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| By G. Michael Dobbs Managing Editor SPRINGFIELD Mayor Domenic Sarno said on Friday afternoon various city departments are reviewing the audit information and the additional information requested from the Springfield Towing Alliance (STA) to determine the city's next step. The STA was officially out of compliance with its contract to tow cars for the city on Friday. When asked what would happen next, Sarno said his office would take action early this week once the analysis of the additional information is complete. He declined to offer more details other than to say there are plans being worked out if STA loses the contract. Robert McCollum, the operations manager of the STA, told Reminder Publications on Monday morning the towing alliance is waiting to hear from the city. He said the STA complied in all of the requests for more information by the Friday deadline, a task which he called "Herculean." A city audit of the STA released Sept. 4 claimed the STA owed the city "a substantial short fall in revenue;" failed to submit complete tow forms to the Police Department after a tow; did not submit "complete and timely" vehicle status reports and inventory reports to the Police Department; and failed to submit criminal background checks on employees, among other finding.s A response on Sept. 15 from the STA refuted many of the findings of the city's audit and with its own audit showed the city owned the STA money. McCollum has placed much of the blame on city Auditor Mark Ianello. In a statement issued Sept. 15, McCollum said, "Ianello made a promise that the Springfield Towing Alliance and his staff would come back together to review and reconcile any differences before the analysis was made public. He broke that promise. Had he kept that promise all of this would have been cleared up." On the issue of money owed to the city, McCollum said, "We still have over 500 vehicles in the lot we have not collected any payment on and therefore can't pay the administration fee and remittance fee to the city." "We have tried to work with this vendor. It's a shame to have come to this," Sarno said Friday. "We have bent over backwards. |