Controller Greuel Shares Progress

Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel highlighted her accomplishments and talked about her goals for the future at the Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting last Thursday.   ’Since I became the city controller, I am asked two questions,’ said Greuel, who was elected to the position in March. ”What does a controller do?’ and after I answer that question, ‘Why would you ever want that job?”   Greuel’s responsibility is to make sure that taxpayers’ money is spent wisely, so she serves as the city’s chief auditor and accountant. Greuel, who represented District 2 (the Northeast San Fernando Valley) on the L.A. City Council for seven years, wanted the controller position because she hopes to help the city conduct business more efficiently in these tough economic times.   Last Thursday, Greuel touted audits she has done on the Los Angeles Convention Center and the City’s Bureau of Street Services.   ’The Convention Center was not living up to its potential,’ Greuel said, noting that the center should be in higher demand with the addition of nearby L.A. Live (a complex with dining, the Nokia Theatre, Club Nokia, and Grammy Museum).   For one, the city could lower the cost to rent the center during slower times such as the winter holidays, Greuel said.   In the past two years, the center has spent more than $6 million on overtime pay for city employees from other departments. If the center expanded its pool of employees, who could work at regular rates, the city would save $1.4 million. One employee earned $146,000 of overtime pay in 18 months on top of an annual salary of $72,746.   Greuel also discovered that the city had lost about $6.2 million because of a poorly written contract between the City’s Bureau of Street Services and Express Environmental Corporation, which disposes of wastewater. Express also overcharged the city by $1 million because the city failed to provide adequate oversight.   ’This shows that we need to look at contracting,’ Greuel said, noting that there are numerous audits she would like to conduct, but unfortunately doesn’t have the budget. ‘I can only do 25 audits a year.’   As former chair of the City Council’s Transportation Committee, Greuel hopes to continue looking at transportation issues. For instance, she wants to examine whether the city is effectively collecting from parking meters.