FLORISSANT • Missouri Auditor Susan Montee criticized Florissant's "strong mayor" form of government on Tuesday night as she delivered an audit that faulted the city for unnecessary expenditures and failure to collect rental fees for use of city facilities and equipment.

"There are transparency issues with the strong mayor form," Montee told residents who had gathered at Florissant City Hall to hear details of the audit. "In this government, you can't see where decisions are made because they're made at the mayoral level and the City Council is often not involved."

Rare among Missouri municipalities, Florissant's governmental system gives its mayor, Robert G. Lowery, operational control of the city.

Montee said it was the first time in 500 audits that she had conducted one on a city with such a system.

After the meeting, Lowery played down Montee's findings. "After four months of looking at the city of Florissant, if this is all they can find then I think we have a pretty efficient and effective organization," he said.

In addition to the unnecessary expenses and uncollected fees, the audit found that overtime was paid to some employees who were not entitled to it. The report also cited the city for failing to properly report Lowery's city-leased vehicle to the IRS as a fringe benefit.

And Montee's office found that the city regularly held closed meetings in violation of the Sunshine Law.

Montee conducted the audit after receiving a petition last year with 2,965 signatures of registered resident voters who requested it. Florissant will be charged $24,000 for the audit.

Some information in Montee's report echoes findings reported in a Post-Dispatch investigation of Lowery and the city that was published in May.

That story found that Lowery cost the city thousands of dollars by waiving fees for certain groups that used city facilities. The story also reported that city workers have spent hours, without charge, setting up and dismantling city equipment at city recreation centers for private groups, including Lowery's church, and for his wedding anniversary.

Montee's report stated, "At the request of the Mayor, rental fees for use of gymnasiums and the portable stage were waived 22 times during the year ended November 30, 2009, for non-city functions."

The audit estimated that the waivers cost the city $11,600 to $18,200.

The report also found that city tables and chairs were used for Lowery's wedding anniversary celebration "at no charge."

The audit notes that city ordinances do not allow for rental fees to be waived and recommends that city officials comply with the city charter.

After the Post-Dispatch story ran, the Florissant City Council unanimously passed a ban on waivers or fee reductions on such fees.

In a response contained in Montee's report, Lowery defended his actions: "Any waiver of a rental fee has been in the best interest of the city," he stated. He went on to state that "no further fee waivers will be approved."

The audit report also criticized the way Lowery used his $20,000 expense account last year.

Expenses that the audit listed as unnecessary included:

• Tickets and advertising purchased for a charity fundraising event totaling $470.

• Christmas cards bought for $872 that were prepared by a city employee and that cost the city $369 in postage.

• Various "trinket items" costing a total of $2,166 labeled with the mayor's name and which were given away at official functions.

In his response, Lowery stated that his purchases "fall within the expenditure guidelines that have been approved by the City Council."

The audit also noted that the city failed to obtain bids for some professional services, such as for its legal services, which cost the city $197,000 last year. And it chided Lowery for rejecting the lowest of two bids received for hardware supplies, for which the city spent $51,000 last year.

The audit report also questioned why the personal and commuting mileage on Lowery's city-leased "take-home car," a Chevrolet Malibu, was not reported to the IRS as a fringe benefit, as required by law.

"Several other officials are provided city vehicles which are also used for commuting; however, the city reports the commuting mileage (on those vehicles) to the IRS as required," the audit reports.

Before the meeting, Montee said that Florissant's form of government made it "tricky" for her office to assess blame or make recommendations.

"Florissant's form of government makes a lot of things discretionary with the mayor," she said. "And while the mayor made decisions that we may not agree with, we're walking a little bit of a tightrope in the report because we don't criticize policy decisions. Rather, we criticize when cities don't adhere to their policies."

Pamela Weakley-Lee, who attended the meeting and was among a group of citizens that had pushed for the audit, said she was pleased with the outcome.

"The audit said the same thing I thought in the beginning: The mayor may be legally allowed to spend money the way he does, but he is not spending it in the city's best interests."

The audit did not address other issues disclosed in the Post-Dispatch story, including Lowery's work schedule. The story reported that he often did not get to City Hall before midafternoon and that he had been accused of using city workers for his political campaigns. Lowery also has a Florissant police officer serve as his driver and bodyguard.