Dan Horn, and Sharon Coolidge

Cincinnati

An audit of the Metropolitan Sewer District uncovered serious oversight problems and is expected to be "brutal" in its assessment of the agency, Mayor John Cranley said Wednesday.

Cranley said he has not seen the audit, but he has spoken to members of the team that investigated the sewer district. He said their findings now are under review by Cincinnati's law department.

When asked why the report hasn't been released to the public, despite calls to do so from some City Council members, Cranley said city lawyers are trying to give people whose names are mentioned in the report a chance to respond.

"I think there are people who are discussed in the report and haven't been given an opportunity to defend themselves," Cranley said. "From what I understand, it's going to be a pretty detailed and brutal report."

City Manager Harry Black launched the audit earlier this year, following a series of articles in The Enquirer about MSD. Those articles found a lack of oversight from outside the agency, contracts that were not competitively bid, public money flowing to a private foundation and payments to companies that submitted vague invoices.

Black and Cranley have said they became aware of problems at MSD last year and have been working to correct them. Black has made several changes to city spending practices, both at MSD and other departments, and has created a panel to approve all city purchases.

"It didn't happen on our watch," Cranley said of MSD's problems.

Most of the issues uncovered by The Enquirer occurred after former City Manager Milton Dohoney sent a memo in 2007 to former MSD Director Tony Parrott, giving Parrott near total authority to sign off on contracts related to a $3.2 billion, court-ordered overhaul of Hamilton County's sewer system.

Black said Monday that the auditors have given the law department "work product," which is now under review. The Enquirer and some members of City Council have asked for the public release of that work product, but Black and city lawyers refused, saying it is part of an ongoing administrative investigation.

"I'm going to keep asking and I'm going to keep raising hell," said Councilman Kevin Flynn, who wants to see the auditors' work.

Flynn and some of his colleagues say it will be difficult to approve the city's budget by the end of June if they don't know what the auditors have to say about MSD. The sewer district's budget is set by county commissioners, but the city, which runs the agency, approves projects and contracts.

Up to $177 million in spending on projects is scheduled for 2017, Flynn said. "If there's something we need to know, we need to see it before the budget is approved," he said.

There isn't a consensus on council, however. Council Members Wendell Young and Chris Seelbach said they'd like to see the audit now, while others said they'd be satisfied as long as they get it before a final vote on the budget.

"Let's get it right," said Councilman David Mann.

The leader of the audit team, former Assistant City Manager Bill Moller, wouldn't discuss his findings Wednesday, other than to say "the audit is not complete."

Black has said he expects the work to be done in three weeks or so. State auditors also are investigating MSD, but they have not given an estimate on how long their work will take.