The Orange County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved its next list of assignments for Performance Auditor Steve Danley, asking for audits of county services from project construction management to child protective services.
Supervisors at the meeting identified their top five priorities for the audit, and all agreed that construction management was a top priority.
Danley recently issued a scathing report on the county’s Human Resources Department. The audit found that during the height of the recession, when hundreds of rank-and-file employees lost their jobs, 75 management salary hikes were awarded without proper justification.
County CEO Tom Mauk and Danley became embroiled in a dispute over the report, with Mauk downplaying the salary hikes as a small issue in a much larger audit and Danley accusing Mauk of misleading supervisors.
Also on Danley’s new list are audits of the county’s fleet services, the county’s purchasing procedures, a clerk-recorder’s fund and the writing of staff reports for meeting agendas.
The list of audits isn’t yet set in stone. The audit of construction management will probably need the assistance of a consultant, Danley said. In light of a recent move by Gov. Jerry Brown to deduct $48 million from Orange County’s revenues, Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Campbell indicated that construction management might be taken off the list.
“Obviously we’ve got a $48-million problem. That may change the priorities,” Campbell said.