The agency received $18.1 million through the federal stimulus program to help insulate homes of low-income people in Darke, Preble, Montgomery, Greene, Butler and Warren counties.
The audit found $23,400 in wages for five administrators who oversaw the program were not properly documented. Auditors also concluded Community Action Partnership of Greater Dayton could not document that it competitively bid $71,000 in materials and equipment.
Auditors found that 14 of 19 administrator timecards they reviewed were not signed by supervisors or the employees who filled them out. Timecards belonging to three of those administrators included similar hours over multiple pay periods, and “did not appear to reflect actual work activity,” auditors wrote.
Administrators were supposed to keep track of exactly how much time they spent overseeing the weatherization work — as opposed to other duties — so that the correct portion of their pay could come from the federal funds.
A payroll system that was in place at the time required written verification for only one of the two timecards each month. That doesn’t mean no one looked at the hours — they just didn’t document it, said Cherish Cronmiller, compliance officer for Community Action Partnership of Greater Dayton.
Cronmiller said Community Action Partnership did compare prices before hiring firms as suppliers, but the Department of Energy concluded the agency did not document the process well enough.
The agency tightened up its practices based on auditors’ recommendations, Cronmiller said.
Auditors also criticized Community Action Partnership for sloppy work and a failure to track follow-up visits with homeowners who received the work. Those criticisms echo findings from an Ohio Inspector General’s Office report released earlier this month that found poor oversight of weatherization spending in many agencies throughout the state.
Officials with Community Action Partnership of Greater Dayton have said the stimulus-funded weatherization work, launched in July 2009, initially grew too fast and some of the work required multiple visits to repair.
They said the program was well-received and provided a great service to people who otherwise would not have been helped, the officials said.
The program pays for insulation, new hot-water heaters and other upgrades to older homes to bring down heating costs.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2494 or andrew.tobias@coxinc.com
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