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Nenshi proposes audit changes; brings transparency to city hall
- Tuesday, June 8th, 2010
- 4 Comments
Policy Overview
One of the biggest issues at City Hall is that the governance system doesn’t work; a concern that Naheed, as an expert in governance, is uniquely qualified to address. One part of this is to fix the system of auditing so that the system can better address the issues raised by the auditor. Naheed released his policy on audit changes today. The media release is below.
Overview Video
Media Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
8 June 2010
Nenshi proposes fixes for audit system to improve transparency and governance
In-camera discussions show problem is getting worse … and Council doesn’t know how to fix it
Mayoral candidate Naheed Nenshi today announced a policy to fix the audit system at Calgary City Council and begin the process of mending the broken governance system at the City of Calgary.
“Today is further comedy. A secret report from management, responding to an audit that already included a management response. Council not being briefed in advance, and meeting in-camera. All this shows again that the system is broken, and has no real ability to respond to the allegations in the auditor’s report,” said Nenshi.
Nenshi proposes the following changes, as the first step in a comprehensive system of improving governance in the City, moving from the current 1960’s model into one more suited for this millennium.
- Strengthen the independence of the auditor, by clarifying that the office reports to Council, while being guided and mentored by the audit committee
- Change the terms of the auditor position to enhance independence (e.g. in Toronto, the Auditor General is appointed for one non-renewable seven-year term, and Council may add, but not remove, audits from the A-G’s workplan.)
- End the practice of having auditor reports vetted by City management prior to being presented to Council
- Change the composition of the Audit Committee to include more citizen experts, and investigate the feasibility of a majority of the committee being non-Council members
- Fully fund the auditor’s office and insist on a high standard of work quality, including a peer review (external audit) of the auditor’s office itself every three years.
“While many people rightly focused on the potential for fraud in the procurement audit, the fundamental issue is much deeper. The City spends nearly $1.5 billion per year with almost nonexistent controls – even in a boom, construction costs certainly did not quadruple with no oversight in the private sector,” continued Nenshi. “While this seems to be a management problem, the blame in fact lies entirely with City Council, who were asleep at the switch – simply not doing their jobs as governors. All this puffed-up outrage after the fact is a bit much. Where were they to prevent this in the first place?”
Naheed Nenshi is the only candidate in this race with significant professional experience dealing with very large budgets, and is an expert on governance, as Canada’s first tenured professor in the field of nonprofit management.
June 08, 2010 at 8:08 pm, Gary said:
This is NOT funny.
The city is only NOW figuring out it's tendering process? Come off it, this should have been done years ago.
Now Calgary taxpayer are on the hook for several billion dollars and taxes may have to go up
tee hee hee hee hee
July 08, 2010 at 7:55 pm, Calgary mayoral candidate Naheed Nenshi « GORDON MCDOWELL said:
[...] proposal #1: City council accountability via independent auditors. This is already proven to work in other cities around the [...]
September 20, 2010 at 4:41 am, jack said:
The present setup up for City of Calgary expenditures is no accident and is carefully designed to allow City bureaucrats the power to do what they want for their own legacies, whims, favors and even
questionable unknown deals with private interests.
City of Calgary Waste & Recycling Financial Inconsistencies:
1. $120 million gravel trade to Burnswest for negative asset Inland Park. Value of gravel 1/2 Section 27-25-2-W5M @ 25 m thick over 1/2 section = 32 million m³ of gravel @ $4/m³ (2004 dollars net profit after all costs including removal and processing from Burnswest consultant) is over $120 million dollars. Value of Inland park is negative. Gravel has been removed and only closure, maintenance costs and possibly development costs of park were remaining.
2. Over $80 million (? unsure of this exact number) negative value of 'Landfill Reserve Fund'. The Landfill Reserve Fund does not really exist. Is not required by Alberta Environment and does not appear to have had any scale revenues directed to it. Most of the landfill scale revenues went to the 'free' recycling depots.
3. Also there was a coverup (at least a willful failure to properly investigate) by Corporate Security of documented scale bribery in the order of decades old and millions of dollars. Haulers would pay bribes to scalemen and have load charges reduced from waste at say $400 (2005 rates) to $20 bribe. Several people confirmed this and it was brought to Waste & Recycling Management. Corporate Security was to investigate. Early they said that W&RS was delaying the investigation and ultimately it appears nothing was investigated. Corporate Security interviewed dozens of people when a foreman was targeted for firing for using a propane tank for making lunch at work, but no one was interviewed for this possibly multimillion dollar loss. The scalemen were cooperating and admitting to this in 2006. They somewhat stopped and the original scale staff have wisely left and been replaced. This was unnecessary all that was required is some cameras and a connection to monitor the till.
4. Failure to weigh loads and charge accordingly. Due to inadequate scale capacity (unnecessary, just add a few rentals for several thousand dollars a month) loads were and continue to be charged flat rate. This is an Approval violation. The loads are then estimated low this also keeps landfill tonnages down. Haulers have been opportunistic and dumped in times of peak usage to get flat rated. Also, the scale abuses this as it is easier to flat rate then weigh in. The flat rate is frequently used when there is no lineup. This is costing the City money and completely unnecessary.
September 22, 2010 at 4:45 pm, We Should Know Naheed Nenshi « GORDON MCDOWELL said:
[...] Nenshi’s Q & A session was great, and I hope this video helps illustrate why I think he’s a great candidate for mayor. Nenshi’s policy proposals are very detailed, and it is clear he has a deep understanding of how to implement bureaucratic reform, and fix Calgary’s budgeting process. [...]