A state audit has found that the Town of Lodi failed at nearly every stage of managing its town hall capital project, resulting in significant delays, cost overruns, and the risk of losing state grant funding.
The review, conducted by the Office of the New York State Comptroller and released in July, concluded that the Lodi Town Board did not adequately plan, oversee procurement, or monitor the $1 million renovation of a former church into a new town hall and food pantry.
Auditors found that the Board never established a total estimated cost for the project, failed to create a detailed timeline, and lacked an itemized budget. This absence of planning led to inconsistent documentation, including a $210,000 discrepancy between grant and bond paperwork. The Board also relinquished much of its procurement oversight to a committee that included non-town officials and failed to ensure proper bidding procedures.
When state officials later required the pantry portion to be bid separately under Community Development Block Grant rules, auditors found that no town representative was present for the bid opening, and required bid summaries were missing. The town had to pay its architect $1,800 to recover basic project documents.
Construction was also marked by major lapses in oversight. Work began without a building permit and was shut down by a county code enforcement officer for nearly a month. The architect failed to perform the 20 required inspections, and critical inspections on plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and fuel systems were never completed. As of July, the town still lacked a certificate of occupancy, leaving the new facility closed to the public.
Additionally, six change orders totaling over $65,000 were approved by the former town supervisor without Board authorization, including nearly $13,000 in delay-related expenses from the permit shutdown and over $10,000 for a failed septic system redesign. The system remains inoperable and will require costly pump-outs.
The audit also flagged payment irregularities. The Board approved nearly $930,000 in contractor payments without receiving documentation or certifications that the work had been completed. The report notes the Board relied on verbal updates from the former supervisor and received no written progress or financial reports.
At the time of the audit, the town still owed $243,000 in unpaid contractor invoices and had not achieved the February 2023 substantial completion date. Officials were attempting to secure a fourth extension to preserve their grant funding, though they acknowledged that missing documentation might prevent it.
Auditors issued nine recommendations for corrective action, including implementing competitive bidding procedures, enforcing documentation requirements, establishing change order policies, and designating a project manager. Town officials indicated they have begun or plan to implement the changes.
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