Hawaii County Auditor Clare McAdam on Wednesday presented to the County Council’s Communications, Reports and Council Oversight Committee her office’s annual plan for the auditing of county operations this fiscal year.

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Hawaii County Auditor Clare McAdam on Wednesday presented to the County Council’s Communications, Reports and Council Oversight Committee her office’s annual plan for the auditing of county operations this fiscal year.

McAdam sent a letter dated July 6 to the County Council with a list of County Charter-mandated audits, proposed audits, other projects and other potential audit areas.

“We will continue to monitor both the process and the extent of the financial audit performed by Acuity LLP for the fiscal year ending in 2025 and also for 2026,” McAdam told the committee.

Acuity was contracted to conduct the charter-mandated audits: the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report; Department of Water Supply Financial Statements; Landfill Financial Assurance; and Office of Housing Section 8 Program.

Turning her attention to internal probes, McAdam told council members her office is “currently conducting an audit of the Office of Housing and Community Development’s management of the Housing and Homeless Fund, as requested by yourselves.”

She added her office is “implementing new processes on the semi-annual follow-up reviews” to assess implementation of recommendations made as a result of recent audits.

“And when we’re meeting with the departments, we’re finding out that most of those recommendations have already been implemented,” she said. “And so we want to make sure that we can present that to you in more real time, regardless of what’s been happening with our prior audits, rather than waiting for that final audit report.”

Kona Councilwoman Rebecca Villegas asked McAdam about the timeline for the results of the audit of OHCD’s Housing and Homeless Fund, a program in which OHCD spent $33 million in federal grant money over three years to buy several homes to lease at $10 a year to nonprofit organizations for what the county described as “affordable long-term housing” for at-risk residents.

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“We’re in the middle of it …,” McAdam replied, adding that she’s still meeting with department officials. “Hopefully, we’ll be in a better position on it towards the end, the middle of August.”

“I would also put a call out to the grantees to get the information that they need to them, posthaste,” Villegas told McAdam. “I think it is vital and it is a huge part of this audit that the grantees are completely and authentically included in all this information and everything you get to look at.

“… I know it’s a heavy lift, but we all are anticipating having a report and being able to more effectively review the program and these plans, as well as the grantees.”

The OHCD audit was listed as “proposed audits.” Other potential audits on that list include the Department of Environmental Management’s Wastewater Division and the Hawaii Police Department’s evidence-storage facilities.

“What area of Wastewater are you specifically looking at, and what was the motivation in terms of putting it in this year’s list of potential audits?” Hamakua Councilwoman Heather Kimball asked.

McAdam replied that she and her office “haven’t narrowed down the scope yet.”

“I guess the reason we included it in the audit plan, we did a basic risk assessment,” she said. “There’s a lot of grant money going in that, a lot of projects to manage.

“I don’t have the definitive scope as of yet.”

“So, if we as council members have particular areas of concern we would like the office to review, there would still be the opportunity to provide that request to you?” Kimball inquired.

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“Oh, yes, yes,” McAdam replied.

Email John Burnett at [email protected].