Audit reveals improper hiring practices and grant irregularities inside Metro Arts

Metro Arts violated multiple government policies in the last two years, according to a report released Wednesday from the city’s internal auditor. This comes after the agency struggled for months to pay artists and arts organizations the grant money they were promised.

The audit revealed numerous problems with grant funding distribution and employment practices that had not yet been publicly known.

Employment violations

Between July 2022 and February 2024, Metro Arts repeatedly used an outside vendor, Goodson Inc., to hire temporary employees who weren’t afforded civil service protections. According to the report, “Metro Arts purposefully utilized the Goodson Inc. contract to circumvent Civil Service Rules selection practices to have more control over who was hired and amounts paid.”

Goodson Inc. is a contractor for the city, but is only authorized to hire interns and seasonal workers.

Metro Arts also abused its purchasing authority to pay for outside consultants. The city requires a competitive bidding process for services that cost more than $25,000. Three consultants: Dana Parsons, Rise Research and Evaluation, and Hillombo LLC, were each paid far greater than $25,000, but payments were split between multiple purchase orders. The agency didn’t use a bidding process for any of these consultants.

Additional violations included excessive overtime pay. One employee was paid for 249 overtime hours in a 14-day pay period. “This would average a 20-hour workday if all 14 days were worked during the pay period,” the report notes.

Grant funding issues

The audit found several irregularities with how grant applications were scored. In some cases, applicants were denied despite having the same score as others who were funded. When asked why, Metro Arts staffers were sometimes unable to find the paperwork explaining those decisions.

While the audit doesn’t fully explain the shoddy record keeping, it does point to high turnover among employees, and a breakdown in communications between Metro Arts and two city agencies that specialize in compliance: Metro Legal and Metro Finance.

Daniel Singh, the Metro Arts director at the time the audit began, resigned last week in a settlement with the city. The new interim director, Paulette Coleman, wrote a memo to the auditor saying the findings, quote, “dovetail closely with concerns I have identified.”