Tag Archives: Office of the City Auditor
Council adopts new rules for subpoenas
On Thursday, City Council adopted regulations that make it clear that the Ethics Review Commission may not seek information identifying whistleblowers or other witnesses in complaints about city officials or employees. In addition, Council designated the Council Audit and Finance…
The Code • By Jo Clifton • May 14, 2018
Commission: Former police monitor did not violate city policy
On Wednesday night, the Ethics Review Commission found that former police monitor Margo Frasier was not in violation of any city policy and did not impose any sanctions against her. By clearing Frasier’s name in a 7-2 vote, the commission…
City Hall • By Jessi Devenyns • Mar 23, 2018
Should the auditor’s office be exempt from municipal civil service?
Having an independent auditor’s office is integral to running a city where checks and balances fulfill their intended function. Independence, however, is not always easy to maintain, and in Austin, the Office of the City Auditor is working to balance…
City Charter • By Jessi Devenyns • Mar 19, 2018
Austin is full of anti-gentrification ideas, but most wouldn't have a direct impact
Since 2000, the city of Austin has had a lot of ideas about how to slow down gentrification. A task force recommended in 2002, for example, that the city educate residents about available property tax exemptions. In 2008, City Council…
Austin • By Audrey McGlinchy, KUT • Feb 6, 2018
Council members blast city savings program
Members of the City Council Audit and Finance Committee on Wednesday expressed outrage over the lack of oversight exercised by the city’s Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department in administering a program designed to help low-income residents learn how to…
City Hall • By Jo Clifton • Jan 25, 2018
Audit: Lax oversight in city savings program
City employees overseeing a program to help low-income residents pay for school, buy a home or start a business failed to provide the oversight necessary to prevent waste of city and federal dollars, according to a draft audit from the…
City Hall • By Jo Clifton • Jan 24, 2018
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Audit: City employees violated lottery rules
An assistant director of the city’s Human Resources Department helped to conduct a raffle last summer at an event sponsored by a large non-city organization. City employees participated in that raffle in violation of city HR policies, according to a…
City Hall • By Jo Clifton • Jan 19, 2018
Ex-Austin Energy employee found not guilty of ethics violation
After a drawn-out series of hearings over the last seven months, the Ethics Review Commission on Jan. 10 found that retired Austin Energy supervisor Stefan Sasko made no violation of the city’s ethics regulations. However, the ruling may have implications…
City Hall • By Jessi Devenyns • Jan 16, 2018
Audit: City jobs programs disorganized
The city’s workforce development programs are neither well-planned nor well-coordinated, and the city does not have reliable data to evaluate the success of the programs, according to an audit released last week by the Office of the City Auditor. The…
City Hall • By Jo Clifton • Nov 21, 2017
Auditor voices concern about erosion of trust
On Friday, the Office of the City Auditor turned over the name of and allegations made by a whistleblower, as well as the identities of several witnesses, in the investigation of alleged violations of city regulations by Margo Frasier, the…
City Hall • By Jo Clifton • Nov 20, 2017
Audit: City lacks system to track fee waivers
Some city departments are doing a good job of tracking fees they waive, while others fail to track those fees or do so inconsistently, according to a report that Office of the City Auditor staff presented at the City Council…
City Hall • By Jo Clifton • Nov 17, 2017
Commission subpoenas whistleblower notes
The city’s Ethics Review Commission has sent a subpoena to Nathan Wiebe, chief of investigations at the Office of the City Auditor, demanding previously protected information, including the name of and allegations made by a whistleblower against Margo Frasier, Austin’s…
