The state entity that audits local governments is investigating potential misuses of taxpayer dollars by an Indianapolis agency tasked with addressing the root causes of violent crime, according to a city official.
Wesley Jones, director of the city’s Office of Audit and Performance, said his office asked the Indiana State Board of Accounts to look into possible ethical violations related to contracts the city awarded to local organizations in recent years. Potential conflicts of interest came to light during an internal audit of the Office of Public Health and Safety published in April, which found the agency within Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration lacked oversight while its budget ballooned 75% from 2020 to 2025.
Several contracts were awarded to vendors with “significant connections” to OPHS employees, according to the audit. The report also found that OPHS failed to adequately document compliance with many of its contracts and lacked methods to track successful outcomes for issues like violence reduction.
While law enforcement isn’t involved at this point, Jones said SBOA is “investigating” issues noted in the audit. If the agency finds malfeasance, it can forward findings to the local prosecutor or the attorney general to pursue criminal charges or recovery of losses.
Jones’ comments came after Indianapolis City-County Council members from both parties grilled OPHS Director Andrew Merkley over the audit that one councilor called a “black eye” for the city. With the city’s budget season mere months away, councilors at a May 13 committee meeting said OPHS will face intense scrutiny to prove that changes are underway.
“Hundreds of millions of dollars came through OPHS, and we’re just concerned, where did it all go?” Democratic Councilor Dan Boots said during the meeting. “There was very little documentation. The reporting process was very loose.”
Merkley, who has led OPHS since 2025 but worked there for six years, said he saw subpar practices as the agency grappled with how to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Its practices have improved significantly in recent years as the annual budget reached nearly $34 million in 2025, he said.
“Because of the emergency and our focused efforts to implement critical programs through our grassroots partners and strategies, we often did not have the time to stop and think about what needed to be measured or ensure that we evaluated and trained our staff,” Merkley told councilors. “Now, with the pandemic behind us, OPHS is at an inflection point. Our team is working hard to create systems and safeguards addressing these findings.”
Some OPHS contracts fell into ‘ethical gray area’
Jones did not specify which contracts were referred to the state when asked by IndyStar, but he said they involved city staffers with some “influence or relationship” to organizations that got money. OPHS pays community groups to run programs targeting issues like gun violence, homelessness and food insecurity.
“There were some things that were not necessarily in clear violation of the ethics policy that the city and county has, but they did fall in what I would deem a kind of ethical gray area,” Jones told IndyStar after the meeting.
SBOA Deputy State Examiner Jennifer Gauger declined to comment when asked to share more details about what the agency is investigating.
The most specific conflict outlined in the city’s internal audit was a $75,000 grant OPHS awarded in November 2024 to a local private school for a summer program for underserved youth.
The grant term commenced under then-director Martine Romy Bernard-Tucker, who left her OPHS role in December 2024, a month after the contract period began. She now sits on a leadership board for the recipient’s partner organization which operates the camp, creating a “perceived conflict of interest that could cause reputational harm to the office,” according to the report.
Bernard-Tucker declined to comment when reached by IndyStar May 14.
Hogsett’s office asked for the audit, Jones said. In response to the findings, Merkley said OPHS has already started making a slew of changes to establish clear standard operating procedures for monitoring contracts and to require OPHS staff to do additional ethics training.
Regarding the potential conflicts of interests, OPHS said the contracts were granted to “adult, non-dependent children,” not considered “immediate family members” under city code. Employees also did not have any financial interest in contracts, the agency said.
OPHS to face rocky budget season, follow-up audit
Some councilors stood behind the benefits delivered by OPHS, which Hogsett established in 2016. The mayor’s office says the agency has played a key role in reducing criminal homicides by close to 60% since 2021 and providing emergency shelter to more than 1,100 people who lacked stable housing this past winter. To boost transparency, OPHS now reports its results on public-facing dashboards.
“Two things can be true. The first thing is, as revealed through this audit, there’s inconsistent practices in the Office of Public Health and Safety,” said Councilor Carlos Perkins, a north-side Democrat. “It also can be true that many of the programs that are supported through the office have been impactful and effective.”
But other councilors, noting that crime has trended downward nationally since the height of the pandemic, said they want more data showing that OPHS’s funding is directly responsible for reduced violence.
“With budget season coming up … we’re not shelling out a penny until we know what’s going on,” said Republican Brian Mowery, the council’s minority leader.
Jones said the city will do a follow-up audit of OPHS later this year to measure its progress.
Email Indianapolis City Hall Reporter Jordan Smith at JTSmith@indystar.com. Follow him on X @jordantsmith09 and Bluesky @jordanaccidentally.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: State investigating Indy agency’s contracts after oversight lapses
Reporting by Jordan Smith, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
