Ad-Hoc Wants to Revisit Its Choice for a Special Audit

The charged with guiding a special, in-depth audit of some city finances will reconsider .

On Friday, committee members said that in the three weeks that had passed since it made its recommendation for Malody and Scott, they had come to realize that they had been presented with a "stacked deck" of potential auditors: The other two options presented by city staffers were the firm that audited the city of Bell and an auditor that the city had already told it wouldn't be selected.

"I have a problem with that we were presented with a stacked deck and the obvious decision from the stacked deck occurred," said Commissioner Jim Reardon.

Additionally, some members are now saying they see a potential conflict of interest with Malody and Scott, because a city staffer, Brad Rockabrand, previously worked for the firm. "Had I known that the employee hadn’t been gone a year, I wouldn’t have voted for that company," Commissioner John Perry said of the time between when Rockabrand left the firm and when he began working for the city's finance department.

"I feel I’ve been misled by the entire selection process," Perry continued. "It’s tainted, and we need to go back and revisit that process."

At its meeting Friday, the committee was slated to discuss the scope of the audit. Instead, it postponed its decision and voted to place an item on its next agenda to reconsider its recommendation of Malody and Scott. It also decided that whichever company is hired for the special audit should work directly for the committee, rather than city staffers.

"I don’t want to get started off on the wrong foot," said Mayor Sam Allevato. "If there are issues that this committee has, I don’t want a recommendation to go to the City Council that’s already tainted."