PAAC to be audited again
The Pacific Avenue Athletic Complex will be audited once again after allegations surfaced in regards to the financial decisions behind it.
City of Yuma administrator Greg Wilkinson announced the audit will be conducted by an independent audit firm. Wilkinson added that they are starting a contract with an independent bond council at Wednesday’s city council meeting.
“We are hesitant to waste taxpayer funds to do the same thing over again, but we felt this was necessary to end the discussion. Continue to keep transparency and maintain the trust in our local government,” said Wilkinson.
Henry Valenzuela, the self-proclaimed “guy with a calculator”, admitted he wanted to request an investigation into the PAAC but did not after the audit was announced.
“What they don’t realize that what we need here is a public hearing. If we don’t have a public hearing, nobody is going to believe these audits. What you have is you have the administrator requesting an audit. He limits the scope of the audit. Then there is a report produced. At the end of the day, I’ll predict right now what it’s going to say. What it’s going to say everything’s fine, but it’s not,” said Valenzuela.
Valenzuela said he is hoping the council will step up. He added the City of Yuma does not need to spend money for an outside auditor.
He released his first video Monday where he claimed the city did not generate the nearly $500,000 in revenue it claimed they did. He released his second video Wednesday in regards to questions he said were unanswered.
Another Yuma resident also raised a concern in regards to the PAAC at Wednesday’s city council meeting.
Phil Clark referenced an email he said was sent out community-wide in regards to allegations about the PAAC.
“He indicated that we went to an outside attorney to review all the allegations contained in this email and the attorney determined they were all false,” said Clark. “As I’m prone to do, I put in a public record request and I know you’ll be as shocked and surprised as I was when the response was that the document was attorney-client privilege.”
Clark asked that the document is released to Valenzuela and his people for review.
The audit is expected to be reported to the city council on December 19.
