The breakdown Lehner promised in July never showed up. The first audit with Abdo on the books found three material weaknesses.
On July 14, 2026 a council member asked for a vendor-by-vendor breakdown of contracted services and the administrator said it was coming. It was not in the August packet or the September one. What the September packet did carry was the first audit of a year with the outside firm keeping the books: three material weaknesses.
The general fund's contracted-services and outside-services lines are where Kenyon's money to vendors sits: the accounting firm Abdo on one, the CEDA economic development contract on the other. On July 14, 2026, during the first look at the 2027 budget, council member Deanna Gard asked for those lines broken out across departments, with vendors and costs 1:17:56. Jessi Sturtz of Abdo said staff would pull the general ledger detail, and at 1:23:01 confirmed she did not have it in front of her. Gard said she "would like to see it more broken down" 1:23:24. City Administrator Scott Lehner, a minute later, promised the vendor breakdown "and the cost" 1:24:00 and said he was finalizing a comparison of the firm against an in-house director that Thursday.
What arrived
The August 6 packet carried the second budget draft, cut from a 19.5 percent levy increase to 10.34 percent, with a line-by-line report attached to the finance memo. It did not carry a vendor-by-vendor breakdown of contracted services. Sturtz did explain one movement: city administration up about $78,854 because Abdo's billing had moved there from general government 43:51. That is one vendor on one line, described in a sentence, which is not what was asked for.
The September 8 packet carried the comparison, one page long, pricing the firm at $164,800 and an in-house director at $167,100 on the assumption of $90,000 in wages and $63,000 in family insurance. It did not carry the breakdown either. The totals exist; the city's check registers, published on this site, show Abdo billed $66,086 in 2025 and $94,372 from January through August 2026, and CEDA is contracted at $55,053 a year. The council has been able to read those numbers here since before the September meeting. It has not been given them in a packet.
What the audit found
The same September 8 agenda listed the audit presentation for fiscal 2025, the first full year with Abdo keeping the books. The report carries three material weaknesses.
Accounting duties are not adequately segregated, which the city attributes to limited staff. Five of ten sampled journal entries lacked supporting documentation. And the auditor proposed a material adjustment the city's own closing had not caught.FY2025 audit findings, as summarized in the open letter.
A material weakness is the auditor's strongest category of control finding. Segregation of duties is the one the firm's own proposal in the same packet claims to solve: "The City's small staff size presents inherent challenges in segregation of duties. Abdo's contracted services add an essential layer of financial control, supporting accountability and operational integrity." The staff comparison page lists "Enhanced Segregation of Duties" as advantage number five of keeping the firm. The audit of the firm's first year says the duties were not segregated.
I would like to see it more broken down. All the invoices that have one outside service, how can anyone look at that? How can we discern which ones we need and which ones we don't need?Deanna Gard, July 14, 2026, 1:23:24, source
Why a breakdown matters more than a comparison
On July 14 Lehner told the council the comparison was "pretty much a wash" before the ledger had been pulled 1:25:31, and gave as his reasons the depth of a firm that "know[s] all the codes and the laws" 1:26:35 and his "biggest fear" of "creeping back to maybe how things were done in the past" 1:27:05. He also observed that "we didn't have residents that came in when we had an internal financial director either" 1:31:16. A breakdown answers a different question from a comparison. It shows what each vendor was paid, for what, against what was budgeted, which is the information a council needs before it certifies a levy. The council certified the 2027 preliminary levy on September 8 without it.
Kenyon's audit committee was eliminated on January 14, 2025, in the administrator's first regular meeting, after he raised with the mayor whether it was needed 30:44. Since then the council's financial reporting has come from the vendor whose invoices it covers, presented by Zoom. The July request was the closest thing to an audit committee question the council has asked in two years. Two packets later it is still open.
We didn't have residents that came in when we had an internal financial director either.Scott Lehner, July 14, 2026, 1:31:16, source
Before and after
- July 14, 2026, 1:17:56Gard asks for contracted and outside services broken out by vendor and cost.
- July 14, 2026, 1:24:00The administrator promises the vendor breakdown "and the cost."
- July 14, 2026The official minutes record it: "The council requested a report showing the breakdown of what is spent on outside services and contracted services."
- Aug. 6, 2026Second budget draft in the packet. No breakdown.
- Sept. 8, 2026One-page comparison in the packet. No breakdown. The preliminary levy is set and the FY2025 audit is presented.
What the statute says
The council shall have full authority over the financial affairs of the city, and shall provide for the collection of all revenues and other assets, the auditing and settlement of accounts, and the safekeeping and disbursement of public money.
The numbers are the council's responsibility by statute, not the administrator's and not a vendor's.
The governing body of every state and local government should establish an audit committee or its equivalent
Kenyon had one every year from 2019 through 2024 and eliminated it on Jan. 14, 2025.
People in this story
- Deanna GardCouncil member, appointed April 14, 2026
- Scott LehnerCity administrator since December 2024
- Jessi SturtzManager of Abdo's team for Kenyon, presenting by Zoom
- Don KirchmannMayor since January 2025
Sources
- City of Kenyon recording, July 14, 2026, at 1:17:56, 1:23:01, 1:23:24, 1:24:00, 1:25:31, 1:26:35, 1:27:05, 1:31:16.
- City of Kenyon recording, August 6, 2026, at 43:51; packet, August 6, 2026.
- Council packet, September 8, 2026: comparison page; Abdo proposal, "small staff size"; Creative Planning audit presentation.
- Vendor totals from the check registers, contracts page; CEDA renewal at $55,053, minutes of December 9, 2025.
- Audit committee elimination: recording, January 14, 2025, 30:44; minutes in the February 11, 2025 packet.
More from the record
In August the in-house finance director cost $130,000. By September, with no one hired, it cost $167,100.
KMU offered to lend for housing lots. Twice. The EDA president said there was no money. Two years gone, eight lots left.
"We don't know what you're doing." Said by the council member who sits on the EDA.
All 27, in order · The open letter · Every packet and recording