By Adam Pagnucco.
An investigation by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) has found that managers in the county’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) approved their own travel expenses, a violation of county policy. Furthermore, the county paid for hotel rooms for county employees in D.C. and Annapolis without department head approval, another violation of county policy.
The OIG’s investigation was sparked by an employee complaint alleging that a DHHS manager had used grant funds to pay for personal trips. The OIG did not substantiate that allegation. However, the OIG did find other problems in the course of its investigation. This is an excerpt from the OIG’s memo.
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In 2023, the manager attended a conference in Washington, DC. For this two-day conference, located just 17 miles from the Executive Office Building, the County paid $890.50 for the manager to stay in a hotel for two nights. As this conference was within 75 miles of the Executive Office Building, the manager should not have been entitled to lodging at the County’s expense except in “extenuating circumstances, which requires the approval of the department head or designee.” According to the DHHS Chief Operating Officer, the manager did not obtain Director approval for the hotel stay. Additionally, the manager’s lodging expenses were paid using a DHHS purchase card for which they are the transaction approver, further obscuring the unauthorized expense.
To determine whether the payment of hotel stays for local travel was a common occurrence at DHHS, we reviewed additional purchase card records. We subsequently found DHHS paid $1,109.22 for seven employees to stay at a hotel in September 2023 while attending a conference in Annapolis, Maryland. AP 1-5 specifically defines Annapolis as being included in the local area for employee travel, thus requiring extenuating circumstances and department head approval for any hotel stay.
According to the DHHS Chief Operating Officer, none of the employees that attended the Annapolis conference obtained approval from the Director. Instead, a DHHS supervisor sent a memorandum to DHHS Manager Two requesting permission for the employees to attend the conference and receive lodging. This individual, along with a management peer, approved the request. Both managers were also listed as attendees in the travel request, meaning they approved their own attendance at the conference and authorized their own hotel stays. Their actions violate AP 1-5 requirements that approvals for hotel stays in the local area be authorized by the department director. Additionally, these expenditures were placed on a department purchase card for which one of the managers is the transaction approver, again further obscuring the violations of policy.
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The OIG also noted the following.
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The OIG previously recommended in October 2021 that the County update the Administrative Procedures (AP) regarding employee travel to prohibit County employees from approving their own expenditures. At the time, the County told us that they believed the existing APs adequately communicated a requirement for separation of duties when approving travel. As we again have encountered a problem with employees approving their own travel-related expenses, we continue to believe that County policy needs to be updated.
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Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Fariba Kassiri responded, “We will work with management from both HHS and Finance to better understand the details of the specific issues the OlG investigation identified, especially any new issues not already in the process of being addressed, and to determine additional actions that should be taken in response to them.”
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