City managers will gather in Sacramento on Thursday to discuss damage control. Some say more residents are seeking salary information from city halls. The Legislature considers reforms as well.

By Sam Allen, Abby Sewell and Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times

July 29, 2010

The scandal over high salaries paid to Bell officials has city leaders throughout the state scrambling to limit the political damage.

City halls have seen an uptick in residents calling to find out what their local officials make ever since the story broke two weeks ago and prompted widespread public outrage.

On Thursday, city managers from across the state will gather in Sacramento to discuss damage control. Among the ideas on the table: launching an independent examination of city officials’ salaries and compiling a database of salaries for municipal executives.

The Legislature also is mulling several Bell-inspired proposals, including a requirement that cities make salaries easily accessible on websites. Another suggestion would cap pensions of highly paid city officials, an issue that arose after The Times reported that former Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo, who earned nearly $800,000 a year, would receive roughly $600,000 a year in pension benefits once he retired.

Many of the ideas are designed to put political distance between Bell and the rest of California’s 480 cities and towns. “It would be really unfortunate if anyone took the outrageous action of one city and generalized it to all cities,” said Chris McKenzie, executive director of the League of California Cities, which is hosting the meeting.

The stories of soaring salaries come at a difficult time for cities, which are making cutbacks amid a recession that has made many taxpayers ever more interested in what services they get for their tax dollars.

In Sacramento, the Bell salary controversy threatens to undermine the arguments made by city managers against state budget proposals that would take money away from municipalities. For months, city officials have lobbied the Legislature, arguing that they are suffering financially because of the economic slump and cannot afford deeper cuts.

“However, the Times story suggests this duress may not apply to all our cities, or that some cities are not allowing their economic plight to curtail Fortune 500-level salaries for their senior executives,” State Senate President Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) wrote in a pointed letter to the League of Cities last week.

At a time of low public confidence in government, the Bell revelations pose another threat to the credibility of local officials.

“It just makes for a toxic environment,” said Max Neiman, senior resident scholar at the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley.

City clerks, human resource directors and finance officers said they have been processing an influx of public records requests for public officials’ salary figures since the revelations of the salary paid to Rizzo as well as Bell’s police chief, who made $457,000, and the assistant city manager, who made $376,000.

Officials have found themselves repeating the mantra, “We’re not Bell,” to concerned residents.

Figuring out exactly how much top city leaders make can be difficult, however. The base salary of city officials is usually the most easily accessible number, but it rarely captures the total compensation. City leaders also can be paid through car and phone allowances, housing agreements or deferred compensation plans. In some cases, city managers can receive a separate salary by holding a different position or serving on a board or commission.

Those extras can significantly boost total compensation, but they are difficult to sort out.

Take the case of Laguna Hills. Barbara Kogerman, who ran for City Council in the Orange County suburb, sought the assistance of three local graduate students to figure out how much City Manager Bruce Channing earned and how his pay compared to that of other Orange County city managers.

Collecting the information was difficult, in part because each city offered data in a unique format, the students said.

In the case of Laguna Hills, the students said Channing received a base salary of $233,430 but calculated his total earnings at $460,809 after including $227,379 in additional payments.

Channing strongly disputed the report, calling it “factually inaccurate and misleading” because it included what he said were reimbursements for phone bills, travel costs and other expenses.

“What it costs an organization to equip an individual to perform their duties is not the same as the salary that the individual is paid,” Channing said.

The Internal Revenue Service has rules designed to distinguish between legitimate reimbursements for business expenses and disguised forms of compensation, but applying those rules to individual cases can be tricky.

Channing, the vice president of the League of California Cities’ City Managers Department, plans to attend the meetings today in Sacramento and said action is needed in the wake of the Bell revelations.

Making total compensation figures easier to look up is one of several items on the agenda in Sacramento.

Assemblyman Hector De La Torre (D- South Gate) said legislation he is working on may go beyond requiring public disclosure to also restrict how compensation and pensions are provided.

To read entire story, click here.

Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/28/2010 05:30:35 PM PDT

RIALTO – Another woman has come forward in connection with an alleged sex scandal involving police officers and employees of the Spearmint Rhino strip club, authorities confirmed Wednesday.

“Last Friday, we had a woman file a complaint against one of the officers that we’ve identified in the investigation,” Police Chief Mark Kling said.

He would not comment on the nature of the complaint, citing the ongoing investigation.

Kling launched an internal investigation in May after Nancy Holtgreve, a server at Spearmint Rhino, told police that Officer James Dobbs had threatened her when she demanded child support for an infant son she said he fathered.

