INEFFECTIVE, INEFFICIENT AND PRONE TO ERRORS

 

The City vehicle of  former COO Saundra Kee-Borges after it was crashed. Hartford's Auditors had concerns how she obtained the vehicle in the first place

 

That is how the Hartford Internal Auditors described the City of Hartford's  Take Home Vehicle policy , from the report "In addition, we found that the current process of accounting for and controlling City vehicles is ineffective, inefficient and prone to errors and omissions. " Surprise , surprise on that one.

Although the City of Hartford apparently does have a policy, it was never implemented due to Union objections.
"Although City Administration had developed and documented a "City of Hartford Vehicle Use Policy" (COH Vehicle Use Policy), which included provisions for City vehicles with commuter privileges, it was not formally authorized, issued and implemented. According to notations on the COH Vehicle Policy, it was effective August 1, 2011, however, after it was implemented by the City Administration a number of unions objected, took exception to it and it was subsequently retracted by the City Administration. " according to the report

 The report shows the lack of control and at one point states there wasn't even a process to determine that City Vehicle drivers even had valid drivers licenses. Another eyeopener in the report was a vehicle that logged almost a half a million miles, although the operator of that vehicle was not identified specifically in the report "We noted that the annual mileage on two of these vehicles totaled 90,927 and 495,865, respectively. " the report stated

The report also questions the process by which the vehicle used by COO Saundra Kee-Borges was obtained. That vehicle was recently crashed and was  totaled: From the report 
" A number of issues and concerns were raised regarding how a vehicle that was originally purchased and used by the Police Department ended up being assigned to and used by the Chief of Staff of the Mayor. We obtained a "Transfers or Deletions of Fixed Assets’ form from the Police Department relating to this vehicle. Based on our review of this form and related matter, we noted the following:

a. The vehicle was reported to be transferred to City Hall as of October 10, 2012. There is no indication on the form who requested the transfer of this vehicle. According the Police Department management, the Chief Operating Officer initiated the request for this vehicle to be transferred to City Hall.

b. The form was approved and signed by the individual responsible for managing the Police Department vehicle fleet on October 12, 2012. We believe that the transfer of assets from one department to another should be reviewed and approved by a higher level of management. As noted elsewhere in this report, related policies and procedures were not documented.

c. The form indicates that the vehicle was received by DPW ESD management on October 12, 2012. Police Department management informed us, however, that they personally delivered the vehicle to City Hall.

Police Department management informed us that this vehicle was transferred to the COO at her request and for her use. They also indicated that they were not involved in how this vehicle was assigned after the initial transfer. This represents an example of the policy, procedure and control issues relating to the management, oversight, assignment and use of vehicles with commuter privileges noted throughout this report.

The full report paints a complete picture of incompetence and mismanagement when it comes to City vehicles, it details almost 200 missing license plates that had been issued by DMV to the City.

Read the full report below

CityofHartfordVehicleInventory,AssignmentandUseAudit