There are no Twanda Carlisles on today's Pittsburgh City Council, according to a first-ever audit of the city's nine-member legislative body released by Controller Michael Lamb yesterday. There is, though, room for improvement.

Had an audit been conducted years before, it would have picked up Ms. Carlisle's practice of paying consultants for very loosely documented services. She got kickbacks from three consultants, and went to prison in March.

"The changes they've made address a lot of those issues," Mr. Lamb said. "Now all contracts are being run through the basic contract process that's done citywide."

Contracts are now approved by the council president and the controller, and are required for expenditures above $1,000.

Mr. Lamb recommended that council, and all city departments, stop setting aside unspent money at the end of each year for unspecified future uses. Council President Doug Shields said he believed there was around $1.5 million sitting in accounts awaiting such unspecified uses.

Mr. Lamb said council also should set a $2,500 floor on grants it dishes out using federal Community Development Block Grants. Some of those grants have been for as little as $500, which is less than the cost of administering the payment and conducting federally required audits.

Mr. Lamb found a handful of instances of contracts that didn't undergo all of the needed approvals, and time cards for council staff that weren't signed by the council member, but viewed them as anomalies.

"The wink-and-the-nod system of government has to be gone forever from here," Mr. Shields said.

First Published: December 31, 2008, 5:00 a.m.