I wanted to share some of what happened in the comments section in the latest city council meeting.
- Brad Neumann is a former city auditor for Ontario
- Brad’s job was to make sure the city runs efficiently, transparently, and with accountability.
- On Dec 5th, 2023 a member of the City Managers Office demanded that Brad report what, when and how he would be auditing some aspect of Ontario.
- This is concerning since the City Manager’s office is the executive arm of the city, and at the core of what the city does.
- This much insight into what Brad intended to audit, could potentially generate a conflict of interest with the auditor’s findings, and a possible issue in Ontario
- “Internal audit activity must be independent”…. “Independence is the freedom to from conditions that threaten the ability of the internal audit activity” - from the Institute of Internal Auditors
- Brad tried to explain the potential for a conflict of interest, but was eventually told 3 days later “Not following my directive is considered insubordination and could result in serious discipline.”
- On Dec 12, 2023 Brad told the Internal Audit Committee of his situation at 7:57am, and was put on administrative leave 5 hours later, and eventually terminated.
- Brad never declined to do his job, he just questioned the way the city wanted him to go about it, and wanted the Internal Audit Committee to help resolve the issue
I have summarized a lot of what happened due to this being Instagram, and my only source at this point is Brad himself. I am not a reporter, just a concerned resident.
I leave you with these questions:
- Why did reputable city auditor get terminated just for disagreeing with how the city wanted him to audit?
- Why does the city manager’s office want such heavy involvement in how the city is audited?
- If the city has nothing to hide, why does it appear to be hiding something?