Hamilton County audit group pushes for better communication | Chattanooga Times Free
Better communication from the Hamilton County mayor’s office could have prevented friction with county commissioners over the cost of moving a Chattanooga magnet school to a new location, the chair of the Hamilton County audit committee said Thursday.
Committee Chair Amie Haun’s comments came during discussion of a seven-page report by Hamilton County’s auditor, Chris McCollough. The report is framed as a review of allegations the auditor says were made in a Chattanooga Times Free Press news story about the school project cost in October.
The news story noted that an architectural report commissioned by County Mayor Weston Wamp pegged the cost of moving the Center for Creative Arts to the Westside at $80 million. Commissioners were provided with a $40 million estimate for the Westside school project when they voted in August for a $260 million bond issue to support that school project and others.
Wamp has said the $40 million estimate was meant to cover the cost of starting a new career and technical school at the former BlueCross BlueShield Golden Gateway campus in the Westside neighborhood. It wasn’t intended to reflect the cost of moving CCA to the Gateway site, his office has said.
No representative of the mayor’s office addressed the committee Thursday, though the mayor’s chief of staff attended.
THE REPORT
County Commission Chair Jeff Eversole, R-Ooltewah, authorized an audit to look into government officials’ actions in response to the October news story.
The audit consists of several steps, first a report authored by McCollough, who is appointed by Wamp and confirmed by the commission, and reports to both the mayor and the commission. A second step was audit committee review of the report, which happened Thursday.
The committee took no action but is expected later to send its findings to the county commission.
State law on general audits gives auditors the ability to review items such as bank statements, as well as other records and accounts, including those produced by judges and school superintendents. Auditors can also call witnesses during their investigations. The county’s audit encompassed “email correspondence (575 pages), contracts, purchase orders and resolutions relating to the project,” according to a copy of the report obtained by the newspaper.
McCollough wrote in the audit report that he also spoke with county officials involved in the project. He wrote in the report and said again Thursday that the provision of information about the cost of the project, including the $40 million estimate, represented more transparency than had been offered in the past on bond issues.
(READ MORE: Audit launched into school facilities activity by Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp)
COMMUNICATION
The audit report is broadly supportive of Wamp, and Haun, a certified public accountant, said during a Thursday meeting that she generally agreed with it.
But she said that including the $80 million project estimate from MTa, a Chattanooga architectural firm, as an attachment before commissioners voted on the bond might have saved some heartache.
“I believe that had the MTa report been included as an attachment, during the commission meeting, along with this, and this $40 million having more of a disclosure item of what the $40 million was to cover, there might not have been that many misunderstandings about what was discussed at that commission meeting,” Haun said, referencing exhibits attached to the report produced by McCollough. “So, communication could be improved.”
County Commissioner Chip Baker, R-Signal Mountain, who also sits on the audit committee, said that he also felt communication could have prevented misunderstandings between the commission and the mayor’s office.
“My whole thing was, all of this could have gone away with better communication, which is what I’ve been preaching,” Baker said. “I agree with the report. It’s just the way everything was handled.”
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.
Contact Mariah Franklin at mfranklin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.
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