[{"_1":2,"_99":-5,"_100":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6610272,"mediaKeyId","2904564-29803af93b63f936acb973fb1ed7f265","parentId",2904564,"title","Pothole audit: Garland streets program shows improved tracking but gaps in documentation, measurements and staffing","audioSeconds",234,"startMs",3238000,"endMs",3472000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2904564-29803af93b63f936acb973fb1ed7f265&start=3238&end=3472","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2904564-29803af93b63f936acb973fb1ed7f265/thumbnail_3238000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6610272/Garland/Dallas-County/Texas/Pothole-audit-Garland-streets-program-shows-improved-tracking-but-gaps-in-documentation-measurements-and-staffing","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6610272-4f7a07602af15261e5c5a8cfd332a013/orig.mp4?Expires=1771197359&Signature=HWz0USaMWb50e3Hf1TO6Zvg0dSOJ4qZERnAWC7nCF~A2b4ONS02h4J78xTReDfIDE~W6KWsfPQvxCt6fjtIE5ZaI1-3ubgFJ4ynpZI2thh81W-5dyW3IBXeK21eJqu1oSGIrrosGQEW7gyRgzCLFDtNany-5B-k-pMaPmxxB44NvA5PymF~uE5oTkehvR4XlL8oKSHIABZ7fLXxGFJ-0tBqIum8gnVJIA~R-iEhbdMs2HAibFyzvRh6xLQ5jqw8IoXuU3bVGNhNx4i-y3HwrgbjMPxY-wDASLPLBZDk0qGngGlF3t7-7oHtd03d9ooiKaBUcVLjpQt24PhAjkgYWNw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Garland","date","2025-04-08T00:00:00Z","article","The Garland Audit Committee on April 8 reviewed an internal audit of the city’s pothole and major-patch repair program that praised improvements in work-order tracking but identified persistent gaps in data capture, measurement methods, invoice reconciliation and staffing.

Auditors told the committee the street-maintenance division manages roughly 2,357 lane miles of city streets and was budgeted about $5.1 million in fiscal year 2024, with approximately $1 million earmarked for pothole and patch repairs. The audit’s scope covered work from Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2024.

The audit’s principal findings included:
- Manual data capture and inconsistent measurement. Crews record daily job activities on paper job-tracking sheets and supervisors transfer those entries into Excel before final entry into the work order system. The audit found inconsistent or missing length/width/depth measurements and recommended equipping crews with simple measurement tools and using the work-order system’s electronic capabilities to record dimensions and material usage. Management set an implementation target of August 2025 for retraining and tools.
- Invoice and performance-data discrepancies. An analysis comparing vendor sales tickets, crew job sheets and supervisor Excel records found mismatches in tons used and square yards recorded. Auditors noted the supervisor’s Excel sheet currently serves as the program’s performance metric source and recommended consolidating records into the city’s asset-management/work-order system (Cartograph) to reduce manual transfer errors. Management plans a phased Cartograph rollout with a targeted August–October 2025 timeline for module deployment and reporting.
- Photographic evidence gaps. Auditors sampled about 70 completed repairs and found only six had both before-and-after photos; most lacked photographic evidence. The audit recommends requiring before-and-after photographs for repairs to document completion and support invoicing and performance reporting.
- Timeliness and staffing. The division’s targets are seven business days for potholes and 14 days for major patches; auditors found approximately 58% of pothole repairs met the seven-day guideline and about 80% of major patches met the 14-day guideline. The division has about 20 staff and reported five vacancies during the audit period. Staff reported recruitment challenges for frontline positions and said the department is reviewing compensation and application pipelines; managers said they will continue continuous recruitment and consider streamlined hiring requirements for entry-level roles.

Auditors recommended several operational and technology steps, including integrating eAssist citizen service requests with the division work-order system, equipping trucks with GPS and telematics to improve routing and productivity, evaluating AI-enabled detection on sanitation routes for proactive identification of roadway defects, and formalizing policies and standard operating procedures. Management concurred with most recommendations in whole or in part and provided implementation milestones: Cartograph phase 1 (including pothole module) targeted August–October 2025, policy/SOP build-out by November 2025, and periodic performance reporting thereafter.

