There are two things that the city of Ashland should do to ensure that our government is operating as intended and to the benefit of the residents.
First, a third-party efficiency evaluation of ALL of the city’s departments. This would cost money, but it would pay back many times over, to be sure. It cannot be done from within. The City Council only knows what they are told by staff. Sometimes they contract for expert guidance, but never with an eye on internal operations.
Many of us assume that City Hall is bloated, inefficient and overstaffed. We need data to discover the reality, data provided by an impartial third party.
Second, an annual forensic audit. This would verify that all of the monies are being accounted for and used properly. This does NOT imply any wrong doing or bad actors. It is simply a verification that everything is proper.
This would be above and beyond the state-mandated annual audit, which is a cursory review of the bottom-line information that the finance department provides. It verifies that state laws have been followed and that there are no math errors in those bottom-line numbers. It does NOT verify those numbers, or any of the internal functioning of our finances.
Alison Chan, our previous interim finance manager, made it clear that the way the city has been accounting for its finances is “unconventional” to say the least, and that she would not allow it to continue if she were in charge. That observation by an “outsider” should by itself raise enough questions to examine the books. It has to be done from outside the organization, and has to be done on an ongoing annual basis.
Successful organizations routinely engage in these activities. The city of Ashland has amply demonstrated the need.
While it is important to raise awareness of the issues, it is not enough to simply complain about the city with broad strokes on social media. What’s needed is action. Only the City Council can make these things happen. We need to lobby the council incessantly until they take these basic measures to ensure that City Hall is functioning optimally.
Dean Silver
Ashland
