A planned audit of the Denver City Council has been delayed by a conflict between the council and the Auditor’s Office over whether the council can have an observer present during the auditor’s interviews of staff members.

Auditor Tim O’Brien announced the delay Tuesday, saying he refuses to conduct the staff interviews with senior staff members or attorneys present. Shortly after O’Brien’s announcement, the council released a statement calling the delay of the audit “bullying.”

Both alleged that the other side is engaging in “intimidating” behavior to influence the staff interviews.

“Council leadership won’t allow their own staff to have open and honest conversations with my audit team,” O’Brien said. “If City Council employees are required to be interviewed in the presence of senior staff, employees may be hesitant to speak openly about what is and is not working in council operations.”

Council leadership said it wants an observer present at the staff interviews to serve as a notetaker and to protect the staff from intimidation from the audit team.

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“We won’t be bullied into decisions that have no legal basis,” said Council President Pro Tem Jamie Torres. “Council’s interest in having a staffer be in the room for observation and notetaking in no way undermines the auditor’s role, responsibility or authority.”

O’Brien argues that unrestricted interviews are required by the Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards, which must be followed under the Denver Charter. He said the audit standards mandate that interviews be held under conditions in which people may speak freely and that auditors must reduce audit risk to an acceptably low level.

Council leadership said the audit standards do not specifically state that an observer cannot be present at an interview or that an audit must be delayed if there are limitations to the audit.

The Auditor’s Office has met with council leadership to discuss how to handle the disagreement, but they were unable to come up with a solution.

“My authority as auditor comes from the people,” O’Brien said. “The people voted to update the charter and require that we follow Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards. This requirement is not subject to change by the City Council.”

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Around five years ago, Mayor Michael Hancock made an agreement with the Auditor’s Office that his administration would not try to keep audits from being conducted according to audit standards, O’Brien said. Council leadership said it is a separate branch of government and not subject to agreements made by the mayor.

O’Brien said the audit of the City Council has been planned for over a year after some members of the council requested an audit be conducted.

While no date has been set for the audit to resume, council President Stacie Gilmore said the City Council will work with the Auditor’s Office to resolve the issue in the new year.

“We have been and continue to fully participate in this audit,” Gilmore said, “and I find it very disappointing that the auditor would resort to bullying Council leadership rather than talking out any concerns to an agreeable resolution.”

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