Abramson Responds To Housing Audit

Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson says the city will improve oversight in the wake of a scathing audit of the Metro Housing Department.The audit released Tuesday finds what it calls “gross mismanagement of the department in the 2007-2008 fiscal year.Abramson says the city was aware of many of the department's problems last summer, when then-director Kimberly Bunton resigned. The mayor says Bunton was not entirely honest when reporting to city officials, which caused some problems to go overlooked for years."The director of this department was in my cabinet, attended meetings, was asked questions," he says. "Communication wasn't very clear and very focused and therefore until we really got into it six or seven months ago we assumed things were moving in a positive way and the changes were being made as we requested. But in fact, that obviously didn't take place."Abramson says he's confident the agency's new management will run the department properly.