CITY HALL
Keeping an eye on the cash
City Hall has a new financial watchdog. After a nationwide search, Marty Kolkin was selected as the new internal audit manager for City Hall. He began working for the city on June 1.
“I am delighted to have Marty on our team,” said Carol Swindell, director of finance for City Hall. “During these challenging economic times it’s especially important to protect our assets and maintain healthy fiscal monitoring practices. Marty has the right experience to assist our city departments in evaluating their internal and administrative controls and reviewing operational efficiencies.”
Kolkin oversees the operations and activities of the Internal Audit Division, which conducts citywide internal control system assessments of municipal business practices to ensure the safeguarding of public assets, consults with staff to develop adequate systems of administrative and internal controls to mitigate risk, and conducts internal financial and program audits of city operations.
Most recently, Kolkin was the city auditor for Sacramento, where he has served since 2003. In Sacramento he identified and recommended solutions to material weaknesses in internal controls in a number of key areas, directing the internal audit program for a city with a $966 million operating budget and 5,300 employees. He has many years of auditing experience in municipal government, having also served as the county auditor for Johnson County in Kansas, and the city auditor for the city of Olathe in Kansas. In addition, he has worked as a budget manager for Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. and as a senior auditor for Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
— Daily Press
MAIN LIBRARY
Suggestions please
The Santa Monica Citywide Reads Advisory Committee asks for the community’s input in choosing a book for Citywide Reads 2010.
Citywide Reads celebrates reading and conversation by encouraging all members of the community to read and discuss the same book. Book suggestions must be works of fiction that appeal to a variety of people. Appropriate titles should challenge readers, yet be accessible and inspire discussion. Only novels available in a variety of formats such as paperback and audiobook will be considered.
The deadline for suggestions is June 30, 2009.
Since 2003, Citywide Reads selections have included: “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” by Dai Sijie; “The Berlin Stories” by Christopher Isherwood; “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini; “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer; “The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger; “The Highest Tide” by Jim Lynch; and “The Shadow Catcher” by Marianne Wiggins.
To suggest a book, e-mail citywidereads@smgov.net, complete an on-line suggestion form found at www.smpl.org/cwr, visit the blog at www.santamonicacitywidereads.blogspot.com, call (310) 458-8600, or visit any Santa Monica Public Library.
— DP
MID-CITY
Shopping for a good cause
With thousands of shoes offered at half the manufacturers’ suggested retail price, shoe lovers had the opportunity to splurge in the name of charity at the 15th annual QVC Presents “FFANY Shoes on Sale” event during Breast Cancer Awareness Month last October.
The John Wayne Cancer Institute Breast Center at Saint John’s Health Center was one of the beneficiaries of the televised fundraiser that benefits breast cancer research and education institutions.
QVC and FFANY representatives recently presented Patrick Wayne, chairman of the JWCI Board of Directors, and William Watson, chief development officer, with a check in the amount of $363,875.
“For many years, we have greatly appreciated QVC and FFANY’s generosity and deep commitment to finding a cure for this dreadful disease,” said Dr. Armando E. Giuliano, chief of science and medicine and director of the John Wayne Cancer Institute Breast Center. “We are making tremendous progress in research and education thanks to this high level of support.”
Since its inception, the QVC Presents “FFANY Shoes on Sale” event has sold more than one million pairs of shoes and donated more than $30 million to leading breast cancer research and education institutions. It is the largest fundraising event in the shoe industry where dozens of top name brands, such as Nine West, AK Anne Klein, Via Spiga, Enzo Angiolini and Naturalizer, graciously donate products to help fund research for a cure for breast cancer.
— DP
