San Diego Audit Committee Meeting - February 20, 2019
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San Diego Audit Committee Meeting - February 20, 2019
The San Diego Audit Committee convened on February 20, 2019, at 16:45 UTC. Chair Sherman presided, with Vice Chair Campbell, members Spencer, Hebrew, and Valdivia present. The meeting covered approval of previous minutes, a public comment, and then focused on information items (annual accomplishments and monthly activity reports) and two discussion items: a performance audit of the city's curb painting process and a special recommendation follow-up report covering advisory boards and purchasing/contracting. All votes were unanimous.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The minutes from the last meeting were approved unanimously by a motion from Mr. Hebrink, seconded by Ms. Campbell.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Martha Welch (member of the public) urged the committee to conduct financial audits instead of performance audits, stating that performance reports are only half the picture. She specifically questioned the use of Mission Bay funds, suggesting the city might be hiding something by not performing financial audits on that revenue stream.
Discussion Items
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Information Items 3 & 4 – Annual Accomplishments Report and Monthly Activity Report (combined):
- Interim City Auditor Kyle Elser presented the Office of the City Auditor's accomplishments for calendar year 2018: 16 performance audits, 6 hotline investigation reports, 88 recommendations (all agreed to by city administration), two recommendation follow-up reports, and 905 hours of continuing professional education. Since the office's inception through December 2008, 889 of 1,015 recommendations have been implemented, with 149 still open. The monthly activity report highlighted three recent audit products (curb painting, accomplishments report, and special follow-up), five audits in fieldwork, four in planning, and four on the annual work plan not yet started. Two new performance auditors and a fraud investigator were introduced.
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Discussion Item 1 – Performance Audit of the City's Curb Painting Process:
- Presented by Danielle Knighton and Kevin Christensen. The audit found that the city lacks a comprehensive policy, a centralized inventory, and proactive maintenance. Authority to paint curbs is spread across multiple departments. Key findings: 69% of curb requests took more than 1.5 hours to research (some up to six hours); many applications are rejected because the public is not educated on criteria. Four recommendations were made: develop a written policy, publish summary guidelines for the public, coordinate with other agencies on a centralized inventory, and create a research mechanism. Management agreed to implement all by June 2020. Discussion included the $277 application fee (down from $316), staffing impacts, and the fact that 134,000 linear feet of curb were painted in FY 2018. About 800-900 work orders (mostly safety-related red curbs) were completed out of roughly 2,000 requests. The committee accepted the report and forwarded it to the City Council (motion by Mr. Hebrink, second by Mr. Valdivia, unanimous).
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Discussion Item 2 – Special Recommendation Follow-Up Report (Advisory Boards and Purchasing/Contracting):
- Part A – Advisory Board Audit Recommendations: Andy Hanau and Danielle Novokowski presented the status. The original 2017 audit found over half of 334 advisory board positions vacant or filled by members on expired terms, affecting quorum. Of 14 recommendations, 5 are implemented, 9 are in process with a target of June 2019. Progress includes a new Office of Boards and Commissions, web-based Brown Act training, and websites for all boards. Key remaining items: council policy and municipal code updates for vetting timelines and requiring annual reports. Discussion noted that vacancies persist and that some boards may need consolidation or sunsetting.
- Part B – Purchasing and Contracting Recommendations: Steven Gomez, Sonny McLernan, and Andy Hurida presented. From six reports (FY2014-2017), 14 recommendations remain open: 9 on contract management oversight and 5 on vendor debarment. For contracts, 34% are in the new AREBA system, while 66% remain in an older SAP system, with each holding about $1 billion in contract value. The target to move all contracts to AREBA is end of 2020. Mitigating controls for 4 of the 9 oversight recommendations are under review. For debarment, three fraud hotline recommendations remain open, with repeated delays due to municipal code updates and administrative regulation revisions. The city attorney provided a confidential memo on the matter. The committee discussed the need for stronger enforcement and timely implementation. A motion to accept the report (motion by Mr. Hebrink, second by Mr. Spencer) passed unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- Motion to Accept the Curb Painting Audit: Passed unanimously; the report will be forwarded to the City Council.
