An independent office has taken over the simmering investigation into potential unapproved payments and fraud among King County contractors after concerns that the Department of Community and Human Services was lagging in its own internal investigation.

The King County office of the ombuds, an independent investigative office, has taken charge of the probe into 19 contractors flagged this year by the county auditor for potentially “questionable costs” and financial issues.

Jeremy Bell, director of the ombuds office, said they would be supervising an external investigator, but had not finalized a contract. He declined to provide more details.

The investigation stems from an audit, released in August, that found the Department of Community and Human Services failed to properly oversee gra

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