{"id":204307,"date":"2026-03-04T19:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/204307\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T19:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:37:10","slug":"rogue-berkeley-worker-bought-ambulance-without-approval-audit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/204307\/","title":{"rendered":"Rogue Berkeley worker bought ambulance without approval: audit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A file photo of a Berkeley ambulance. A new report from the city auditor\u2019s office says a former city worker committed the city to buying a $285,000 ambulance without proper approval. Credit: Emilie Raguso\/Berkeleyside<\/p>\n

A former city worker went rogue and bought a $285,000 custom ambulance in 2022 without proper authorization, and the City Council quietly and retroactively legitimized the purchase the next year, according to a new report from the city auditor.<\/p>\n

The purchase exposed gaps in how the city goes about buying some of its most expensive hardware<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Scroll down to read the full report<\/p>\n

City Auditor Jenny Wong<\/a>\u2019s office first heard of the purchase through a whistleblower program the office set up in 2023<\/a>. The report on the ambulance purchase<\/a> is \u201cthe first public investigation report\u201d the office has issued through that program, she wrote in a prepared statement. <\/p>\n

In late 2022, the Berkeley Fire Department determined it needed a new ambulance, and hammered out projected costs and specifications with workers from the Public Works Department\u2019s Equipment Maintenance Division, which manages the city\u2019s fleet, according to an investigation by Wong and Erin Mullin, who runs the whistleblower program. An unnamed, now-former public works employee went ahead with a purchase agreement for the ambulance.<\/p>\n

The trouble with that was that the unnamed worker never submitted a purchase requisition or purchase order or consulted the Finance Department\u2019s General Services Division, the only department in the city actually empowered to authorize purchase orders, according to the report.<\/p>\n

\"\"City Auditor Jenny Wong. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight<\/p>\n

Purchase requisitions are a procedural step the city put in place to make sure purchases comply with the city\u2019s own rules on competitive pricing and vendor selection, among other things. \u201cThis step was skipped entirely,\u201d Wong and Mullin wrote.<\/p>\n

The city worker also did not get approval from the City Council, something city ordinances require for purchases over $100,000, according to the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo ensure the integrity of our Whistleblower Program, we do not comment on employees\u2019 identities that are not named in public reports,\u201d Wong told Berkeleyside via email.<\/p>\n

Finance officials finally found out about the purchase 10 months after the fact, by which point the vendor \u2014 Washington-based Braun Northwest Inc., according to council records \u2014 had nearly finished building the rig. Braun delivered the vehicle but held onto the title to it until the city finally paid up, several weeks after taking possession. The council had to retroactively approve the expense in December 2023, after which the Finance Department issued a purchase order and the city paid Braun.<\/p>\n

The council item approving the purchase<\/a> \u2014 $284,974 to Braun, and $1,000 to the Texas-based local government cooperative through which the city typically purchases ambulances \u2014 \u201cdid not clearly state that the ambulance had already been built, delivered and committed,\u201d Wong wrote in her statement. <\/p>\n

Liam Garland, the public works director throughout most of the roughly year-long drama, resigned in November 2023<\/a>, and LaTanya Bellow, at the time the deputy city manager and interim director of public works, authored the council item.<\/p>\n

In their investigation Wong and Mullin found that some of the people responsible for buying vehicles and other hardware were fuzzy on who exactly was responsible for what. Moreso, there was no mechanism for workers who did notice things were amiss to flag the issues. They issued several recommendations:<\/p>\n

The Finance Department should update its purchasing manual to clarify requirements<\/p>\n

Finance and the Human Resources Department should update worker regulations so people know who bring possible problems to, and how to go about making purchases<\/p>\n

Workers need more training on equipment purchases<\/p>\n

The City Manager\u2019s Office should keep the City Council in the loop \u201cwhenever a purchase moves forward outside of the established procurement requirements\u201d<\/p>\n

The City Manager\u2019s Office did not immediately respond to a Berkeleyside inquiry Wednesday morning seeking more details on who set the purchase in motion and whether it had anything to do with their eventual departure from city employment.<\/p>\n

According to a \u201cmanagement response\u201d section of Wong and Mullin\u2019s report, city leadership embraced their recommendations generally, but emphasized that there were no actual payments until after the council voted in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis breach arose from an individual employe[e] bypassing established policy,\u201d according to the section. \u201cThe existing internal controls were effective in catching the policy and procedure violation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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