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The San Diego Association of Governments\u2019 internal auditor, whose damning reports have exposed major policy problems and drawn scrutiny on current leadership, is retiring \u2014 and she may be the agency\u2019s last in-house watchdog.<\/p>\n
SANDAG board leaders are considering replacing Independent Performance Auditor Mary Khoshmashrab with outside consultants when she leaves later this year. It\u2019s also a move that could keep her office\u2019s oversight function hanging in the balance \u2014 and one that has left members of Khoshmashrab\u2019s five-person team with unanswered questions on whether they\u2019ll still have jobs.<\/p>\n
Officials also decided to delay any decisions on policy changes the agency\u2019s Audit Committee is seeking to gain\u00a0more independence<\/a> from the board.<\/p>\n With a $1 billion annual budget, the San Diego Association of Governments is a taxpayer-funded planning agency that helps make transportation and other long-term regional decisions. Reports from its independent performance auditor have flagged serious policy and documentation problems at the agency.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to make sure that I\u2019m on the record saying that I don\u2019t have a preference,\u201d Chairwoman Nora Vargas said at the board\u2019s Executive Committee meeting Friday. \u201cI just want to make sure that we do our due diligence.\u201d<\/p>\n Since Khoshmashrab joined the agency in 2019, her audits have revealed\u00a0improper severance payments<\/a>, employee\u00a0credit card misuse<\/a>, and millions of dollars worth of\u00a0increases to consultant contracts<\/a>\u00a0with little documentation. Her office also found the agency\u00a0lost $1.8 million in revenue<\/a>\u00a0while it knowingly left malfunctioning equipment along its State Route 125 toll road.<\/p>\n Her findings have prompted public criticism of the $1 billion, 400-person agency, and at least one board member has\u00a0called for a review<\/a>\u00a0of CEO Hasan Ikhrata\u2019s job performance.<\/p>\n The decision to have SANDAG\u2019s legal counsel study other options to replace Khoshmashrab means any possible recruitment would be delayed at least a month. Rebecca Jones, the lone Executive Committee member to oppose the delay, questioned why officials wanted to postpone and said it \u201cseems like we are trying to do everything to stop this process from moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like we are absolutely slow-walking this,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI can\u2019t think of any other word that actually fits what\u2019s happening here today.\u201d<\/p>\n Sean Elo-Rivera, the board\u2019s vice chair, disagreed.<\/p>\n \u201cA request for a legal analysis of the pros and cons of some of those changes, an opportunity for us to discuss that thoroughly all sounds like good governance, not like any attempt to slow-walk or to reduce transparency,\u201d he said. \u201cBy definition, there is more transparency because there will be more conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n But Khoshmashrab herself raised concerns.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that any one member of the board or SANDAG management including the general counsel, knowing the inherent risk and control risk this agency has had and continues to have and given the amount of federal and other public funding types that flows through this agency, would consider an outside consultant over an established internal office (OIPA) should be gravely concerning to the public regardless of the party preference,\u201d she said in a statement to\u00a0inewsource<\/em>.<\/p>\n The independent performance auditor position was created in 2017, under a state law that was passed after SANDAG\u00a0knowingly overstated revenue estimates<\/a>\u00a0during a campaign for a proposed sales tax hike. At the time, the agency\u2019s board decided to make the job an internal position.<\/p>\n The state law also created the agency\u2019s Audit Committee, whose members include outside CFOs and the former auditor of the Port of San Diego. The committee unanimously recommended moving forward with a recruitment process over the hiring of an outside official, arguing that keeping the position in-house is more cost-effective, maintains the auditor\u2019s independence and would avoid a monthslong proposal process to hire an outside firm.<\/p>\n Audit Committee Chair David Zito told board leaders that any gap in leadership at the independent auditor\u2019s office would hurt Khoshmashrab\u2019s already-small team.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the team itself feels like that it might not exist in a couple months, then you\u2019re at high risk of people just leaving and then the whole thing can fall apart,\u201d Zito said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what I would worry about and that\u2019s why I want to make sure we move on this quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n Khoshmashrab\u2019s audits have found the agency lacks adequate oversight, proper documentation and sufficient employee training. Last year, her office found \u201cimproper\u201d and \u201cquestionable\u201d payments on taxpayer-funded purchase cards, including nearly $70,000 at local restaurants and almost $250,000 in transactions on non-working days.<\/p>\n As\u00a0inewsource<\/em>\u00a0previously reported<\/a>, some of SANDAG\u2019s highest-paid staff made it a regular practice to hold business meetings at fine-dining spots and with bills topping out at more than $100 per visit. An outside government ethics expert describedthe transactions as a \u201cclear abuse\u201d of public money.<\/p>\n For her work, Khoshmashrab last year\u00a0received a 10% salary increase<\/a>\u00a0that brought her base pay up to $243,000. Her office has produced the audits despite being staffed far below the 15-person team she has said she needs.<\/p>\n Audit Committee member Stewart Halpern said while Khoshmashrab\u2019s findings \u201care not necessarily always complimentary and have been controversial,\u201d they have improved the agency and protected taxpayer funding.<\/p>\n \u201cHow do you expect to attract serious people when it becomes clear that the board seems to not really pay much attention to the well-intentioned and professional judgment of the advice of its Audit Committee members?\u201d Halpern said at a meeting Friday. \u201cI think that\u2019s a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n Khoshmashrab\u2019s latest audit, expected to be released in April, will further examine SANDAG contractors\u2019 performance, invoicing and any potential fraud. She has already warned the Audit Committee that the report has been difficult to complete because of the agency\u2019s poor records management.<\/p>\n Khoshmashrab plans to retire by July, but has told officials she\u2019s willing to stay on longer to ensure a smooth transition.<\/p>\n Original Article Link: SANDAG weighs shuttering controversial internal auditor\u2019s office (inewsource.org)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nWhy this matters<\/h3>\n
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