Thursday, Mar. 15, 2007 | Donna Frye’s editorial in today’s U-T, “The public has a right to know,” supports the public’s right to know what’s going on in government and the freedom of information. It also explains to this concerned taxpayer why the city is hiring Mayer Hoffman McCann P.C. to conduct random audits of recreation centers. At what cost, I’d like to know?
According to Frye’s explanation from the city CFO: “…employees in the internal audit unit were reassigned more than a year ago to work on the overdue financial reports, and that no employees were inspecting invoices, purchases, time cards and department spending.”
Why aren’t the area and district managers in Park and Rec auditing recreation centers’ staff records instead of hiring yet another outside group of highly paid advisors or lowly paid advisors? The cost of this “review of internal controls” was not listed in a memorandum from Stacey LoMedico, Acting Park and Recreation Director. LoMedico is only the messenger, not the culprit. Once again, without public input, this memorandum comes out the day the audits will begin.
Frye keeps lifting the rocks under which the scary creatures run around when light of day meets them. It’s Sunshine Week when open government and freedom of information are encouraged. Let’s celebrate by going to the March 19th City Council meeting to voice our concern over how our tax dollars are spent.