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YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
April 19, 2002
Report No. 2002-30
The following problems were discovered as a result of an audit conducted by our office of the Department of Economic Development, Office of the Public Counsel.
Executive
Order 01-19, issued in November 2001, required executive branch agencies to
manage for results, including performance improvement and efficiency efforts,
strategic planning for policy innovation, and the use of performance measures
in state decision-making.� Office of the
Public Counsel (OPC) staff indicated that in anticipation of this order, the
Department of Economic Development (DED) required its various agencies to begin
strategic planning efforts and to determine a baseline measurement of public
awareness of their organizations.
To
fulfill the DED requirement of baseline measurements, and due to limited
personnel, in May 1999 the OPC joined with the Missouri Public Service
Commission to engage the University of Missouri-Columbia to conduct a statewide
telephone survey to determine consumer awareness of the two agencies.� In May 2000, the OPC paid $9,960 as its
share of the cost of the survey.� While
a stated objective of the survey was to measure the degree of consumer
awareness, there was no documentation of how the OPC planned to utilize the
results of the survey.
The
OPC maintains one vehicle, a 1998 Dodge van.�
According to vehicle usage logs, total usage for the van was
approximately 8,800 miles and 10,900 miles for fiscal years 2001 and 2000,
respectively.� The OPC also paid $1,331
and $1,794 for in-state mileage to employees for fiscal years 2001 and 2000,
respectively.� The OPC has a policy,
which appears to be complied with, that requires employees to use the van if it
is available.�
To
ensure the OPC is using state resources efficiently, a usage study should be
performed to compare the vehicle investment and depreciation, fuel, and ongoing
maintenance costs with the alternative of simply paying employees for the
personal use of vehicles.
The
Office of the Public Counsel was established in July 1974 as a result of the
provisions of the Omnibus State Reorganization Act of 1974.� This act transferred the powers and
responsibilities of the general counsel to the Missouri Public Service
Commission, to the new Office of the Public Counsel.� The Office of the Public Counsel is charged with the
responsibility of representing the public before the Missouri Public Service
Commission.� In addition to handling
rate increase cases, the public counsel has been involved in complaints dealing
with rate reductions and cases dealing with rate design, utility mergers and
acquisitions, generation capacity planning, rule-making, and consumer
complaints.� The public counsel can
appeal the decision of the Missouri Public Service Commission to the courts of
Missouri.
