Posted: April 4, 2015 - 10:11pm
By SHELDON GARDNER
sheldon.gardner@staugustine.com
City Manager John Regan doesn’t plan to propose an audit of St. Augustine’s 450th contracts on April 13. But he plans to recommend a broader review of city financial and procurement processes.
Regan said after meeting with Mayor Nancy Shaver on Thursday that he had not written a formal recommendation. But he expects to provide a progress report and ask the City Commission for support in developing a work plan for improvements in the city’s systems, including contract execution. While an audit is not on the table, a look at more city contracts could be part of the process.
If he gets commission support, he plans to work with Shaver and staff to define future work, and he expects that will involve outside assistance. Anything that costs money would be brought up during the budget process.
If approved, he plans to develop the work plan. But he doesn’t expect any work will begin until the fall.
“Right now I’m not planning to recommend an outside firm to pull all the contracts and review them,” Regan said.
Shaver met with Regan on March 26 after getting commission support to review her concerns about three contracts related to the 450th anniversary.
At the March 23 City Commission meeting, she did not name the contracts, but she did on March 27 after meeting with Regan the day before. The contracts in question are with Mummy Cat Productions and Hyperscreens, and contracts for the Noche de Gala.
Commissioners did not support an overall review of 450th contracts, which Shaver first requested on March 9.
Shaver said the contract review process is not intended to call out possible missteps. The purpose is to improve the city’s processes.
“It’s about good governance,” Shaver said. “And it’s about being transparent.”
When asked about a possible contract review last week in light of what the three contracts showed, commissioners Leanna Freeman and Todd Neville declined to comment before getting an update from Regan and Shaver.
Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline said she would support an audit of 450th contracts to clear the air and wanted to discuss folding a review into the city’s normal auditing process.
“Perhaps at that time we may consider the option of adding on additional scrutiny to specific 450th contracts,” Sikes-Kline said.
Vice Mayor Roxanne Horvath said she was against a 450th contract review.
“I don’t see a need for it,” she said.
Regan’s plan
The recommendation from Regan will focus to launching a program for process improvements that lead to better governance, he said.
One focus would be making it easier for people to access information on how their tax dollars are being spent, Regan said.
The plan is to continue working with Shaver to review the city’s procedures and develop best management practices for government. And they would use other cities as a benchmark to make sure they are moving the city toward better, more open government for residents, he said.
Reviewing contracts shines a light on current practices and areas for improvement, and some areas have already been highlighted.
The Mummy Cat contract that Shaver raised concerns about was for production of a short video for the “Journey: 450 Years of the African-American Experience” exhibit.
Regan said the concern was about whether the deal should have gone through a more extensive bidding process after three quotes came in. The city paid Mummy Cat $10,000 for the video. The other two quotes were at $25,000.
The Noche de Gala contracts were not done with appropriate controls such as compliance reviews, Shaver said.
And the Hyperscreens contract for $400,000 screens at the Visitor Information Center was a sole-source contract. The contract was done that way in part to meet a deadline, Regan said.
Most of the work that Regan plans to do, if approved by the City Commission, would focus on the general services department and the financial services department for procurement and purchasing processes, he said.
Looking at more contracts will likely be part of the process. Regan said any further review would be between him, the mayor and staff.
Regan said the city has many challenges to face in the future, and officials want to make sure they are making the most of the money they have and increasing efficiency.
Part of the review would include making sure the city is managing contracts well.
“And that we have procurement policies and financial policies that are current with all industry standards,” Regan said.
Comments (2) Add comment
ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of civility. Posts and comments do not reflect the views of this site. Posts and comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Flag as offensive" link below the comment.
LocalColor
MORE
107
POINTS
LocalColor 04/05/15 - 11:56 am 20Nice try, John...
"...future work..." is not the question on the table. What We the Taxpayers want to know is what happened to the millions of tax dollars spent, to date, on *O*U*R* 450th anniversary commemoration to produce - nothing. After years of boasting and spending and with six months to go 'til the 450th, there's still no leadership, no plan, and (now) no funding.
Given the state/national/international embarrassment that St. Augustine will face in September - not to mention missing the biggest touri$m opportunity in our lifetimes - it's a bit late to try to sweep this rapidly accelerating train-wreck under the rug...
wombat
MORE
6471
POINTS
wombat 04/05/15 - 12:25 pm 20 TOWER WITH THE ZIP LINE AND THE AQUARIUM WILL BE READY?
Those amazing sites will surely save the city much embarassment.
Back to Top
We don't really need the 'approval' of Regan, or the City Commission, to have an audit performed. These are public records, and anyone can retrieve them and have many audits performed, if that is their wish. Our limits are only our own pockets. Then, perhaps we can sue the city to get back what we the citizens spent to get an audit done. This is STANDARD operational procedure to perform audits. If the City refuses to do it, we can - and hold them financially responsible for NOT doing their duty. I think it's time 'we, the people' of the City of St. Augustine secure an independent auditor without any ties to this city whatsoever, including the immediate past office holder's. I'm all in. The more Regan protests, the more I'm certain that actionable crimes have occured.
ReplyDelete