Almost $2 million in checks from Jacksonville's city-run  special events office were written over several years without being tracked by  city accountants, auditors for the City Council reported Thursday.

The review left auditors unable to fill in some gaps about how money was  spent.

"We didn't find fraud," said Council Auditor Kirk Sherman. But at the same  time, he said: "I can't say with certainty that nobody made off with any  money."

The head of the office, Theresa O'Donnell Price, was dismissed last year  during a management shuffle, while auditors were still working on their  findings. She works now at the University of North Florida and didn't return  phone messages left there.

The audit also reported about $8,200 in payments had been made to relatives  of office employees, which could have violated anti-nepotism rules. Sherman said  records listed payments to two people who appeared to be related to O'Donnell  Price.

Sherman said a city accountant, Kim Hopkins, managed the imprest account. A  message left at her office Thursday afternoon wasn't returned.

The auditors found an employee had under-reported the balance in one city  bank account, and deposits were made there that city rules didn't  allow.