by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Even before the arrest of former buildings chief Billy Watson last week for taking payoffs from a janitorial service in exchange for safeguarding its City contract, the Mayor’s Office was already in the process of overhauling many of the City’s current departments. Chief of Special Initiatives & Communications Susie Wiles said the self-auditing process isn’t affected directly by Watson’s arrest.
“We started an exhaustive overhaul last summer of the way we do many things,” said Wiles. “For example, the City’s purchasing code had not been looked at since 1984. It was way overdue.”
Since then, the purchasing code has been virtually rewritten and a chief of procurement, attorney Devin Reed, has been hired. Wiles said the City’s purchasing department has now been “upgraded greatly.”
While the City is in the process of thoroughly looking at many other departments, Wiles admits that the task is both daunting and time-consuming. With over 7,000 employees and hundreds of contracts, there is a mountain of information that must be sifted through. And, she says, there may be more Billy Watsons out there.
“If someone is going to steal from you, there is no way you are going to stop it all,” she said. “If someone is going to take a bribe, there is not a lot you can do. You do the best you can to run things air tight, but of someone insists on defrauding you, it’s hard to catch them all.”
Wiles said the internal investigation into Watson’s case began on March 18, the day before Watson’s arrest was made public. Tony Zebouni of the General Counsel’s Office has been charged with reviewing all City contracts for everything from how long they have been in existence to negotiates them.
One of the things hindering the City’s ability to delve into Watson’s case is the fact they no longer have access to the files. Due to a number of media requests to examine the files, Wiles said the State Attorney’s Office has the files and won’t turn them over to the City or the public until the case is closed.
Outside of Watson’s case, Wiles said one of Mayor John Peyton’s top objectives to run the City like a business. An aspect of that philosophy is to examine all City contracts to assure they are legitimate and being awarded fairly. So far, Wiles said a few departments have been examined and the results have been pretty good overall.
“We have found a lot of things, not a lot of violations, per se,” said Wiles. “We have found that pieces of the code are outdated and some technology exists today that didn’t exist then.”
Wiles said a purchasing code that relates to the buying and selling of cows was found, a code that either needed to be dramatically updated or simply eliminated.
Wiles also said the self-auditing process isn’t a witch hunt, but rather a way to assess the current codes and educate City employees.
“We have instituted training so that no one inadvertently violates the law,” said Wiles. “We didn’t find much and we were pleased with that. We didn’t prejudge and the goal was more aspirational than punitive.”
As for the entire ordinance code and the many outdated laws on the books, Wiles said that is up to Peyton’s discretion.
“If the mayor determines that revising the ordinance code in general is necessary, we will do that,” said Wiles.