OSA Weekly Update - 8/14/2026

1. Message from Auditor Blaha

2. Meeting: Fire Relief Association Working Group

3. Fire Relief Associations: Reporting Survey

4. Avoiding Pitfall: Cashing Checks

1. Message from Auditor Blaha

Minnesota has a long history of civic engagement and high voter turnout. In Tuesday’s primary election, more than 1,103,000 Minnesotans cast their vote, breaking the primary voter turnout record in Minnesota. Thank you to all the county auditors, municipal clerks, election judges, and local government officials who worked around the clock to administer the primary election. And congratulations on record breaking voter turnout!

2. Meeting: Fire Relief Association Working Group

The State Auditor’s Fire Relief Association Working Group will be meeting on Thursday, August 20, from 1 – 2:30 p.m., with options to attend in person at our office in Saint Paul or remotely via Teams. Meetings also will be livestreamed with recordings and meeting materials available on the Working Group page of the OSA website.

3. Fire Relief Associations: Reporting Survey

The OSA is conducting a survey to gather feedback on the redesigned reporting forms released for fire relief associations this year. If you completed the FIRE Form or Schedule Form this year, we’d love to hear your thoughts about the updated forms, instructions and instructional videos!

4. Avoiding Pitfall: Cashing Checks

Thefts and embezzlements can occur when employees responsible for receiving checks on behalf of a public entity bring a check made out to the entity to the local bank and cash it, taking the money.

To reduce this risk, the back side of all checks received by a public entity should be stamped “For Deposit Only” as soon as they are received. In addition, a public entity should instruct their financial institution in writing not to cash checks made payable to the public entity.

Finally, money needed to replenish petty cash or to increase change funds should be paid out of a public entity’s general fund, rather than by cashing checks the entity received for other purposes.

The full avoiding pitfall is available on the OSA website.

5.  Job Openings

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Local Government IT Audit Specialist (St. Paul)

The OSA is hiring a Local Government IT Audit Specialist position based in the St. Paul office. This Local Government IT Audit Specialist position assists in leading the information technology (IT) audits of local governments (including the largest, most complex, and specialized) by ensuring that appropriate procedures are performed that are necessary to determine the reliability of clients’ information systems, platforms, operating procedures, IT security and data protection.

Start date of September 8, 2026, or after.

The job posting will close on August 5, 2026.

Human Resources Technician 2 (St. Paul)

The OSA is hiring a Human Resources Technician 2 position based in the St. Paul office.

This position exists to complete HR transaction processing and reporting, give new employee orientation, assist with retirement, provide benefit information, do special event planning, complete FMLA, MPL, and other leave coordination, provide HR support services, and interpret and administer collective bargaining agreements and compensation plans. This position provides consistent, accurate, and excellent customer service to employees, supervisors, managers, and others requesting information or services from Human Resources.

The job posting will close on September 1, 2026.