TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa’s city auditor is looking into how the city responds to roads and homelessness. Nathan Pickard says they’re two of the top issues Tulsans identified in the annual Evaluate the 918 survey.
“It is this independent office that really can help build trust and to let people know that we are looking at these things,” said Nathan Pickard.
Pickard is Tulsa’s elected city auditor. His office focuses on financial and performance audits across the city, identifying what’s going well and which services need help throughout our community.
“We also have the responsibility of evaluating the performance of the city of Tulsa,” said Pickard.
Right now, Pickard says they’re focused on two performance audits based on feedback from Tulsans.
“Roads and homelessness were the two highest response themes that we got back,” said Pickard. “So, we really wanted to make sure we're showing that we're listening to folks and hearing their feedback, and then actually acting on it.”
The audit on homelessness started on March 2nd. It’s in the discovery phase right now.
“I was actually kind of surprised at how universal the responses came back from all areas of the city, wanting to see that addressed,” said Pickard.
The goal is to determine how effectively the city addresses homelessness in coordination with other groups.
“The city is very focused on it,” said Pickard. “The council is very focused on it, the mayor is very focused on it. And so how can we kind of play a part in, in evaluating it as well?”
The roads audit started on March 4th and is in the planning stage.
The goal of this work is to see how effective the city is when overseeing contractors.
“Are we offering incentives for them to do it early?” asked Pickard. “Are they coming back and doing a lot of change orders that increase the time or the money and those kinds of things?”
Pickard says they want to focus on issues Tulsans deem important, and that’s where the annual Evaluate the 918 survey comes into play.
Last year, Pickard says 300 people filled out the questionnaire. So far this year, he says more than 1,000 Tulsans have filled out the survey. You have until the end of April to complete it.
“Really encourage people to um let their voice be heard,” said Pickard. “This is a great process to do that.”
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