The city auditor today released a follow-up report on the status of 297 recommendations issued to 17 departments from 2010 to 2017 that focus on areas like city contracts, personnel management and the security of city assets.

In her office’s report, City Auditor Laura Doud noted that city departments implemented a majority of the recommendations at 66%, with most of the implementations made in the areas of contract procurement and management, revenue and cash controls and personnel management.

Departments still need to improve in data integrity, asset security and performance tracking, the report stated.

“By not taking corrective action, the City is at risk for fraud and waste,” said Doud. “We will continue to identify issues and make comprehensive recommendations, especially in the areas of high risk, so the departments can continue to build on progress made.”

For example, there have been 35 recommendations in the area of personnel management, including improving staff deployment, mitigating conflicts of interest, strengthening timecard management and providing proper training.

The city fulfilled 77% of those recommendations following a job order contract audit, according to the report. The city conducted a series of policies and training to ensure staff can manage and complete projects and resulted in legislation and policies to ensure the city receives quality projects at a fair price.

One of the areas with the least amount of implemented recommendations was in security of assets and property, with only 50% of a total of 22 recommendations fulfilled, according to the report.

The recommendations were to strengthen inventory processes for city assets, identify effective inventory tracking mechanisms and ensure sensitive items are handled properly.

The report cited the fire department’s updated inventory processes to include regular and documented inspections to ensure protective gear is properly maintained. Risks for not implementing such recommendations include unsafe equipment and increased risk of fraud.

In a statement, Acting City Manager Tom Modica said the city provided the city auditor with information during the review process and said while city management implements as many recommendations as they can immediately, others take more time and resources to implement while others require more funding or technological investment before they can be implemented.

“As noted in the Auditor’s report, we have fully implemented the majority of recommendations and are committed to continue our work on implementing as many as we can from the remaining recommendations,” Modica said.

To see the City Auditor’s Second Report on Results click here.