Grant PUD auditors to review safety reports

EPHRATA — The Grant County PUD’s auditors will be among the employees reviewing safety audits and reports.

The PUD instituted additional reviews of safety procedures following a November 2015 accident at Priest Rapids Dam. Six workers were injured; five of them required treatment at Harborview Medical Center for burn injuries.

Utility district officials conducted an investigation after the accident, and the final report recommended 16 changes to PUD policy and procedures to reduce the possibility of a similar incident. Periodic reviews will be part of that process, and the PUD’s audit team will be among the people reviewing the reports, said Brett Bergeson of the PUD.

The audit team will do “an audit of those audits,” checking to see if the revised policies and procedures are being followed, Bergeson said. General manager Kevin Nordt said it was another layer of reviews, looking for things that might have been missed.

Bergeson and Debbie Keranova, both on the audit department staff, gave a quarterly audit report to PUD commissioners during a recent regular meeting.

Each year the audit team picks a few PUD operations for an in-depth review, Bergeson said, and for 2016 those include the senior discount program, the low income program and the worker’s benefit program. Reviews are still underway of procedures for employee credit card use and procedures for overtime.

The audit department was asked to do a more in-depth review of the PUD’s insurance procedures, Bergeson said. The results have shown employees need more training in that area, he added.

In addition, all vouchers are reviewed by the auditors and about 20 percent are picked at random for a more thorough examination, he said. “If we see things, we’re digging into them.” While the PUD hasn’t had problems, he clarified, the random review makes it more difficult to commit fraud.

Commissioner Bob Bernd asked how the auditors find fraud. Bergeson said they’re looking for trends. He cited the example (which hasn't happened at the PUD) of a vendor suddenly doing more business with the PUD: “Why the spike?”

As of mid-June, the auditors had reviewed more than $9 million in transactions, about 20 percent of the vouchers.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.