Acting city auditor Kyle Elser is recommending that his office be represented by an independent lawyer rather than the City Attorney’s Office.
In a recent four-page memo to the audit committee of the City Council, Elser said the office needs its own lawyer to protect its independence and to best serve the public interest. He requests a measure be placed before voters in November 2020 to pay for the legal help.
“The city attorney advises both the city auditor and city officials whom the city auditor is responsible for auditing and investigating,” Elser wrote in his Jan. 24 memo.
“Therefore, we believe that providing our office with the authority to obtain independent legal counsel is necessary to prevent potential perceived or actual conflicts of interest that arise due to the city attorney’s client relationship with the city,” the memo states.
The recommendation, which is expected to go before the council’s audit committee next month, is ed by Councilman Scott Sherman, the audit committee chairman who also is running for mayor.
“An independent city auditor has proven time and again to be in the best interest of the public by improving efficiencies in city operations and ensuring taxpayers dollars are spent wisely,” Sherman said in a statement. “Allowing access to independent legal counsel will prevent potential conflicts of interest and strengthen the independence of the City Auditor’s Office.”
Elser said larger government auditing and oversight offices often retain their own lawyers, including the San Diego Ethics Commission.
“According to the executive director of the Ethics Commission, the ability to obtain independent counsel has been essential to the independence of the Ethics Commission, and has also improved its efficiency and effectiveness,” Elser wrote.
California’s State Auditor also has access to an independent lawyer, Elser added. Three years ago, voters in Portland, Ore., ed a ballot measure that provided for an independent lawyer, Elser said.
“Best practices and professional standards call for the City Auditor’s Office to be structurally independent from the agencies that are subject to the auditor’s oversight,” a Portland City Council resolution stated.
The San Diego Ethics Commission budgets $180,000 a year for outside lawyers but spends only about $60,000 of that on average. Elser said his office would anticipate similar expenditures.
Neither the Mayor’s Office nor the City Attorney’s Office responded to requests for comment on the recommendation.
The suggestion comes as voters are set to decide in March whether to take away the mayor’s ability to nominate a city auditor and to restructure what was a 10-year appointment to a pair of five-year .
Auditor independence has been an issue of discussion in recent years.
Former City Auditor Eduardo Luna left in 2018 after learning that Mayor Kevin Faulconer was not going to nominate him for a second 10-year term. Elser was named to the job on an acting basis.
Faulconer subsequently nominated a long-time city employee who had not worked as an auditor in 10 years, but that nomination was withdrawn after Sherman and others questioned whether the mayor should be nominating the person charged with providing oversight of his istration.
Last year, Elser released several audits that were critical of senior city officials and their handling of various programs and contracts.
And last week, he agreed to bring a request from Councilwoman Barbara Bry before the audit committee to open a review of the city’s handling of the 101 Ash Street building, where hundreds of workers recently moved in and later were evacuated due to an asbestos exposure.
