Tuesday, February 29, 2000
Luken asks outside audit of road fund
BY ROBERT ANGLEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Convinced the city will never be able to answer why $15 million slated for road repairs was diverted to other projects, Mayor Charlie Luken is calling for an outside audit.
“I know the city is looking at it,” Mr. Luken said. “I am now convinced that I am not going to be satisfied with their answers.”
On Wednesday, he will ask city council to approve hiring an independent auditor to “review the work of the city internal audit staff, and to find out what went wrong and where the blame lies.”
Between 1991 and 1997, city engineers reported 818 miles of road had been completed for about $65 million. But an internal audit in
December found only 460 miles had been repaired for about $50.5 million.
The result: 60 percent of city streets are not in good condition and city transportation officials say it could take 20 years to catch up.
“The more I hear, the less I like,” Mr. Luken said. “The more questions I ask, the more I believe an independent inquiry is essential.”
Councilman Paul Booth, who chairs the Neighborhood and Public Works Committee, said he supports the independent investigation and introduced a similar motion last month.
“It didn't have enough support,” he said. “We had enough before us at that time to easily substantiate the need for an outside audit.”
Although road repair reports are being reviewed by the county prose cutor, the city's internal auditor and the Office of Municipal Investigations, other council members last month discussed hiring an auditor to look at what they called “the fraud.”
In a follow-up report to his initial findings, City Internal Auditor Greg Hanfbauer blamed former engineer Doug Perry for fabricating street repair reports for seven years. He also said three supervising engineers — who have been put on paid administrative leave — contributed to the problem by not reviewing work and ignoring signs of trouble. Mr. Perry has denied any wrongdoing.
Transportation Director John Deatrick said political pressure from City Council caused city engineers to divert $15 million into high-profile projects throughout the city.
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