Audit: Whistleblower reveals unauthorized ambulance buy

A Berkeley employee bought a city ambulance without permission — and management failed to disclose the breach publicly when requesting approval after the fact, a new audit finds.

The worker who made the purchase is no longer employed by the city (which was unable to share any context about the separation before publication time).

Details about the nearly $300,000 ambulance buy were released Wednesday by the Berkeley auditor’s office, which credited its internal city whistleblower program with bringing the problems to light.

The investigation into the purchase was the first public report to come from the whistleblower program, which launched in 2024, city records show.

According to the audit, the Berkeley Fire Department realized it needed a new ambulance in late 2022.

An unspecified city employee then “executed a purchase agreement without City Council approval,” which is required for spending above $100,000.

(The audit did not provide information about the employee’s city role or department.)

The employee disclosed the $286,000 purchase to management in October 2023.

The city’s finance department did not learn about the purchase until the “custom-build ambulance” was nearly complete.

There was no record that the City Council was informed about the lapse when it was discovered, the audit found.

In December 2023, the former city manager sought and received council approval for the ambulance purchase — but disclosed nothing publicly about the breach in protocol.

The auditor’s office said the “delayed escalation of concerns” to the finance department and others “reduced oversight and increased risk.”

“Although the purchase was eventually approved and payment completed, the sequence of events highlighted gaps in communication and oversight and demonstrated the need for a clearer process for notifying City Council when required purchasing steps have not been followed,” the audit found.

Ultimately, the auditor’s office recommended several changes resulting from the investigation, including “timely communication to City Council whenever a purchase moves forward outside of the established procurement requirements” and clearer “escalation and notification expectations when staff become aware that required purchasing steps have not been followed.”

The audit recommends “targeted training” about how these processes work and a general advisory that employees who don’t follow the rules may be subject to “corrective or disciplinary action.”

According to the audit, city management signed off on “the overarching principles” in the recommendations — while emphasizing that no money was spent until after council approved the purchase.

Management also wrote that the city already has policies in place for purchases and that this situation arose because the employee violated established rules.

The city conducted a personnel investigation into the policy violation, which was completed in 2024.

The city found that the employee had “acted outside the scope of delegated authority and misrepresented the City’s authorization status to the vendor,” management wrote. “The employee committed a significant violation of established procurement policy and internal controls.”

Management also noted that the city had implemented improvements in recent years “related to fleet procurement, billing, and maintenance” resulting from a study by Mercury Associates.

(That study followed a 2021 audit, “Fleet Replacement Fund Short Millions,” focused on the city fleet.)

On Wednesday, the Berkeley Fire Department declined to comment further on the audit, noting that the management response accurately reflected its position.