Chief Auditor Craig Trujillo details audit priorities, announces June retirement during Hartford budget hearing

Chief Auditor Craig Trujillo told the Operations Management Budget and Government Accountability Committee that he will retire on June 13 and delivered his department's annual budget presentation, describing priorities, staffing and the department's audit universe.

Trujillo said the audit office's mission remains unchanged and emphasized continuing professional certifications among staff. "I'm going to retire, June 13," he said, adding that he is working with staff and the audit commission on succession and handoffs.

Why it matters: the internal audit function provides independent reviews of city programs, internal controls and compliance. Council members questioned capacity, the department's process for handling unplanned audits and how findings are escalated, all items that affect the city's risk posture.

Trujillo described the office's workload and how it prioritizes audits. He said his office maintains a spreadsheet of auditable areas by department and estimated "about 80 auditable areas," which he and council members discussed alongside a council reference to a larger count. He explained the department ranks auditable areas high, medium and low and seeks to audit high-ranked areas about every three years, medium every five years and lows around every seven years.

Council members pressed on how the office handles unplanned or special investigations. Trujillo said the office triages by risk and exposure and will refer suspected misconduct to law enforcement when warranted but will not make immediate external referrals until the auditors have sufficient information. "If it's misconduct or fraudulent activity or suspected decision," he said, "do we take this to the Hartford Police for further investigation and or prosecution ... If we did find something, we wouldn't necessarily go directly to the department head or the police or anyone else, until we really had a good feeling of what it was." The committee asked for examples and was told past work included audits and special investigations at police-related operations such as pistol permits and ammunition purchasing.

On staffing, Trujillo said the office currently consists of four auditors plus the chief. He identified staff by first name during the hearing and noted recent turnover and hiring: Jay Johnson (who Trujillo said plans to retire in July), Donna (a long-time staff member), a fraud investigator on staff for about four years, and a new auditor who started in December and replaced Desmond Sinclair. In response to council questions about continuity, Trujillo said he is documenting duties and working with the audit commission and staff to identify internal and external candidates for the post-retirement vacancy.

Council members asked for more detailed documentation. Trujillo agreed to provide the committee the departmental spreadsheet showing auditable areas, their last audit dates and the high/medium/low ranking so members can see when specific functions were last reviewed.

The presentation closed with council members thanking Trujillo for his service; the committee recessed before the next department presentation.

Ending: Trujillo emphasized that the office will remain focused on audits, follow-up on recommendations and the fraud hotline; he and council members said they will continue the transition planning and asked for the auditable-areas documentation to be provided to the committee.