Mayor Jerry Sanders said today during his address to the City Council that consultants from Kroll Inc., who have already billed the city $20.3 million for their 18-month assessment of city finances, have informed him in a letter that “the threat of potential litigation may force them to further bill the city.”
City Attorney Mike Aguirre has launched an investigation into Kroll and said that he might file a suit against the firm for submitting false claims to the city.
“The city paid dearly for the Kroll report – $20.3 million,” Sanders said. “I don’t intend to pay the firm any additional funds.”
Sanders added:
I do not support suing Kroll. I don’t think it will get us anything and in fact, may cost us dearly both in terms of money and misdirected resources. This will not advance our strategy of moving the city forward or getting it back on firm financial ground. While I certainly do not agree with the final price tag nor do I agree with the process, I think that the city is as much to blame. The simple truth is that the city entered into an open-ended contract that imposed few – if any – constraints on the vendor.
The city has already sued the firm that conducted the first two investigations into City Hall finances, Vinson & Elkins.