Harrison County Receives Rating of “Good” in Audit From Auditor Galloway

State Auditor Nicole Galloway released Tuesday her regularly scheduled audit of Harrison County.

The report, which rated county operations as “good,” is the first audit of the county since a November 2015 audit, which resulted in a rating of “fair.”

The audit found that the procedures for complying with the Sunshine Law and maintaining minutes of County Commission meetings need improvement. 

The commission generally met twice per week, but meeting minutes did not always contain sufficient detail of actions taken. 

In some cases, the commission did not make specific reference to the section of law allowing the closure of a meeting when voting to go into a closed session.

The Public Administrator and Sheriff’s Office lacked adequate password controls to reduce the risk of unauthorized access to computers and data. 

Employees in these offices were not required to change passwords periodically. 

The commission and both offices indicated that they would implement the audit’s recommendations concerning electronic data security.

Auditors also recommended several areas for improvement in the Sheriff’s Office and the Ex Officio Recorder of Deeds’ Office related to accounting controls and procedures.

A complete copy of the report is available here.