Dec. 2 Commissioners’ Meeting Update

News Release # 2025-129

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025

On Tuesday, Dec. 2, Deborah Hall, Acting County Administrator, kicked off an informational briefing on the Roles and Functions of an Inspector General and Internal Audit Office. Danielle Mitchell, Acting Deputy County Administrator, and Wes Adams, County Attorney reviewed the distinctions between the roles of an Internal Auditor and an Inspector General.

Staff also provided an overview of how the current internal audit process works in Charles County. The county's Internal Auditor includes a scope of work that reviews internal operations, including financial, operational, and compliance audits. An Inspector General's office could be broader, go beyond county government to include the Sheriff's Office, and conduct investigations, inspections, and other oversight actions. An Internal Auditor could have similar powers, but it would require amendments to the Internal Auditor Office Charter. "The Inspector General is a little more incident-driven, while the Internal Auditor office is more a consistent evaluation of CCG operations," Wes Adams, County Attorney, said.

Jacob Dyer, Director of Fiscal and Administrative Services, presented an overview of each Maryland county's general funds, and which counties had an Internal Auditor, an Inspector General's Office, or neither. All counties with both internal audit and inspector general's offices have budgets ranging from $2.3 to $7.6 billion. Charles County's Fiscal Year 2026 budget is $595 million.

The Commissioners requested a draft of an updated Internal Audit Charter to be presented at the December 9th meeting, showing potential changes to increase the scope of the Internal Auditors' jurisdiction and authority. The Commissioners will be briefed on draft legislation on January 6, 2026.

Briefings

• Commissioners were briefed on the activities of Phoenix International School of the Arts. Commissioners were given a brief overview of Charter School regulations and district oversight, as well as a briefing on the curriculum and state report card stats for the most recent school year.

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