Syntrio contract Moves forward - Tri County Sentry - Tri County Sentry

Deputy City Manager Shiri Klima (Photo by Chris Frost)

Oxnard– The Finance and Governance Committee approved an amended professional services agreement for the Whistleblower Hotline Service during its Tuesday, October 25 meeting.

The Five-Year contract will cost the City $30,500 and have a termination provision if the City is not satisfied with the services.

Deputy City Manager Shiri Klima presented the video and said Price Page and Company has provided the service since its inception, and the City Council approved a third amendment with the company in June 2021.

"However, in June 2022, City staff was notified that Price Page would not be able to continue with the existing contract due to capacity constraints," Klima said. "In August, the City solicited an RFP (Request for Proposals) for Whistleblower Hotline Consultant Services.

She said Council Member Gabe Teran, City Attorney Stephen Fischer, and Klima selected Syntrio and submitted a letter of intent award on September 19, 2022.

Syntrio will provide a dedicated toll-free number for Oxnard residents and City Staff and allow complaints to come through the web, a live agent, and voice mail messages.

"There are 10 standard reporting categories and up to six authorized reviewers," she said. "The City will have access to review, but not edit, the specific report categories."

The report categories include fraud, theft, and harassment and will have a case management system to search, sort, manage, and generate reports.

"The City Staff reviewers will have access to that sorting function," she said. "There will also be a training webinar provided prior to the go-live date."

She said the Hotline will work similarly to Price Page's service, and any complaints not related to potential fraud, waste, and abuse will go to the relevant City Department.

"For example, HR (Human Resources) complaints will go to the HR Department, which is the same as Price Page," Klima said. "They would forward HR complaints to the HR Department."

She said all complaints about potential fraud, waste, and abuse will be sent to Vasquez directly, the City's Internal Auditor, which filters the complaints according to the City's Hotline policy and determines low, medium, and high-risk complaints.

"Vasquez will review the complaints and determine which complaint priority is the most appropriate," she said. "Vasquez will keep a running list, and that list will be shared with the Chair of the Finance and Governance Committee, the City Manager's Office, and the City Attorney's Office."

"That will be all the complaints as they are received," she said. "If any one of those offices or individuals is implicated in the complaint, they will not be able to see the relevant complaint on that list."

Klima said the internal auditor will investigate all high-priority complaints and discuss the priority for investigating medium and low-priority complaints.

"Syntrio is not going to come before the Finance and Governance Committee to do presentations; they don't offer that service and found it is not common in the industry anymore," she said. "City Staff will take the list of all the complaints from the last time period that comes from Syntrio, as well as Vasquez's prioritization of complaints, and bring them up to the Finance and Governance Committee every six months. The City Manager's Office will provide that report unless the City Manager's Office is implicated in those complaints, and the City Attorney's Office will provide that report."

She said if a complaint is investigated, Vasquez will do a presentation, including findings and recommendations to the Committee and Council.

Klima said the City received an email from Syntrio that wants to make two minor contract changes.

"They invoice their clients on an annual basis, not a monthly basis," she said. "Typically, our standard contracts say we can terminate any contract with 15 days' notice. Since this is a technological implementation, they would like an annual termination option with 60 days' notice. This is a reasonable environment, so if you allow us to proceed, we'd like to get the amended contract by the time this goes to the Council."

Committee Member Gabe Teran asked for a service description from Syntrio.

"The former Whistleblower Company that we've had since 2017 gave us notice this summer that we cannot continue with this contract," Klima said. "The company is providing a technological service, and any resident or employee can call in or go online through the City's website confidentially provide a complaint. What they're getting at is fraud, waste, and abuse, so if there is any suspicion of fraud, waste, or abuse, they send that to the internal auditor, the external consultant, who will do an investigation."

The consultant will share their findings with the Finance & Governance Committee and City Council.

City Attorney Stephen Fischer said the auditor gives periodic use reports, and a "vast majority of those calls" don't have anything to do with fraud, waste, and abuse but may involve personnel or code compliance issues.

"Part of what this vendor will do is if it is not a fraud, waste, or abuse issue, they'll get it to the proper City contact so the right person can respond to it," he said. "It's often the calls have nothing to do with the City of Oxnard. It has to do with the County of Ventura or some health issue with Covid."

The full City Council will get a detailed report about the service as it moves forward.

Syntrio contract Moves forward - Tri County Sentry - Tri County Sentry