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Oversight committee hears controller—s audit schedule, upcoming bond issuances and work-plan adjustments due to COVID deployments
Summary
Controller—s staff briefed the Citizens General Obligation Bond Oversight Committee that nine geobond expenditure audits are complete, the 2016 affordable housing audit is slated for issuance in March 2021, and the Seawall safety audit will resume after that; staff also outlined a proposed meeting cadence and plans for a housing perception survey and an independent whistleblower review.
Peg Stevenson (committee staff) and Anna Vandegna (public finance manager) walked the committee through the bond issuance calendar and the committee—s work plan. Vandegna said the city has been busy with geo bond issuances; upcoming items on the forward calendar include the affordable housing bond, the MTA bond sale, a health and recovery bond, and the Embarcadero Seawall issuance. She said staff is also working on a bond refinancing and a potential second issuance of a prior program.
Mark De La Rosa of the Controller—s office reported that nine geobond expenditure audits have been completed to date and that one audit remains in the pipeline. He said the 2016 affordable housing geobond audit resumed field work in December 2020 and is planned for issuance in March 2021. De La Rosa stated the Seawall safety expenditure audit is planned next in the audit program once the controller—s office completes the current pipeline work.
Committee staff described adjustments to the committee—s work plan because many staff were redeployed to COVID response; the office plans to reduce COVID deployments and resume regular work in the April—June quarter. Items to resume include standardized reporting templates, expenditure audits, nonprofit monitoring, and a public perception survey for housing bond programs. The committee discussed survey methodologies (intercept, phone, web) given COVID constraints and tasked staff to design a scope for survey work in the April—June quarter.
Members discussed public integrity assessments and an independent review of the whistleblower program. Mark De La Rosa summarized four completed public integrity assessments and three in the pipeline (citywide ethics reporting, DBI permitting/award procedures, and SFPUC commission contracting). The committee expressed interest in a user survey of the whistleblower program and additional external review options.
Next steps: the controller—s office aims to issue the 2016 affordable housing audit in March 2021; staff will develop survey scopes and continue to sequence bond program presentations across the committee calendar.
