Costly violations discovered from audit

By: Pattrik Simmons/Staff Writer

An audit conducted by the Office of Internal Audit this year found the Department of Parking and Transportation in violation of several of the University’s rules and regulations, resulting in a loss of more than $100,000. Some of those violations were in relation to parking decals, temporary parking permits, and citations and fines.

“The audit finding was that the rules and regulations weren’t being adhered to as specifically as they should,” said Bill Foster, executive director of Parking and Transportation.

According to the audit, duplicate decal abuse was the most costly violation. In various instances, duplicate decals were purchased by employees “for vehicles owned by coworkers and/or acquaintances,” “for other relatives who were either employees and/or students,” and for their spouses who work at the University but do not own an original decal, the audit stated.

The University’s 2010-2011 Parking Rules and Regulations state that duplicate decals are to be purchased for “additional owned vehicles used alternately and for situations where the original decal must be replaced,” but prohibit that “a vehicle with a duplicate decal is […] permitted on campus at the same time as the vehicle with the original decal when two or more persons who are employed by the University reside in the same household and register more than one vehicle.”

OIA requested that University employees found in violation provide compensation to the Department of Parking and Transportation, which resulted in several complaints from disgruntled faculty and staff. Foster, however, assured that it was not his department’s decision.

“The Office of Internal Audit said not only would we have to correct [the duplicate decal abuse] moving forward, but there has to be some compensation on the backend. They had discussions about that, and the decision was to go back two years for the compensation. This wasn’t a Parking and Transportation thing.”

Instead, it was a recommendation made by OIA, according to Allen Vann, director of OIA. “The employees of the University are obligated to follow the rules, and it is appropriate to recover fees that were due to the University. Going back two years was based on available records.”

Brunhilde “Pupi” Tomassini, senior secretary of the International Forensic Research Institute, and an employee of the University since 1989, was among others found in violation of the rules and regulations because of a duplicate decal, and now has to provide compensation in order to park on campus. “This issue is damaging morale at FIU. Not a good thing for a Worlds Ahead university,” she said.

According to her husband, Lt. Frank Tomassini, an employee of FIU Police, they were found in violation because they were supposed to purchase an original decal, not a duplicate decal, according to the rules and regulations. However, at the time when they purchased the duplicate decal, he said they were not asked any questions, and therefore, were handed the duplicate decal, instead of an original.

“Parking has not adequately controlled the sale of their duplicate decal because they have not trained the staff. They should be asking questions and explaining the rules. I think it’s their responsibility to inform the employees. And they should supervise the staff to make sure they’re following the training,” he said. The department has more than 75 employees, according to its website.

The Tomassinis have decided not to pay the more than $200 fine.

“My wife and I have now found an alternative off-campus parking because we cannot buy a decal [according to the rules], and we’re not going to pay that fee because didn’t do anything wrong.”

A few other complaints made by University employees blamed the department for distributing the duplicate decals without conducting proper research. And while Foster agrees that was a mistake which could have been avoided, he believes it was also the responsibility of faculty and staff.

“I think it’s everybody’s fault. I’m sure there’s some fault in us not stopping somebody from doing something opposed to the rules and regulations. We take people at their word that they need a duplicate decal for a specific purpose. And that’s what we did. The ultimate responsibility, of course, is with the faculty and staff member,” he said.

And although there were also complaints regarding the manner in which the employees were contacted, OIA believes the situation was handled appropriately. “The Office of Internal Audit supports the decisions made by management to implement our recommendations,” Vann said.

The audit also found that more than a dozen temporary parking permits, which include loading zone, volunteer and new employee permits, were distributed incorrectly or displayed incorrect information. Some of the loading zone permits were given to employees who did not purchase an original decal, and others displayed expiration dates between 2020 and 2031. A few volunteer permits were given to part-time University employees even though they had not purchased an original decal.

In reference to the volunteer permits distributed to part-time University employees without original decals, Foster said: “A lot of it is timing issues, [like] when they’re getting it, when their contract goes into place, so it wasn’t really a major thing.”

Between the period of July 2010 and March 2011, Parking and Transportation issued more than 23,000 citations, resulting in more than $580,000. However, some students and faculty were issued parking decals even though the fines were not settled, which is against University rules. Several employees were also given their final paycheck without paying the outstanding fines.

“It’s just one of those things where [the University’s Division of Human Resources] needed to have a certain amount of information in a short period of time. There were sometimes when they didn’t get all the information they needed within that week or two weeks when the final paycheck was issued,” Foster said.

Because of the limited information the department receives from the student system and the payroll system — including entry-level turnover in the department, which makes proper training difficult — controlling decals, permits and vehicles can become challenging.

“When you deal with 50,000 people, and when you deal with mom and dad who own vehicles, or brother and sister who own vehicles, it can be very difficult to link a vehicle to a certain student or faculty member,” he said.

However, recently, Parking and Transportation linked with the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles which will prevent in the future most of the problems the audit reported.

“Right now, we have access to the Florida DMV. So, if you bring a tag and registration, we will make sure that belongs to you. And when you’re asking for a duplicate, we have to do more of an extensive check,” said Lissette Hernandez, associate director of Parking and Transportation.

Linking with the Florida DMV took almost two to three years, according to Foster. “It’s a long process to set up a link with a state agency. Until you have the systems in place that will allow that to happen, it’s a very arduous process. We were able to get agreements between the Florida DMV, FIU and Parking and Transportation to get these uploads automatically,” he added.

And instead of using an outside source for payroll, like ADP, the University’s PantherSoft system will be used come January.

“There’s limited information that we get either from the student system, the HR system, and the University system to be able to get that information right. We are making changes into our system to better understand the classifications of each employee of the university,” Hernandez said.

Both Foster and Hernandez hope that, with the new and soon-to-be-available resources, most of the problems reported should be resolved by the next audit.

Pattrik Simmons is the beat reporter for Parking & Transportation and Public Safety.

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