Five months after a consultant released a scathing audit of the city’s Community Development Department, the department is making headway on correcting its practices, according to City Auditor Jorge Oseguera. However, it’s still unclear when or if the city can obtain $2.3 million in developer fees that the department did not collect. Oseguera presented a report on the department’s overhaul to the City Council on Tuesday. The council accepted Oseguera’s report and did not take any formal action on it. The October audit, conducted by Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting, Inc., faulted the department for not collecting more than $2.3 million in fees in recent years. The firm also accused city employ

Max Fernandez, former director of the city’s Code Enforcement Department, has been promoted to lead the Community Development Department. In one of several recent consolidations of city departments, Code Enforcement became a division of Community Development. Fernandez started his new post July 6. A third-party firm is auditing the department. Auditors from Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting Inc. of Sacramento are analyzing numerous issues at the department, including claims that it broke the city's planning rules and did not gather fees from developers. “Obviously, there have been issues” at the department, Fernandez said Friday. The department is working on a plan to retrain its employees,

The Sacramento Press has made a 2,529-page document on issues at the city’s Community Development Department available to the public. Members of the public can download the entire document here. City officials released the document on a compact disc March 25. Issues addressed in the document include the noncollection, waiver, underassessment and deferral of developer fees. Other issues mentioned in the document relate to the department’s culture, a possible violation of the California Environmental Quality Act, claims that development projects began before city procedures were completed and possible violations of planning rules. The document includes information about the following deve

At least two Sacramento City Council members don’t want to let bygones be bygones when it comes to fees that the city’s community development department may not have collected from developers in recent years. Council members Sandy Sheedy and Kevin McCarty said Tuesday that they want the city to see if it can retrieve unpaid fees from development projects that took place in the past few years. Sacramento City Attorney Eileen Teichert released a 2,529-page document last week containing claims about the department’s noncollection, waiver, underassessment and deferral of development fees.  The discussion of fees takes place as the city faces a $35 million-$40 million budget gap. McCarty sa