DBI starts internal audit of projects tied to alleged integrity breaches
October 20, 2021 | San Francisco City, San Francisco County, California
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The Department of Building Inspection has launched an internal quality-control audit focused on identifying projects that may have been affected by prior public-integrity breaches, Deputy Director Joe Duffy told the Building Inspection Commission.
Duffy said an audit team led by senior building inspector Ed Donnelly will analyze permit records, approved plans and inspection histories and will flag files for deeper review. "Our audit is organized into tiers, and we are currently working on the first tier of the audit," he said. The first tier will target projects tied to staff "Rodrigo Santos and or Bernie Curran," who the presentation identified as charged in related matters.
When the team finds problems it will follow the department's usual enforcement path: issue notices of violation, escalate with site visits where warranted, and consult with the city attorney's office on legal steps. Duffy said files determined to be clean will be closed and recorded as reviewed.
The department said the audit will cover rolling three-year windows (starting with 2017–2020) and then expand retrospectively, and staff estimated preliminary candidate counts in the low thousands. Duffy said the team is creating a database spreadsheet to document reviews and that quarterly updates will be provided to the commission.
Commissioners raised questions about owner outreach, communication to current property owners who may unknowingly occupy affected properties, and how the department will handle cases involving current supervisors or staff. Duffy said the city attorney's office will be engaged where employee wrongdoing is suspected and that outreach will be "case by case" to avoid unnecessarily alarming homeowners.
Duffy acknowledged the human and practical challenges of contacting current owners and said that in many cases staff have already received calls from property owners after their records were identified in the review. He said DBI intends to be measured and diplomatic in outreach and emphasized the department will use data flags (e.g., unusually few inspections on a permit) to prioritize work.
DBI will report further details and a more refined property-count breakdown at a future meeting.
Duffy said an audit team led by senior building inspector Ed Donnelly will analyze permit records, approved plans and inspection histories and will flag files for deeper review. "Our audit is organized into tiers, and we are currently working on the first tier of the audit," he said. The first tier will target projects tied to staff "Rodrigo Santos and or Bernie Curran," who the presentation identified as charged in related matters.
When the team finds problems it will follow the department's usual enforcement path: issue notices of violation, escalate with site visits where warranted, and consult with the city attorney's office on legal steps. Duffy said files determined to be clean will be closed and recorded as reviewed.
The department said the audit will cover rolling three-year windows (starting with 2017–2020) and then expand retrospectively, and staff estimated preliminary candidate counts in the low thousands. Duffy said the team is creating a database spreadsheet to document reviews and that quarterly updates will be provided to the commission.
Commissioners raised questions about owner outreach, communication to current property owners who may unknowingly occupy affected properties, and how the department will handle cases involving current supervisors or staff. Duffy said the city attorney's office will be engaged where employee wrongdoing is suspected and that outreach will be "case by case" to avoid unnecessarily alarming homeowners.
Duffy acknowledged the human and practical challenges of contacting current owners and said that in many cases staff have already received calls from property owners after their records were identified in the review. He said DBI intends to be measured and diplomatic in outreach and emphasized the department will use data flags (e.g., unusually few inspections on a permit) to prioritize work.
DBI will report further details and a more refined property-count breakdown at a future meeting.
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