NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL CHAOS CHICK'S AUDIT FINDS DEPARTMENT IN DISARRAY, HAMPERING GROWTH.

Byline: KERRY CAVANAUGH Staff Writer

The Los Angeles agency charged with overseeing the city's nearly 90 neighborhood councils lacks clear authority, creating confusion and tension by failing to adequately support the grass-roots system, a city audit released Tuesday says.

Controller Laura Chick's first audit of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment found the agency in a state of disarray, establishing 86 councils with no consistent direction on how to oversee them.

The problems -- compounded by the muddled authority lines to the Mayor's Office, City Council and other city agencies -- have hampered growth, effectiveness and community participation, the audit said.

``The original and very expansive and hopeful vision for the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment and neighborhood councils has not yet been achieved,'' Chick said.

``The department needs to be given more power and authority to really be the leader for neighborhood councils, and to deliver the services to neighborhood councils that they need: training, expertise, outreach and making neighborhood councils more inclusive.''

The report comes at a pivotal time for the seven-year-old neighborhood council system. Complaints have increased about a tangled bureaucracy even as a comprehensive review is under way on ways to make improvements.

In her audit, Chick said DONE -- with a 51-member staff and $4.3 million-a-year budget -- has primarily focused on implementing and certifying councils.

Since 2001, 88 councils have been certified, although two were later decertified. While the grass-roots movement was very aggressive in its early states -- 57 were certified in a single year -- just two were certified in 2005 and only one this year although several dozen communities are not represented.

Chick said she was not prepared to declare ``mission failed'' but believes DONE needs to address a lengthy series of problems.

``One key reason why DONE has not transitioned smoothly to its new role is that there is currently no official document that clearly defines DONE's oversight and monitoring role,'' Chick said.

``This lack of authority has weakened DONE's efforts to effectively support the NCs and has created confusion and tension among NCs and DONE as to what DONE's regulatory and oversight role should be.''

Who's the boss?

The report outlines confusing lines of reporting, with DONE receiving mandates from the Mayor's Office, Board of Neighborhood Commissioners and Treasurer's Office, and advice from everyone from City Council members to the City Attorney's Office.

Chick said the city ordinance should be amended to provide DONE with explicit authority.

``The original vision is far from achieved,'' Chick said in a letter to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council. ``But rather than declare `mission failed,' my report instead lays out clear recommendations to address known problems.''

The audit also found that DONE fails to closely monitor how councils budget and spend their money.

Neighborhood councils receive $50,000 a year for community outreach, projects and operating expenses. But there are no guidelines or goals for spending the money, so councils have used less than half of the $10.9 million allocated through this year.

One council spent more than $80,000 over the last three years on accounting and office support, according to the audit. By comparison, 74 councils spent less than $5,000 on such services over the same period.

``Neighborhood councils across the city are getting over $4 million a year in public money, taxpayer money, and we need to put better controls in place to make sure that money is really well spent,'' Chick said.

`The next phase'

DONE Interim General Manager Lisa Sarno agreed with the audit and said she discovered many of the problems when she took the helm in April.

``It shows, really, that the department really is in the next phase. There was a vision for certification but there wasn't a vision for after certification,'' Sarno said.

DONE has increased staff training and tried to take a closer look at problem areas for councils, Sarno said.

But the lack of authority means DONE staff can only suggest -- not require -- training for boards with human relations, accounting or outreach problems.

And the audit found DONE staff felt overworked trying to keep up with a council system that is projected to grow to 100 by the end of next year.

The audit reviewed DONE operations from July 2003 through Aug. 15, 2006. During much of that time, the department was headed by now-retired General Manager Greg Nelson.

Nelson was known for a laissez-faire style of management and aversion to creating bureaucracies.

Nelson agreed Tuesday that DONE needs to do a better job of monitoring funds, but he questioned whether it needs more regulatory authority.

``My concern is that the audit could be misused by some at City Hall in an attempt to empower themselves to control neighborhood councils,'' he said. ``I have serious doubts that anyone at City Hall knows best how neighborhood councils should govern themselves.''

Some neighborhood council members said the audit accurately reflects the problems they've encountered.

``It's a department in disarray,'' said Jason Lyon, who sits on the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council and is a member of the Neighborhood Council Review Commission.

Wary of rules

But he also was wary of giving more authority to DONE -- which is supposed to empower neighborhood councils.

``There needs to be some regulatory authority, but I'm not sure it should be DONE. Maybe it could be the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners or the city administrative officer,'' Lyon said.

Pacoima Neighborhood Council President Edwin Ramirez was also uncomfortable with giving DONE more authority.

``I do agree that DONE needs more resources to do a better job in providing support. Neighborhood councils are new; there was no policy set and it's a work in process,'' he said.

``But DONE is not supposed to be policing. It's supposed to be there to support and help councils reach their potential.''

Chick said she expects some concern from councils that don't want more rules, procedures and oversight.

``Some neighborhood councils want what they want when they want it and how they want. That's what happens sometimes when you empower people,'' she said. ``The audit says now it's time to empower the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment.''

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