Who audits the auditors?

This is more from that David Hammer series on building inspections we mentioned the other day. All of this has gotten more attention after the Hard Rock collapse but it is important to remember that the trouble at New Orleans Safety and Permits began before that. There were have been competing investigations run by the city, by the feds, and by the Inpector General underway for well over a year. 

Hammer's report focuses on an internal audit of Safety and Permits run by City Hall. Not sure how it relates to the multiple other investigations, exactly, but according to Hammer's source, there are problems. 

Now, the results of the full audit, obtained by WWL-TV last month through a public records request, suggest that the audit itself had several issues.

The sample of 720 inspection files reviewed in the audit showed around 20% noncompliance, as Montaño said. But the audit turned out to be composed of what one auditor who spoke to WWL-TV called a “haphazard” mixture of inspections conducted by in-house city inspectors — with GPS data to track whether they showed up at construction sites — and inspections conducted by private, third-party inspectors with no GPS data to track their whereabouts.

According to the auditor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the audit also didn't employ a regimented process to review the inspection files. Each auditor did it their own way, the auditor said, making it much harder to determine if the city had indeed made the type of progress Montaño touted.

“It shows an incohesive, improper audit,” the auditor said. “It was not a proper, across-the-board, cohesive methodology to determine which inspections were accurate and which ones need (additional) review.”

The other bit of context here is that this was taking place at the same time the city was reorganizing the whole Safety and Permits department into a new entity run by a short term rental executive. At that time the declared purpose of the new agency was to "shift the paradigm"of Safety regulation toward helping businesses and landlords "get creative" with the rules.

“Instead of someone saying no immediately, it’s someone saying, ‘Let’s find a way to accomplish what you’re trying to accomplish and still stay within our rules and guidelines, not skirt the system, but let’s get creative on how we can help you succeed. Because you succeeding is us succeeding.’ “

Hammer's story concludes by noting the new agency will "focus continually on auditing the inspectors' work." Very reassuring.

Still in disaster mode

It's been 15 years since the privatized building inspector system has been in operation. It was supposed to be a temporary response to Katrina but disasters never really go away.  And the legacy they leave is the emergency improvisation after one disaster becomes routine procedure during the next one. Eventually it just becomes the de-facto policy. Like, one could imagine now a suggestion to do away with the city inspector altogether and just farm the whole thing out permanently.  Never mind the inherent problems with that which we can spot in this description.

To keep projects moving forward, it seems that an increasing number of contractors are now pulling from a list of dozens of state fire marshall-approved third party inspectors, which contractors pay for.

One of the leading third party inspectors in the region, says they have seen a business uptick, in part because of the shortage of city inspectors. And many contractor say, 'no problem'.

“I will always use a third party inspector, it may cost, but i don’t have to wait,” said one contractor who asked not to be identfied.

Contractors say there are many advantages to using a third party inspector. Mainly they say, they can avoid scheduling problems like the one occurring right now, with the city permits office completely dark and shut down due to the cyber attack.

"They can get out there, and get it done, and they seem more proficient with codes, and what's going on," said Erdman.

The state approved the use of third party inspectors, 15 years ago.

"After katrina, we knew that different municipalities, would be short of personnel," said Luther.

Now, those third party inspectors are finding plenty of work, as the city moves to hire at least a half dozen new inspectors.

But, when the regulatory regime is riddled with corruption anyway, you can turn the whole thing over to private, for-profit interests and nobody bats an eye.  It's a familiar cycle and one that only becomes more profitable with each successive failure. Which is how disaster has gotten to be such a growth industry.

"Look, man, after this disaster there is big money!" -Ray Nagin

Who will investigate the investigators?

So here is an interesting timeline to consider. Ken Polite's independent investigation into improprieties at the city Safety and Permits office that may be associated with the Hard Rock collapse was launched by the city well before the Hard Rock collapse actually happened. We know the Inspector General and the feds were already looking into Safety and Permits themselves so the Polite investigation is probably the city's attempt to at least convey the appearance of a desire to suss out improper behavior.

We knew all of this already.   Or at least we thought we knew that much about a week ago when a Cantrell spokesman told us this.

