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Dover, Del. —
After several new issues have surfaced involving faulty record keeping and missing or uncashed checks within the state’s transportation department, the agency’s secretary has called for sweeping policy reform and an external investigation.
DelDOT Secretary Shailen Bhatt told reporters in a media briefing Monday that he will enlist the services of a forensic accounting firm and a security team made up of former FBI investigators to inspect the department’s records and current policies in order to pinpoint any wrongdoing.
“We want to make sure the public has faith in this agency, both retrospectively and as we go forward, that we are doing everything by the book,” Bhatt said. “That is my commitment and the commitment of the staff now. If there were legacy issues or historic issues, we want to move the agency forward but we also want to put to bed some of these allegations.”
Controversy has swarmed the department over the past several years, much of it revolving around property acquisitions and sweetheart land deals with well-connected Sussex County developers.
Bhatt took over the agency in July after former secretary, Carolann Wicks, resigned in light of a scathing 53-page report from the governor’s office regarding the land deals.
Bhatt first became concerned with the department’s record keeping practices after a 2011 report cited weaknesses within the current system and recommended that it be modernized.
“In a lot of ways our record keeping process is somewhat archaic,” he said. “When people ask us questions about project X or project Y, it’s a pretty labor intensive process for us to go down, track through the files and pull together all the documents. It’s not the way we need to be operating.”
The problem worsened, however, when DelDOT officials just recently learned that Kent County’s planning department stopped recording site plans in their entirety beginning in 2003. Only plans in which original property lines were being adjusted were recorded in entirety, Bhatt said. Other changes, like property transfers, dedications or easements were not necessarily documented.
Relying heavily on the counties, DelDOT’s own records regarding site plans were limited and sometimes non-existent,” Bhatt said.
“I don’t want to just point the finger at Kent County,” he said. “DelDOT was also not recording these rights for ourselves.”
Officials don’t believe properties in the state’s other two counties were affected.
In an attempt to correct the problems DelDOT is facing, Bhatt said the department will update its software in order to adequately and thoroughly track projects. The upgrade is estimated to cost $1 million, which may mean additional funding requests during the markup phase of the General Assembly’s Joint Finance Committee this spring.
After several new issues have surfaced involving faulty record keeping and missing or uncashed checks within the state’s transportation department, the agency’s secretary has called for sweeping policy reform and an external investigation.
DelDOT Secretary Shailen Bhatt told reporters in a media briefing Monday that he will enlist the services of a forensic accounting firm and a security team made up of former FBI investigators to inspect the department’s records and current policies in order to pinpoint any wrongdoing.
“We want to make sure the public has faith in this agency, both retrospectively and as we go forward, that we are doing everything by the book,” Bhatt said. “That is my commitment and the commitment of the staff now. If there were legacy issues or historic issues, we want to move the agency forward but we also want to put to bed some of these allegations.”
Controversy has swarmed the department over the past several years, much of it revolving around property acquisitions and sweetheart land deals with well-connected Sussex County developers.
Bhatt took over the agency in July after former secretary, Carolann Wicks, resigned in light of a scathing 53-page report from the governor’s office regarding the land deals.
Bhatt first became concerned with the department’s record keeping practices after a 2011 report cited weaknesses within the current system and recommended that it be modernized.
“In a lot of ways our record keeping process is somewhat archaic,” he said. “When people ask us questions about project X or project Y, it’s a pretty labor intensive process for us to go down, track through the files and pull together all the documents. It’s not the way we need to be operating.”
The problem worsened, however, when DelDOT officials just recently learned that Kent County’s planning department stopped recording site plans in their entirety beginning in 2003. Only plans in which original property lines were being adjusted were recorded in entirety, Bhatt said. Other changes, like property transfers, dedications or easements were not necessarily documented.
Relying heavily on the counties, DelDOT’s own records regarding site plans were limited and sometimes non-existent,” Bhatt said.
“I don’t want to just point the finger at Kent County,” he said. “DelDOT was also not recording these rights for ourselves.”
Officials don’t believe properties in the state’s other two counties were affected.
In an attempt to correct the problems DelDOT is facing, Bhatt said the department will update its software in order to adequately and thoroughly track projects. The upgrade is estimated to cost $1 million, which may mean additional funding requests during the markup phase of the General Assembly’s Joint Finance Committee this spring.
The agency is also working with Kent County to re-record site plans that were not previously complete.
Bhatt said he does not yet know what these reforms will cost the state in total.
“If we can assure the public we are handling all of these transactions in the way that we should be and that tax payers are protected, the return on the investment here will be very high,” he said.
More issues mounted as staff began reporting that old checks had possibly gone uncashed or even missing over the years, Bhatt said. Forensic accountants will probe through $400,000 worth of checks, some dating back 10 years ago, looking for errors or mismanagement.
All departments in the agency will be examined, he said.
“I want to make it clear, this is not just a real estate issue,” he said. “This is a DelDOT issue.”
While he believes staff members acted in good faith, the secretary said he could not rule out criminal misconduct.
“In my time here and in my reading of the initial look at this, I think there was a lot of mismanagement and frankly incompetence in some areas, but it does not strike me as criminal activity,” Bhatt said. “If that has been the case, then it will be brought to light and we’ll deal with it.”
Bhatt said personnel action will not be taken until officials learn the full extent of the problems facing them.
In the meantime, agency staff will now be required to record and deposit all checks within 24 hours of receipt, he said.
Bhatt said he will continue to improve the transparency of his agency and wants to “remove the cloud of doubt hanging over the department.
“My goal is that our employees can go out and say they work at DelDOT and that their proud to work at DelDOT,” he said. “I think we can get there, we just have to put to bed some of these legacy issues.”