- Motion to Accept the Special Recommendation Follow-Up Report: Passed unanimously.
- Next Meeting: Scheduled for March 20, 2019, at 9:00 a.m. in the same location.
Meeting Transcript
I got a lot to lose. You're a case too. You got a lot to learn. I got a lot to lose. What it comes out to the Come back when you lose. Yes, I hope can the singers of the boost love and back when it comes out you're back once a Tina come out when you bruise you're up to if you're a home such a heart to start to heart You're a heart You're a heart to be the last case to the few case to the few I don't win the room I have given up for me to make you I like to dance on the street legs and walk upon the cloud I like to shout from the rooftops and serve from top of the crowd for many years, many years I was scared of the person I was And I'm not perfect they say that I know that I was born to be low they love me now kid Young salvation Studio I don't let you get Oh me never said that it be so hard I like to spend all my money on things that I don't need I like to sleep all the day cause this life is easier to dream Yeah my dreams and my dreams But I think about the places I have been repeat what I have done it's the past that makes me who I am will they love me now don't care you're my salvation I don't let you get Oh my life They never told me Never said that it never be so hard Even when the sun goes down I'll be there to hold and love you Even when the day is done I will be the one you can run to Even when I'm dead and come I will always watch out for you now until the day we meet again Until we meet again You're my salvation Put it all I don't let your head down to me never said that it ever be so hard that it's so hard Me and all my friends we're only summoned say we stand for nothing There's no way we ever could Now we see everything that's going wrong with the world and those who lead it We just feel like we don't have the means to rise above and feed it So we keep away with it on the world to change All right, good morning, everybody. Welcome to February twenty, twenty nineteen meeting of our audit committee. Today we have uh Vice Chair Campbell with us. Mr. President, present. Mr. Spencer, Mr. Hebrew, Mr. Valdivia, Kyle Elser, our uh interim city auditor, Lisa Byrne with the IBA. Scott, we're sitting in for Orlando today. Um, from Chief Financial Officer's Office, Joan Dawson, City Attorney and our newest member, our consultant Dan Manley. He's uh first time as our consultant here at this committee. We'll see how it goes. Haven't ordered them business cards just yet. I have a feeling they'll be coming though. Um no longer do unanimous consent on the minutes and uh from the last meeting, so if I could get a motion to approve unless there's any problems with the minutes. I have a motion by Mr. Hebrink, second by Ms. Campbell. All in favor? Passes unanimously. Thank you. Uh this goes into non-agenda public comment. So when you members of the public can comment on anything, it's actually not documented before us today. We have one speaker, Martha Welch. Welcome. Good morning, Martha Welch. Right now we have right now performance autos. I like um uh supposed to be fine right now because we don't have anything. The PIB is um last time I saw the point three, uh, that's always been last time I usually that right now. No, I'm I'm here I'm um I'm I'm sorry about that. I'm public right now. And I uh what are you doing here? You're supposed to be honest and everything in open governor, but uh we want to know how you spent money. That's what we wanted to know that because not um all these um report uh um sorry about that performance uh doesn't tell what does it doesn't say what how money all you talk about was the problems now I I grant you maybe we have we have a lot of problems in the city, so maybe they have that, but it's only half picture because um if you don't have financial um you can't tell how many uh how much that the how much money you spend and that's what we want to know because that's that's what we like to know. The government if you don't um tell us what goes on um Nation Bay um uh haven't uh uh haven't do they haven't done this yet, and I'm looking for that because it goes to the general fund, and I think it's for the parks, and I think it should be looked and do what you do with uh Mitten Bay money. I think you use it for a stream of money or something like that. And it's not a fact and out it's on the uh on um revenue on the on the on CAFER. So I I'm saying that you should do financial uh audits, not performance, because performance doesn't tell us what goes on at all. And I and I think you're hiding something personally if you don't do the right thing. It tells how you spend the money because you're you're hiding something if you ask me. Thank you, Ms. Welch. That is our only non-agenda speaker today.
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