Harford County's Division of Information and Communication Technology is the subject of an internal investigation over purchasing procedures and other issues, a top county official confirmed Tuesday.
In the wake of the investigation, Justus Eapen, the agency's director, was dismissed last week by Harford County Executive David Craig.
Craig, who did not return phone calls, requested a special audit, expected to be complete in the next few days, after auditors raised concerns in December during Harford's regular auditing process, County Council President Billy Boniface said Tuesday.
Auditors from SB & Company told the council at a Dec. 13 meeting that they had concerns with some procurement policies, especially the large number of sole-source contracts in the procurement department. Those comments were made as the auditors delivered their annual financial report to the council in a regular legislative session.
Boniface said "the largest concerns" were with the IT department.
After he expressed his concerns to Craig, the county executive "contracted them [SB & Company] to do a special audit on his behalf," Boniface said. "Some concerns came up from the audit process that required them to go in depth."
Boniface declined to discuss personnel issues, namely Eapen's dismissal, but said most of the issues in the special audit have been addressed.
"I think most of the initial concerns had been dealt with, through some new policies in the procurement office," he said.
Since the Dec. 13 meeting, the auditors have met privately at least once with the county council and representatives of Craig's administration to discuss specific issues that raised red flags, according to one council member. The agenda used for this meeting, which has since been leaked to some media, was confirmed as accurate Tuesday by a representative of the auditing firm.
Ben Lloyd, spokesman for Craig, wrote in an e-mail Monday that he "cannot comment on a personnel matter aside from stating that Mr. Eapen is no longer employed by Harford County, and that Ted Pibil has been asked to serve as Acting Director of the Office of Information and Communications Technology."
"Whenever a vacancy occurs in the position of the head of an agency, the County Executive shall appoint an acting head for a period not exceeding 60 days," Lloyd wrote. "At that time, a decision will be made regarding who will lead the office going forward."
Pibil previously held the title of business architect in the IT department. When Craig makes a permanent appointment to head the agency, it will have to be confirmed by the county council.
According to a county payroll list from March 2010, Eapen, who lives in the Bel Air area, was making $95,000 a year at that time. All county salaries were frozen in the two succeeding budgets.
Eapen's service with Harford County ended Jan. 17, Lloyd said. Eapen could not be reached for comment.
Lloyd would not comment on issues with the IT department because they were "relevant to an audit process that is ongoing."
"We anticipate the audit process being completed over the next couple of weeks, and we look forward to being able to make all of the findings public at the earliest possible time," he wrote.
Lloyd said the shake-up was being handled well by the staff.
"Our staff in the Office of Information and Communications Technology are highly skilled and professional, and while these are unusual circumstances, we have total confidence in their abilities and work ethic," he wrote.
Specific concerns with the IT department were not mentioned in any detail at the Dec. 13 audit presentation to the county council.
Lloyd likewise said that a management letter accompanying the audit, which would typically be used to point out any financial or operational irregularities, has yet to be released.
"When the management letter is completed and has been presented to us, we will release it to the public," Lloyd wrote.
At the Dec. 13 meeting, auditors gave Harford County an "unqualified clean opinion" with no significant findings of any deficiencies, but did raise an "observation" about the number of non-competitively bid, service-related contracts.
They said the county was working to address this concern. Craig and Deborah Henderson, the director of procurement, spoke at the meeting about their attempt to handle the problem, which was not explicitly named.
Henderson said the department was making policy changes such as requiring cooperative purchases.
At the meeting, Boniface praised Craig for being "very proactive" on the issue.
Councilman Dion Guthrie, however, implied at the meeting that the auditors were downplaying the seriousness of the problem.
"Your report here was a lot more mild than the report you gave when we met initially with you earlier," Guthrie told the auditors.
On Monday, Guthrie said he attended a private meeting with the auditors between Christmas and New Year's. He said specific problems were discussed that gave him more concern; however, he also praised Eapen's work for the county.
"From every word I had heard prior to this, he [Eapen] was doing an outstanding job," Guthrie said. "I had no complaints; in fact, I think the guy saved us a lot of money."