Audit pinpoints waste

PALMER — A recently completed audit of the Mat-Su Borough’s departments of emergency services and solid waste is already making waves.

The assembly has voted to withdraw $400,000 of the $813,615 the Borough’s Department of Emergency Services was set to pay Palmer for dispatch services and put it in a reserve fund. The audit, among other things, says the Borough is significantly overpaying for dispatch services.

Assemblywoman Mary Kvalheim, who proposed the change, said the assembly is likely going to review recommendations made in the audit and, as part of that, will take a good look at dispatch services.

“I want to put [the money] in trust until we know what to do with it,” Kvalheim said.

Deputy Borough Manager Marian Romano and Emergency Services Director Dennis Brodigan said the Borough could potentially save more than $200,000 on dispatch, but that estimate is theoretical until the Borough renegotiates its contract with Palmer.

The assembly gave similar treatment to the solid waste division, moving to fund the department only until members can figure out whether they’re going to keep the current setup whereby contract workers fill many of the department’s positions or move the operation in-house using Borough workers.

The audit, prepared by Dhillon Management Services and dated May 2, says solid waste managed money in a manner that was, well, wasteful. The auditors also pointed out “alarmingly” high rates of employee absenteeism and under-working employees.

But the harshest words seemed to be reserved for emergency services.

“The Borough is at great risk, not only operationally but from a liability perspective, in that the Department of Emergency Services appears to be poorly organized and managed,” the report states.

The audit goes on to say that the department doesn’t have enough oversight. The department answers to Borough Manager John Duffy, who is overtaxed and unable to properly oversee the department. Further, the department’s director — Brodigan — needs to spend more time focusing on administrative and strategic work.

The auditors also found fault with the department’s emergency response plan, saying it wasn’t adequate.

Brodigan, for his part, said he agrees with some, if not all, of the recommendations.

The emergency plan, for example, needs work. That’s why Brodigan has staff working on it — Tom Smayda, who signed on at the end of last year. The department could use a strategic plan, but most Borough departments are working on those or have recently completed them, emergency services included, Brodigan said.

In general, Brodigan said the audit “points out to us where the gaps are and is a good tool to fill those gaps.”

He also disagrees on a number of points.

Ideally, he would like to spend his time doing administrative and strategic work. But the structure of the department allows few opportunities to delegate work.

Emergency services is the largest department in the Borough in terms of number of people employed, but 93.88 percent of the department is paid on-call responders, Brodigan said. Those folks have day jobs and come out mainly to run ambulance calls or douse fires. They don’t generally have time for desk work delegated from Brodigan.

As to whether the department is teetering on collapse or in danger of putting the Borough in a situation of undue liability, Brodigan said he doesn’t think auditors were in a position to make that claim.

“The type of audit that they did,” Brodigan said, “I don’t believe that they could draw those conclusions just because they didn’t see evidence of paperwork.”

As to the quality of his department, he said it’s far from shoddy.

“I think, quite frankly, that all evidence is to the contrary,” he said. “The service delivered here is very good.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiers-man.com or 352-2270.