The City Commission shall appoint a City Auditor who shall be the head of the Department of Finance and Audits and who shall hold office at the pleasure of the City Commission. He shall be appointed without regard to his political beliefs and shall be a person especially qualified by education and experience for such position. The City Auditor shall act as Clerk of the City Commission, Clerk of the Board of Sinking Fund Trustees, and Clerk of the Municipal Water Works Department. His duties may further be combined with the duties of any other office not inconsistent therewith. He shall be the custodian of all moneys of the Municipality, and shall keep and preserve the same in such manner and in such place or places as shall be determined by the City Commission.
In addition to such duties he shall perform such other duties as may be required of him by the City Commission as well as such as may be required of city auditors and city treasurers by the general laws of the state applicable to municipalities in accordance with the provisions of Section 78 of this charter and inconsistent with any other provision of this charter or with any ordinance or resolution that may be passed by the City Commission.
He shall issue all warrants for payments of money by the City and shall require the City Manager's signature to all such warrants in addition to that of his own and that of the head of the department for which the money is drawn and appropriated. He shall keep an accurate account of all taxes and assessments, of all moneys due to, and all receipts and disbursements by the municipality, of all its assets and liabilities, and of all appropriations made by the City Commission.
He shall prescribe the form of reports to be rendered to his department, and the method of keeping accounts by all other departments, and he may require reports to be made to him monthly by each department or more often if required by the City Commission, showing the receipt of all moneys by each department and the disposition thereof. Upon the death, resignation, removal or expiration of the term of any officer, the City Auditor shall audit, or cause to be audited, the accounts of such officer, and if such officer shall be found indebted to the municipality, he shall immediately give notice thereof to the City Commission and the City Solicitor, and the latter shall forthwith proceed to collect the same.
At the beginning of each month the Auditor shall file with the City Commission a complete statement of the financial condition of the Municipality upon blanks to be prepared to the satisfaction of the City Commission, which blanks shall show fully and in detail the exact status of the City funds, the receipts and disbursements of each department or office of the City for the previous month, and a comparative statement covering the same relative period of the two consecutive years just prior, as well as such other information as shall be required by the City Commission.
Whenever it is thought necessary by the Board of Sinking Fund Trustees, it shall be the duty of the Sinking Fund Trustees to have the Department of Finance and Audits fully audited by some competent public accountant, upon receipt of which audit the Sinking Fund Trustees shall cause the same to be properly vouched for and signed by the Sinking Fund Trustees, who shall in turn cause the same or an abstract thereof to be published in accordance with the provisions of Section 15 of this charter.
The City Auditor may appoint such deputies and clerks as the City Commission may authorize, and shall give surety bond in a company authorized to do business in Ohio, for such an amount as the City Commission may determine and the City shall pay the premium therefor.