Lead Service Line Replacement Program Audit (August 2025)

 

Lead Service Line Replacement Program Audit

 

It looks like the city’s Internal Audit Manager is on a hot streak. I wrote earlier this year about her last audit involving the Regional Economic Development Initiative (REDI).  One of the findings in that audit was that REDI could not account for $14,000 in unsupported claims.

Now, in August, the auditor reported that a GCWW (Greater Cincinnati Water Works) employee “misappropriated’ the lead pipes that were scrapped in the Lead Service Line Replacement Program, “for personal gain.”

The only thing we know for sure is that the “in-house lead crew,” was “dismantled and disciplined.” The report does not indicate how many employees were involved, how long the scheme continued, how it was detected, an estimate of the “misappropriation,” whether the matter was referred to law enforcement, etc.

The members of the “in-house lead crew” refused to be interviewed!

Unfortunately, the Internal Audit Manager’s audits and reports are not hard-hitting.  They tend to lack a lot of important details about the story.  As a result, the reports, knowingly or unknowingly,  contribute to what seems to be the city manager’s interest in keeping a lid on problems. That is the exact opposite of what the city manager should be doing. She should be ferreting out the problems in the city’s operations, not downplaying them to the public. In this case as well as the REDI case, the audit reports are just scratching the surface.