Alameda Corridor Authority Creates Audit Committee
The government agency in charge of the Alameda Corridor created an audit committee Thursday, but denied a seat on the panel to Los Angeles City Controller Rick Tuttle, who for months has advocated more stringent oversight of the $2.4-billion rail project.
Instead, the board of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority appointed three of its own to the ad hoc advisory committee--Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, Long Beach Port Director Richard D. Steinke and Los Angeles Port Director Larry A. Keller.
The panel will oversee audits of the Alameda Corridor project and help decide what issues or problems should be addressed during construction of the 20-mile-long route from downtown Los Angeles to the county's fast-growing ports. The rail portion of the project is scheduled to be completed by April 2002.
Tuttle said he was pleased the audit committee was created, but disappointed that his office would not be able to officially participate in something he has pushed for since spring. As a member of the authority that governs the project, Tuttle said the city of Los Angeles should have a stronger oversight role.
"We could have added an experienced audit staff to the mix," Tuttle said after the vote. "But we will try to be around anyway. We intend to have as close a relationship as possible" with James C. Hankla, the project's executive director.
Though Jeffrey Kellogg, the chairman of the corridor's board, once dismissed Tuttle as a politician looking for an issue, ACTA general manager Gill V. Hicks said the committee appointments were made according to the recommendations of KPMG, an outside accounting firm that reviewed the agency's operations. KPMG advised the corridor board to pick its own members for the committee.
"Typically audit committees are made up of members of the board," Hicks said. "We are keeping to tradition on that. The board just decided to go ahead with the KPMG recommendation."
Hicks said the corridor authority has developed good communications with Tuttle's office and will continue to provide the controller access to the agency's staff and records.
Tuttle became concerned about the effectiveness of ACTA's financial controls after Nancy Schafer, one of the agency's controllers, transferred $3 million in bond proceeds into her personal bank account. Schafer, who was replaced in March, has blamed the mistake on a computer error and a failure of the agency's financial safeguards.
