Two of the City Council's policy committees are in action this week -- Audit (Wednesday) and Environment (Thursday).

If you'd like more detail on anything summarized here, click the agenda, then click on the item. Over on the right side of the page, you'll see links to a staff report and other pieces of supporting material.

Audit Committee -- Wednesday, Oct. 21

The Audit Committee meeting, chaired by Councilmember Scott Sherman, begins at 9 a.m. The agenda consists of four items:

• City Auditor’s Recommendation Follow-Up Report: Periodically, the City Auditor provides an update for the committee on how the various departments under the Mayor's purview are doing when it comes to implementing the recommendations laid out in the many performance audits conducted by the Auditor. On Wednesday, the Auditor's team will present their latest follow-up report, which provides an update on recommendations made as of June 30, 2020. It will include those recommendations that have been implemented, those recommendations that are outstanding or past due, and eight recommendations that the Auditor will ask the committee to scrap because they're no longer applicable.

• Quarterly Fraud Hotline Activity Report: The City has a hotline for employees and residents to confidentially report suspected instances of fraud, abuse, or waste, and each quarter, the Auditor provides a rundown of how these cases have been addressed. This is that.

  Between July and September of 2020, 60 calls came in. Of those 60, 39 were deemed within the purview of the Fraud Hotline. Of those 39, 33 were referred to various City departments for investigation and six were investigated by the City Auditor. Meanwhile, 49 matters from previous quarters were still open as of the end of March 2020. Between April and June, 47 matters were resolved or closed. Of those, one was found to be substantiated, and in another 12, corrective action was taken. In its presentation to the committee, the Auditor's office will detail the substantiated allegations and the actions taken. 

• Industrial Wastewater Control Program Audit: Loyal readers of "The People's Business" have read this summary a number of times: Back in 2013, the City Auditor investigated the City's Public Utilities Department's Industrial Wastewater Control Program, which permits, monitors, and inspects a variety of industries across the City and to limit the discharge of toxic substances into the sewers. That investigation found some issues with outdated fees, billing lapses, and cost-recovery problems. 

  Well, the Auditor has completed a follow-up audit that found that "while some progress has been made, the issues we identified in 2013 remain largely unaddressed." It also found an additional concern: "City wastewater customers alone are subsidizing program costs, even though the program serves customers in the larger metro area...."

  The follow-up report makes two findings and nine recommendations to address them.

  This past July, the Auditor presented this report to the Council's Audit Committee, which asked Public Utilities staff to provide an update on their response before this item goes to the full Council. This is that.

• City Auditor’s Monthly Activity Report: This item, on the agenda once a month, covers the Auditor's team's activities in the month of September, including any audit reports issued, the status of current audit projects, and planned audits that have not yet started. 

Environment Committee -- Thursday, Oct. 22

The Environment Committee meeting, chaired by Councilmember Jennifer Campbell, begins at 1 p.m. The agenda comprises mostly consent items -- four of them -- that will likely be approved without discussion, and just this one information item:

• Annual Stormwater Operations Update: This is an annual update from the Stormwater Division of the City's Transportation and Stormwater Department that includes a discussion of the Municipal Waterways Maintenance Plan (which guides maintenance of the storm-drain system), a summary of the division’s preparations for the upcoming winter storm season, a status report on planned maintenance, and potential priorities for future maintenance.

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Anyone can participate in these virtual meetings and make comments by dialing 619-541-6310 and entering the access code 877861 followed by # when the item you're interested in comes up (full call-in instructions). Watch the meetings on cable TV channel 24 or AT&T channel 99, or stream them online.

Next up will be a post on the full City Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 27.

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