|
Mayor Fred Fowler has directed the City Manager Robert La Sala to create a report detailing why only approximately one-tenth of the $73,000 budget for an important public safety program was spent during to the past fiscal year.
According to Fowler, the Sunnyvale Emergency Preparation Organization, a program designed help educate companies about emergency response public safety, was budgeted at approximately $73,000 during the 200102 fiscal year. Of that amount, only $8,000 was spent. Furthermore, the number of businesses participating in the program dropped 225 to 155.
"I want to find out what the hell happened," Fowler added.
The Sunnyvale City Council backed up Fowler's request by unanimously voting to direct staff to present them with a report on the program.
Fowler said he asked for the report after he had some concerns with the program's budget and the number of participants. He first became concerned after reading a report that listed the expenditures of city departments and programs. He said he wanted to compare the actual results against the budget.
"I want to make sure the program still exists," he added.
La Sala said that a report will be composed in the few weeks, and will "very definitely" be ready by the next council meeting on Sept. 17.
Fowler said he wants a comprehensive report on the program. He said the report should describe what the program was years ago, describe its activities in the last fiscal year and this fiscal year, list the names of the companies who are participating, describe the activities planned for this coming year. Furthermore, the report should provide an explanation of why only a tenth of the money council allocated was actually spent and why the number of participants dropped. Finally, it should include a list of the businesses involved with the program's activities.
La Sala said he's not in a position to comment on possible problems with the program until he sees the completed evaluation.
According to Fowler, the program has been around for the past 10 years.
"It's quite innovative," Fowler added. "The program is used as one of the measures of success for Public Safety."
According to La Sala, the Public Safety department is "very short-handed" because of a large number of retirements in recent months, and they're currently "working to fill the holes."
"We had to set our priorities," he said. "But we'll look into the program and have the report ready in the next week or two."
Fowler said the absolute latest he'd expect to see the report in Sept. 24 council meeting, and he "wouldn't know" why it would be ready later than that date.
|
