New audit blames gaping city streetlight repair backlog on weak worker oversight, bad management
San Diego’s gaping backlog of roughly 7,000 streetlight repairs – and the 340-day average wait to get them fixed – can be blamed on weak oversight of city electricians and questionable management, a new audit says. The highly critical 56-page audit raises concerns that some city electricians may be taking advantage of weak oversight to get paid unwarranted overtime or to spend many work hours not performing their duties. The audit prompted San Diego to significantly strengthen last week an overtime policy for workers called back into the field after their shift ends. The revised policy requires far more documentation and details. City officials say they also recently took “corrective action” against two electricians found by the audit to have spent 198 hours – the equivalent of 25 workdays – parked for long stretches at sites where no documented repairs took place. City Auditor Andy…
