Inspector General
On October 19, 2006, the seven-member New Orleans City Council voted unanimously
to establish the office of Inspector General. The inspector general will have a
four-year term, and must not have held governmental office in Louisiana in the
previous two years (
"City", 1)
1.
While the creation of this position was approved unanimously, there was some contention to begin with. The African-American members of the City Council pointed out that while New Orleans has had serious ethical issues over the past decades, only now that African-American officials are becoming more involved in the city's politics has this position been created (
Eggler, 1)
2. Also, some members voiced fears that the IG may be too powerful and indiscriminately harass members of the business community (
Webster, 2)
3. In the final analysis, however, the potential for preventing abuse seems to outweigh the potential for perpetrating it. Arnie Fielkow, an enthusiastic advocate for the position and vice-president of the City Council, notes "Chris Mazzella, inspector general for Miami-Dade County in Florida, opened its Office of Inspector General with a $200,000 budget. In the first year, they uncovered approximately $10 million in waste and fraud. Today, Miami-Dade County is a national model for the Office of Inspector General" (
Fielkow, 2).
In other words, with a slight input of money, much inefficiency can be provided. Sadly, the plan for Inspector General was first devised eleven years ago, when it was supported by two-thirds of the city's citizens but failed to be implemented (
Grace, 1)
4. One can only speculate on the effect of that failure.
The Inspector General will have access to all records, information, data, reports, plans,
projections, matters, contracts, memoranda, correspondence and any other
materials pertaining to the city. The inspector General will be appointed,
after a national search, by the New Orleans Ethics Review Board, and will
report to the New Orleans City Council (
Eggler, 1)
5. The Ethics Review board is to be
appointed by the mayor, with recommendations from local university professors. The point regarding whether the Inspector General should be chosen locally or nationally was one of the hotly debated aspects of the legislation, as some felt that a resident of New Orleans may already be compromised by the political machines, so to speak, while others felt that an outsider would be easily outmaneuvered by the more experienced and familiar council members (Webster, 4). In the end, the legislation solves the problem thus:
A former or current elected official or employee of New Orleans city government may not be appointed Inspector General within five years following that individual’s period of service. Notwithstanding the foregoing restriction, staff members of the OIG who have served in the office for two or more years may be immediately eligible for appointment to the position of Inspector General. The Inspector General should hold at appointment, or be required to obtain within a time certain after appointment, certification as a Certified Inspector General. Other professional certifications such as certified public accountant, certified internal auditor, and certified fraud examiner are recommended (Ordinance, 1)6.
This compromise seems prudent.
Since the office of Inspector General, as recently created, was given subpoena
power, Team 6 believes that this is currently a sufficient step for the city to
take in terms of combating corruption. Should appointments take too long to be
made or plans not progress as intended, we may reconsider our position and make
recommendations for a stronger office.