Committee members praised the improvements and asked staff to report back on recruitment and on progress implementing the technology and reporting upgrades. Staff said some recommendations depend on staffing and system-rollout timelines but that they will proceed with training and the phased Cartograph implementation.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Garland - Audit Committee - Apr 08, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","An internal audit found Garland’s pothole and major-patch program has improved since a prior review but still relies on manual job sheets, lacks consistent before/after photos, has measurement and invoicing discrepancies, and faces staffing shortages; management plans digital rollout and training by late 2025.","taxTitle","Garland, Dallas County, Texas","taxId",2783,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6610276,"Audit: Garland’s wholesale wastewater agreements show metering gaps, late-fee losses and missed surcharges",399,369000,768000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2904564-29803af93b63f936acb973fb1ed7f265&start=369&end=768","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2904564-29803af93b63f936acb973fb1ed7f265/thumbnail_369000.jpg","/articles/6610276/Garland/Dallas-County/Texas/Audit-Garlands-wholesale-wastewater-agreements-show-metering-gaps-late-fee-losses-and-missed-surcharges","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6610276-3f00919e1dd0670f4b11f9c372ea558c/orig.mp4?Expires=1771197359&Signature=UUYv4ostUXmAj4G8rDveH4hcYUTynHqU2szZij3k2i6O8DEfRtA3RBLmFrLS4UfuS3Bj4OwYlwvtXOVMhKlDcHATWlJ47OICZsjC13HageS1WfIDFCTT9PcbzXPPEPGcBhRD5v7ho6tP6rN1W7mgDiK~3zeNPgcTktELWg3GvQugSOOU80yVm-Xzvi03E2kX382AAN-A11kUABxDscu9mmvVJd7p5pyCJTem2~Pz0XtLQB1fqggvrmskSJnQ3CqX4--xLiJpFj3FPM1K~Wz5fathIbUA3jeX8q-zSPRUb5kWxBAaaHU4FhLKKUlymeOPTjxDN~r~0ImXBcJGrnrcrQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Garland’s Audit Committee on April 8 received a comprehensive internal-audit review of the city’s wholesale municipal wastewater agreements that identified multiple compliance and billing gaps, including unmetered flows for Richardson, missed late-payment penalties, missing surcharges for excess biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and total suspended solids (TSS), and inconsistent sampling and meter calibration practices.

Auditor Erin summarized the audit, which covered billing and operational records from October 2022 through November 2024, saying generally that “meter reading data used for billing was found to be accurate and most agreement requirements are being met by the parties with some exceptions described in this report.” The report noted about 9,600,000,000 gallons treated over the audit scope and about $28,000,000 in payments received.

Key findings included:
- Richardson point of entry is unmetered. The auditor reported Garland has been using a flow estimate based on studies dating as far back as 1995 and recommended installing meters or commissioning a new flow study. The report noted growth in commercial development in Richardson since the most recent professional flow study in 2009 and warned this could lead to over- or undercharging. Management said Garland Water Utilities (GWU) has evaluated metering locations and is exploring feasibility and engineering options; substantive changes could require capital work and possibly renegotiation of long-term contracts that expire in 2027.
- Late-payment penalties are not being consistently applied. The audit sampled 48 of 150 bills and found 12 payments paid 7–70 days late; 11 of those were not charged late penalties, which the auditors estimated resulted in about $168,000 in foregone fees if a 5% penalty were applied. Some wholesale customers had late-fee exemptions configured in the billing system without a clear justification; Dallas and Richardson contracts contain no late-fee language. Management plans to seek the city attorney’s opinion on applying city-ordinance late fees to Dallas and Richardson, remove exemptions for some customers in the billing system, and include late-fee language when contracts are renegotiated.
- Surcharges for excess wastewater strength (BOD/TSS) are not being consistently assessed. The audit found more than half of sampled strength tests exceeded ordinance limits at least once and that no surcharges were identified during the review. Staff will request legal guidance on which calculation method to use for noncompliant wastewater surcharges and aims for an implementation target of September 30, 2025, for that guidance.
- Sampling gaps and calibration reporting. One Sunnyvale point of entry was not sampled at all during the audit period, and the Dallas entry lacked seven consecutive months of strength sampling. The Dallas meter calibration reports were not provided to Garland; the report noted calibrations are required every four months under the Dallas agreement, and GWU staff will request past and future calibration reports and coordinate with Dallas on access, citing ongoing highway construction that complicates access.
- Insurance and liability inconsistencies. An agreement with Dallas County MUD No. 4 required $5,000,000 general liability insurance; the policy on file initially showed a lower amount but GWU reported confirmation that coverage had been increased with documents awaited for review by city attorney and risk management.
- Meter-inoperable calculation methods and documentation. Agreements provide conflicting or incorrect calculation examples; Garland staff generally use a practical 12-month average method plus adjustments. The audit recommended clarifying contract language and documenting calculation methods when meters are inoperable.

Management concurred in whole or in part with the audit recommendations and proposed a mix of near-term administrative steps (remove exemptions from the billing system, request city-attorney opinions, improve sampling processes) and longer-term actions tied to contract renegotiations slated for 2027. Committee members pressed for an interim status update; Councilman BJ Williams requested a progress report to council within six months. City staff recommended a six-month status report to the committee to cover short-term fixes, with renegotiation of expiring contracts part of a longer timeline.

