Probe involves at least two publicly-funded projects and two former city employees

BY RICHARD BROOKS AND JEFF HORSEMAN
STAFF WRITERS
rbrooks@pe.com | jhorseman@pe.com

Published: 13 July 2012 04:37 PM

For at least six months, San Bernardino police have been investigating evidence of possible bid-rigging involving publicly funded construction projects and at least two former city employees, court records show.

As far back as Jan. 18, Detective Frank A. Alvarez was asking questions about apparently falsified bids involving the Hernandez Community Center, and the inquiry, still active, was later broadened to include Verdemont Recreation Facility, Alvarez said in an affidavit in support of a search warrant.

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Ryan Hagen, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/13/2012 08:41:28 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO – Forget the politics and look at the math, city employee unions are saying in the wake of statements by city officials pegging them with much of the blame for the city’s decision to pursue bankruptcy.

In the document saying the city should prepare for bankruptcy, Acting City Manager Travis-Miller wrote that employee retirements cost the city $1.9million in fiscal year 2011-2012, notes John Marini, director of the San Bernardino Professional Firefighters’ executive board.

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San Bernardino’s financial crisis

Ryan Hagen, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/13/2012 08:10:29 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO – The city’s financial statements in the years before its authorization of a bankruptcy filing showed no sign of falsification but clearly indicated increasing deficits, the city’s auditors said Friday.

San Bernardino-based Rogers, Anderson, Malody & Scott LLP was hired to make sure the city’s financial statements were free from material misstatement and that controls were in place to prevent fraud, said Terry Shea, a partner at the firm.

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Staff Reports
Created: 07/13/2012 06:16:55 PM PDT

An 8th Congressional District candidate who finished third in the June primary on Friday ended a recount he had requested.

Philip Liberatore of Lake Arrowhead brought the 24-precinct recount to a halt just three hours after it began Friday morning, said county Registrar Mike Scarpello.

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Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Created: 07/13/2012 11:23:10 AM PDT

Leaders of the newly formed Homeownership Protection Program have yet to decide how they will try to solve San Bernardino County’s lingering foreclosure woes, but the potential use of eminent domain to take over mortgages continued to arouse objections from industry groups when the group convened its first meeting on Friday.

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Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Created: 07/13/2012 11:17:56 AM PDT

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – Rep. Gary Miller has withdrawn his Carrari Ranch housing development from the planning process.

Miller, R-Brea, “didn’t want the project to become a lightning rod in a political campaign at this time,” said Jan Dabney, a civil manager for Claremont-based J C Dabney & Associates. “We are rethinking what the project should look like.”

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Staff report
Created: 07/13/2012 02:05:34 PM PDT

The San Bernardino Superior Courthouse in Chino will be closed as of Jan. 1 due to a significant budget shortfall from the state, it was announced today.

Cases currently being heard in the Chino courthouse will be transferred elsewhere in the county.

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PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
July 13, 2012 | 6:59 pm

Less than one-third of California’s voters participated in the June primary election, the secretary of state’s office said Friday, and a majority of those who cast ballots did so by mail.

Turnout for the June 5 election was 31.1%, and 65% of the 5,328,296 who voted used mail-in ballots instead of going to the polls on election day — a California record.

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Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
July 13, 2012

California has the worst credit rating of any state now and the nation’s worst credit rating record over the past 11 years, according to a new nationwide compilation by the Pew Center on the States.

The compilation is based on Standard and Poor’s credit ratings and covers every year since 2001. Thirteen states sit atop the Pew chart with AAA credit ratings while California is alone at the bottom at A-minus and is the only state to dip to the worst possible rating, BBB, during the 11-year period.

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