SANDAG's New Independent Auditor Digs Into Agency's Risks

Speaker 1: 00:00 The San Diego Association of governments has been working to rebuild credibility since a scandal that broke out in 2016 the regional planning agency got a new executive director, has sonic grata and state lawmakers reform the agency's governing structure. They also created a new position, independent performance auditor, KPBS Metro reporter Andrew Bowen sat down with a woman hired for the job to talk about how she'll approach her position. Speaker 2: 00:30 Mary coach mass. Rob, thank you so much for speaking with us. Thank you. So you were hired in February after a pretty long recruitment process. What have you been up to since Speaker 3: 00:38 she started? Oh, my actual start date was April. So it took a little time for me to get 'em acclimated and move to San Diego from Sacramento, but I've been up to a lot. Part of the responsibilities of an auditor when they take on a new organization, especially one that has not had the position previously, is to really gain an understanding of the organization and perform a risk assessment. So that's really what I've been doing along with creating some policies that will be coming to the board shortly. That will bring some accountability and transparency to the agency. Uh, working on my two year audit plan says a where is the risk at that I can see thus far. And uh, really just getting into the habit or the environment and getting to understand it. Speaker 2: 01:21 Your position was created after SANDAG went through a scandal and that involved revenue forecasting, but your position now really goes beyond just finances. You're also asked to look at program effectiveness management structure is really the fundamental issues of this organization. Where do you start? Speaker 3: 01:40 Absolutely. And that's where the risk assessment comes in. And you're right, it's kind of like a, a big bundle of, okay, now, now what? Right. And so though there's a lot of external auditors that look at SANDAG and they look at the fiscal aspects of it and pieces of it. And then we do have an internal auditor here at SANDAG, uh, that looks at the internal controls and compliance and performance types. But my job really is to look at the riskiest of those areas and fill in the gaps where, uh, external auditors and the internal auditors are not looking at or considering. And there are a lot of risk and as a result of a lot of missed forecast revenues and such, that in itself is a big risk moving forward. We have a lot of unknowns, right? We have the five big moves that are kind of unknown and there's an unknown price tag to that. So me and Hassan have been working closely and needless to say, I'll be on him the whole step of the way to make sure that those projections and forecasts are more accurate and have really considered everything that we possibly can consider. So we're on target a little bit better. Speaker 2: 02:48 You brought up the five big moves. Now this is sand x framework for the next regional transportation plan. And there's a really, um, strong debate going on right now at the board, a about what the future of transportation in this county should be, should SANDAG continue with freeway expansion projects, should it shift focus and invest more in public transit. Now that's a policy debate, but there are also some risks involved with, with both paths. So tell me just, do you see it as your job to get involved in that? Speaker 3: 03:18 Absolutely. And I'm at every board meeting listening to those debates, I pull up every article that has Sohn participates in, in that all the board members are participating in. Cause I want to again, learn all those perspectives, understand all those perspectives and then also learning myself, gaining understanding myself. Uh, but the nice thing is I don't have to get into the politics of it. I don't have to get into the, uh, the, okay, here's what we're gonna do with the money of it. It's really just me providing additional information for decision makers, right. And helping them identify their risk and helping them and making recommendations for them to mitigate those risks. Speaker 2: 03:55 What makes a good auditor? Speaker 3: 03:57 Ah, integrity. Um, a willingness to really not back down as long as it's supported. Um, you have to be unbiased. It's not about personal, it's not about an opinion unless it's a professional opinion, which should be based on facts and evidence. Um, so I think just the willingness to look from both perspectives that have an auditor, um, that is management, but also that of the public. Speaker 2: 04:23 Well, Mary, coach, Mash. Rob, thank you so much for speaking with. Speaker 3: 04:25 You're welcome. Thank you for having me.