Halifax’s auditor general will examine how the fire department manages its equipment, and is focusing on how the city responds to freedom of information requests.
Auditor general Larry Munro released his work plan today. The plan outlines in very broad terms what the AG’s office will work on for the 2010/11 fiscal year.
Included in the plan are fairly routine “performance projects,” most of which were recommended by city councillors, and “opportunity projects,” which are issues the auditor himself has “identified as high risk or where audit or review procedures are deemed to present the greatest organizational value for the time committed.” These would include issues brought directly to Munro’s attention, and may include allegations of criminality or of particularly extreme mismanagement.
Reviews of both the fire department and the freedom of information process fall in the “opportunity” category.
Questions of improper contracting were raised when the fire department attempted to purchase a fire boat, and then again after the fire boat flipped over in the harbour with eight people on board. Munro’s work plan states that he will “review existing process for management of
Assets” and “assess effectiveness of process in safeguarding assets,” which suggests that there are much broader concerns about how fire department equipment is handled.
The review of freedom of information requests will look at if the city meets “developed or stated criteria whether procedures are considered effective in terms of timeliness, and whether they appropriately manage corporate reputational risk and transparency.” Readers will recall that The Coast has complained that the city improperly handled its request for the contract with Nustadia, Inc. to manage the new four-pad arena.
Also in the “opportunity” category are a review of cell phone and blackberry use by city staff; apparent record keeping problems, including “the possible loss of sensitive information”; how grant funding is handled and how the city leases office space.
As for the “performance projects,” there’s nothing particularly alarming about them—no one has necessarily claimed there are specific problems, but the auditor looks at a handful of city operations to make sure things are running smoothly, and to make suggestions to improve operations. In the coming year, Munro will look at the city’s relationship with economic development agencies (Destination Halifax, Greater Halifax Partnership and Trade Centre Limited), the use of external consultants, councillors asking for staff reports, the preparation of the city budget and at the city’s fleet operation.
Although most of the performance projects were requested by councillors, I believe that Munro threw a review of the city’s relationship with Trade Centre Limited into the mix on his own, and this makes great sense because the city will no doubt be asked to pony up millions of dollars related to the proposed new convention centre. The look at fleet services is Auditing 101 material—it’s the low-hanging fruit of potentially sloppy operations, and auditors examine them all the time.
This article appears in Jun 3-9, 2010.
bad link on: “flipped over in the harbour with eight people on board”