Audit shows Glendale gave sweetheart deals to top aides of former city manager
The audit also faults city management over paying former assistant manager Art Lynch $930,400 in consulting fees after he retired from his Glendale job in 2009. Lynch was a top aide to Beasley who served as Glendale City Manager from 2002 to 2012
A no-bid contract for Lynch was approved by Beasley as well as former city attorney Craig Tindall and the City Council in late 2009 and early 2010, according to the audit.
Lynch worked on some of the city’s Phoenix Coyotes negotiations during his time as a paid consultant. The payments ran from December 2009 through January 2013, according to the external audit.
Auditors found the city would have saved close to $505,000 if Lynch had just remained on the city payroll.
The audit also faulted Beasley and the city managers for allowing former city executive and human resources director Alma Carmicle to work remotely after she moved to Mississippi.
Carmicle worked remotely from Mississippi from 2010 until her retirement in 2012. She was also a top aide to Beasley who helped bring the Phoenix Coyotes, University of Phoenix Stadium, Westgate Entertainment District and Camelback Ranch ballpark to the West Valley city.
Beasley, Lynch and Carmicle did not participate in the auditor’s interview of city officials.
Beasley is now a vice president with commercial real estate firm Colliers International. He did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
The audit also found city managers either misled or did not fully inform the Glendale City Council of fund transfers and consequences that arose from the early retirement program in 2009 and 2010.
Glendale ran afoul of state laws on early retirement programs for cities and ended up paying a $1.5 million penalty to the Arizona State Retirement System, the private audit said.
The audit is fueling opponents of Glendale’s $225 million arena deal with the new owners of the Phoenix Coyotes. That deal was approved earlier this summer. Civil rights activist Rev. Jarrett Maupin and Glendale City Council members Norma Alvarez and Ian Hugh want Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne to look further into Glendale’s activities.
“This audit calls every recent action of city leaders into question. The public should be alarmed by this report,” Maupin said.
Horne’s office earlier this month found the city did not violate Arizona open meetings laws when prospective Coyotes buyers held small private meetings with members of the city council in order to avoid legal requirements to hold larger council meetings in public.
“At this point all I would say is that the audit speaks for itself,” said Glendale spokeswoman Julie Frisoni.
See the audit here.
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