Should the city of Springfield have an inspector general? Five months and nearly $80,000 later aldermen have received their recommendation.
Chicago-based Hillard Heintze studied the city’s needs, and suggested three options: one of which involved a hybrid office.
“Identify and hire an inspector general, but the investigative and support function would be an outsourced model,” the firm said in a presentation to the city council Tuesday.
The other two options: fully staff an internal office or outsource the function entirely. Hillard Heintze suggested the city outsource given cost concerns and, also, concerns over whether an internal inspector would be improperly influenced by internal forces.
Hillard Heintze was hired in May at a cost of $79,000. It’s still unclear how much the position would cost should the city follow the recommendation and outsource all the functions.
City code doesn’t give the inspector general position subpoena power, which leads some to worry over whether the position will have teeth.