The City of Cooper City has a longstanding partnership with the Cooper City Optimist Club to provide meaningful youth sports opportunities for local families. Volunteers organize leagues and mentor young athletes, while the City maintains facilities, invests in improvements, and provides essential operational support.
Concerns raised last year involving the former Optimist Club president prompted the City Commission to act immediately to reinforce the high level of public trust expected in the stewardship of youth sports funds. While the legal case proceeds independently, the situation underscored the need to closely examine the Club's financial and administrative practices.
Independent Review and Key Findings
To ensure a clear understanding of the Club's financial operations, the City engaged an independent forensic auditing firm to review the Optimist Club's records from January 2022 through September 2025.
The review identified 52 findings, including 29 categorized as high risk, and highlighted significant weaknesses in financial oversight, documentation, procurement, cash handling, governance, insurance compliance, and tax reporting. More recently, the City's Chief Financial Officer reported that most of the major audit recommendations have not been fully implemented. Key issues include a vacant Treasurer position, incomplete financial documentation, unresolved IRS reporting requirements, limited transaction-level financial transparency, and control procedures that have been drafted but not yet put into practice.
While the review did not conclude that all deficiencies involved misconduct, it made clear that stronger financial controls, greater accountability, and consistent implementation of sound business practices are necessary to properly safeguard youth sports funds.
The City's approach moving forward is centered on one principle: volunteers should focus on mentoring children, while the City ensures a transparent and reliable administrative structure. This approach is intended to create stronger safeguards, improve transparency, and establish clearer expectations for financial stewardship.
Progress and Remaining Work
Several audit recommendations have already been completed, including enhanced Board oversight, formal approval processes for fee waivers, standardized sponsorship pricing, the transfer of school custodian payroll to the City, and improved documentation of Board actions.
However, substantial work remains. The City continues to monitor outstanding items involving financial oversight, segregation of duties, cash handling procedures, banking fraud protections, procurement compliance, reimbursement controls, and IRS reporting requirements. The City's Chief Financial Officer has recommended bringing all fiscal operations in-house to ensure full transparency, consistent implementation of controls, and direct accountability for the management of youth sports funds.
Looking Ahead
Cooper City remains committed to providing high-quality youth sports programs for local families. By taking a more active role in financial and operational oversight, the City is ensuring that youth sports are supported by strong financial controls, transparent governance, and responsible stewardship of community resources.
This approach allows volunteers to dedicate their time to coaching and mentoring, while the City provides the financial structure, oversight, and accountability necessary to protect the long-term success of youth sports programs and maintain the trust of the community.