By Marvin G. Cortner
Editor

The Osceola County Commission Monday in a 3-2 vote narrowed the scope of the proposed audit for the purchase of right of way for road projects.

The audit will focus on right of way purchased for the Narcoossee Road widening project and a sampling of transactions for four other lesser projects.

The firm with which the county will negotiate for the audit is a partnership of the Adorno Law Firm and Keystone Field Services, both based in Tallahassee. In advance of any final contract being negotiated, Commission Auditor Scarlet Gibson will provide an estimate of the hours that might be needed to complete such an audit.

Two commissioners, Fred Hawkins Jr. and Brandon Arrington, opposed spending additional money on the right of way issue – at between $125 and $175 per hour, the cost could be $45,000 to $50,000 as estimated by Gibson – and instead said they are willing to work with new procedures put in place in January.

Hawkins said it is up to the commission to make sure overspending on right of way and inadequate oversight doesn't happen again.

“That is our job; we are supposed to be in charge,” Hawkins said. “Let's monitor the program we have, see how it is working. To go further in debt on the right of way issue doesn't sit well with me.”

Arrington said the big issue is that the money budgeted for right of way didn't represent its true cost and that he didn't see spending additional money, whether on an internal audit conducted by Gibson or one done by an outside firm.

Commissioner John Quiñones, who voted for the audit, said it has nothing to do with the procedures put in place in January.

“Why wasn't information provided to us that was complete; internally, there was a shifting of funds that took place; we have to make sure this doesn't happen again,” Quiñones said, adding that the review of what happened needs to be as transparent as possible. “We need to see the good, the bad and the ugly; we owe it to the taxpayer to come up with answers.”

Commissioner Michael Harford said the public needs to be sure that what the county has in place now will work for future road projects.

The money for the audit likely will come from funding set aside for professional services, according to County Manager Don Fisher.

In an earlier interview, Fisher said a new manual on the process had been written and that he is now ultimately accountable for right of way acquisitions.

“There was an unprecedented schedule to acquire right of way – a super-accelerated time frame,” Fisher said previously, adding that in some cases, the usual time of 120 days for acquisition was cut to 60. He also said previously that the county had put in its budget a cost of $6 per square foot for right of way but that the amount should have been closer to $14.50, to reflect all costs, such as the litigation needed when property is obtained through condemnation.

An audit would look at nine areas:

• Whether county staff and consultants had any impact on the amount of money paid.

• The construction method and whether it might have produced higher costs.

• What role the appraisal process might have played in the cost overruns.

• What role the 2006 Impact Fee Ordinance budget allotments might have played.

• The adequacy of the qualifications of county staff and appraisers used to determine fair market value of the property to ensure just compensation was offered to owners.

• Whether there were missed opportunities for state or federal grant funding for right of way costs.

• Verify how the right of way acquisition project budget was determined and the reasonableness of the total amount budgeted.

• Determine whether cost containment strategies existed and, if so, what strategies were considered or implemented.

• Determine the adequacy of the right of way acquisition process for early detection of cost overruns and for timely notification to county management and the County Commission of possible cost overruns.

The county is also requesting recommendations for future processes and written procedures, including which internal controls could improve the overall right of way process.