Audit of GHCVB is complete; Jordy Tollett unavailable for comment
City Controller Annise Parker has released the findings of the city's audit of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, which (not surprisingly) found a few problems. KPRC-2 had the story on last night's 10 o'clock news, but I can't find a link to it on their site. Kristen Mack, however, has a story posted for the Chronicle:
[Parker] said the audit did identify "sloppy procedures, lack of internal controls and the need for more cooperation between entities working to sell the city."
The bureau's success — and a portion of Tollett's annual bonus — has long been determined by the number of hotel-room nights booked each year. The audit found that the bureau is using "subjective estimates" to determine hotel-room-night bookings.
The bureau's goal for this fiscal year, which ended June 30, was 675,000 room nights. It booked 638,000.
"Room nights are almost an impossible thing to quantify," Parker said. "It's easy to inflate room-night bookings."
KPRC's story also indicated that the GHCVB hands out bonuses based on room-night bookings; therefore, inflated booking numbers are quite a problem. Another problem -- and this one blows me away -- is that the bureau has no accountability controls in place for when officials woo prospective clients:
Auditors concluded that the bureau has no policy on entertaining prospective city visitors, including expenses for food and alcoholic beverages.
But these problems are nothing to get too excited about, according to some folks:
Doug Horn, chairman of the board, said the audit will be a learning tool for the bureau and that he is open to looking at how it accounts for room nights.
"It's a real nebulous, ambiguous issue," he said. "This audit, all in all, reveals that we have some areas to work on. There is nothing in here that is egregious or dishonest."
Eh, no biggie. Inflated room-night numbers? Wining and dining clients without backup and accountability? It's all so vague and complicated.
The audit also noted low staff morale, high turnover, inadequate record keeping to document use of free air travel and sporting-event tickets, and strained relations with the city-run Department of Convention and Entertainment Facilities.
That sounds about par for the government entity-course. No doubt lots of bonuses will be handed out again at the end of this fiscal year.
Tollett, who returned to the job late last month after taking a six-week leave from the bureau for unspecified treatment, did not return phone calls seeking comment.
[snip]
Horn said it is too early to tie the audit to Tollett's future at the bureau. "We ought to allow him to get reacclimated to his job properly and given all the confidence this board can give him in order to succeed," he said.
Oh, absolutely. A government employee who makes over $200,000 per year, plus bonus, shouldn't be expected to answer any questions.
UPDATE: Tollett did speak to KHOU-11:
“If you are trying to book a convention like the Offshore Technology Conference that is worth say, $70 million, and you have to spend $1,000, that’s a good expenditure,” said Jordy Tollett, President GHCVB.
[snip]
“Any resources for food or entertainment come out of that private money. We just thought that was more appropriate. And let me say this, all of the food and entertainment bills are approved in advance,” said Tollett.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/20/06 06:28 AM | Print | Comments (14)
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