By Scott Sherman

At the first Audit Committee meeting of the year, a performance audit of San Diego’s Community Planning Groups (CPGs) was released. The audit discovered many CPGs lack transparency, have inconsistent record retention, and may not comply with the Brown Act.

CPGs are an integral component of the city’s planning process and provide residents with the opportunity to give important feedback to officials on development projects, community plan updates, and rezoning; among other important issues.

It is important that CPGs operate effectively to ensure community feedback is received on city projects.

Volunteers who serve on Community Planning Groups provide a vital service to their city and community. It is important that city officials provide them with the proper tools and guidance to ensure the boards they serve on operate more effectively.

Other findings of the audit include:

• Renters are not adequately represented on CPG boards.
• CPGs lack transparency because they are not consistently submitting or retaining documents.
• Some CPGs member continue to serve on boards after term limits have expired.
• The Audit Committee voted unanimously to forward the report to the full council with recommendations to update Council Policy 600-24 to help ensure transparency, compliance, diverse community representation. and performance.

  

To review the full audit, please click visit: sandiego.gov/auditor.

— San Diego City Councilmember Scott Sherman represents the District 7 neighborhoods of Mission Valley, Grantville, Allied Gardens, Del Cerro and San Carlos.