Dear Friends and Neighbors,
The county’s fiscal year starts on July 1 each year. Often, I issue an audit schedule that coincides with the calendar year, but this year, I issued a schedule in January and am also issuing a fiscal year schedule of audits that my office will start between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025. I wanted to share some information about the rigorous process we use to develop the audit schedule. Each year, we conduct a risk assessment at the county division level. The risk assessment currently has 14 measures, including:
- the life and safety impact if the division doesn’t adequately perform its core functions,
- whether the division provides services to help people meet basic needs. annual budget and staffing,
- how many complaints we’ve received about the division, and
- how recently we’ve audited the division.
Through the risk assessment process, we identify high-risk divisions. This helps ensure that the majority of our upcoming audits will be in high-risk areas. Anyone who works or lives in Multnomah County can share audit ideas with us. Based on the risk assessment and audit ideas we’ve received, staff in my office propose audits. Proposed audits are scored based on factors including the audit’s focus area, potential equity impacts, timing of the audit, and the potential for cost savings. Once we’ve developed a proposed schedule, I share it with my Community Advisory Committee for their input, and I then finalize the schedule and publish it.
I look forward to connecting with you in the community in the near future. My office is dedicated to serving and supporting Multnomah County community members, which is you.Wishing you a wonderful beginning to your summer season!
Thank you,
Jennifer
Contract Monitoring Audit Report
This month our office issued an audit report titled Contract Monitoring: Consistent countywide approach needed. This report builds on work that our has conducted for more than 20 years about why contract monitoring matters.
We conducted this audit because it is essential that the county’s contract monitoring practices be consistent and effective to make sure that people who need services are actually receiving them from contracted providers. Contract monitoring is how the county verifies whether the county and providers are meeting contract terms and performance measures.
We looked at the contract monitoring practices of the Health Department, Department of County Human Services, Department of Community Justice, and Joint Office of Homeless Services. Operations & Audit Director Annamarie McNiel and Management Auditor Michelle Greene reviewed 53 contracts and 232 invoices for 21 providers. They also surveyed providers to learn from their perspectives on contract monitoring.
We found that the departments, and divisions within the departments, were not applying contract monitoring practices consistently or equitably across providers, and that the timeliness of payments to providers also varied among departments and their divisions.
Our recommendations focused on improving the effectiveness of contract monitoring through improved standardization and coordination across the county to provide clear expectations and consistent procedures within the county and for contracted providers.
Audit Schedule Fiscal Year 2025
I am pleased to announce my office's audit schedule that promotes an accountable and equitable county government. We will get to work on the following audits to begin in fiscal year 2025, which my office will start between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025.
- Supportive Housing Services
- Elections Division
- Land & building purchases
- Countywide customer service
- Countywide trans and gender expansive inclusion
- County ethical culture survey (special studies)
- Reparations (special studies)
The full audit schedule description can be found here.
We’ve a Management Auditor opening
Use your analytical, research, and communications skills as a part of our team. As a Performance Auditor, you will be responsible for conducting performance audits of county government operations. We find out how well the county government is working, recommend improvements, and report to the public on our work.
You can submit your application here:bit.ly/ApplyMultcoAuditor
Applications close on Monday, July 1, at 11:59 p.m.
Community Engagement
On June 13, Management Auditor Mical Yohannes, College to County (C2C) Intern Kate Milne and I attended Multnomah County’s Juneteenth Proclamation. This annual proclamation recognizes Juneteenth when nearly-freed people in Galveston, Texas, were finally free from the horrors of chattel slavery, nearly two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation was co-sponsored by Commissioner Jesse Beason and the Employees of Color and the Queer-Trans People of Color Employee Resource Groups. We heard from a panel of four County employees about their work to advance racial equity, address systemic racism in the workplace, and the need for truth-telling and honest reckoning with our history to promote healing and reconciliation. Our office acknowledges Juneteenth as an opportunity to celebrate Black American history, heritage, and to affirm our commitment to working toward freedom and justice.
On June 19, Constituent Relations and DEI Engagement Specialist Raymond De Silva participated in the Word is Bond: Woodlawn Walking Tour. This was the second year my office joined the annual event. The tour was co-led by Word Is Bond Ambassadors Jahad Hudson Jr. and Mycah Alemseghed. It was a thought-provoking and reflective walking tour designed by Ambassador Jahad. He shared personal stories of challenges and hopes through the route he would regularly walk to school as a student, in the Woodlawn neighborhood. The tour shed light on Black excellence and deeper understanding on issues faced by youth of color as they experience barriers to accessing equitable education opportunities in the midst of gentrification.
You can view our event highlight video reel here. If you’d like me and or staff to attend or speak at a meeting with your community group, simply fill out this form.
