An audit is underway for the Steamship Authority (SSA), prompted by a state Office of Inspector General (OIG) report that highlighted the failures of the ferry line’s website project. It will take at least a year before the results are released, and it remains uncertain what information is under review.
State Auditor Diana DiZoglio told The Times during a visit to Vineyard Haven on Wednesday, June 10 that her office is inspecting the ferry line. Her interview with The Times was scheduled on the same day she came to the Island to meet local officials, constituents, and attend a reelection campaign event hosted at an Edgartown home.
She said that her future and ongoing efforts include enacting an audit on the state legislature and addressing concerns she’s heard from members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), but locally, the ferry line audit is something already initiated.
Alex Kryska, SSA general manager, said during the ferry line’s board meeting on Tuesday morning that they had received a letter in April that an audit began, a process he said happens around every three years. The SSA Enabling Act requires an audit be done annually, but in reality, it depends on the availability of the state auditor’s office.
“It’s been about four years since our last state audit, so we’re not surprised by this,” Kryska said. The last state audit report on the SSA was issued in 2024, prompted by a 2021 cyber attack that disrupted service. The report highlighted that a lack of staff cybersecurity training contributed to the incident.
DiZoglio declined to describe the full details on exactly what her office is looking into regarding the SSA, citing “government auditing standards” that prohibit her office from sharing audit details until the report is released, but said that she was prompted by the inspector general’s report. But Kryska said during the Tuesday meeting that some focus areas of the state auditor’s office include compliance with the SSA enabling act, bylaws regarding the composition and appointment of board membership, the ferry line’s procurement process, settlement agreements with employees, and conflict of interest training.
The audit comes “on the heels” of the scathing report issued in December by the OIG, DiZoglio said. The report said that the website project, described as “ill-conceived, poorly executed,” was initiated before a new reservation system was made and wasted millions in public funds. The report also stated that the SSA board failed to conduct proper oversight of the ferry line’s spending throughout the project.
“We partner and make sure we’re not duplicating efforts, but that we are working in collaboration to make sure that we’re helping to both do our part to increase accountability,” DiZoglio said about the OIG, highlighting that the auditor reviews organizational procedures, performance, and financial aspects of state and quasi-public agencies compared to the inspector general’s role in investigating allegations of malfeasance.
State Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro also visited the Vineyard in April to explain and discuss the findings of his report.
Since the report was released, there are new faces leading the ferry line. Kryska was hired as the new general manager of the ferry line in December, and Ted Gavin was appointed by the Dukes County Commissioners in March to represent the Vineyard on the SSA board. Kryska charted plans to improve the ferry line based on recommendations in the OIG report.
“It’s important to remember that these audits are not about individuals or personalities,” she said. “They are very much about systems and organizational structures and room for improvements.”
Gavin told The Times that he looks forward to whatever the auditor’s team finds, expressing confidence that Steamship leadership will provide what is needed.
“I’m in favor of relentless transparency,” Gavin said.
DiZoglio said her office is also in the very early phase of collecting information over concerns raised by members of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe, although whether an audit would be conducted hasn’t been decided yet. DiZoglio said they received concerns that some state government entities “are not properly consulting with the tribal members and tribal governments, as required by law.”
Additionally, her office received reports that some tribal members have been illegally “balance-billed” for Medicaid Services under MassHealth. DiZoglio said balance billing is when a healthcare provider charges patients for the difference between their total retail fee and the amount insurance actually paid.
“We are very concerned about this,” DiZoglio said.
Kevin Devine, chair of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribal council, said he hasn’t heard about the information collection so far and plans to follow up on it.
Meanwhile, at the reelection campaign event in Edgartown home on Simpsons Lane, Beth O’Connor, who hosted the Edgartown event and is a founding member of the SSA Citizens Action Group, which pushes for change at the ferry line, said it was an opportunity for guests to hear from DiZoglio about various topics amid “turbulent times.” But the main issue in discussion was a 2024 ballot question that voters across the state approved for DiZoglio to audit the state legislature, including a review of its functions, programs and commissions, and accounts.
Since the ballot question was passed overwhelmingly by voters, 72 percent across the state, it faced various delays, from resistance by the State Senate on the release of documents, and, most recently, the State House voted to limit the 2024 law regarding what DiZoglio can audit, citing a need to preserve the separation of powers.
But DiZoglio said an audit on the state legislature should proceed since it was approved by voters and a transparency measure to help bring improvement recommendations to the state legislative branch’s operations. She also said that the primary concern regarding the ballot question she has heard from Islanders was a “desire for democracy to be protected and less about being concerned about [missing] spreadsheets.”