Hey, it's good to be a control freak

Christy Brady is a control freak. That's no diss. She's the city's new deputy city controller.

I wouldn't normally write about an appointment in the Controller's Office. Just thinking about city finances sends me scrolling through Netflix for something with lots of explosions.

But Brady, 44, is the city's first female to hold the title, taking over for Gerald Micciulla, who just retired after 42 years in the Controller's Office.

Micciulla worked for the controller for almost as long as Brady has been alive. Those are some major wingtips to fill.

Still, assures City Controller Alan Butkovitz, who will announce Brady's promotion Thursday, "I didn't appoint Christy because she's a woman. I did it because she's the most qualified for the job."

Brady joined the Controller's Office 23 years ago, shortly after graduating with an accounting degree from Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science  (now Philly U).  It's been a steady climb ever since, proving that the way to get more women into positions of power is to recruit them early and support their advancement.

I sat down with Brady to ask about her new job. An hour later, to my surprise, I felt kinda jazzed.

Your official title is post-audit deputy controller.  I have no earthly idea what that means.

We oversee compliance audits of 42 agencies and the School District. We don't just look at numbers and head counts; we also see whether everyone is doing their job efficiently. Every agency, every year.

You actually do head counts?

Yes.

Is Philly's "ghost employee" tradition a thing of the past?

It would take a huge coordination of effort to hide a ghost employee. Technology has caught up.

Do people get nervous when they see you coming?

I try to put myself in their position: They care about their job. So when I come in, I say, "We're in this together!"

Do they believe you?

Not all the time. But at the end of an audit, I think I come out of it OK.  But it's a fine line. That's why auditors need to have good personalities. You have to be friendly but professional.

That might be the first time anyone has ever used the words "auditor" and "good personalities" in the same sentence.

Auditors and accountants get a bad rap! We're serious about what we do, but we're also a lot of fun.

Do people get angry when you hit them with bad news?

Sometimes. I've definitely developed more patience and empathy for auditees. I think, "How would I feel if I were in their shoes?"  A long time ago, a supervisor advised me to tell them, in a very nonjudgmental way, "These are the findings. Let's take a look at them. It is what it is." It's very satisfying to be in charge of it all.

You did a pretty important audit of the Fire Department, I hear.

Yes! It was prompted by the death of [Firefighter] Joyce Craig. We wanted to see if the department's brownouts and rotations [moving firefighters in and out of firehouses] contributed to her death. They didn't. But we found that the new policies caused a longer time for engines to get to the scene of a fire. The policies were supposed to save $3.8 million but they saved no money at all. Mayor Kenney ended the policies as soon as the audit came out.

What's a smaller example?

We looked at the payment vouchers for travel reimbursement  for School District maintenance people who'd drive from school to school. But the payments seemed too "even" – exactly 10 miles or 20 miles. So we Mapquested the distances for the people who had the highest reimbursements and found that they had way-overestimated their travel. The School District wasn't checking behind them.

You're now overseeing a staff of 75. Do you enjoy crowd control?

I'm the oldest of five, so I think leadership comes naturally to me. And I have three kids, so I'm used to juggling. But I see our department as a team. I played basketball in high school and softball and soccer in college, so I know how important individuals are to the group effort. We have a great team.  Everyone is supportive; they'll stop what they're doing to help you. I think that's why our turnover is so low."

Do you think you'll be here as long as your predecessor?

Oh, I hope so! I really love my job.

It is what it is, right?

It is what it is.