Comment Up

"YOU have the power to make a difference"

Yesterday I attended the Lantana Chamber of Commerce meeting which was open to the public. Sheryl Steckler, Inspector General, was the speaker. This is a gal that the people absolutely respect and love and a gal that many politicians hate. We all made a great decision four years ago when we voted to fund this office.

Aside from being an amazing woman and advocate of the people, I have to say that she was the most interesting speaker I have heard in years. In spite of the politics against her efforts, she has done an astonishing job in the four years she has been in Palm Beach County. Her job is up in just a few weeks and the Lantana Chamber was lucky to have her as a speaker.

She stressed the importance of audits and says to conduct risk based, independent audits that will focus on helping management strengthen controls in areas most susceptible to fraud, waste and abuse and improve the economy and efficiency of operations in areas where there are opportunities for significant cost savings. Lake Worth does have an internal auditor, Kenneth Oakes, appointed in December 2012 and hired on January 8, 2013, who we rarely see. There is no regular reporting spot for him on the Agenda. He was scheduled to report at a public meeting recently but it was pulled with no explanation.

She spoke of past cases and those successes even mentioning Lantana where it had received bad legal advice on a contract while Michael Bornstein was manager that cost the city $38,000. You left the meeting knowing that her department has not yet penetrated the tip of the iceberg and city governments are being more cautious as they know someone is watching them...Lots of corruption still going on in this county and she tells you that if you see illustrations of suspected waste, fraud, misconduct, mismanagement or other abuses, report it to the Office of Inspector General, one of the few offices truly for the people. Click here.