REPORT DIGEST

REPORT DIGEST

MANAGEMENT AUDIT OF BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS

Release Date: September 2011

State of Illinois, Office of the Auditor General

WILLIAM G. HOLLAND, AUDITOR GENERAL

To obtain a copy of the Report contact:

Office of the Auditor General, Iles Park Plaza, 740 E. Ash Street, Springfield, IL 62703

(217) 782-6046 or TTY (888) 261-2887

This Report Digest and Full Report are also available on the worldwide web at www.auditor.illinois.gov

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SYNOPSIS

As of June 2010, the Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments website listed 309 boards and commissions, primarily those to which the Governor appoints some members. The term “boards and commissions”, as used in this report, includes all authorities, boards, bureaus, commissions, committees, councils, task forces, or other entities that were included on the Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments list in June of 2010.

Volume I of this report summarizes the information compiled from our surveys of boards and commissions and contains six recommendations to address issues identified by our analysis of that information.

Volume II of this report contains the detailed information compiled for each board or commission.

The following summarizes the major conclusions reached in our analysis of information reported by boards and commissions:

• Authorization: Of the 309 boards and commissions, 270 (87%) were authorized by Illinois statute.

• Board Member Salaries or Stipends: 38 boards and commissions reported that their members received salaries or stipends totaling $8.3 million in Fiscal Year 2009.

• Member Reimbursements: 89 boards and commissions reported that their members were paid reimbursements and per diems for board meetings totaling $586,515 in Fiscal Year 2009.

• Other Reimbursements: 61 boards and commissions reported that State officials and employees were paid reimbursements and per diems for attending board and commission meetings totaling $265,158 in Fiscal Year 2009.

• Work Products: 223 boards and commissions had a required work product, of which 168 (75%) had completed or partially completed their work products and 52 (23%) had not completed or did not note completion. Another three noted that work products were not yet due.

• Noncompliance with Open Meetings Act: Many boards and commissions had meeting minutes that did not comply with requirements of the Open Meetings Act. We identified instances where boards and commissions did not record members present at meetings (18), did not record members absent at meetings (76), did not record the place of the meetings (38), or did not record the time of the meetings (19).

• Board Vacancies June 2010: 181 of the 309 (59%) boards and commissions reviewed had one or more vacancies; 145 (47%) had one or more expired terms. There were 68 boards that had five or more member vacancies. 78 boards had five or more members with expired terms.

• Completeness of Governor’s Board and Commission Listing: We identified 24 additional boards on a list maintained by the Legislative Research Unit which required an appointment by the Governor but were not on the Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments list.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

As of June 2010, the Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments website listed 309 boards and commissions, primarily those to which the Governor appoints some members. Senate Resolution 682 directed the Auditor General to compile certain detailed information for those boards and commissions. Volume I of this report summarizes the information compiled from our surveys of boards and commissions and contains six recommendations to address issues identified by our analysis of that information. Volume II of this Report contains the detailed information compiled for each board or commission. The term “boards and commissions”, as used in this report, includes all authorities, boards, bureaus, commissions, committees, councils, task forces, or other entities that were included on the Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments list in June of 2010.

Of the 309 boards and commissions, 290 provided a complete or partial response to our survey. We verified and tested the reasonableness of the information reported to us by the boards and commissions by: reviewing statutes, board minutes, and other information sources; corroborating information reported on the Governor’s website with that reported by the board and commission, following up on discrepancies to the extent possible; and reviewing other public sources. Other sources included web pages that may show board, meeting, or required work product information. For the 19 boards and commissions that did not respond to our survey, we present some information from the Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments website from June 2010 and from other available public sources. Appendix B to this report lists the 309 boards and some brief summary information for each. The information includes: the name of the board or commission; how it was authorized; the number of members; the number of vacancies at June 2010 and June 2011; the number of expired terms; information on annual reports, other reports, and work products; and the total salaries, member reimbursements, and other reimbursements for Fiscal Year 2009.

The following summarizes the major conclusions reached in our analysis of information reported by boards and commissions:

Authorization: Of the 309 boards and commissions, 270 (87%) were authorized by Illinois statute. Digest Exhibit 1 breaks down the authority type for the 309 boards and commissions. (page 9)

Digest Exhibit 1

AUTHORITY FOR BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS

Authority; Count; Percentage

Statute; 270; 87.4%

Federal ; 1; 0.3%

Constitution; 2; 0.6%

Resolution; 16; 5.2%

Executive Order; 13; 4.2%

Press Release; 5; 1.6%

None; 2; 0.6%

Total; 309; 100.0%*

Note: * Percentage does not add due to rounding.

Source: OAG analysis of boards & commissions.

• Inactive Boards: 70 of the 309 (23%) boards and commissions reported they were inactive during Fiscal Years 2007, 2008, and 2009. Some of these were new boards and commissions which had not yet started, some were boards and commissions which had completed their work but were still included on the Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments list, and others were simply inactive. (pages 17 – 21)

• Board Member Salaries or Stipends: 38 boards and commissions reported that their members received salaries or stipends totaling $8.3 million in Fiscal Year 2009. One additional board has members who are compensated but it did not report the salary amounts. Digest Exhibit 2 on the following page shows the boards and commissions for which the chair or members receive a salary or stipend.

• Member Reimbursements: 89 boards and commissions reported that their members were paid reimbursements and per diems for board meetings totaling $586,515 in Fiscal Year 2009.

• Work Products: 223 boards and commissions had a required work product, of which 168 (75%) had completed or partially completed their work products. Some of these work products were required annually (such as annual reports), while others were one-time requirements.

– 52 of the 223 boards had not completed or did not note completion of work products when we surveyed them. Another three noted that work products were not yet due. (page 15)

•Noncompliance with Open Meetings Act: Many boards and commissions had meeting minutes that did not comply with requirements of the Open Meetings Act. The Open Meetings Act (5 ILCS 120/2.06) requires all public bodies to keep written minutes of their meetings. We identified instances where boards and commissions did not record members present at meetings (18), did not record members absent at meetings (76), did not record the place of the meetings (38), or did not record the time of the meetings (19). (page 14)

•Board Vacancies June 2010: 181 of the 309 (59%) boards and commissions reviewed had one or more vacancies on the boards; 145 (47%) had one or more expired terms. There were 68 boards that had five or more member vacancies. Seventy-eight boards had five or more members with expired terms. (pages 16 – 17)

•Completeness of Governor’s Board and Commission Listing: Based on our survey and other audit work, we identified an issue related to the accuracy of the Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments list:

– Our comparison of the Governor’s listing with a list maintained by the Legislative Research Unit identified 24 additional boards which required an appointment by the Governor but were not on the Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments list. (pages 3 – 6)

RECOMMENDATIONS

The audit report contains six recommendations to the Governor’s Office. The Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments generally agreed with the recommendations. Appendix F to Volume I of the audit report contains the Governor’s Office responses.

WILLIAM G. HOLLAND

Auditor General

WGH:EKW

AUDITORS ASSIGNED: This Management Audit was performed by the Office of the Auditor General’s staff.