Holtgreve told investigators that she and Dobbs met for sex three times last year at the Rialto Police Benefit Association’s union hall.

Holtgreve claims that Dobbs was on duty on all three occasions.

She has retained a lawyer and declined further comment.

Dobbs has not returned phone calls seeking comment.

Kling, citing the ongoing investigation, would not confirm if the woman who came forward Friday is an employee of Spearmint Rhino.

To read entire story, click here.

10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The Press-Enterprise

Redlands Planning Commission Chairman Paul Foster has qualified to run for a City Council seat in the November election.

Foster submitted nomination papers with 30 signatures on Monday. Twenty were validated, enough to qualify for the ballot, City Clerk Sam Irwin said Wednesday.

Mayor Pat Gilbreath and Councilman Jon Harrison are up for election in November. Councilman Mick Gallagher’s term also is expiring, but he has said he won’t run again.

Gilbreath said when she was elected mayor that this would be her last term on the council, but she recently announced a change of heart.

10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 28, 2010

By JAN SEARS
The Press-Enterprise

The Redlands City Council today will consider asking residents to approve a half-cent sales tax measure on the November ballot.

The council conducted a July 20 public hearing on the tax and agreed afterward, on a 4-1 vote, to put the measure on the ballot. The action requires a second vote, scheduled today because Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Bean will be unavailable for the next regular meeting Tuesday.

Putting the tax on the ballot requires approval by four of the five council members. Mick Gallagher said last week that he wouldn’t vote for it. Councilman Jon Harrison will be out of town but will attend by phone.

In introducing the issue last week, Councilman Pete Aguilar cited a city survey that showed 51 percent of those queried would support the tax measure.

“My position is the residents need to be part of this process,” Aguilar said. “Voters need to decide what type of city they want to live in and what type of services that city should provide.”

The city’s general fund budget includes some revenue from the sales tax, assuming that it will be approved. If the measure fails, the city’s deficit will rise to about $1.3 million from the current $877,000.

During the public hearing, several people criticized the city for spending too much on salaries, pensions and tuition reimbursements for employees. Former Mayor Bill Cunningham pointed out that the city’s budgets have grown larger every year and that about half of the city’s employees live out of town, presumably spending their pay elsewhere.

The tax was endorsed by the police and firefighters unions and the Redlands Chamber of Commerce.

Jeff Screnka, who offered the chamber’s endorsement, said the city must develop an economic model detailing how it will pay for its operations. “The city sales tax could never pass if residents are not convinced that it’s part of an overall, long-term plan that will provide for the fiscal stability of this city,” he said.

Patty Peoples, a city recreation commission member, said budget cuts and layoffs have “hurt the youth and the recreation department drastically. Down the road, that’s going to affect crime in this area.”

Gallagher, a Redlands jewelry store owner, said he doesn’t support the tax.

“I really feel I’m doing my job by not sending this to the voters,” he said. “You sent me here to do this.”

Mayor Pat Gilbreath said she doesn’t support the tax, either. She said it’s not right that downtown merchants should have to charge a higher price than businesses in nearby Citrus Plaza, outside the city limits.

“I’m not going to support the tax, but I support the voters making the decision,” she said.

Bean said that in his two years in office, progress has been made toward reining in city spending.

To read entire story, click here.

10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Cassie MacDuff

People are understandably upset at high salaries paid to city officials, while municipal workers are being laid off and the public is being told it will have to settle for reduced services.

But lucrative pay is only half the story. When you add in the benefits public officials receive, the taxpayers are getting hit for even more than many people realize.

Not to pick on Redlands, but it provided the most complete information of all the cities queried this week.

Police Chief Jim Bueermann will receive a salary of $224,486 this year, and the city will contribute $109,299 to his pension plan.

Add in his other benefits, and his employment will cost Redlands $369,273 — more than the city manager.

City Manager Enrique Martinez will collect $231,229 in salary, and the city will contribute $42,386 to his pension. Other benefits will bring the total to $327,352 this fiscal year.

Bueermann has worked for the city 32 years, Martinez less than four (hence the pension difference?).

Redlands is not alone in providing generous benefits.

Riverside City Manager Brad Hudson’s $294,525 annual salary is augmented by $123,390 in benefits. Assistant City Manager Tom DeSantis gets a $220,031 salary and $70,874 in benefits; Assistant City Manager Belinda Graham, $200,028 salary and $59,978 in benefits.

