Thursday, April 2, 1998 | 9:13 a.m.
FORMER Las Vegas City Auditor Susan Toohey, who recently was fired without explanation, isn't talking. Director of Human Resources Rick Anderson isn't talking either, saying city policy prevents him from discussing personnel issues.
But it's about time someone at City Hall does some talking and explain why recommendations made by Toohey weren't carried out. Some of Toohey's findings, as disclosed in the SUN by reporter Denise Cardinal, appear to be troubling. She made a number of recommendations that were not implemented, including:
This is not a situation where city government can conveniently claim it's a personnel issue and decline to discuss the auditor's findings. Maybe Toohey rubbed people the wrong way. But auditors in the private and public sector often aren't welcome because their job is to point out deficiencies. Not many people like it when someone tells them there is a better way to do a job, but people should be open enough to listen to valid criticism.
At this point, it's tough to say whether Toohey's recommendations had merit because of the silence on both sides. But the City Council, if it hasn't already, should take an objective look at Toohey's recommendations to see if they are valid. The council should let the public know which of those reports it disagrees with and with which it concurs.
If you're going to bother to have an internal auditor, the least that can be done is to listen to the recommendations. Otherwise, the public will view the situation as bureaucrats putting their heads in the sand when someone publicly disagrees with them.
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