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Home | Opinion Exchange | Commentary

Editorial counterpoint: Minneapolis needs more audits

Last update: October 29, 2009 - 11:04 AM

Editor's note: The following article was signed by six Minneapolis mayoral candidates -- Bob Carney Jr., James Everett, Al Flowers, "Papa" John Kolstad, Bill McGaughey and Richard (Dick) Franson -- and by Michael J. Katch, a candidate for City Council in the Seventh Ward.

In its mayoral endorsement editorial Oct. 25, the Star Tribune wrote of Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak's challengers: "A number of them lodge criticism that the incumbent ought to heed."

The editorial offered as one example: "Consultant Robert Carney Jr., former alderman Dick Franson and ['Papa'] John Kolstad fault the city for inadequate internal auditing."

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance -- by both citizens and the press. When there is little news reporting of an election, it becomes too easy for incumbents to avoid engaging not only their challengers, but also the issues and grievances brought forward by those challengers. That's what has happened this year. Fortunately, it's not too late to at least partially remedy this absence of news reporting and dialogue.

Regarding inadequate internal auditing, Board of Estimate and Taxation incumbent and candidate Carol Becker had this to say:

"There is only one internal auditor for Minneapolis. The Metro Council has five or six, and it's a similar-sized organization. I've heard 10 for Hennepin County. In the last three years plus that I've been on the board, we've done one fraud audit. Your first line of defense is your internal auditor. We need more auditors. I put forward a proposal this year to request the mayor to add more auditors, and I was defeated at the BET."

Here are excerpts from one internal audit -- a review of "procedures and internal controls over fuel purchases," dated March/April 2009:

"... IA [internal audit] selected 17 'atypical' items for further testing review:

• Gas cards used outside Minneapolis, sometimes outside Minnesota.

• "multiple cards used within minutes of each other"

• "numerous small purchases (i.e. 3.5 to 5 gallons and not for motorcycle use"

• "'creative' odometer readings."

"... [A]bsolutely no receipts were retained/found for any of the test cases reviewed."

"The Minneapolis Park Board had charges totaling nearly $500 in the month of June, the card was used several times in Iowa. ... Park Board personnel ... had no knowledge of ... why it was used in Iowa ..."

"The MPD fleet manager told IA that when he issued the new cards he specifically told the unit commanders that they should track who has the cards, save receipts and monitor them for appropriate use. ... By policy these rules have always been in place but adherence has been non-existent."

"Even though the city has cameras ... there is no certainty that the vehicle being fueled is, in reality, a city vehicle."

One conclusion of the audit was this: "The absence of receipts and the lack of documented subsequent verification of fuel expenditures leaves the WEX system fuel cards virtually wide open for potential abuse."

Candidate Al Flowers has called repeatedly for an Empowerment Zone audit. Candidate James Everett said this of the Empowerment Zone: "The money got funneled to where people wanted it to go, and not to the people who needed it, but that's historically what happened."

Financial accountability is only one of many serious grievances identified in a Citizens' Petition for a Redress of Grievances that was delivered to Rybak's office last week by four mayoral candidates. A total of 16 mayoral and City Council candidates are on record demanding that Rybak answer these grievances.

Fortunately, there is still time for Minneapolis candidates and the mainstream media to work together to ensure there is adequate reporting on the Minneapolis municipal elections. Some of us think there is also time to force Rybak to either answer to his challengers, in televised and broadcast forums -- or to run for governor full time.

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