Police Chief Sergio Diaz’s $229,999 salary comes with $81,175 in benefits.

San Bernardino City Manager Charles McNeely makes $278,000 salary and $80,359 in benefits. The assistant city manager, $137,420 plus $47,835 in benefits, the police chief, $208,585 plus $63,062 in benefits.

Many cities’ officials, despite high salaries, get retirement pensions paid for entirely at public expense. They don’t contribute a penny. How many private-sector workers can say that?

Corona stopped fully subsidizing managers’ retirements on Jan. 1, 1999. Those hired since that date contribute 3 percent and the city contributes 5 percent of the 8 percent total.

Redlands pays the full 7 percent contribution to department heads’ pensions, 9 percent for the police chief’s.

Many public-sector workers also enjoy fully subsidized medical insurance. Most private-sector workers share the cost of premiums.

Redlands department heads also are eligible for lifetime medical coverage after 15 years’ service. Private-sector workers, jealous yet?

Public workers also enjoy generous holiday, vacation and sick leave. Top officials may get administrative leave, cars or car allowances and perks too many to list.

To read entire column, click here.

By DAVID OLSON and BEN GOAD
The Press-Enterprise

The sharply divergent reactions that Inland residents had to a federal judge’s ruling Wednesday blocking full enforcement of Arizona’s tough anti-illegal-immigration law mirrored the outrage and joy expressed nationwide.

Lake Elsinore Mayor Melissa Melendez blasted the decision. “If that’s what they’ve done, and they’ve usurped the authority of the state of Arizona, then I am completely ashamed and appalled at what they are doing,” Melendez said.

The Lake Elsinore, Hemet and Highland city councils approved resolutions supporting the law, and Menifee’s council criticized California cities that are boycotting Arizona.

Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, hailed the ruling.

“This decision is an important victory over fear and hatred,” Baca said. “The truth of the matter is that Arizona SB 1070 would have only served to further divide the American people, and would not have brought us one step closer to fixing America’s broken immigration system.”

Reps. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, and Darrell Issa, R-Vista, each issued statements denouncing the decision.

Issa, whose district includes parts of southwest Riverside County, described it as “absurd.”

“The federal government has a right and a responsibility to enforce existing laws,” he said. “But when they fail to meet that responsibility, we should not stand in the way of the states that take action to respond to the very real threat of border violence, drug cartels and human smuggling.”

Menifee Mayor Wallace Edgerton said the judgment violated constitutional principles.

“Once again you have the court overruling the people, which was not intended by the founding fathers,” he said.

Hemet City Councilman Robert Youssef said Arizona should be able to take action against residents who are breaking the law. “We call them illegal immigrants for a reason,” he said.

But Hemet resident Alfredo Rodriguez, Jr., 33, said that if the law had gone into effect, it would have led to racial profiling against Latinos, no matter what their legal status.

“I think they’ll feel safer to go out on the streets, to go to work, to go shopping,” he said. “Otherwise they’ll feel like prisoners in their own home, afraid of being pulled over just because they look illegal, whatever that means.”

To read entire story, click here.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – The former city manager of Bell, who stepped down last week after news reports unveiled his unusually high salary of more than $787,000, got his start in Rancho Cucamonga, where he rose through the ranks in eight years to become assistant city manager.

Robert Rizzo, 56, possibly the highest-paid city manager in the nation, was hired by Rancho Cucamonga as an administrative aide in 1980 and later became an administrative analyst and an assistant to the city manager before becoming an assistant city manager.

Rancho Cucamonga City Manager Jack Lam, who was not in his current post during Rizzo’s tenure with the city, said Rizzo was assistant city manager for about two years and earned a salary in the $56,000 to $69,000 range.

Lam called Rizzo and other Bell leaders’ actions “unconscionable.”

“These handful of folks are folks who are supposed to show ethical leadership,” Lam said. “This makes the whole system of government look bad.”

Residents of Bell, a small working-class city in Los Angeles County, were infuriated after learning Rizzo, council members and other city leaders were earning many times more than officials from much larger cities. With a contract that stipulated an automatic 12 percent increase, Rizzo was earning almost twice the salary of President Barack Obama.

Rizzo stepped down Friday, and residents are calling on four of the five members of the City Council to resign.

The state attorney general and controller, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office are all investigating Bell’s finances and practices.

Rizzo resigned from Rancho Cucamonga in 1988 and became Hesperia’s city manager.

To read entire story, click here.

