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Council Meeting
Tuesday September 25th @ 6pm
City staff implemented all 11 recommendations from our October 28, 2014
audit
. Results: reduced use of overtime, better management of compensatory time, and improved efficiency.
Are customers billed correctly based on their actual refuse collection levels? Are they signed up and do they receive the refuse, recycling and plant debris collection service they paid for? We found opportunities for improving both billing and service delivery.
The City Manager's office, Finance, Information Technology and Public Works completed 7 of the 12 action items from our September 20, 2016 audit, and will report to Council March 12, 2019 on 1 remaining unimplemented and 4 partially implemented recommendations.
Our July 1, 2014 audit recommended action for Council, Public Works, and Information Technology to:
- Refine and reaffirm commitment to zero waste goals, and ensure sufficient resources and approve a strategic plan and priorities (Council)
- Prepare a strategic plan, detailed annual outreach, enforcement, and work plans; improve the Zero Waste website; identify analytical and reporting needs, and explore less frequent collection (Public Works), and
- Improve assignment of responsibility, reports, measurement, route software and customer complaint monitoring (Public Works, Finance and Information Technology).
Of 15 recommendations, staff fully implemented 3 and partially implemented 2; one (less frequent collection) was determined by Public Works to be impractical and will not be implemented. Staff has not yet implemented the remaining 9 agreed upon recommendations. However, as Tuesday night's report notes, the Zero Waste Commission recommended, and Council approved, issuing a request for proposals to develop a Zero Waste Strategic Plan. Council also approved a contract on July 24, 2018 for a Rebuild Feasibility Study for the Solid Waste and Recycling Transfer Station.
This is a time of crisis and opportunity for Zero Waste. Action Item #29 Recycling Markets Update from Public Works makes clear the rapidly developing risks to the economic viability of Berkeley's recycling program and the need for Council action and significant public education and behavior change. The risk to the planet is also heightened. China's National Sword policies and tariffs directly target recycling/recovery of paper and plastic; low-value plastics sent overseas may end up landfilled or as ocean pollutants.
In response to this market crisis, Berkeley has the opportunity to once again take a leadership role in moving zero waste efforts to the next level. Timely implementation of our audit recommendations for strategic planning and public education is critical to developing and executing a well-thought-out plan for action.
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- Follow Up Audit of Public Works Equipment Replacement Fund
- Dispatch Workload
- Fire Prevention Inspections
- Library Tax
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How do our audits make a difference? The City Auditor's Report on Results Fiscal Year 2018 shows some of our reports and how city staff used them to make Berkeley work better! We highlight three systemic issues that put effective service delivery at great risk:
* Unwritten, unclear expectations
* Software systems access risk
* Staff capacity: the risk that existing staff cannot keep up with their relentlessly expanding workload threatens operations and strategic planning.
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Thank you for your continued support for our work to help Berkeley deliver services in a more efficient, effective, and equitable way. Please contact me at
[email protected]
or at 981-6750 with your questions or comments. I'm always happy to hear from folks who want to get more involved. I look forward to hearing from you.
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Sincerely,
Ann-Marie Hogan, City Auditor
City of Berkeley Auditor's Office |
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| Audit News
from
the City
Auditor September 2018
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