State Supreme Court receives 'good' rating

State Auditor Nicole Galloway rated the Supreme Court of Missouri's performance as "good" in an audit report released Friday.

The audit identified no significant deficiencies in internal controls nor noncompliance with legal provisions, but does note two areas of the court's performance where Galloway recommends improvements to management practices.

First, the audit recommends the court require it be reimbursed for services performed by court employees that benefit its boards and associations.

"The Supreme Court does not treat the Missouri Bar, the Board of Certified Court Reporter Examiners (BCCR) and the Missouri Board of Law Examiners (MBLE) consistently and does not require all of these entities to reimburse the Court for administrative expenses incurred by Supreme Court employees to benefit their respective organizations," according to the audit's summary.

The Bar and the BCCR do not reimburse the state court in such situations; the Bar does provide an annual stipend to the clerk of the Supreme Court, but pays the stipend directly to the clerk rather than handling it through the normal state payroll process, the audit summary says.

The MBLE also does not reimburse the Supreme Court for administrative expenses associated with work performed by the clerk, but does reimburse the state for expenses associated with other Supreme Court employees whose work benefits the MBLE.

Second, the audit recommends improvements to the way the Supreme Court keeps minutes of administrative meetings.

"En Banc meetings are meetings of all Supreme Court judges, which are held to make administrative decisions," the audit summary states. "The court does not document motions and votes in the minutes, sign or formally approve prior meeting minutes, or document meeting times or attendees for the public portion of the meetings."

The audit rating scale spans: "poor," "fair," "good" and "excellent."

The full audit is available online at auditor.mo.gov.