INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT FIRE/EMS DEPARTMENT

1. INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT FIRE/EMS DEPARTMENT Presented by: John Redmond March 27, 2012

2. Fire/EMS Department Audit • Major Areas Addressed: • Organizational Structure • Management Continuity • Policies & Procedures • Internal Controls • Strategic Plan • Training • Equipment Inventory • Payroll • Budgetary Performance • Cash Handling Process • Fire Investigations

3. Fire/EMS Department Audit • Major Areas Addressed: (Continued) • Internal Investigations • Whistleblower Complaints • Physical Proficiencies • Emergency Management • Employee Recruiting

4. Payroll • Complaint/Issue: Payroll is a significant portion of the Fire/EMS Dept budget. With multiple locations and shifts, are all persons paid actually working employees? • Audit Process: A 100% payroll distribution was made, requiring each employee to provide a photo ID and personal appear before the auditor for payroll payment. Verification of pay rates and hours worked, vacation, sick on a sample basis.

5. Payroll • Findings: All employees were accounted for and employee pay rates matched authorized rates; hours reported matched those paid for sampled employees. • Recommendations: None • Departmental Response: Agreed

6. Capital Assets Inventory • Complaint/Issue: The Fire/EMS Dept. has a significant investment in land, buildings, vehicles, equipment, furniture and fixtures. Due to is physical dispersion and frequent movement, are the assets properly controlled and accounted? • Audit Process: A list of all Fire/EMS assets was obtained from the City’s Accounting Division. All assets were physically inventoried and verified.

7. Capital Assets Inventory • Findings: All items were located and inspected, except for the few assets that were recorded out for repair. Those items were verified by hand receipt or telephonic verification with service custodian. Staff demonstrated a high level of competency in quickly locating and identifying requested items.

8. Capital Asset Inventory • Recommendations: None • Departmental Response: Agreed

9. Employee Time Reporting; Sick and Vacation Leave Accruals • Complaint/Issue: A few employees and supervisors have expressed concern in the past regards sick and vacation leave accruals. Previously, some supervisors maintained a manual card system for tracking accruals throughout the year. • Audit Process: All time reported for several selected payrolls were verified for system entry and reported output. Also, employees were randomly selected and reviewed for accuracy, including a test of the leave accruals.

10. Employee Time Reporting; Sick and Vacation Accruals • Findings: The hours worked, sick and vacation time reported matched the amounts entered and reported by the payroll accrual system. No discrepancies were noted in time reported nor in the accrual calculations. While the system works well, it is possible for data to reported incorrectly due to human error. As such, periodic reconciliations are necessary.

11. Employee Time Reporting; Sick and Vacation Accruals • Recommendations: None • Departmental Response: Agreed

12. Employee Training • Complaint/Issue: Due to the emergency nature of many of the services provided, the employees must be well trained and ready to perform upon arrival at the scene of the incident. Employees spend many hours in training to satisfy accreditation standards and to ensure readiness.

13. Employee Training • Audit Process: Employees were randomly selected and training records reviewed and compared to training rosters to verify participation. Employee records were then tested to determine whether the employee received the required hours of training in the required fields of study.

14. Employee Training • Findings: The training records for the employees sampled were reflective of the registration and class rosters for the courses taken. Each of the employees completed or exceeded the required training for the fiscal year reviewed. • Recommendations: None

15. Employee Training • Departmental Response: The departmental maintains State of Georgia certifications and to operate as a Fire Department and EMS Department with the State. Training and field evaluations are required to maintain the certifications. Also, the Insurance Services Office requires 240 hours of annual training per field employee in specified areas. Agreed

16. Employee Recruiting • Complaint/Issue: For a number of years, maintaining the departmental workforce was a challenge. Retirements, resignations, and infrequent terminations sometimes outstripped the supply of qualified candidates available for hiring. • Audit Process: Data comparisons were made for the past five years of the number of applicants, number of hires, and number of positions created, vacancies, etc. The most critical comparison is the number of hires versus the number of qualified applicants.

17. Employee Recruiting • Findings: Prior to the passage of the 2008 LOST and the economic decline, the number of available positions exceeded the number of qualified applicants and an internal recruiter was used to assist in finding additional qualified applicants. With the higher pay and the economic stability of the Columbus government, the situation reversed after 2008, eliminating the need for extensive recruitment.

