CRYSTAL CITY: A tale of two audits
Crystal City, Olympian Village under scrutiny from state auditors
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| Andrew Jansen Photo Crystal City will be audited by the state Auditor's Office after citizens signed a petition asking for the audit. |
Not all city officials are convinced the visit, which could cost the city up to $30,000, is warranted.
But others in the community feel the move is long overdue.Deep fissures have been exposed in Crystal City in the wake of the city's decision to work with Wings Enterprises Inc. to bring a $1 billion iron smelter to town.
Proponents of the plan point to high-paying jobs and new, cleaner technology.
Those aligned against the plan say it will destroy the character of the city and adversely affect property values.
Both sides have been full-throated in their denunciation of the other, with lawsuits, late-night phone calls, highly contentious board meetings, petty vandalism and coordinated efforts to reshape the city's political landscape all by-products of the turmoil.
An anti-smelter group, Concerned Citizens for Crystal City (C4) successfully endorsed a slate of anti-smelter candidates for election to the City Council in April, tilting the balance of the board from pro-smelter to against the plan.
The new council has also called into question many city operating procedures, and voted to suspend longtime City Clerk Debbie Johns for alleged misuse of city phones.
While the board reinstated Johns shortly thereafter and voted last week not to pursue that matter further, more scrutiny is on the way.
After collecting more than 400 signatures of registered voters and submitting those names to State Auditor Susan Montee, city officials will be visited in the near future by an audit crew.
The crew will oversee city operations, examine records and ask questions.
"We're going to try and begin within 90 days," said Samantha Brewer, spokeswoman for Montee's office. "It typically takes 60-90 days for the fieldwork to be completed."
Jack Ginnever, a C4 spokesman who lives just a handful of yards from the proposed smelter, said the audit reflects the will of the citizens.
"We don't feel this is for C4," he said. "The reason we're doing this is for citizens. We went door-to-door to find out how people felt and the citizens wanted an audit, not C4."
Not everyone is convinced the audit is necessary.
In fact, some see it as a vindictive move motivated by lingering animus over the smelter controversy.
Ben DeClue, Ward 2 councilman, who voted in favor of the smelter, said C4 members misled voters into signing the petition.
"The state audit is being done because C4 went around and told everyone we were a bunch of crooks at City Hall and convinced them to sign a petition," he said.
Johns said several people had contacted City Hall claiming they were unaware C4 members were behind the petition drive when they signed.
Not true, claims C4.
"The voters voted 65 percent in favor of the same values and options C4 did in the last election," Ginnever said. "How can anybody say we hoodwinked them to do an audit?"
As the recriminations go back and forth, members of C4 say they are forced to contend with serial misrepresentations of their organization.
Ginnever said the group has been criticized for being led by outsiders and financed by rival developer Tom Kerr- two allegations they flatly deny.
Ginnever said he's even been accused of working for casino interests scouting the site for business purposes-a claim he finds absurd.
"We're people who have an interest in (the property) being something besides an iron processing plant," he said.
Johns said the city, which has operated without a city administrator for years, instead relying heavily on the clerk's office, has made significant strides in procedure and transparency in recent years.
"We have a new credit card policy, a new procurement policy," she said. "It is much different from when I started (more than 20 years ago)."
Members of C4 have complained about the clerk's office failing to provide access to public records under the Sunshine Law and have complained to the attorney general's office about those requests.
Johns' office complained that many of these requests amounted to nothing more than an avalanche of paper designed to disrupt the office.
While the glare of the auditor's office may shed light on the state of city governance, the office wields no enforcement power and will merely issue guidelines anywhere from six-to-eight months following the report.
Meanwhile, In Olympian Village, the city is facing its second audit in several years.
At the time of the original inquiry, state auditors called the city one of the most riddled with problems it had ever come across.
With constant turmoil at City Hall and a controversial police department, several efforts to dissolve the tiny city were made, including one spearheaded by former Mayor Robert Link.
Due to almost total apathy on the part of local voters, that push proved futile, and long-festering resentments at City Hall continued to linger.
Another audit of the city and its court system was commissioned in early 2008. The partial results of that audit were made public last week, with problem areas such as money handling procedures, accounting and record-keeping still in evidence.
The audit also criticizes the city clerk and police department for failing to keep adequate records of traffic tickets issued and their ultimate disposition.
Because of spotty record keeping on behalf of the city, the audit has been delayed and will be ongoing.
Mayor Antonette Casey, who was re-elected this spring after a bitter impeachment battle, blamed the problems on past administrations and said the city was working diligently to rectify any issues.
"We have ground rules and guidelines now," she said. "We've run into a lot of roadblocks but we're making progress slowly yet surely."