L.A. NOW
Southern California — this just in

July 28, 2010 | 5:31 pm

Three highly paid administrators in Bell will not be permitted to draw their state pensions until the attorney general determines whether the city broke the law in awarding the hefty paychecks, according to an official with the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

“CalPERS is concerned about the situation, and our intention is to not [to] entertain applications for pensions from any of these people until the investigation is complete,” said Pat Macht, the agency’s external affairs director.

The Times reported reported earlier this month that Bell’s top officials received some of the highest municipal wages in the nation.

City Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo made $787,637 a year, almost twice the salary of President Obama; Police Chief Randy Adams made $457,000, 50% more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck; and Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia made $376,288, more than the top administrator for Los Angeles County.

To read entire story, click here.

Yes, Attorney General Jerry Brown repeatedly claims he’s all over the City of Bell salary scandal.

Brown’s office has subpoenaed thousands of city records. He’s giving city officials twenty-four hours to turn them over.

Otherwise one can infer search warrants will be the order of the day.

But, maybe Brown should have checked with Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley before embarking on his politically charged grand standing.

Yesterday Cooley revealed his office has a wide ranging investigation into Bell to include election fraud in addition to the salary issue. An investigation that started last March.

Can you say oops?

Maybe Brown can check with Cooley for those records his office is seeking. Cooley might even avail himself to give Brown copies.

Adhering to sound investigative protocol, Cooley has kept his mouth shut on the activities of his department, which exercises primary jurisdiction over the matter.

The Meg Whitman campaign has been accusing Brown of using the Bell situation as a campaign stunt. Yesterday’s developments give credibility to Whitman’s claims.

I’m sure the Whitman campaign is just sitting back rolling on the floor over this episode. I envision they are actually holding their sides.

Cooley, who is the republican nominee to replace Brown and a true law enforcement prosecutor, hasn’t really spoken about his investigation into the fleecing of Bell taxpayers until yesterday.

After all it is an investigation where evidence destruction is a risk.

Yesterday Cooley appeared on The John and Ken Show aired on Los Angeles-based KFI AM-640 to discuss his ongoing and expanding investigation. Cooley appeared measured and confident in answering questions from talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou.

In an story published in the LA Times, Cooley described his investigation as “multifaceted, rapidly expanding and full-fledged.”

Sounds like a dig at Brown to me.

Like the rest of us, it sounds like Cooley couldn’t stand it any longer.

Brown must be making even him nauseated.

Steve Cooley

Investigators are looking into allegations of voter fraud and conflicts of interest, as well as the $100,000 salaries paid to four council members. The D.A. says several elections are targeted.

By Richard Winton, Jeff Gottlieb and Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times

July 28, 2010

Los Angeles County prosecutors have launched a wide-ranging investigation into allegations of voter fraud and conflicts of interest involving municipal business in Bell, Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said Tuesday.

In an interview with The Times, Cooley described an investigation considerably larger in scope than previously acknowledged by prosecutors, saying that it was “multifaceted, rapidly expanding and full-fledged.” Investigators have been gathering evidence since March, he said.

Until now, prosecutors had said only that they were looking at the $100,000 annual salaries paid to four of the five Bell City Council members and were seeking to determine if the payments were larger than allowed under state law. The voting fraud claims and allegations of possible conflicts of interest in city business add significant new issues about how government operated in the small working-class city where top city officials were among the nation’s highest paid.

Cooley also said investigators were looking at whether council members had received pay for meetings they did not attend or meetings that lasted only a few minutes. Most of the pay that Bell council members received came not from their City Council salaries, but as stipends for serving on the boards of city panels, such as the Public Financing, Surplus Property, and Solid Waste and Recycling authorities. City records indicate that those boards performed little work and that their business was routinely conducted during council meetings. In some cases, the board meetings would last no more than a minute, according to the records.

Monday night, board members agreed to cut their pay from all sources by roughly 90%, to about $8,000 a year.

Cooley declined to provide details about either the conflict-of-interest allegations or the voting-fraud probe, other than to say that his investigators were reviewing several elections. Sources with knowledge of the investigation said that among the subjects that prosecutors are looking at is the use of absentee ballots during the March 2009 City Council election.

Six candidates ran in that contest in which incumbents Teresa Jacobo and Luis Artiga, both current council members, retained their seats, with 31% and 28% of the vote. The next largest vote-getter received 11%. About 40% of the city’s nearly 10,000 registered voters cast ballots, and city records show that 39% of the votes in the election were absentees.

Cooley, who is the Republican nominee for state attorney general, said prosecutors began their investigation in March after receiving a complaint about conflict of interest. The investigation is in its early stages.

