San Diego CA— The first meeting of the newly formed Audit Committee of the San Diego Association of Governments will take place on Friday at 12:30 p.m. One of the first items on the agenda is the recruitment of an independent performance auditor.
The SANDAG Audit Committee was formed as a result of Assembly Bill 805, which took effect on January 1, 2018. As specified in the bill, the Audit Committee is responsible for making recommendations to the SANDAG Board of Directors on the selection of the audit firm that will conduct the annual independent financial audit, hiring the independent performance auditor, and overseeing the development and implementation of the agency’s annual audit plan.
The SANDAG Board of Directors recently appointed five members to the Audit Committee, which includes three public members and two members of the SANDAG Board of Directors.
San Diego City Councilmember Lori Zapf and La Mesa City Councilmember Bill Baber will each serve two-year terms. El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells will serve as an alternate-at-large for councilmembers Zapf and Baber.
The public members appointed to the Committee following a public recruitment are:

• Paul Dostart: the managing partner of Dostart Hannink & Coveney LLP, whose area of legal expertise is tax-exempt organizations and corporate governance. Dostart co-chairs the American Bar Association Tax-Exempt Organizations Subcommittee on State and Local Regulation and is a registered Certified Public Accountant in Illinois.
• Stewart Halpern: has held three chief financial officer positions during his career. He has experience with accounting, auditing, and financial reporting for public and publicly listed companies. Halpern currently serves on the SANDAG Independent Taxpayer Oversight Committee, chairing its Performance Audit Subcommittee since 2014.
• Robert Monson: the Port of San Diego’s chief audit executive, directing the Port’s audit function and reporting to the Board of Port Commissioners and the Port’s Independent Oversight Committee. Monson is a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA).

The Audit Committee also oversees internal control guidelines for the agency and monitors the implementation of any corrective actions arising from the audits.
SANDAG Audit Committee meetings are open to the public and are scheduled for the second Friday of each month at 12:30 p.m. in Conference Room 7, in the agency offices at 401 B Street, Downtown San Diego.
SANDAG policy advisory committees assist the Board of Directors in carrying out the agency’s work program. The Audit Committee is one of six such committees, which also include Borders, Executive, Public Safety, Regional Planning, and Transportation.
For more information visit sandag.org/AuditCommittee.