to me is that she had already had a conversation with, with the former finance director, and she assumed that the finance, that former finance director, had provided the details, not only to me, but had had the conversations in a setting with the Council as well.”

The Americus Times-Recorder made a freedom of information request, revealing a letter from Mauldin and Jenkins addressed to Diadra Powell dated October 2. The letter was signed by Hope Pendergrass. The letter gave details about the fees: “As we discussed, the time and effort spent on the audit for the City of Americus has increased significantly over the past few years. Due to the value we have placed on our relationship with the City, we’ve absorbed costs far in excess of billed fees with the expectation that the 2023 audit would go significantly smoother.”

However, the letter noted issues during the 2023 audit. “We noted several areas requiring adjustments and finished with over 90 audit adjustments. Additionally, these audit adjustments resulted in the reporting of 5 material weaknesses (“findings”).”

The letter stated that the City was still receiving a discount. “At this point we can no longer continue to absorb our additional costs for our work for the City and respectfully ask for additional fees in the amount of $35,000. Even considering these additional fees plus previous billings, we will still have costs in excess of total fees of approximately $34,000. This means we are still providing an almost 50% discount on our additional fees for the 2023 audit.”