The audit also recommended operational steps to improve monitoring and enforcement, including periodic audits of billing system configurations, establishing or enforcing security-fund deposits for late-paying customers where contracts allow, and formalizing sampling and industrial pretreatment reporting with municipal customers. Several enforcement or recovery options (including HUD in other contexts) would be the responsibility of the respective state or federal agencies or dictated by contract terms.

Committee members thanked audit staff and GWU management and asked for a follow-up timeline; staff proposed specific implementation dates for administrative items (e.g., remove late-fee exemptions, coordinate on calibration reports) and a plan to negotiate contract language in the next two-year window ahead of 2027 expirations.

The presentation did not formalize new council policy at the meeting; it produced management directions and a request from the committee for periodic progress reports.","An internal audit of Garland Water Utilities found unmetered flows, missed surcharges on excess pollutant loads, waived late fees that may have cost about $168,000, and gaps in sampling and calibration across multiple municipal customers; management proposed a mixed schedule of short-term fixes and contract renegotiations through 2027.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6610281,"Audit follow-up: Housing authority reported related-party tenancy that triggered $69,000 federal finding",212,118000,330000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2904564-29803af93b63f936acb973fb1ed7f265&start=118&end=330","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2904564-29803af93b63f936acb973fb1ed7f265/thumbnail_118000.jpg","/articles/6610281/Garland/Dallas-County/Texas/Audit-follow-up-Housing-authority-reported-related-party-tenancy-that-triggered-69000-federal-finding","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6610281-ec594c636a2eb030ae89c6d930b4e9f8/orig.mp4?Expires=1771197359&Signature=NVfMOTYaNRloGiiZhv3O-g5D0k09~vM5nv-fDde3qWYyLDSb0gEaEBFUb-DDS4Rtq3Y8W6TIUk8fq2xkDZJR~zStw3NNupbdmL6ORNQHH5HtrBp4FIIRJQE2HvkU2NAoTi6DUgNBBm~jIshRdMDHcasBXP1T5LMuaRilJPOhAJcwUbR7JnoLarC-Rmg4ML1PClthhAHYeHs4J-LzQOKHIhXCAhqYtfdnK5prSsk~K8c1nz~K9bTnHK1FI05QCNZV-u-lH0Oc5T3dg8aNvqBY~S4MCeijAIsnowIcYsyioJHhXtehvSRGomtw6eq7BZtRhnS6S0ji-GdudbT1YiBNew__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The Garland Audit Committee on April 8 heard a follow-up on a Weaver single-audit finding that one housing-assistance unit had a landlord–tenant relationship that violated program rules, producing a questioned federal cost of roughly $69,000.

The committee was told the single-audit finding stemmed from testing of about 40 transactions and identified one unit with a family relationship between tenant and owner dating to June 2018. The auditor said anything over $25,000 is reported as a finding in the single-audit process.

The finding was presented by audit staff assigned to the Weaver engagement. Auditor Sarah summarized the matter: “During the course of testing for eligibility, it was found that the tenant and the landlord were related.” She told the committee the condition was one instance out of approximately 40 transactions and the cumulative questioned cost was about $69,000.

Garland Housing staff told the committee they terminated both the landlord’s participation and the participating household once the relationship was confirmed. Steve Fitch, identified at the meeting as director of the housing agency, said the agency reported the case to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and its fraud unit. “Once we found out that the parties were, in fact, related, we merely moved to, number 1, we terminated the contract with the not only with the landlord, but also with the family,” Fitch said. He added Garland had notified HUD to determine whether HUD would pursue recovery or further action.

Committee members asked for a status update on corrective actions. Councilman BJ Williams asked for a progress report back to council “on progress on this entity” and asked staff to bring recommendations to the city attorney’s office if ordinance changes or other legal steps were needed. City staff indicated corrective actions were in progress and that HUD had been contacted.

The audit follow-up did not present a formal motion beyond the committee’s routine business. Committee members directed staff to return with progress updates; Councilman Williams asked specifically for an initial status report within six months. City staff said they would coordinate with HUD and follow the audit’s action plan steps.

The committee closed the agenda item and moved on to the next report.","City auditors reported a single-audit finding that a Housing Authority unit had a tenant related to the owner, creating a questioned cost of about $69,000; housing staff say participation was ended and HUD's fraud office was notified.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Pothole audit: Garland streets program shows improved tracking but gaps in documentation, measurements and staffing

Audit: Garland’s wholesale wastewater agreements show metering gaps, late-fee losses and missed surcharges

Audit follow-up: Housing authority reported related-party tenancy that triggered $69,000 federal finding