Pittsburgh Controller Says Better Controls Needed

Pittsburgh City Controller Michael Lamb said today that the Department of Public Works needs to do a better job of keeping track of its inventory after an audit found equipment was missing.

The audit recommended designating staff as inventory-control officers and having additional checks for inventory reviews, which individual divisions perform on their own.

“Someone needs to be keeping track of the objects … the city owns,” Mr. Lamb said in an interview. “And right now no on is doing that.”

The audit reviewed two public works divisions and found equipment that had not been entered onto an inventory list. In other cases, equipment that was listed in the inventory was not to be found. He described the missing property as “light equipment.”

Mr. Lamb said his office was unable to determine what happened to the missing equipment, but he does not suspect theft.

Rob Kaczorowksi, director of public works, responded in a letter to the findings and wrote that the department is “looking into the audits recommendations.”

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