As a result, the county lost control, he said. When those divisions were swallowed by Public Works, the CAO's office became more involved in overseeing capital projects, Janssen said. And, in 1992 Superior Court Judge Ricardo A. Torres convinced county officials to stop courthouse design work so that another firm could find ways to cut costs. Bringing such capital projects under a higher level of scrutiny and control was the motive behind a proposal Janssen presented to the Board of Supervisors last month. The supervisors approved it.
Litigation continues to be a problem.
Another sign of trouble was a 1996 Auditor-Controller review that took a hard look at how five capital projects were managed. The report concluded the CAO's office should be the lead agency for capital projects and that Public Works' project management should be more accountable. Janssen said he hopes to establish greater control over capital projects and get them on track. We can't do anything about what happened in the past.