{"id":233453,"date":"2026-03-24T01:52:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T01:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/233453\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T01:52:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T01:52:06","slug":"after-contractor-scandal-county-announces-outside-contracting-audit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/233453\/","title":{"rendered":"After Contractor Scandal, County Announces Outside Contracting Audit\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An independent auditor is digging into the county\u2019s contracting processes amid the <a href=\"https:\/\/voiceofsandiego.org\/2026\/02\/25\/county-contractor-case-getting-more-troubling\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">criminal misappropriation debacle<\/a> involving a former county contractor.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Chief Administrative Officer Ebony Shelton <a href=\"https:\/\/www.countynewscenter.com\/county-launches-formal-review-of-contracting-processes-to-improve-oversight\/\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\">announced Monday<\/a> that the county has retained an outside auditor to \u201cconduct a targeted review of contracting processes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After questions from Voice of San Diego, county spokesperson Tammy Glenn said the county will pay certified public accounting and advisory firm Eide Bailey $68,000 for the review.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In a Monday announcement, the county said the firm is expected to deliver a report that includes findings and recommendations by the end of May. County officials said the county is committed to \u201ctransparency and constant improvement to ensure confidence about how public funds are managed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yet Glenn could not immediately confirm whether the report will be released publicly.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Board of Supervisors has made clear that they want a full understanding of what occurred and how we can strengthen our oversight,\u201d Shelton wrote in a statement. \u201cWe take stewardship of public funds seriously, and we want to understand where the checks and balances may have broken down and what improvements may be needed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The announcement follows criminal charges for the former COO of ex-county contractor Harm Reduction of San Diego, who is accused of <a href=\"https:\/\/voiceofsandiego.org\/2026\/02\/25\/county-contractor-case-getting-more-troubling\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">spending at least $210,000 in public funds<\/a>\u202fon everything from plastic surgeries to family vacations.\u202f\u202fIt also follows <a href=\"https:\/\/voiceofsandiego.org\/2026\/03\/09\/internal-county-review-of-contractor-debacle-spotlights-oversight-shortcomings\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">an internal county review<\/a> that spotlighted the need for stronger county contract oversight and red flags with a former contractor now embroiled in scandal.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated Posts\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLisa is a senior investigative reporter digging into San Diego County government and the region\u2019s homelessness, housing, and behavioral health crises.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"author-link\" href=\"https:\/\/voiceofsandiego.org\/author\/lisa-halverstadt\/\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore by Lisa Halverstadt\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An independent auditor is digging into the county\u2019s contracting processes amid the criminal misappropriation debacle involving a former&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-233453","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-san-diego","9":"tag-san-diego-headlines","10":"tag-san-diego-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}