Audit calls into question Las Vegas city procedures
Many complaints said councilors were ‘not independent in relation to contracts they were debating and voting on’
A special audit released Wednesday by New Mexico’s state auditor recommends the city of Las Vegas take steps to avoid potential conflicts of interest involving personnel and proposes changes to contract and administrative procedures in a city with a reputation for hard-knuckle politics.
The findings include faulting the city for improperly changing an emergency purchase to replace damaged carpet into a far more expensive project to install hardwood flooring in city offices.
Employee complaints of conflicts of interest investigated by auditors included allegations of a romantic relationship between the mayor and a contractor and relationships between certain department heads in the city of about 13,000.
In producing the nearly 60-page report, which covers the period of Jan. 1, 2016, through Nov. 17, 2017, Porch & Associates LLC conducted 32 interviews and provided questionnaires to employees, citizens, elected officials and department directors.
The special audit was commissioned after the state auditor “received information raising concerns related to procurement practices, budget compliance, personnel issues, and other transactions,” the audit states. The City Council voted for the audit in order to evaluate those concerns.
“Almost every person interviewed expressed concern regarding the installation of hardwood flooring at the City,” the audit states. The reinstallation of a drinking fountain in City Hall had caused a leak requiring carpet and flooring
replacement. The winning bid of $8,998 at first qualified for an emergency procurement, but a change that included installing hardwood flooring in undamaged offices should not have occurred, the audit said, finding that replacing the carpet with hardwood flooring “was not necessary.”
“The City improperly converted an emergency procurement in the amount of $10,000 for the replacement of carpet to a project costing approximately $94,000 for the cleanup of water and conversion of the city offices from carpet to hardwood,” the report said. “The cost of this additional work was $84,204. The work performed was to replace all carpet in city hall with hardwood instead of just the damaged carpet.”
A number of those interviewed claimed city contracts were being awarded to one construction contractor who they referred to as Mayor Tonita Gurulé-Giron’s boyfriend. Eight people interviewed “believed that the mayor was giving contracts to her boyfriend instead of following the procurement code.”
Auditors “asked if anyone had a picture of them being romantic such as holding hands or kissing, or if anyone could provide any evidence at all that they were actually boyfriend and girlfriend.” No one could provide evidence and “without proof, these statements are useless,” the audit states.
Gurule-Giron was questioned about her relationship with the contractor, who she said had been her campaign manager. “She denied that the contractor is, or was, her boyfriend” and “she stated that they have a personal relationship, meaning they go to movies and dinner, but that they do not have a romantic relationship.” The mayor said she didn’t have any part in the procurement of services from the contractor.
The mayor is apparently about halfway into her first term, but the audit noted a conflict in city laws: The city charter says the term is four years while the city code says two years.
“How can the city operate properly when their governing documents conflict with each other?” said the audit, adding that documents should be reviewed and updated.
Gurulé-Giron, who won a runoff by 23 votes in March 2016, hoped the audit would put to rest allegations of financial irregularities. “I know it will be a clean audit,” she told The New Mexican last year.
Auditors were pointed to “concern over one particular relationship” during their interviews.
The fire chief is the brother of the city clerk/human resources director and is also the boyfriend of the human resources manager, leaving fire department personnel feeling they can’t approach those managers with personnel or human resources related issues, the audit said.
Managers told auditors they recused themselves from fire department issues, but the report recommended the city hire an outside third party with no ties to the city to oversee personnel and human resource issues in the department.
There were many complaints and concerns that councilors were “not independent in relation to contracts they were debating and voting on” and were “not independent in respect to the city having contracts with the council members’ employers, or council members had family members who owned businesses with which the city had contracts,” but no violations of the law were discovered, the audit states.
The city lacked procedures for disclosure of all potential conflicts among parties, the audit said, recommending “the city develop a robust system to identify and disclose all real and potential conflicts of interest and all related parties” and that the information be made public at council meetings and posted on the city’s website.
The audit also recommended “an internal control procedure” to prevent payment on an expired contract, something that had previously occurred.
Contacted Wednesday, Las Vegas city spokesman Lee Einer said by email that the city administration “welcomes such constructive input” in areas the audit noted for improvement.