So, you think as a government Senior manager you can't get fired?
Well, after being rocked by a construction contract scandal, the Seattle School Board fired their Superintendent for not adequately supervising a manager who skimmed all sorts of funds.
They ALSO fired the CFO.
The firings took place after the Washington STATE auditors issued a report.
Some of the findings included:
- A manager over a "small business" setaside program created a company with the same name as the program, then cashed a check for $35,000 from the District school funds.
- The audit found that, through the District's small business program that the unsupervised manager managed, the District paid:
- $1,519,965.34 for services with a questionable public purpose
- $280,005.25 for services it did not receive and for services that benefitted a private company.
Apparently, they had really loose controls over payments less than $35,000.
READ the blog report from a construction consultant HERE about the firing.
READ the EARLIER blog posting HERE that lists more details and lists many weblinks to articles about the scandals.
Favorite Quotes:
"The school board's action of dismissing Supeintendent Goodloe-Johnson, came as the board attempted to restore the public's confidence in a district shaken badly by allegations of contracting fraud and mismanagement of public money. Goodloe-Johnson was fired for lack of management oversight relating to a scandal involving award of millions of dollars of questionable contracts awarded by a mid-level manager as part of the school district's small business development program."
Meanwhile, at Lake County School District, they are embroiled in a $7-million construction contract lawsuit after an outside audit firm completed a close out audit of a School Construction project. To my knowledge, the School Board didn't even have a public workshop on the issue, and no one was fired.
And, at the Lake County Board of Commissioners, they have had a string of fiscal fiascos but they did force some people out. However, there have been NO operational or "front end" audits of the $50-million judicial center construction that is taking place now.
And, this Seattle situation sure sounds a lot like the recent SHIP scandals that resulted in a manager being pushed out of BCC. AND, even though a new Audit Director has been in place FOR OVER A YEAR at the Court Clerk (who does operational audits of BCC), NO BCC performance audits have been completed or published.
It also seems that the Seattle news media made a big deal about the scandals, compared to the rather light coverage and lack of editorial opinions about local Lake County fiscal fiascos.
vj
