Kirchmann, Bailey and Brunner abolished the audit committee on one man's say-so. That man was the one being audited.
On January 14, 2025, in the city administrator's first regular meeting, Kenyon's council voted 5-0 to approve its annual appointments "eliminating the audit committee." The mayor said he had discussed it with Scott. Scott said "I could go either way." The committee's only listed member that year was the administrator himself.
Every January the Kenyon City Council approves a list of appointments and designations: acting mayor, legal newspaper, depository, attorney, engineer, auditor, and a handful of committees. From 2019 through 2024 that list included an audit committee of two council members, a finance staffer and the administrator. On January 14, 2025 the list came to the council with the committee's two council seats blank and one name filled in, Scott Lehner. By the end of the item there was no committee at all.
How it was raised
Mayor Don Kirchmann read down the list. When he reached the audit committee he departed from it. "Audit committee, Scott Lehner. We still have two positions, and there is debate on whether or not we actually need this audit committee. When talking with Scott earlier, he says that he has to report to us anyhow as city administrator, so is there something that we really need? Do we have any discussion on that?" 30:18
Lehner asked to speak. "So the reason I brought it up to the mayor is Whitney is also part of that from the financial piece, but I can't have her as a person on the committee, so she will also be part of it. Abdo will be part of the auditing process going through the budgets. I'm obviously going to be part of that. Anything that we do would be brought back to the council for final approval. So the option was given, do we want to continue with an audit committee and maybe have a couple people from the council or others part of that, or are you comfortable as a council to be able to have us work on it and then bring it for final approval? It's really, I could go either way. I just gave the mayor an option." 30:44
If anybody has a desire to be on it and be part of it, absolutely. If you have no desire and you want your city administrator to work the staff and contractors, get it done and bring it for final approval to you, we can go that way.Scott Lehner, January 14, 2025. 32:44
How it was decided
A council member said it "simplifies the process a little bit, I'm all for that." Another said "I'm fine with it being with just Scott." The mayor: "Guess we eliminate that and just kind of simplify the process, because so closely we'll be together all day anyways, so we've never had an issue. We're pretty approachable." He asked whether a motion was needed, was told no, and said that the committee would be eliminated (the captions read "all right then we'll eliminate the all the committee") 33:34. The official minutes record the decision as part of the appointments vote: "Motion by Bailey seconded by Brunner to approve the 2025 committee appointments and designations, eliminating the audit committee. Motion carried 5-0-0." Mary Bailey moved. Elana Brunner, sworn in that night, seconded. Kirchmann, Lee Sjolander and Kim Helgeson voted with them.
The staff report in the same packet had asked for the opposite. Its suggested action read: "The Audit Committee also needs two more committee members from the council." The council was asked to fill two seats and instead removed the body.
I'm fine with it being with just Scott.A council member, Jan. 14, 2025, 33:10, from the city's caption track, source
What the standard says
No Minnesota statute requires a statutory city to have an audit committee, and Minnesota Statute 412.111 lets a council create and dissolve advisory bodies as it sees fit. The vote was lawful. The question is what it did. The Government Finance Officers Association's best practice on audit committees says every state and local government should have one, drawn from the governing body, and that "no governing body member who exercises managerial responsibilities that fall within the scope of the audit should serve as a member." The administrator is the person whose books the audit tests. On the 2025 list he was the committee's only member. After the vote the council's only contact with its auditor became the full council at a presentation, with the administrator presenting.
The old committee had never been independent either. Its 2019 to 2024 rosters always included the administrator and a finance clerk, and no packet in that span records it meeting. Its value was nominal. The remedy the standard describes is to make it real, three council members and no staff, meeting the auditor without management in the room. The remedy the council chose was to delete it.
We're pretty approachable.Mayor Don Kirchmann, Jan. 14, 2025, 33:24, source
What came after
The finance director who would have been "part of it" resigned effective July 17, 2025. The accounting went to Abdo that August. On July 14, 2026 the newest council member asked whether an in-house finance director would cost less than the firm and was told the comparison was "pretty much a wash" before the ledger detail had been pulled. The FY2025 audit, presented September 8, 2026, found three material weaknesses. No audit committee existed to receive them. It does not appear on the 2026 appointments list.
Kirchmann framed the question, Bailey and Brunner moved and seconded it, and all five voted. Lehner raised it privately, presented it as a choice, and described only one branch of the choice in detail. Everyone in the chamber that night acted within the law. The committee that would have tested the next eighteen months of finance decisions was gone in three minutes, at the start of a new administration, on the word of the man it would have audited.
Before and after
- Jan. 8, 2019Audit committee: Rick Nielsen, Sue Dodds, Mark Vahlsing.
- Jan. 12, 2021Audit committee: Doug Henke, Molly Ryan, Sue Dodds, Mark Vahlsing.
- Jan. 2022 and 2023Audit committee: Doug Henke, Molly Ryan, Kathy Flikke, Mark Vahlsing.
- Jan. 9, 2024Audit committee: Doug Henke, Molly Ryan, Whitney Kyllo, Mark Vahlsing.
- Jan. 14, 2025The packet lists "Scott Lehner" and two blanks and asks for two council members; the council approves the appointments "eliminating the audit committee," 5-0-0.
- July 17, 2025Finance Director Whitney Kyllo's resignation takes effect; the accounting goes to Abdo that summer.
- Jan. 13, 2026The 2026 appointments list carries a personnel committee and no audit committee.
- Sept. 8, 2026The FY2025 audit is presented with three material weaknesses.
What the statute says
The council may create departments and advisory boards and appoint officers, employees, and agents for the city as deemed necessary for the proper management and operation of city affairs.
A committee the council creates by motion it can remove by motion. The vote was lawful.
The governing body of every state and local government should establish an audit committee or its equivalent
The national standard for local governments runs the other way from the vote.
To ensure the committee's independence and effectiveness, no governing body member who exercises managerial responsibilities that fall within the scope of the audit should serve as a member of the audit committee
The administrator's work is what the audit tests. On the 2025 list he was the committee's only member.
People in this story
- Don KirchmannMayor; raised whether the committee was needed
- Mary BaileyCouncil member; moved the appointments "eliminating the audit committee"
- Elana BrunnerCouncil member, sworn in that night; seconded
- Scott LehnerCity administrator; the only name on the committee's 2025 line
- Lee SjolanderCouncil member
- Kim HelgesonCouncil member; personnel committee
Sources
- City of Kenyon recording, January 14, 2025, at 30:18 to 33:40; quotations from the city's caption track.
- Packet, January 14, 2025, p. 128, 2025 Appointments and Designations, suggested action.
- Minutes, in the February 11, 2025 packet: "eliminating the audit committee. Motion carried 5-0-0."
- Appointment lists, January 9, 2024 and prior years; January 13, 2026.
- Government Finance Officers Association, Audit Committees. Minnesota Statute 412.111.
- City of Kenyon recording, July 14, 2026, 1:25:31.
More from the record
Lehner called the KMU superintendent a records-hoarder to his face. Four minutes later he was apologizing.
Staff asked the council to fill two audit seats. The council deleted the committee instead.
The KMU "violations" report was ghostwritten by the outgoing interim. It names no law, because there isn't one.
All 27, in order · The open letter · Every packet and recording