by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
That was part of the underlying message John Palombi, chair of the Taxation, Revenue and Utilization of Expenditures (TRUE) Commission, wanted to stress recently while reviewing audits with TRUE Secretary Greg Anderson.
The two, appointed volunteers on the advisory board that deals with fiscal responsibility, met recently to discuss three of the most recent Council Auditor’s reports on county funded court costs, Jacksonville Children’s Commission and City accounts payable.
“Nothing mandates we have to do this,” said Palombi of the review process. “We have to have fiscal responsibility, take a good look and find out if something is there.”
Though time was given to each report, it was the Children’s Commission report that alarmed both members the most.
“This is an interesting audit,” said Anderson. “I ended up reading it several times.”
At issue was the cash management and internal politics of the Don Brewer Early Learning Center, which Palombi characterized as “just as sloppy as could be across the board.” Anderson agreed with his assessment based on the report.
Both also agreed that with Florida Community College at Jacksonville taking it over and instituting better checks and balances, it appeared that Center’s problems could be in the past.
Such problems might be resolved for the former public-private partnership of the Brewer Center but steps needed to be taken, said Palombi, to ensure that such mishaps don’t occur in one of the largest such potential partnerships in the near future — the Jacksonville Journey.
“Before the Jacksonville Journey, we need to close the contractual loopholes,” said Palombi. “We probably need to apply lessons learned with future ones.”
As part of Palombi’s report, he said he’d contact City Council members on the potential loopholes and issues.
Palombi followed up the recent meeting with an Aug. 29 letter to Finance Committee Chair Michael Corrigan and expressed how the Jacksonville Journey Foundation presents an opportunity for accountability improvement.
In the letter, Palombi recommended that related City Ordinances, contracts and grants control the Journey’s accountability and effectiveness through: clarity of the mission, goals and performance measures; having scheduled performance progress reports; letting the Council Auditor have access to facilities and records; reporting of structural or mission changes; assigning a specific oversight committee; and having provisions for funding cessation.
Without looking at each public-private contract and their performances individually, said Palombi, the result could be a lack of public trust and the potential for corruption.
“We have to treat them all (public-private contracts) unique or else we open ourselves to Pandora’s Box,” he said.
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