18. Employee Recruiting • Recommendation: The department is better served to transfer the recruiter to another work area where his skills and abilities can be better utilized to support the department’s mission. Should the need arise for skills not represented in the applicant pool; management can handle the recruiting for such a position.

19. Employee Recruiting • Departmental Response: Agreed. The employee who formerly held the position of Recruiter has been transferred to another position.

20. Budgetary Performance • Complaint/Issue: The Fire/EMS Budget is one of the largest in the City at $24.67 million from the General Fund and $2.23 million from the LOST2. How well has it performed when compared with the budget? • Audit Process: Actual results were compared to budget for FY2007-FY2012.

21. Budgetary Performance • Audit Findings: In each of the years compared, the department has operated within its approved budget. With the passage of the 2008 LOST, additional funds have been available to the department, thus, easing the pressure to operate within limited resource constraints. • Audit Recommendation: None

22. Budgetary Performance • Departmental Response: Agreed

23. Strategic Action Plan • Complain/Issue: Does the Fire/EMS Department have a Strategic Action Plan that addresses the future service need of the City and how it intends to meet those needs for the next ten years. • Audit Process: A copy of the Strategic Action Plan was obtained and reviewed. It considers the basis for future needs, i.e., projected growth of the City, areas likely to experience growth, assessment of the location of existing station and future stations and equipment, personnel and training.

24. Strategic Action Plan • Findings: During 2011, the Strategic Action Plan was developed to assess and address needs through 2028. Much of the projected growth is in the northern portion of the county and the panhandle region. The South Lumpkin Road area is also targeted for redevelopment and an additional fire truck was acquired in 2011 to support that area. White-water rafting

25. Strategic Action Plan will also increase the need for more water rescue operations. With the recent replacement of the 29th Street Station, the next station targeted for replaced in the Jay Street station in Edgewood. The 2008 LOST is expected to provide much of the funding for future growth and expansion of services for Fire/EMS. Recommendations: None

26. Strategic Action Plan • Departmental Response: The Department’s Strategic Plan has been recognized as one of the best in the State and is utilized at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center as the example for other State Certified Fire Departments to follow.

27. Fire Investigation of Firefighter’s Property • Complaint/Issue: Do Fire Investigators use the same degree of scrutiny when investigating a fellow firefighter’s property as they do for those of parties unrelated to the Fire Department? • Audit Process: The audit process reviewed fire investigative reports for fires involving firefighter properties and others. The review included two fires involving firefighter properties.

28. Fire Investigations of Firefighter’s Property • Findings: The review of fire investigative reports did not reveal any discernable differences in depth or effort between the two types of property ownership. While the sample size was small, it did include all fires associated with the property of firefighters during the past five years.

29. Fire Investigations of Firefighter’s Property • Recommendation: It is recommended that the investigation be conducted by an outside investigative unit of the State Fire Marshal’s Office or from another jurisdiction within the state. The state firefighter’s association might be able to assist in setting up and exchange program. It is believed that such practice will alleviate the concerns or doubt that anyone might have of the investigative integrity.

30. Fire Investigations of Firefighter’s Property • Departmental Response: It is agreed that an outside agency should be requested to conduct cause and origin investigations of fires that occur in property owned and/or occupied by a current or former member of the Department. The Department has contacted several similar sized departments. It is the goal for our department to conduct a parallel investigation.

31. Employee Selection Process • Complaint/Issue: New hire decisions are based on connectivity to someone in the department. As such, the diversity of the workforce is unlikely to change and nepotism will continue. The Chief makes the final decision on all hires.

32. Employee Selection Process • Audit Process: The hiring process was reviewed with the Chief. Validation of the process would be assessed based on interviews with members of the command and support staff, followed by a review of selection outcomes over a period of time. • Findings: Chief Meyer confirmed that some past Chiefs did make most of the hiring decisions. Incremental changes have been made over time

33. Employee Selection Process • Findings (Continued) to a selection committee that nominated a short list for final selection by the Chief. More recently, the selection committee has evaluated candidates based on qualifications and test scores, who are then recommended for hiring. A comparison of hiring results over the past four years indicate an increased percentage of females and minorities hired and promoted. Also, the number of related employees has declined during the same period.

34. Employee Selection Process • Recommendations: Hiring decisions should be decentralized to the extent possible, to reduce the appearance of favoritism and to ensure that decisions are based on the qualifications and experience of the applicant affording equal opportunity to all candidates. The committee approach lends a broader perspective to the hiring process and sharpens the hiring skills of committee members.

