Atlanta council slow to make changes recommended in audit

By Eric Stirgus

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Atlanta City Council has not completed any recommendations made by its internal auditor in recent years, officials said in a presentation Wednesday to the council.

"For the large part, the recommendations have not been addressed," City Auditor Leslie Ward said during her presentation to the council's Finance/Executive Committee.

The council has worked on three of the 10 recommendations, but none have been fully implemented, the report said.

In March 2009, Ward's office released a 78-page report that found questionable record-keeping by council members and their staff. It recommended that council members stop carrying money in their taxpayer-funded accounts from one year to the next. At the time auditors began their research into council spending, the members' combined account balance totaled $2.2 million.

Council members use the accounts to pay for things such as required training, travel, office supplies and distributing newsletters. Some council members have used the money to pay for catering, to send flower baskets to relatives of deceased constituents, and even to compensate family members for city-related tasks.

Council President Ceasar Mitchell said the council is working on a strategic plan on oversight, operations and organization that should result in implementing some of the auditor's recommendations. That plan should be completed during the second half of this year, he said.

"The recommendations are not lost upon the council," Mitchell said in a telephone interview. "I'm pretty sure some of the recommendations will be considered and implemented."

Councilwoman Felicia Moore said she will ensure the recommendations are addressed at the council's next retreat.

"I don't think we should hold ourselves to any different standards," Moore said during the meeting.

Council members requested the audit in late 2008 after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked for its spending records. A subsequent article on council spending resulted in Mitchell and Councilman Kwanza Hall reaching settlements with the city's ethics board for code violations regarding how they used some of their city-funded accounts.

The audit included nine recommendations, including that a council member not spend more than is in his or her account during a particular budget year and that council staff members be given ethics training.

Seven council members and then-Council President Lisa Borders agreed to the recommendations. Eight other council members did not respond to the audit.

Some council members said at the time that they did not want to return money that they didn't spend in a particular year because they use it for various neighborhood improvement projects in their districts.

Ward also pushed city officials to address other recommendations that she fears could put Atlanta in violation of federal guidelines. Her concerns include the city hiring temporary workers and properly classifying contract employees.

Auditors looked at reports they completed from September 2004 through March 2009.