Montreal's Auditor General Michele Galipeau's annual audit contained a multitude of recommendations for the city's government, including the desire to pick up the pace.

The report she delivered on June 18, 2019, contained more than 500 recommendations but she highlighted some areas as trouble spots.

She was particularly concerned by the lack of security in municipal buildings, a lack of transparency in how affordable housing strategies are managed, and no clear strategy in shifting to electric vehicles.

 

Lack of follow through

The auditor's report also calls out the city of Montreal for failing to follow up on recommendations made in previous years.

She said the city of Montreal has only implemented 32 percent of the recommendations from her 2017 report.

Galipeau said there has been a steady decline over the past three years in how recommendations are being handled.

Benoit Dorais, the president of the Executive Committee, said that must change.

"To do so we have asked Mr. Serge Lamontagne, our general manager, to help us undergo a major shift in respecting the Auditor General's recommendation," said Dorais.

The comptroller general is also being asked to monitor the auditor's suggestions and their implementation by the central city and each borough.

 

Security flaws

"We looked at the management of the security and what we saw is that there's no global review of all the security in buildings," said Galipeau.

The audit said while Montreal adopted a security policy in 2014, there has been little follow up and there are no clear guidelines.

"There are no norms that have been put into place. Roles and responsibilities are not well-defined, so there are a lot of elements for the emergency plan as well, there are a lot of improvements to be made," said Galipeau.

Of the 1,500 municipal buildings across 19 boroughs, the audit calls out Anjou, Lachine, and CDN-NDG as being the laxest about security.

Galipeau's report said the city even fails to keep track of controlled keys.

 

No electric mobility strategy

Montreal's administration has given the city tall goals of converting its fleet of vehicles to being all-electric as quickly as possible.

However the audit shows there are no specific goals, nor are there timelines for reaching this goal.

Galipeau said this could cost taxpayers because without a concrete strategy and co-ordination, the charging stations being installed across the city may not be the best use of funds, especially given how fast the technology is changing.

The audit found this is due to different departments not having the same goals and timelines.