The Hamilton County auditor has completed a review of allegations he says were made in a Chattanooga Times Free Press story in October, producing a seven-page report that largely supports County Mayor Weston Wamp.
The auditor, Chris McCollough, was named to the position by Wamp in 2023 and confirmed by the county commission. McCollough reports to Wamp and the commission, whose chair requested the review after the newspaper story came out.
The story, headlined “Shifting Priorities” in the Oct. 27 print edition, was not framed as a series of allegations. Instead, it walked through school facilities decisions made by the school board and how they were later shaped by a series of architectural reports commissioned by Wamp.
The story focused on a proposal to move the Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts from North Chattanooga to a former BlueCross BlueShield building known as the Gateway Building, on the Westside.
Specifically, the newspaper highlighted a difference between the $80 million estimated cost from an architectural report and the $40 million figure presented to county commissioners for the project when they approved a bond issue in August.
“During our audit,” McCollough wrote, “we did not note anything to indicate that Mayor Wamp misled the public or intended to mislead the public regarding the cost of renovating the Gateway Building for housing CCA.”
Wamp spokesperson Mary Francis Hoots issued a statement in response to the report.
“The audit, which clears all county officials of the reckless allegations made by the newspaper, speaks for itself,” the statement said.
According to the audit report, obtained by the Times Free Press, auditors reviewed 575 pages of email correspondence, contracts, purchase orders and resolutions related to the project.
“While this is not the standard procedure or preferred method of engaging audits, the Hamilton County Audit Committee agreed to investigate the allegations,” the report says.
The audit focuses on specific aspects of the newspaper story and made observations about them. In one case, for example, it highlighted an inaccuracy the newspaper had corrected — and credited the Times Free Press for issuing the correction.
In one instance, the audit found fault with the county. One section of the newspaper story talked about how the county moved money around to fund architectural reports for the Harrison Bay Future Ready Center. The audit highlighted a $3,720 payment on the project.
“A purchase order should have been issued according to the Hamilton County procurement rules,” the audit said. “During our disbursement testing, we will implement additional testing to verify that the procurement policy is adhered to and that purchase orders are issued when required.”
When the audit was launched by commission Chair Jeff Eversole, R-Ooltewah, in October, he said the point was to focus on the actions of county employees as described in the story.
“We are investigating the actions of county employees,” Eversole said at the time. “I want to look at whether county government is spending money that the school board should be spending. Are we spending money and keeping it under the threshold, versus it being reported, and are we not accurately reporting projects?”
Contacted this week, he said concerns about transparency motivated his decision to authorize the audit.
(READ MORE: Hamilton County Commission OKs new audit committee consisting of four outside experts)
“I ordered the audit to investigate accusations that were made against the county,” Eversole said. “As chairman, I have an obligation to the citizens of Hamilton County to ensure that we’re transparent.”
Eversole said the audit has two parts: There’s the audit team, which consists of the people who compiled the report, and there’s the audit committee, which will review the report. The team’s work is done, at least for the moment, he said. Now, the audit committee will review the auditor’s report.
“The committee has the final say-so,” Eversole said.
The report is to be presented next week to the commission’s new audit committee, which consists of one commissioner and several outside experts. Eversole said he told other commissioners via text message not to discuss the report or send it out in the meantime.
Commissioner Chip Baker, R-Signal Mountain, who sits on the audit committee, said Tuesday evening that he had not yet viewed the audit report. In a phone call, he declined to comment on the substance of the report before the planned audit committee meeting. Like Eversole, he also said the committee would review and respond to the report during the meeting.
“We’ll look at a totality of things included in this report,” Baker said during a separate call Wednesday.
(READ MORE: Hamilton County school facilities plan recommends renovations, school closures)
At the time the Oct. 27 story came out, Wamp disputed its accuracy, saying it featured a “litany of errors,” according to past newspaper reporting.
The Times Free Press issued two correction notes on technical matters but otherwise stands by the story.
The newspaper reached McCollough by phone Wednesday. He declined to comment on the scope of the report but he said he had not received directions from the commission in writing.
The county’s audit committee is scheduled to meet and discuss the report Jan. 29.
Contact Mariah Franklin at mfranklin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.