35. Employee Selection Process • Recommendations (Continued) This approach can facilitate the advancement of more women and minorities to senior management positions. • Departmental Response: The Department has revamped its hiring process over the past five years. Interested parties now apply through the NEOGOV online application process. Applicants

36. Employee Selection Process • Departmental Response (Continued) are required to meet initial requirements as listed on the website. Applicants are scheduled to attend a mandatory Candidate Physical Abilities Test (CPAT) Orientation. They can then train/practice over an 8-week period. A background check is performed on CPAT achievers and an interview panel selected and instructed in the proper interview techniques.

37. Vehicle Operators • Complaint/Issue: A whistleblower alleged that an employee of the Fire/EMS Department was driving with a suspended license due to the employee having received a DUI while off-duty. • Audit Process: The process involved discussion of the allegation with management and a review of the employee’s driver record from the state licensing department, as requested and maintained by the Public Services Division that handles driver training and testing.

38. Vehicle Operators • Findings: The Chief confirmed that the named employee had received a citation for DUI, but the case was pending adjudication and the employee was in possession of his license. A review of his driver record did not reflect the pending charge. It was also noted that the driver has not driven a city vehicle since management learned of the charge.

39. Vehicle Operators • Findings (Continued) The auditor ordered a follow-up request that confirmed the Chief’s statement. The Chief also noted that the departmental driver policy has been revised to require the prompt notification of the department of any citations received for moving violations that could affect qualification to drive a city vehicle. The policy change was confirmed. At the conclusion of the audit fieldwork, the citation remained unajudicated.

40. Vehicle Operators • Findings (Continued) It should be noted, that when a driver in unable or disqualified to drive, a lower ranking firefighter must assume the duty. • Audit Recommendations: The auditor concurs with the policy change that was made, however, it would seem reasonable that such matters could be adjudicated within 90 days from the issuance of the citation, after which, the driver

41. Vehicle Operators • Recommendations (Continued) would be temporarily reduced in rank and pay and the firefighter temporarily advanced in rank and pay, until the matter is resolved. If not resolved in another 90 days, the rank and pay adjustments become permanent. Drivers of city vehicles convicted of driving under the

42. Vehicle Operators • Recommendations (Continued) influence of alcohol or drugs should be tested at random intervals to ensure that they are not driving city vehicles while impaired. • Departmental Response: Agreed. There should be a time limit placed on employees to adjudicate their

43. Vehicle Operators • Departmental Response (Continued) case and 90 days appears to be reasonable. The Department recommends developing a City-Wide policy to ensure future cases are addressed consistently throughout the City.

44. Fire Station Guest Policy • Complaint/Issue: A whistleblower alleged that her niece was visiting a firefighter at the station after hours and was staying there late into the night. She was concerned that the niece may have been having sex with a firefighter or possibly using drugs there.

45. Fire Station Guest Policy • Audit Process: The approach was to interview all of the personnel assigned to that station on each of the three squads, including the station officers. The auditor enlisted the service of an outside party to participate in the investigation. The interviews were conducted on a surprise basis. Management was aware, but did not know which station prior to our arrival.

46. Fire Station Guest Policy • Findings: The interviews accomplished its goal. While most of the firefighters were unaware of the alleged incidents, some interviewees provided information that such had occurred several years in the past. Subsequently, it was learned that the Fire Marshal had conducted an investigation at the same location on the same subject.

47. Fire Station Guest Policy • Findings (Continued) Although each investigation was based on different information, the conclusions drawn were identical. It helped to validate the accuracy and effectively of internal investigations conducted by the Fire Marshal. Management had already strengthen the Visitor Policy prior to the audit.

48. Fire Station Guest Policy • Recommendations: None, as the guest policy had already been strengthened and implemented. • Departmental Response: Agreed.

49. Employee Fitness • Complaint/Issue: The work of a firefighter/EMT can be very strenuous and stressful, due to its urgency. The work is also dangerous and life threatening. It is essential that persons performing this work be physically fit and have the stamina to rescue, lift and carry persons to safety. Such can last for extended periods of time.

50. Employee Fitness • Audit Process: Records of initial and annual fitness tests were reviewed and evaluated. • Findings: Applicants are tested with the CPAT before hiring to determine fitness qualifications. Subsequent tests are performed and participation is required, but the levels of performance are not as rigorous, considering age and duties of the individual.