Civil Lawsuit Prompts Second Audit for LP&L
By: Monica Yantosh
Updated: March 5, 2013
A lawsuit alleging hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraud led Mayor Glen Robertson to call a City Council meeting Tuesday to discuss a special audit of LP&L.
"More in depth one that has to do with procurement procedures, how they go out and bid projects, how they pay for the project, that sort of thing," said Mayor Robertson.
City Manager Lee Ann Dumbauld requested this second audit of LP&L on top of their annual financial audit.
"She was unwilling to sign off on the finances that by law we need her to sign off on unless she got this audit," said Mayor Robertson. "If she doesn't sign our financial statements, that's going to affect our bond rating and our credit ratings."
The concern was prompted by a lawsuit, filed by an LP&L contractor against an employee they claim submitted fake invoices for hundreds of thousands of dollars of work he never did.
Councilman Victor Hernandez said he just wants to find a way to take care of the issues. "What do you need to straighten out this mess, and the board would direct their CEO, we would direct our city manager, whatever information is needed, get it out in the open," said Hernandez.
Mayor Robertson said he hopes to only see two issues raised by the second audit, both of which he's already aware of.
"A communication problem, which we know we have, and a flow of information issue, which we know we have, I hope that's all that comes out of it, because that's two problems that we can solve," said Mayor Robertson.
"More in depth one that has to do with procurement procedures, how they go out and bid projects, how they pay for the project, that sort of thing," said Mayor Robertson.
City Manager Lee Ann Dumbauld requested this second audit of LP&L on top of their annual financial audit.
"She was unwilling to sign off on the finances that by law we need her to sign off on unless she got this audit," said Mayor Robertson. "If she doesn't sign our financial statements, that's going to affect our bond rating and our credit ratings."
The concern was prompted by a lawsuit, filed by an LP&L contractor against an employee they claim submitted fake invoices for hundreds of thousands of dollars of work he never did.
Councilman Victor Hernandez said he just wants to find a way to take care of the issues. "What do you need to straighten out this mess, and the board would direct their CEO, we would direct our city manager, whatever information is needed, get it out in the open," said Hernandez.
Mayor Robertson said he hopes to only see two issues raised by the second audit, both of which he's already aware of.
"A communication problem, which we know we have, and a flow of information issue, which we know we have, I hope that's all that comes out of it, because that's two problems that we can solve," said Mayor Robertson.
