DRPA Board Members Say Agency Audit Was Incomplete
CAMDEN, NJ (CBS) -- A newly formed committee within the Delaware River Port Authority has taken a long, hard look into the agency's most recent management audit.
It was appropriate that the first meeting of members of the audit committee mostly dealt with an exit interview with TransTech Management, the outside audit firm whose findings gave the authority a mostly glowing review. TransTech was paid a half million dollars to perform the audit, which came in several months late.
It contained some recommendations for change, most of which have been implemented. But DRPA commissioner John Dougherty questioned the thoroughness of the auditors' work. He says board members were frozen out of the process:
"The upper management here told the management team not to include the board, primarily a lot of people like myself who have a lot of serious questions."
The auditors noted that the DRPA is, at its core, a political entity, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. TransTech auditor John Cameron concedes they talked to the board chair and vice chair, and in recent months things have been heated on the board:
"Yes you are political, but no, that doesn't mean that you have to operate in a negative political connotation."
These audits, which have been conducted on average every five years, will now be done every two years -- just one of the many changes implemented in recent months.
Cameron even offered to help the agency develop specifications for its next planned audit, so whoever does it has a clearer idea of what's really expected of them.
The DRPA runs the Ben Franklin, Betsy Ross, Walt Whitman, and Commodore Barry Bridges, and the Patco High-Speed line.
Reported by David Madden, KYW Newsradio 1060