"Kenneth Polite's law firm, Morgan Lewis, was engaged by the city several months ago to assist with our internal investigation into the Safety and Permits department," Tidwell said by text. "This investigation began prior to the Hard Rock collapse."

So, okay. I guess. This information about the Polite thing only came out because the Cantrell people were upset about City Council threatening to launch its own investigation in the wake of public protests against the city's handling of all of this so far. Anyway today they're saying something different. 

There also remain questions about the timeline and the legal basis of Polite's contract.

When Polite’s hiring was first reported last week, Cantrell spokesman Beau Tidwell confirmed the news by saying the investigation predated the Hard Rock collapse in mid-October. Polite, however, was not hired until last week.

Polite's investigation has been going on for months and months before Polite was actually hired. What?  What on earth is going on?

The contract was entered into outside of normal procurement procedures, under an executive order that allows such actions in “emergency situations.”

A memo justifying that exemption specifically refers to “Hard Rock collapse legal services” in its subject line, though the body of the document justifies the decision based on the need to “promptly investigate” the allegations of bribery in Safety and Permits.

Okay so the Polite's firm "was engaged by the city for several months" but was never officially hired because they didn't want to go through the standard bidding procedure in order to hire him. (Should add here that there have been numerous rumblings about logjams in city procurement stretching back before the cyberattack severely borked everything so this actually isn't very surprising.)  When they finally did hire him, they used the "emergency" declaration in order to ret-con the end run around the rules they were already doing. As they say here, the Hard Rock language only appears in the contract to "expedite" matters.

LeBeouf said the Hard Rock reference was made to expedite the process but that the collapse is not the focus of Polite's investigation.

But here is the thing.  Polite had been working for the city for several months before the collapse. And his hiring wasn't "expedited" until several months after it.  Why, after all that time, was there a sudden need to be expeditious?

Well, remember, the Polite thing did not even become public knowledge until late last month. The reason that happened was because the mayor's people were outraged at the idea that City Council wanted to hold its own hearings.  Why, we asked? Because that might interfere with ongoing investigations, they said.

"The New Orleans City Council is not accountable and have no authority as it relates to investigating Hard Rock,” Cantrell said. “So, I would say, ‘If you can’t help, don’t hurt. Don’t hurt the investigations that are ongoing right now.’”

Which investigations?  Oh you know the secret one Polite has been doing ever since... whoops!

And that is why they had to hurry up and finally officially hire Polite this week. It also explains why Cantrell got as mad as she did about the photographs of the exposed body of a victim of the building collapse after a tarp fell away from the site last month.  If that tarp doesn't fall down, then there are no photos. If the photos aren't shared on social media, then there is no protest. If there is no protest, then there is no City Council hearing. If there's no City Council hearing, then nobody ever finds out about any of this.

I mean we already know the Inspector General wasn't going to say anything about it.  He says today that he was aware of the Polite situation but didn't have any problem with it. That's kind of a strange view to take when your specific job as an IG is to be a stickler about city administration following proper procedures and stuff.

Safety and Permits

Ever since the day of the Hard Rock collapse, we've been wondering what, if anything the federal investigations into corruption at the city's office of Safety and Permits might have to do with it. It's been a little bit baffling to me that, despite the frequent questions from the public, there's been very little said about such a link either in the media or from any of the principals involved.

Interesting that only now, as City Council prepares to hold public hearings on the incident, does anyone feel obligated to speak up.

.@NOLAOIG warns City Council that its planned investigation of #hardrockcollapse "will interfere" with its ongoing criminal investigation of New Orleans permitting office. The IG's work already led to one federal indictment and multiple firings. https://t.co/Yej6WfdbLd

— David Hammer (@davidhammerWWL) January 28, 2020

Update: Speaking of those City Council hearings, the mayor says here she is still very much against that. She tells Channel 6 (incorrectly) that council has "no authority" to even hold a hearing. Also notice...

“The New Orleans City Council is not accountable and have no authority as it relates to investigating Hard Rock,” Cantrell said. “So, I would say, ‘If you can’t help, don’t hurt. Don’t hurt the investigations that are ongoing right now.’”

Sounds like she's been talking with the IG.