Sunny Forecast; Carousel of Incompetence; "The Mechanics of the Car Ain't Running.”

RVA 5x5 - Sept. 13, 2024

No algorithms. No content filters. No A.I. — Honest and insightful analysis from Richmond, VA.

This week check out our stories on:

• The 17 Inspector General reports of waste, fraud, and abuse that were suppressed from the public domain for the last five years (despite city code to the contrary) have been released and we have a look at what Council didn’t want you to see.

• The city’s Finance Director gave a presentation to Council last week talking about all the change that had been occurring under her watch when, in fact, change was only brought about by the flood of media reports exposing the problems.

• Once Councilor took the Administration to task for how the Finance problems have gone unaddressed as long as they have in a fascinating (if somewhat rambling) exchange that lays out some tough talk and truth that has long been missing from the city’s governing body.

STORY #1 — Sunny Forecast
It was only a few weeks ago when Dean Mirshahi at WRIC uncovered that the city’s Inspector General (IG) was given “discretion” by City Council (who hires and fires the IG, not the mayor) that he didn’t have to publish his reports online, even though it was required by city code, which says the IG reports must be “electronically published for public review.” City Council apparently asked/received the City Attorney’s office for a new ruling that allowed an end run around existing city code because lack of transparency is apparently a team sport at City Hall these days.

Although there is no official request for Council for the ruling and the City Attorney’s office denied it ever GAVE a ruling on the matter, the IG stopped publishing their reports in late-2019 that are supposed to investigate cases of waste, fraud, and abuse — which is what IG’s in any locality are supposed to do. But there can’t be any bad news about waste, fraud, and abuse if there are not stories about waste, fraud, and abuse for the media to discover those reports posted online where they can easily be read to see what waste, fraud, and abuse the IG has uncovered.

The IG is tasked with investigating matters received through tips and an anonymous fraud hotline. Sometimes they are just gripes between employees, something they amount to nothing, and other times they are serious matters. But the point of having an IG anywhere is for the public to know that their government is not wasting their money and it is being spent for the purposes intended to benefit residents.

Mirshahi’s reporting three weeks ago caught Council off guard. Council President Kristen Nye said the reports would be up within two weeks after suddenly receiving new legal advice from the City Attorney’s office (also for which there is no official record) that the IG could once again start publishing the suppressed reports.

Now the IG’s office has published the missing 17 investigative reports from late 2020 to 2024. These never should have been suppressed in the first place and by doing so, those in charge doing the suppressing only further undermine the confidence residents have in their government (which is tenuous at best after the last few years).