An ongoing forensic audit reminds Brighton of the past while councilmembers and residents advocate for forward movement.
Two Hills Accounting, the forensic audit firm, will update council on Jan. 28 the audit’s progress so far. Finance Director Maria Ostrom said the audit is on track to finish by the end of February.
While Two Hills probably won’t provide its findings, the audit’s near completion is interesting enough. Before, during and after council approved the audit in July, councilmembers worried it would take too long. However, it seems that Brighton will soon find out if utilities funds were mismanaged criminally.
In October 2018, former City Manager Philip Rodriguez informed council about issues with the utilities funds. Over time, those concerns grew into suspicion of criminal activity. Residents urged councilmembers to approve the audit July 2. That meeting was the first time that residents threatened to recall former Mayor Ken Kreutzer. Two weeks later, five councilmembers voted to dismiss Rodriguez.
Eventually, residents recalled Kreutzer primarily over the belief that Rodriguez was fired to cover up the funds. In previous years, the utilities department spent a small percentage of its budget for projects.
While some suspect criminal activity was involved, Ostrom said, “It’s still my sense that there’s nothing wrong.” It looks like projects didn’t get done, she said, “but the money is in the bank account. I’m not finding any evidence of any wrongdoing of how money was spent and accounted for.”
Council hired Two Hills in November for $54,000 and has been interviewing employees, including former ones, to conduct research, Ostrom said. The finance director added that she’s submitted “hundreds and hundreds” of records to Two Hills. She said she provided the firm with data about customers’ bills, payrolls costs, project costs, previous year’s audits and breakdowns between different revenue sources to the funds.
Ostrom said Two Hills is “very professional. The audit is exactly what I expected.” She doesn’t currently and won’t know, however, about the findings. Council and Two Hills agreed that any findings be shared with staff and council at the same time.
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