Preliminary findings report potential policy violations, misuse of public funds; board to hold special meeting Monday  College of the Canyons is planning to consider a forensic audit Monday at a special meeting of its governing board, according to an agenda posted Friday on the college’s website.  The investigation “in its beginning stages and is ongoing” is looking into allegations of “misuse and the misappropriation of funds” for contracts the college awarded from 2000 to 2019 under Chancellor Dianne Van Hook.  Van Hook did not immediately return a message left late Friday afternoon.  The request stemmed from the “preliminary findings” of an internal investigation that started with a Sept. 9 memo by interim COC President David Andrus to the college’s vice president of facilities.  The letter asks to review the contracts and whether they “aligned with industry and legal standards,” according to the memo, which is included in the agenda for the special meeting.  The preliminary findings in a PowerPoint indicated Andrus’ request resulted in discovery of “potential violations of college board policies and applicable laws and regulations regarding competitive bidding by former district personnel, prior district contractors and consultants.”  Additionally, the PowerPoint says the preliminary findings include “college funds potentially being misused, misappropriated, and used for personal benefit.”  The slides associated with the request for “approval to secure third-party professional services internal auditing firm through district legal counsel” also indicated college officials found evidence of “potential violations of competitive processes,” “potential inconsistency in terms and administration,” and “failure to obtain any backup invoicing / proof of work,” according to the presentation for Monday’s meeting.   A spokesman for COC was not immediately available Friday afternoon.  “All findings are preliminary and ongoing,” according to the presentation from the district’s legal counsel. “The preliminary findings listed are not exhaustive and represent only a small sample size of projects.”  The post COC president calls for 20-year forensic audit   appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.