They Got What They Paid For: City Audit

Now that the audit has been released, and Melanson & Heath have appeared before City Government to discuss the findings, we can finally comment:

This administration, and this Mayor, have lost what little credibility they had left.

How is it possible that both Marchese & Sons and GTA's attorneys are able to produce the very documents that the city claims it cannot locate? Is this a case of poor record keeping, or is this a case of a Nixonian-like conspiracy to take down the perceived enemies of the Mayor?

Melanson and Heath's first shot over the bow . . . that the $5 million figure reported last week does not match any figures they provided in the audit . . . did immediate damage to the Mayor's claims last week of corruption and wrong doing. The fact that Hanlon could not identify with any certainty where that figure came from is very telling. Is he lying, or is he really that out of touch with the members of his own administration?

There is so much about this audit that has a false ring to it that it's difficult to put it in any kind of perspective. Who are the people who had access to the documents and computer drives that were seized? The Mayor made the claim that the hard drives had been examined and copied, prior to the involvement of the AG and the US Attorney, but he did not identify who performed this work. Who had access to this information during the period that the audit was underway. We already know that there were meetings being held at City Hall on the weekends. We know this because the Facilities Management Director made the statement when he came before the City Council requesting additional funding to cover the overtime account for the janitorial services.

The Mayor has claimed all along that this was to be an audit of all city departments, and that Melanson & Heath had determined that there were five departments that were of particular concern. However, last night we found out that it was not departments that were audited, but particular vendors that were the focus of the audit, and that the names of these vendors were provided by the Budget Director.

The Mayor has claimed all along that this audit would cost exactly $60,000, even after the contract with Melanson and Heath was signed; yet last night we discover that the contract for Melanson and Heath is and has been $45,000; now the Mayor claims that the $60,000 figure was presented as a "ball park" figure in order to be sure the cost of the audit was covered completely.

The Mayor has either been uninformed or has lied throughout this entire process.

Certainly this isn't the end. The Mayor claims that there are ongoing investigations outside of this audit. There are questions that were asked last night that the Mayor still needs to answer -- i.e., where did this phantom $5 million figure come from? The Mayor also claimed that his Budget Director did not provide a list of 16 vendor names to the auditing firm, contradicting what was published in the report. He has said he is going to check with his budget director today. It'll be interesting to see if they continue to deny this, essentially calling the audit inaccurate.

Yes, this drama will continue into the coming days and months; the budget season is now upon us. This administration should, and we believe will, be held up to painfully close scrutiny now. A positive outcome of this sad chapter in our history may be that the City Council will step up their performance and finally create a legacy of service to the people instead of political pandering and deal making.