Enforcement office reports staffing gains, clears long‑pending matters, flags five delayed audits

Enforcement staff told the Ethics Commission that their recent hiring and training work has improved timeliness and case management, but acknowledged a backlog in audit deliveries dating to the 2012 election cycle.

The enforcement report noted the number of matters older than 22 months is now zero and that investigators attended deposition and legal-writing training to prepare for active investigations. Senior staff said the office converted several preliminary-review matters into open investigations, which raised caseload numbers but lowered the average age of cases to 6.9 months.

Executive Director Pelham reported budget and staffing developments: the mayor’s proposed budget remained intact through the budget committee and is expected to be considered by the full Board of Supervisors on July 18; staff expect one additional full‑time equivalent post and several reclassifications. Pelham also announced two hires — Jeffrey Zumwalt for investigations and Pat Ford for policy work — to begin July 3.

Pelham disclosed an operational lapse: five audits from the 2012 audit cycle had not been delivered to the audited committees and will be sent with an apology; staff said these audits began in 2014, were completed in draft in 2015, and inadvertently were not finalized by the commission’s office. The commission directed staff to improve tracking of audits coming from the Controller’s Office and to report back on corrective actions.

Commissioners asked for additional detail in monthly reports (month‑over‑month new matters, trends of average case age) and staff agreed to add those columns going forward.