Posted on: Tuesday, May 6, 2003

Audit criticizes city building policies

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Cost overruns and expensive change orders have plagued many of the city's construction projects, and an audit requested by the City Council suggests that inadequate management and a heavy workload are to blame.

The Office of Council Services last month released an audit of the Department of Design and Construction which criticized the department's lack of policies and procedures in managing staff and providing oversight for the city's more than 1,000 ongoing construction projects.

"Although DDC has taken steps to better handle its workload burden, none of its staff expects the department can keep up with its current workload, or keep pace with the growing workload expected in the foreseeable future," the audit said. "DDC needs to take charge of the way it manages its projects and establish appropriate polices and procedures to ensure that the city is getting the best use of the limited funding that its available."

Newly appointed Design and Construction Director Timothy Steinberger said he had begun to implement some of the recommended changes before seeing the audit. "I'm a firm believer that you should have your procedures set out in front of you and they should be accessible," he said.

He is also working on letters of agreement between various city agencies to spell out rules and responsibilities.

Councilman Mike Gabbard, whose public works committee will discuss the audit May 14, said he is interested in hearing Steinberger's plans.

"For example, the audit indicates that the city has been lax in holding the design consultants responsible for their mistakes," Gabbard said. "The city has basically been eating the extra and unnecessary expenses."

Gabbard said when the city hires consultants, the work should be done right. "If it isn't, then the taxpayers shouldn't have to bite the bullet, the consultants should."

The audit focused on the Kahalu'u Flood control project at Kahalu'u Regional Park, Salt Lake Boulevard enhancement and the installation of laptop computers in police vehicles.

Steinberger said two of the projects had begun before the department was formed during the city's reorganization five years ago.

At the same time the new agency was carrying on projects from other departments, "We kind of had to learn how to walk again," Steinberger said. "This is not a fair assessment of the performance of the Department of Design and Construction."

City Council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi said she doesn't expect that the council will go so far as to determine how the department should be arranged. "I don't think we should get into micromanaging the workings of the department, but we can certainly make suggestions and recommendations," she said.

Kobayashi thinks the department needs more staff to focus on each project.

According to Steinberger, the department is authorized to have 307 employees, but has only 200. Money for another 25 positions is budgeted, but qualified engineers willing to work for the city are hard to come by.

In recent months, the City Council has asked why the Hanauma Bay Marine Education Center was $3.1 million over budget, while change orders in construction and design costs at Central O'ahu Regional Park drove the project up an extra $5 million.

The audit recommends that construction money should be budgeted a year after the planning and design money so the department does not have to rush through the initial phases of the project to ensure that the construction money is used.

Steinberger said it can be difficult to get money for planning, design and construction within 18 months, and would like to break that cycle. "In that respect, not all projects should be budgeted that way all the time," he said.