Brittany Kelley
KYLE — Kyle City Council voted in favor of several allegations receiving a forensic audit at its July 21 meeting.
A forensic audit is an investigative examination of financial records designed to find evidence of fraud, embezzlement, theft, corruption or financial and other serious misconduct, according to agenda documents. It also looks for intentional wrongdoing and gathers legally admissible evidence to support litigation or criminal prosecution. This was requested by council at its June 2 meeting.
Prior to releasing a request for proposals, interim city manager Perwez Moheet provided council with seven items he identified to be audited:
“I believe this scope of work will put an end to that and put it to rest for good,” said Moheet.
The list, as follows, is presented in order of council priority, along with the votes:
1. Allegations of mismanagement, with specific focus on determining the causes, timeline and decision-making that resulted in the significant decline of the city’s general fund reserves from $34.2 million in fiscal year 2022-23 to a projected low of $10.3 million in fiscal year 2025-26: 6-1, with council member Lauralee Harris dissenting
2. Alleged overpayments by the city for properties, including five located downtown, three properties located on Veterans Drive, two properties located on Republic Drive and two properties located on Dacy Lane: 5-2, with council members Claudia Zapata and Harris dissenting
3. Alleged waste, abuse and improper use of city credit cards between 2021-2025: 5-2, with Zapata and Harris dissenting
4. Allegations of misconduct of official authority by a city official to influence and extort a business owner, including an alleged offer of $1 million and other city resources in exchange for favorable action by the business owner: 4-3, with council member Marc McKinney, Zapata and Harris dissenting
5. Allegations of fraud, corruption and improper personal enrichment by city officials in connection with the planning, development, data management and data utilization for the city’s public Uber transportation program: 5-2, with Zapata and Harris dissenting
Council also voted 7-0 to table the following areas: alleged corruption and misconduct reported by a city official to the Kyle Police Department; and allegations of misconduct, undue influence, conflict of interest and procurement process irregularities by city officials in the selection and contract award to American Structurepoint Inc.
Zapata shared that her opposition for the vote regarding the alleged offer of $1 million and the transportation program was because the Attorney General should be handling these cases, as the city does not have the authority to do so. Additionally, she and Harris stated that they felt as though the forensic audit was unnecessary because other solutions have already been presented and that they were told that the point of the audit was not to prosecute, though it seems this is the case.
“I’m looking at what’s going to gain us the most amount of potential dollars back or head off dollar losses. That’s my ranking,” explained council member Courtney Goza.
Moheet noted that the audits will be completed in phases, adding that a placeholder cost will be presented during the budget, until final numbers are confirmed through the request for proposals.
The first audit results will likely come back to council spring of 2027, read the presentation.
For more information on Kyle City Council, visit bit.ly/3RA2qZU.
