Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes won't have a hand in construction audits of the Reds' Great American Ball Park.

        County commissioners Wednesday did not even vote on a proposal to use Mr. Rhodes' office, which would have set parameters for the auditing process and monitored progress.

Rhodes

        The county has advertised for the services of a construction auditor, who would have reported to Mr. Rhodes' office if the proposal had passed. Instead, the auditor will report to the commission-run Department of Administrative Services.

        The county expects to have the auditor hired in about a month.

        PricewaterhouseCoopers audited Paul Brown Stadium, which was $51 million over budget when complete. But commissioners only hired the auditor after it became apparent there would be overruns because of a massive number of changes to construction contracts.

        Mr. Rhodes, a Democrat, said he was disappointed because the extra layer of oversight would have benefited taxpayers.

        “We could have given a level of credibility,” Mr. Rhodes said, noting that the football stadium auditor reported directly to Administrative Services and those overruns were kept secret from the public for more than six months.

        Republican Commissioner John Dowlin said the extra oversight wouldn't be necessary.

        “I just think this is a redundancy that we don't need,” Mr. Dowlin said.

        Commissioner Todd Portune, a Democrat, brought forward the idea of using Mr. Rhodes' office. His motion failed when neither Mr. Dowlin nor Republican Commissioner Tom Neyer would second it.

        Mr. Portune made an issue of getting Mr. Rhodes involved during his fall campaign against incumbent Bob Bedinghaus.

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