State Audit On UCHRA Reports Four Findings

A state audit of the Upper Cumberland Human Resources Agency found four findings, two related to board oversight.

In the audit of all the state’s human resources agencies released Tuesday, the state comptroller’s office found excessive absenteeism by UCHRA board members.

In fiscal year 2019, 28 of the 51 policy council members attended less than half the meetings. 18 of 42 executive committee members attended less than 50 percent of the meetings.

Both boards include city and county mayors as well as other representatives. At least three meetings over the past two years have been held without a quorum.

The Comptroller’s office suggested UCHRA enact attendance requirements for its governing body. It also suggested public postings for the meeting and possible virtual participation.

The second finding from the Comptroller’s office found the UCHRA policy council and governing body did not meet the composition requirements of its statute. Specifically, unfilled positions existed in both 2019 and 2020 from Macon, Pickett and Smith Counties. Further, the audit found some members did not meet requirements for membership.

Specifically, some members were business people and not representatives of local human resource agencies.

UCHRA leadership had taken steps over this year to correct that issue. The comptroller noted UCHRA’s concern that some mayors are less involved than others in appointing members to serve.

The third finding found UCHRA failed to institute internal controls to ensure certain employees had passed background checks and registry reviews. This repeat finding from a previous audit involved workers conducted in-home services and nutrition programs.

UCHRA overpaid some $5,070 in administrative costs related to the collaboration with UCDD. The audit’s fourth finding focused on management’s non-detection of the error in splitting costs.