Chattanooga’s internal audit office will review whether a conflict of interest took place when the city helped empty out a homeless encampment from property owned by Mayor Tim Kelly as he prepared to sell it.
The city told the Times Free Press about the audit on Friday, at the end of a week during which a reporter asked about the displacement of the homeless encampment this year on the former Southern Honda Powersports location on Workman Road. Kelly owned the property until selling it for more than $2.7 million on Nov. 29. After defending the cleanup effort most of the week, officials on Friday evening said the audit office would review the matter.
“To ensure public confidence and to further demonstrate the Kelly administration’s commitment to transparency, the mayor has asked the Office of Internal Audit to review and affirm the independent request in question,” said spokesperson Mary Beth Ikard in a statement.
The mayor’s office did not make Kelly available for an interview despite a request from the Times Free Press.
The sale came three months after the city cleared the encampment in August, according to emails obtained by the Times Free Press.