Parking Director Explains Internal Audit

The number of city employees using parking "transponders" without authorization turns out to be much less than a city press release seemed to indicate.

The transponders, placed in the vehicles window (similar to what an EZpass looks like), allow drivers to enter city-operated garages for parking.

, because they could not be traced back to a city vehicle or employee. 

But, of those 160 transponders, 151 turned out to be in legitimate use, and were turned back on. Something, the city's press release didn't mention.

"In retrospect we could have clarified the breakdown of the numbers," Director of Transportation and Parking Ian Sacs said. 

Last year, Mayor Dawn Zimmer asked Sacs to complete an internal audit of his department and to find out who was using parking transponders and for which vehicle. This meant registering all of the city's 3,002 parking transponders to the appropriate person and/or vehicle.

After completing the internal audit, there were 160 transponders that were unaccounted for, which Sacs called an example of "poor record keeping" by previous administrations.

"We were focused on the act of being properly organized," Sacs said. 

The transponders were disabled, causing the people with those transponders to be stuck at the entrance of the garage. 

In order to get the transponders to work again, the drivers had to answer a quick questionnaire with the garage attendant. The information for the unaccounted for transponders was assembled in a month and a half, Sacs said.  

Police vehicles also use the transponders. Those are identified by a number on the back, to distinguish them from the transponders in regular city vehicles. 

One City Hall employee was caught recently with an illegal police transponder. A police officer on duty noticed the device and reported it. 

The employee was arrested and his transponder was taken away. The city then sent out the press release, with the headline "internal audit assists in catching illegal use of parking transponders."

But the arrest was more a stroke of luck than part of an internal crack down. "It was a coincidence," Sacs said. Without it, Sacs said, the city would probably not have sent out the press release. 

But, Sacs added, "the fact that the police department coincidentally identified (the transponder), I believe is directly related to the fact we did the audit."

In the end, nine of the 160 transponders were not turned back on. Those nine will be used for other city vehicles. For example, the two electric cars the city recently acquired, now have license plates, and have transponders, registered under Sacs' name. 

While officials provided information on those transponders that were untraceable, Sacs could not comment on how many traceable transponders have been taken away from city employees and city vehicles. 

Sacs said the audit is part of a "soft" clean up of City Hall. "And people are not necessarily happy about it," he said.