The Cincinnati Parks division that accounts for two of every three park dollars is putting the city at risk of theft and lawsuits with inconsistent inspections and failure to document repairs and other maintenance, a new audit concludes.

The review, performed by internal auditors for the city, found the parks division creates opportunities for the unequal care of the city's 5,000 acres of parkland.

The audit surveyed the work of the parks' Operations and Facility Management Division from 2015 to 2016. It identified several areas where the department could improve and not put the city at "unnecessary risk."

The audit found:

A lack of internal controls, including substandard inventory counts and no centralized system for tracking maintenance;

Potential liability in the event of a serious injury at a park based on inconsistent playground and tree inspections; and

Inconsistent standards across the parks' four geographical units (Central, East, Riverfront, West);

Opportunities for theft of city-owned property.

City Councilman Kevin Flynn, chair of the Rules and Audit Committee, was taken aback by some of the findings but heartened that park leaders plan to make recommended improvements.

"Continuity was something that relied on the experience of individuals, in a large organization I never think that’s a good idea," Flynn said. "There’s no consistency, no manual, nobody to check on it."

For example, the parks department, which has tons of grounds material and equipment, hadn't completed a full inventory "in recent memory," according to the audit.

Furthermore, the person in charge of inventory, who is not named in the audit but has been in the position since 2001, performs all recordkeeping, purchasing and requisition duties – jobs that must be completed by more than one person to "prevent any erroneous or intentional misuse of inventory control," according to the audit.

"This is Auditing 101," Flynn said.

There are no indications of criminal activity, Flynn said, but the opportunity for it was there.

Beyond the problems with inventory, the review found an overall lack of uniform standards for maintenance across the parks' four geographic units.

For example:

Jobs such as mowing, litter pickup, gardening and trail maintenance are not tracked.

While each job is expected to be done at the same frequency (daily, weekly, annually, etc.), the units set their own standards beyond that. For example, mowing should be done every seven to 10 days but there is no standard for grass height. This "may create variations in the parks’ standards and qualities across regions," according to the audit.

Auditors were concerned with a lack of records regarding tree inspections. The parks division's own standard is two inspections a year for trees around shelters, playgrounds and picnic tables for the safety of its visitors. But inspections aren't tracked in a way they can be verified. Finally, the inspections "appeared to be reactive" and not done to head off problems, according to the audit.

Similarly, auditors could not verify that all playground inspections had been done. Reviewers only received 51 percent of the required inspection forms; 4 percent for the playgrounds in the Riverfront unit, 9 percent for the Central unit and 69 percent for both the East and West units.

Two playground inspections "referenced potentially troubling issues related to swings." Both baby swings had been incorrectly installed at Jackson Hill Park in Mount Auburn in June 2016. And an Eden Park inspection that same month referenced a loose connector on an infant swing. The prior inspection form that could be located was from October 2015, meaning the problem could have been ongoing for up to eight months although inspections should take place monthly.

Internal audits such as the one done on parks operations are not meant as "a gotcha," Flynn said but as a way for the city to improve and become more efficient.

The office of Internal Audit schedules reviews years in advance for city work of all kinds. This parks audit had been on the schedule for nearly three years, Flynn said.

Wade Walcutt, the city's new parks director, wants to implement all 10 of the audit's recommendations, which include:

Moving away from its decentralized system, where units operate individually, to a centralized system for tracking grounds maintenance across the park system. Parks will consider adopting a system similar to the Cincinnati Recreation Department's process.

Creating a handbook that standardizes operating procedures;

Creating a database to track biannual tree inspections. City parks will consider adopting a system similar to that of Great Parks of Hamilton County;

Conducting an inventory this winter and committing to do one every year going forward;

Changing all of the locks and improving security at storage and fleet facilities.

Walcutt, the new parks director, is working on changes in other areas, too.

An outside accounting firm has been hired to review and update operations in the finance department, as well, based on a financial audit from 2016.

Walcutt noted the number of City Hall audits waiting on his new desk when he arrived but sees them as helpful.

"It was genuinely a great opportunity for us to partner with the audit team," Walcutt said of the grounds maintenance audit. "The timing was convenient as this serves as a compass and helps me further chart the course for parks to ensure we’re serving our citizens with the most efficient services and operations."

About parks operations and facility division

The Operations and Facility Management Division is the largest division in the parks department. It employs 177 people and cost $11 million in 2017 to run – 65 percent of the $17 million in operating funds budgeted by the city for the parks department.

The operations and facility divisionis broken into eight units.

Four are geographical and reflect operations in East, West, Central and Riverfront parks. Another unit is Natural Resources Management. The sixth, Garage, purchases and repairs equipment and vehicles and serves other inventory needs.

The final two units focus on operations at Krohn Conservatory in Eden Park and Carol Ann's Carousel in Smale Riverfront Park. The two facilities were not considered "grounds" and therefore were not included in this audit.