A recent audit of the Anchorage Ombudsman’s Office reveals the office has not completed formal case investigations for at least the last several years.

The office is responsible for mediating citizen complaints against municipal departments and agencies; from procedural complaints to specific problems with high level employees. After gathering information about a complaint, staffers are required to both close the case and write a formal report detailing the investigation and the subsequent actions.

That’s were the trail goes cold.

According to the report, auditors were unable to find any investigative case summaries.

While the number of unresolved cases has grown exponentially over the past five years, there were no reports to ensure the cases had been resolved or even investigated.

“We were unable to find copies of any formal investigation reports completed by the Ombudsman’s Office,” wrote Peter Raiskums, Director of the Internal Audit Department. “Moreover, the Ombudsman’s Office did not always prepare an annual report and did not ensure that the 2009 annual report was accurate.”

Assembly members point to recent drastic budget reductions and personnel cuts as a key contributor to the backlog.

“What do you give up?” said Assemblyman Paul Honeman. “If you’re working with four people, and you reduce that to half, and the number of complaints and concerns come in by double, I mean that’s a recipe for failure.”

Despite a ten percent increase in complaints in 2008, the Office of the Ombudsman continued to see budget cuts in 2009 and 2010.

Office staff handle an average of 130 cases at any given time. More than 750 cases were officially closed out in 2010. However, without any investigative reports on the cases, audit staff say there’s no way to be sure.

“The findings are what they are,” Honeman said. “They’re concerning and disturbing, and I think we need to have some strategies, good leadership here would help.”

Representatives from the Office of the Ombudsman were unavailable for comment.