Elected Official Audit Findings

At a glance

What: City Auditor reports on hotline concerns involving an elected official: report 26-03 presented to the City Council work session on April 27, 2026, and report 26-11 presented on July 13, 2026. The minutes do not name the official; the discussion refers to the Mayor's City vehicle and family.
Findings as recorded: The concerns came from the Fraud, Waste and Abuse Hotline in two reports with overlapping concerns. They covered staff watching an official's children (at the official's residence, the City Administration Building and City events), and a City vehicle trip to Monument that the auditor found was to a personal location. Natalie Lovell said there were continued violations of the new administrative policy, and personal use beyond incidental use and personal use that was not reported.
Follow-up: The ethics code ordinance debated on July 14 responds to these concerns; see Ethics Code Revisions.

At the April 27 work session Natalie Lovell presented report 26-03, Review of Concerns Involving an Elected Official (purpose, authority, allegations, findings, conclusions, recommendations). The July report refers back to this as the first report.
Henjum confirmed the hotline report was anonymous and asked what the Administration is doing about the recommendation; Acting Chief of Staff Travis Easton said it is developing a policy. Rainey Jr. asked who reported the fringe benefit to the Internal Revenue Service; Lovell said the official reported it to the Payroll Department.
Risley asked whether sworn police officers drove the Mayor in a City vehicle; Lovell confirmed. He also asked how this differs from the Ethics Commission; Lovell said the audit rested on a Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline report, not an ethics violation report.
Donelson asked whether other employees' spouses may drive a City vehicle; Lovell said not to her knowledge. Leinweber asked about liability; Senior Attorney Sara Brewen said potentially, a question for the Risk Department. No action taken.

Natalie Lovell (City Auditor) covered purpose, authority, allegations, audit work, findings and conclusions. She said the first report's recommendation (a policy written by the Administration) taught her to make the policy broader and tied to the Code of Ethics. Retaliation against interviewed staff is being monitored.
Stefanie Boster (City Attorney) said City resources include staff time used to watch children; she would research whether staff caring for service dogs would be a misuse.
Wayne Williams (Chief of Staff) confirmed the Mayor may take the assigned City vehicle home, said the Administration would review the reports and respond, and said it is researching telematics data so reporting no longer depends on memory. Henjum noted the Mayor's family is sometimes part of City business.
Donelson said asking subordinates to watch children and personal use of a City vehicle are abuses of City resources, and answered the Mayor's statement that time should not be spent this way by saying the audit would not be needed without hotline reports. Risley and Casey asked about repeated violations and retaliation.

Item 9.A under study; audit presented, no vote taken.

First report (26-03) presented under Staff and Appointee Reports; Administration developing a policy; no vote.