In addition to the district attorney’s office, several other law enforcement agencies are examining various aspects of Bell’s affairs. Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, who is the Democratic nominee for governor, announced Monday that his office has subpoenaed hundreds of documents from Bell as it looks into the city’s high salaries.

Also Tuesday, state Controller John Chiang, a Democrat seeking reelection, announced at a news conference at Bell City Hall that his office would audit the city’s finances. He called the salaries and pensions for city officials “unjustifiable” and said his office will be “taking a hard look at the books.”

The Times reported earlier this month that City Manager Robert Rizzo was making $787,000 a year, Police Chief Randy Adams was making $457,000 and Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia was making $376,000, among the highest salaries in the country for their positions. The three have agreed to resign. They will be eligible for hefty pensions.

Allegations about problems in the 2009 election also have been examined by the FBI and California’s secretary of state office. An FBI source confirmed that the agency is familiar with the allegations. A spokeswoman for the secretary of state said complaints are confidential and that the office could not discuss them.

At least two individuals have alleged voting irregularities in Bell. In a June 17, 2009, letter to David Demerjian, head of the district attorney’s Public Integrity Division, then-Bell Councilman Victor Bello accused the city’s election commissioner of falsifying ballots.

And a former Bell police sergeant has alleged in a lawsuit that several Bell officers distributed absentee ballots in the 2009 election, told residents to vote for the two incumbents and retrieved ballots from some voters.

In his lawsuit, James Corcoran says he was forced out of his job after he reported the activity to state and federal authorities last year.

To read entire story, click here.

Former Grand Terrace City Councilman Jim Miller pleaded guilty this morning to a misdemeanor charge stemming from payments he voted to approve to his wife’s weekly newspaper.

Miller pleaded guilty to having a financial interest by a state or local official in a government contract. In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors dropped a felony conflict of interest charge, which could have included prison time.

San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Bryan Foster sentenced Miller to two years probation but agreed to reduce that to one year if Miller submits proof that he paid restitution to the city.

Miller also drew a $170 fine with penalties and fees increasing that to $305.

Outside the courtroom, defense attorney Jim Reiss said that Miller already has paid the $17,812.42 in restitution.

To read entire story, click here.

Gutierrez

Wendy Leung, Staff Writer
Created: 07/27/2010 03:49:10 PM PDT

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – Last Thursday, Councilman Rex Gutierrez mulled a mayoral run, pulling papers just before City Hall closed for a three-day weekend.

On Monday, he changed his mind.

“As fun as it would be, I don’t know if I want to do it knowing the odds are stacked against me,” Gutierrez said.

Viewed by many as the most colorful and polarizing personality on the City Council, Gutierrez will instead seek re-election to his seat.

The councilman said he doesn’t have the financial backing to seek the mayor’s seat and wants to focus his energy on other things.

“I have a new business to worry about and my family,” Gutierrez said, referring to his new publication, Vineyard Press. “And I have this legal
Gutierrez case. … There’s too many battles to fight.”

Gutierrez, 50, faces a retrial in a criminal case tied to his tenure at the San Bernardino County Assessor’s Office. A jury deadlocked on three felony counts in June. The councilman said his new trial should begin in September.

Councilman Dennis Michael and Bill Hanlon have pulled papers to run for Mayor Don Kurth’s seat.

Gutierrez said Michael, who has received key endorsements from the firefighters and sheriff’s unions, would make an “awesome mayor.”

“I don’t really have any negative things to say about Dennis Michael,” Gutierrez said.

Councilwoman Diane Williams, Kurth and Gutierrez are all up for re-election in November.

Gutierrez has been itching to run for higher office for some time. In 2009, his hopes of succeeding then-Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Rancho Cucamonga, were dashed when allegations tied Gutierrez to the Assessor’s Office scandal.

Gutierrez said running for mayor would take more energy and money than trying to keep his seat. The cash-strapped councilman said he was forced to tap into his retirement savings this year to pay for his legal defense, which he said has totaled almost $100,000.

To read entire story, click here.

Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/27/2010 08:04:56 PM PDT

RIALTO – The sex scandal that has rocked the Police Department and attracted widespread attention has not shaken officials’ faith in rank-and-file officers or Chief Mark Kling, based on remarks they made at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

“My confidence in Mark is high,” said City Administrator Henry Garcia. “This is a small step backward.”

Garcia, on the recommendation of a seven-member interview committee, brought Kling in four years ago to overhaul a department that was on the brink of extinction after years of scandal that included allegations of racism, favoritism and police brutality.

