A detailed explanation of the process of paying invoices was given by City Treasurer Nancy Wilson at the finance meeting held, Monday, July 23.

These meetings, which precede City Council meetings, began when several council members had questions about city finances. Two council members said vendors had complained to them that they were not getting paid. By giving a step-by-step review of the process, Wilson said she hoped to better inform council members and to also encourage them to refer any questioning vendors to her.

Initially, she said, a purchase order comes to the purchasing office for verification of its accuracy. If it is correct, the order is placed. If it isn’t, it is sent back to the vendor, and the process would start all over again.

In 2005 when Wilson was hired, she said this process of invoicing plus the procedure of only paying invoices once a month, resulted in “a huge delay” in paying bills, Wilson said.

Wilson said in the spring of 2006 she approached the council to see if they could pay invoices weekly.

“A month’s supply of invoices is pretty ominous,” Wilson.

Now, invoices are paid every week, and a new procedure Wilson said she implemented around a month ago has streamlined the process. She said a purchasing office employee now comes to her office several times a week to review the invoices for errors. If any are found, the employee and Wilson correct the problem right then.

“We don’t allow them to go back and forth, back and forth,” Wilson said.

Councilman Cecil Christenberry, who has received a vendor complaint, said the explanation by Wilson was “beautiful,” so much so that he said he called her and thanked her via voice mail.

“That’s the information we need,” Christenberry said. “It was wide open and that’s all we’re asking for.”

Christenberry also said this new procedure will prevent invoices from falling through the cracks.

“The procedure that she gave us pretty well eliminates some of the problems that we’ve been talking about,” Christenberry said, referring to lost invoices.

He said the new procedure implemented by Wilson occurred a month ago and seemed to be in response to the first finance meeting

Councilman Dan Stankoski said he’s glad to see the meetings have impact, even though they have been heated at times.

“Sometimes the process is a little uncomfortable, but let’s look at the results,” Stankoski said. “If we’re having a better city government then it’s worth having some meetings where differences of opinions are shared to bring these things to light because there’s no sense having them boil under the surface.”

Wilson said in the future, the vendors who have problems need to come to her.

“I think we need to retrain vendors to contact who’s really going to pay the bills,” Wilson said. “They really need to come to me.”

Christenberry said he would have no problem in the future coming to Wilson if a vendor calls to complain.

“I feel very confident if a vendor calls me that I’m going straight to Nancy,” he said.