One of Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s campaign promises was to overhaul the convoluted Boston Redevelopment Authority and inject a healthy dose of transparency into the organization. It’s been just over a month since Mayor Walsh and his administration descended upon City Hall, but it looks as though he’s already making good on his pledge.
According to the Boston Globe that the Walsh administration has paired up with international audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG LLP to conduct a sweeping review of all that happens within the confines of the BRA’s plentiful walls. Similarly, according to the Boston Business Journal, KPMG LLP is offering their services – 120 hours over eight weeks – free of charge, pending a vote by the BRA board of directors.
It’s thought that the audit will include an examination of the composition of the board, the procedures taken in the planning an design phase of development, workforce development, salaries and more.
“This is a much more high-level operational look at the way the BRA functions,” Chief Communications Officer Lisa Pollack told the Boston Globe, “and the goal of the audit is to come up with a set of recommendations to help us ensure that the BRA is functioning in the best way that it can.”
To go along with the audit, Mayor Walsh has restructured his cabinet so that BRA oversight is now the responsibility of the economic development chief. And it just so happens that the mayor appointed staunch supporter and confidant John Barros, a former mayoral contender in his own right, to that position.
BostInno recently sat down with Mayor Walsh’s Chief of Staff, Dan Koh, to discuss what Barros brings to the table as far as upholding the theme of transparency, amongst other things. Explained Koh,
Well I think that he has experienced business in the levels that we want. Boston’s a bustling hub for big business and we want to continue being a friendly place for large organizations and corporations to come. But what we don’t want to lose in the process is small business … [Barros] understands the needs of small business in a way that I think will be tremendously valuable to the Walsh administration.
That kind of business acumen, that spans all ends of the economic spectrum, in tandem with Barros’s natural charisma is what Koh thinks will allow the newly anointed chief to act as an able ambassador to the BRA. He also share’s Mayor Walsh’s desire for transparency which Koh predicts will serve Barros well in representing the BRA in cabinet meetings.
“We think that him serving in that coordination role combined with his skill set with small business and his knowledge of small businesses in Boston will just make him be a tremendous asset,” added Koh.
The BBJ notes further that acting BRA Director Brian Golden will make the findings of the audit publicly available upon completion. When that is exactly has yet to be determined.