The police force now faces allegations from Nancy Holtgreve, who serves drinks at the Spearmint Rhino strip club on Riverside Avenue.

Holtgreve says she and officer James Dobbs had sex three times last year at the Rialto Police Benefit Association’s union hall.

She alleges that she was off work and Dobbs was still on duty when they engaged in sex there.

Holtgreve, who says she has an infant son with Dobbs, has said she brought the issue to the department in May when Dobbs became abusive over child support issues.

Dobbs did not want his relationship with Holtgreve to wreck a custody battle with his ex-wife, or a relationship with another employee in the department, Holtgreve has said.

Holtgreve has retained an attorney has declined further media interviews.

Dobbs has not returned phone calls seeking comment.

Kling launched an internal investigation that led to six officers potentially involved with women from the strip club.

Four of the officers have been placed on paid administrative leave. Kling won’t release the names of the officers on leave, citing the ongoing investigation.

To read entire story, click here.

Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Created: 07/27/2010 09:25:46 PM PDT

FONTANA – The City Council will continue its version of “Musical Chairs” on Wednesday night.

Council members are set to discuss how to fill a spot on the dais left open when they tapped Frank Scialdone to become mayor earlier this month after former Mayor Mark Nuaimi took a job as city manager in Yucca Valley.

Fontana City Manager Ken Hunt said the council can appoint someone to the open spot or hold out until the Nov. 2 election.

If the council appoints someone, it could be done at the meeting, or else the council could call for applications and conduct interviews, Hunt said.

“My guess is they are probably going to leave it vacant until the election,” he said.

If the council appoints someone to the seat, it wouldn’t be the first time.

To read entire story, click here.

Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/27/2010 07:35:08 PM PDT

COLTON – At least two City Council members say they’d like to see the city send out requests seeking the exact costs to outsource for police and fire services, following the results of recently completed audits of both departments.

They would also like the city to contact surrounding jurisdictions to examine the viability of forming a joint powers agreement for fire services.

The audits estimate the city could save between $2.3 million and $8.2 million if the council decided to contract for public safety services or form a joint agreement. The council members say they’d like concrete numbers for the cost to contract.

“I think at this point we tell the city manager to entertain the possibility of contracting by seeking requests and asking these other agencies to come to the city and give us presentations on their services,” Councilman David Toro said.

“We need to have complete and accurate information. The best way to get complete and accurate information is going out and requesting different proposals from the agencies to make sure it’s viable for the city.”

Councilman Richard DeLaRosa said the council needs to follow through with the audit’s findings.

“It’s important that we look at the other agencies to see if they can provide the same level of service for a lesser amount (of money),” DeLaRosa said.

Councilman Alex Perez doesn’t support the idea of contracting for public safety. He’s more concerned with cost-saving strategies the audits suggest as well as those he expects department chiefs to present.

“I don’t think I’m inclined to contract our services,” Perez said. “I’ve talked to a lot of people who do not want to lose the police and the fire. There’s other tangibles besides just money costs, that’s what I’ll be working toward.”

The audits also suggest a number of strategies to cut costs, streamline operations and improve the efficiency of each department.

To read entire story, click here.

HESPERIA • The Hesperia Unified School District and Hesperia Teachers Association have apparently resolved their differences and have reached a three-year agreement, officials said Tuesday.

The tentative agreement includes nine furlough days (an effective salary cut of almost 5 percent), 1 percent pay cut and 2 percent savings on other monetary benefits for teachers.

And, perhaps most importantly, there is language that tells teachers what will happen in the future, depending on what happens with the state’s financial picture.

“Should state finances get better, there’s restoration language,” and the salary cuts will be eliminated in steps. “Should they get worse, there’s protection language that means they’ll take more of a cut,” said Superintendent Mark McKinney.

The superintendent said he would be “more than happy” to offer a restoration guarantee to other employee groups, which signed cost-cutting agreements with the district earlier in the year.

“I would have loved to have settled this months and months ago,” said McKinney. “It’s not been easy, by any stretch. These are difficult, difficult times. Long after people forget what was done, they will remember how it was done.”

To read the full story, see Wednesday’s Daily Press. To subscribe to the Daily Press in print or online, call (760) 241-7755, 1-800-553-2006 or click here.

Beau Yarbrough can be reached at (760) 956-7108 or at beau@hesperiastar.com.

