Friday, December 24, 1999
Road work to be reviewed
Communication blamed for differences in reports, audit
BY ROBERT ANGLEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
About 358 miles' worth of road repair work never completed but reported as done is being blamed in part on a “communications error” between work crews on the job and city engineers.
That is only one of the things Cincinnati officials say is being looked at after an internal audit found engineers misrepresented seven years of road repair work and how much was spent on repairs.
On Thursday, the city's transportation director said his department has mounted a massive review of all street repair work since 1986 to determine the extent of the problem. (Thursday Enquirer report: ROAD REPAIR REPORTS INFLATED)
But the mayor and some council members say that isn't enough and are asking for an outside investigation by the prosecutor's office to determine where an estimated $15 million budgeted for street repairs was actually spent.
“It's an inexcusable mess,” said Mayor Charlie Luken, adding that officials aren't sure how much was actually spent on repairs. “The auditor has told us the records are in such disrepair that they can't give us a total.”
In annual reports between 1991 and 1997, city engineers reported 818 lane miles had been completed at an estimated cost of $65 million. But an internal audit found that only 460 lane miles had been completed for about $50.5 million. A lane-mile is an 11-foot wide, one-mile long stretch of road.
The upshot: Nearly half the streets reported as fixed in the past seven years were never touched, leaving about 60 percent of the city's streets in less than good condition.
“I'm embarrassed to tell you we can't say how many streets are (affected),” said John Deatrick, who became director of the newly formed transportation department in November. “We may have done streets we don't know about.”
Mr. Deatrick said “lessened standards” by city engineers led to the years of bad reporting. He attributed “the root of the problem” to a lack of communication and “incompatible record keeping and accounting” methods.
“It really was like the Mar tian lander that crashed,” Mr. Deatrick said. “They couldn't coordinate metric and feet. We had our own language problems. The design group couldn't communicate with contractors.”
Every year, city engineers present a list of streets slated for repairs. Invariably, Mr. Deatrick said, some of those streets don't get done. The problem is they were never taken off the list, so the public was being made to think a lot more streets were getting re paired.
In addition to a review of street repair work for the past 14 years, Mr. Deatrick said a number of management controls are being put in place since the audit findings.
Among these are reorganizing the contract process, a new accounting system to track money and work, new programs to coordinate highway maintenance, clearing a backlog of 1999 contracts and putting them out for bid.
Mr. Deatrick said he also has requested an audit of other city infrastructure programs.
“I think the greatest question now is why?” Mr. Luken said. “The auditor's next issue is to identify the culprit.”
On Thursday, both Mr. Luken and City Manager John Shirey said they have asked the Hamilton County prosecutor to investigate.
“It's troubling,” Prosecutor Mike Allen said of the audit. “If we're presented with evidence of wrongdoing, that's something we would proceed on.”
Mr. Allen said he would assist in an investigation if city officials uncovered evidence suggesting criminal activity.
In a letter to the mayor and council Wednesday, Mr. Shirey called the erroneous reports a “gross deception,” saying he has asked the internal auditor to find who was responsible.
“When that assignment is completed, I will be making further decisions regarding possible discipline of the employees involved,” he said.
Mr. Shirey called for the audit after city engineers delivered their annual street rehabilitation report in October. He was surprised by the number of street repairs completed when compared to prior years.
Internal audit manager Greg Hanfbauer said he did not believe there was criminal intent to derail transportation funds. He said it did not appear that contractors were overpaid or that city employees pocketed the money.
“But we're still investigating,” Mr. Hanfbauer said.
Councilman Paul Booth, who chairs council's public works committee, said the city is going to have to find a way to make up for the work that wasn't done.
“We need to have a program that is realistic for 2000,” he said, adding that more expenditures for street repairs might have to be made. “We're going to have to regroup.”
He said the condition of city streets is one of the “most talked about issues” in the city and said taxpayers deserve to have streets in good shape.
Councilman Todd Portune said until it can be determined whether the reporting was the result of incompetence or done intentionally, he wants the city to put a freeze on all contracts.
Mr. Portune said for months he has been requesting reports on the infrastructure programs to examine where the city has been spending money.
“Something is clearly amiss here,” he said. “We, the public, have been lied to for a number of years.”
Thursday Enquirer report: ROAD REPAIR REPORTS INFLATED
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