City accepts auditor general's report recommendations

The city has accepted all 39 recommendations tabled in the annual report of Ottawa's auditor general, Ken Hughes.

The six audits looked at:

• OC Transpo's sole-source contract for lost and found items with Heartwood House from 2001 to 2014, which involved "an actual or potential conflict of interest involving one city employee," according to a media release from the auditor general's office.
• OC Transpo's bus service cancellation alerts, which "are not issued as promptly as they could be, and at times, are communicated after the next scheduled bus should have gone by."
• Governance of the IT department, specifically that turnover of the chief information officer position since 2012 "has been substantial and there is no succession plan."
• The city's environmental assessment process, which "needs to assess the impact of legislative changes on projects in progress."
• A fear of reprisal with some municipal employees for reporting questionable behaviour.
• A new parts purchasing initiative, which "increased the cost of parts and did not reduce delivery delays."

Hughes also reviewed two complaints made to the fraud and waste hotline:

• That "City management relied on a developer's appraisal instead of obtaining independent appraisals when it paid $1.3 million to buy the George Nelms Sports Park."
• And that a $50,000 community benefit program payment didn't follow standard procedure.

"Management is committed to finding better ways to monitor, measure and assess the work we do in order to improve overall performance, streamline operations and deliver value to Ottawa residents," Kirkpatrick said in a statement.