10:49 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 27, 2010

By JACK KATZANEK
The Press-Enterprise

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was one of the biggest boosters Tuesday when officials triggered the demolition of the first building to make way for the proposed $3.7 billion March LifeCare campus.

The project could ultimately bring as many as 7,200 permanent jobs to the former March Air Force Base, at a health-care complex that will be anchored by a medical center, the project developer said. The ambitious plans call for a wide range of other medical buildings on the grounds of the former base, including facilities for senior citizens and retirees for ambulatory care patients.

Eventually the complex near Moreno Valley also could include a hotel and retail locations.

The first step is the removal of some 40 older buildings, a process that began with a ceremony presided over by Schwarzenegger near the intersection of Riverside Drive and Cactus Avenue. Two pieces of heavy equipment demolished the old Air Force child care center that most recently housed the Somerset Academy for special education students.

Transformation

The governor said the efforts could turn the former base property into what he called “The Mayo Clinic of the West.”

“We’re celebrating something no one has ever done in the world. We’re building the first health and wellness city,” said Schwarzenegger, who flew in to March Air Reserve Base.

Schwarzenegger was the first to sign a small portion of a stucco wall salvaged from the soon-to-be-demolished building that was used as a memento of the day’s events.

The governor lauded the efforts of the project developers and the March Joint Powers Authority, the agency charged with redeveloping former Air Force base property. He also brought his top economic development adviser, Joel Ayala, director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. Schwarzenegger said the state is encouraging the March redevelopment by streamlining the lengthy permitting process.

‘We’re getting calls’

Ayala said the March project is attracting a lot of attention.

“We’re getting calls from other communities asking us about what we’re doing at March,” Ayala said. “They’re asking, ‘Can we emulate this?’ If this works, we have a model.”

St. Bernardine Medical Center, along with its parent company Catholic Healthcare West, and Riverside Medical Clinic are in discussions with March Healthcare Development, the developer of March LifeCare, to create a plan to provide and operate the hospital.

To read entire story, click here.

10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 27, 2010

By JAN SEARS
The Press-Enterprise

Redlands could face a general fund shortfall of $23 million by 2014-15 if the economy doesn’t improve and no steps are taken to correct the city’s financial course.

The City Council heard the gloomy financial report last week, as City Manager Enrique Martinez urged them to adopt a multiyear approach to budgeting.

The budget projections presented by Finance Director Tina Kundig reflected only small increases in revenue along with increases in what the city will be required to pay for salaries, retirements and debt repayment.

“Hopefully, those assumptions that we have in there are not all going to come true,” Martinez said. “It’s not a scare tactic. It’s what you know and I know that may be impacting the city.”

Martinez said he wanted the council to direct staff to bring them a six-year budget plan, an assignment he said would require significant work that would roll out over several months.

The budget presentation addressed only the city’s general fund — its annual operating budget. It doesn’t include capital improvements such as street repairs, he said.

The general fund has significant structural problems that must be corrected, Martinez said. Even if the economy recovers, he urged the council not to consider hiring back the staff it laid off in June.

“We just let go some 40 some-odd people,” he said. “As worthy as they were … we can’t afford to bring them back. When the revenue goes up, we need to channel it into capital projects and building our reserves.”

The first report would be a detailed look at the city’s revenues, he said. Next would be expenditures and impacts on city services, he said. Then would come a report on the capital budget, which would focus only on streets.

“It would only be on street paving,” he said. “We don’t have the capital for anything else.”

The last report would be on building reserves.

Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Bean said he endorsed the concept but also wanted a plan for closing the $877,000 gap in the current budget.

That led to a somewhat testy exchange between Bean and Martinez.

To read entire story, click here.

08:33 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 27, 2010

By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
The Press-Enterprise

Traffic at Ontario International Airport dropped by 5.2 percent in June compared to the same month in 2009 and a 37.4 percent decrease since June 2007.

A total of 408,800 passengers used the airport last month, according to statistics from Los Angeles World Airports, the agency that owns and operates Ontario airport and Los Angeles International Airport.

LAX has had 28.3 million travelers in the first six months of the year, a 4.9 percent increase compared to the same period a year prior. Last month, traffic increased 4 percent compared to the same month a year prior.

Since 2008, Ontario airport lost service from JetBlue, Aeromexico and startup airline ExpressJet as well as suffered cuts in capacity at remaining airlines including the airport’s largest, Southwest Airlines.

Upset with steep passenger declines at the airport, officials with the city of Ontario have recently begun lobbying Los Angeles City Council members and agency leaders to consider giving control of the airport back to the Inland city.

