Public commenters press Glendale committee for stronger independent audit oversight

Public commenters at Glendale’s Special Charter Review Committee meeting on Jan. 8 urged the panel to prioritize stronger audit oversight and greater transparency in contracting.

Herbert Milano said he wants the committee to call a special meeting to consider a charter amendment that would “empower a much more viable, strong, and independent audit committee” to protect taxpayers and improve oversight of requests for proposals and contract awards. Milano warned that corruption is a risk in every government and cited an asserted local figure—"out of 91 contracts exceeding $1,000,000 in the last three years, they audited only 3"—as an example of inadequate review.

Edgemond Hagopian, who deferred his time to Milano and described long experience implementing enterprise-resource-planning systems, said his group had found prior instances of fraud in local transactions and reiterated the need for accessible contracting data. Caller Beth Brooks told the committee the city deserves a transparent council and urged charter measures to put systems in place that test whether council decisions meet objective public-benefit criteria.

Committee members acknowledged the concerns but did not adopt any immediate charter amendment on audit oversight at the Jan. 8 meeting. Staff and the committee noted they would incorporate public comment into staff work and return recommended charter redlines for future consideration.