Supes To Act On Creating Performance Auditor

Much of the attention at today's OC Board of Supervisors meeting will be focused on Sup. Janet Nguyen's proposal for a field office/customer service center. Lord knows I've given a lot of attention to it on this blog. There'll certainly be more discussion and maybe debate, but at the end of the day I've little doubt the Board will approve some form of Janet's request.

There's another item on the agenda I think will have a greater impact on county government: creation of the office of Performance Auditor.

As the name imply, the Performance Auditor will examine and audit county programs from a performance perspective, rather than a more conventional number-crunching approach. Significantly, this new office will report directly to the Board of Supervisors, meaning any findings embarrassing to county departments or staff won't have to run through a staff filter before the Supervisors see it.

Here's excerpts from the memo from Supervisor Chris Norby (whose brainchild this is) with more detail on the new office:

Annual Work Plan
Prior to the beginning of each calendar year, the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, the CEO and the Performance Auditor will develop a draft work plan for the Performance Audit functon for approval by the Board.

Reporting
Once a month the Performance Auditor will agendize a status report through the Chair. This report will allow the Board to discuss completed audits and recommendations from the Performance Auditor. In addition, this monthly status report will provide Board members the opportunity to give collective direction on additional audits that should be added to the work plan. Reports dealing with sensitive personnel or legal issues may be agendized for closed session, when necessary and as authorized by law. The Board will refer recommendations to the CEO for implementation as appropriate. Every month the Performance Auditor will meet with each Board member to discuss the status report.    

Kudos to Sup. Norby for pushing this proposal.