Riverside has hired its first-ever inspector general, concluding a seven-month search after voters demanded a City Hall watchdog. The Riverside City Council appointed Lori K. M. Cox to the newly created post, with Cox set to begin work October 19, earning an annual base salary of $219,000 and reporting directly to the mayor and council.
A Post Nearly Two Years in the Making
The appointment, confirmed Tuesday, comes almost two years after Riverside voters approved Measure L, which amended the city charter to create a new charter officer with authority to investigate fraud, waste, abuse and illegal acts within city government, according to the city clerk's office. The measure also called for the officer to deliver annual reports on findings and recommendations and to receive an appropriate budget, with additional powers to be defined later by council ordinance, per the city's election records. As The Press-Enterprise reported, Cox is now officially Riverside's first inspector general.
Getting from ballot measure to hire required building an office from nothing. According to riversiderecord.org, the city had to create an entire office and its infrastructure, including figuring out a budget, before it could even begin recruiting. The council previously approved a general framework for the office in November 2025, a plan that eliminated the internal audit division within the city manager's office and replaced it with the inspector general's office, the same outlet reported. That framework passed on a council vote with Councilmember Philip Falcone casting the lone dissenting vote, according to a separate report.
Who Is Lori K. M. Cox?
Cox arrives in Riverside with a résumé built largely in public-sector auditing. She previously served as chief internal auditor at Dallas College in Texas, as chief auditor for the city of Tempe, Arizona, as an administrative officer for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona and as director of internal audit for Pima Community College, per the same account. She holds a master's degree from Grand Canyon University, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and several audit-related certifications, the report notes.
Once she starts, Cox's duties will include conducting complex internal investigations, reviewing citizen complaints, and preparing recommendations for potential council action, the station's report states. The office is also expected to perform audits, manage ethics complaints, and look for ways to improve efficiency across city departments.
A Nationwide Search
Filling the role took a formal, multi-step search. The city hired Bob Murray and Associates to screen qualified applicants and submit finalists to the council, and the search drew 25 candidates, with 10 participating in preliminary interviews, according to riversiderecord.org's coverage of the closed-session interviews. The council ultimately voted 6-1 to officially create the Office of the Inspector General before moving forward with candidate selection.
Measure L itself passed with support from nearly two-thirds of Riverside voters, according to seed reporting from The Press-Enterprise on the measure's 2024 approval. The inspector general's office formally replaces the internal audit division that previously sat inside the city manager's office, a structural shift aimed at giving the watchdog function independence from the administration it oversees.
