Montgomery County's Audit Committee on Nov. 2 pressed the county Police Department for a clearer timetable and evidence showing progress on recommendations from an inspector general audit of police financial-management processes, and agreed to send a letter to Chief Yamada requesting a status update within two weeks.

The committee highlighted the police audit as the longest-open case the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is tracking. Inspector General Meghan LaMarzee told the committee the police recommendations have been open "about 580 days" and that the office's average open time is approximately 283 days, skewed by the police audit. The committee said the delay is unacceptable and asked for documentation of policies or procedures the department says it has put in place.

LaMarzee described inconsistent information from the police department and said the OIG plans to engage with police leadership after recent changes in the assistant chief position overseeing the relevant unit. She also said some obstacles to adopting the recommended policy or procedural changes have been reported to involve union agreements. "We have gotten inconsistent information, and so we are to a point with the police department where we really do recognize we need to engage with leadership," LaMarzee said.

Councilmember Lukey said the department should not need repeated prompting from the OIG. "The ball's in their court, and these are corrective actions that should have been taken care of long before now," Lukey said, urging the police to provide a list of what is done, what is in progress and what has not been started. Lukey added that if the police claim a new policy is in place, they should "send it" so the OIG can close the recommendation after reviewing evidence.

Committee members settled on a path of written follow-up: the audit committee will send a letter formally requesting the police department's update and the name of the assistant chief now responsible for the management-services function. Several members recommended setting a two-week deadline for the department to produce the requested documents or explain why it cannot meet that deadline; the committee also discussed escalating the matter to the county's CAO if the department fails to respond.

The OIG told the committee it routinely checks departments on a roughly 90-day cycle for evidence that corrective actions are implemented; it closes recommendations only after analyzing supporting documentation. LaMarzee said if a department provides the requested evidence, the OIG will close the relevant recommendations.

The committee did not vote on a binding sanction but agreed to the letter and further oversight. The committee also noted it will continue to spotlight long-running recommendations during public audit committee meetings.

The committee asked the OIG to return for the next scheduled oversight session in November (the transcript records a next date as "20 first at 09:30").