Airlines are continuing to exercise “extreme caution” when it comes to increasing the number of flights and seats at the airports they serve, said David A. Castelveter, spokesman for the industry’s trade group, the Air Transport Association.

To read entire story, click here.

L.A. NOW
Southern California — this just in

July 27, 2010 | 2:13 pm

A lawsuit filed Monday by a former Bell police officer makes a variety of serious allegations about city officials and suggests voter fraud in a 2009 election.

According to the lawsuit, filed by James Corcoran, off-duty police officers in Bell distributed absentee ballots in a 2009 municipal election and told would-be voters which candidates to support.

The former police sergeant alleges in the suit that he was forced out of his job of 25 years in retaliation for informing state and federal authorities about the officers’ actions and reporting alleged misconduct involving City Administrator Robert Rizzo and other city officials.

Attorneys for the city did not return calls or respond to e-mails seeking comment.

Corcoran alleged that in 2009 he reported to the California secretary of State and the FBI “that off-duty police officers were taking absentee ballots and providing them to voters to fill out” and that officers were instructing individuals how to vote.

He also asserted that ballots were filled out for people who were dead.

In a June 2009 letter to the secretary of state, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, Corcoran alleged that the city manager, two police officers and other city officials engaged in voter fraud.

The secretary of state’s office declined to discuss the case — to say whether the allegations were investigated or whether the case was still active. The FBI also declined to comment. According to sources, the Los Angeles district attorney’s office is looking into the allegations.

Residents in Bell have been up in arms since it was disclosed that the top administrator and council members were paid far more than their counterparts elsewhere in the state and perhaps the nation. The city manager, police chief and assistant city manager resigned last week amid escalating anger, and Monday evening, council members agreed to reduce their nearly $100,000-a-year salaries by 90% or to go without pay altogether.

Corcoran’s attorney, Greg Smith, said his client was a decorated officer forced out last April because he was a “whistleblower.” He said Corcoran told Bell Police Chief Randy Adams that he had reported his allegations about election wrongdoing to outside agencies.

Adams, one of three top city administrators who resigned last week, could not be reached for comment.

To read entire story, click here.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown is apparently becoming a little sensitive to criticisms he is using his official capacity of Attorney General as a campaign platform.

In a Los Angeles Times story yesterday, Brown defended his investigation into pay practices in the City of Bell, deflecting allegations by the Meg Whitman campaign, that his actions were a campaign stunt.

Maybe someone should ask Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley. The man with the tire tracks across his back.

The Bell issue is clearly within the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles County District Attorney. In fact, the district attorney’s Public Integrity Division was already investigating the Bell matter when Brown rolled into town.

The California Department of Justice, Brown’s former office , has a long-standing policy to only enter local investigations when either requested by the local District Attorney or a conflict is declared.

Has anyone heard of any request for assistance from Cooley?

If Cooley has asked, it will be news to everyone.

It would appear Brown ran Cooley over with his campaign bus and he’s going to ride this investigation for all he can get. After all it’s free press.

It didn’t take long for Brown to engage either. From self-initiating a live impromptu call-in to Los Angeles radio station KFI’s John and Ken Show to holding press conferences, Brown was on the move. A call where Brown’s purpose was to announce his new Bell investigation.

However, hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou stole some of the Brown thunder. They wanted to discuss illegal immigration.

Now Brown has parlayed the fiasco onto local and network television.

When you listen to Brown’s nauseating interviews you get the picture. Comments like “We’re gonna get to the bottom of this.”, We’ve issued subpoena’s for records, and they’ve got forty-eight hours to respond.”, and “This is an outrage.”, bring the word pandering to mind.

Here’s a dose of classic Brown press conference verbiage from another Times story published online yesterday:

“These outrageous pay practices are an insult to the hard-working people of Bell and have provoked righteous indignation in California and even across the country,” Brown said. “I’m determined to get to the bottom of these exorbitant payouts and protect the state’s pension system against such abuses, and today’s subpoenas are an important step in that process.”

Expect Brown to make reference to lethal injection as punishment for the Bell officials.

If the Bell incident had been discovered two years ago would Brown be as outraged?

I doubt it.

Hudson

10:00 PM PDT on Monday, July 26, 2010

By ALICIA ROBINSON
The Press-Enterprise

Riverside City Manager Brad Hudson may face tough questions today from his bosses on the City Council when they meet behind closed doors to discuss his performance.

Several council members said they have concerns about the sale of Police Department guns in 2005 to Hudson and Assistant City Manager Tom De Santis and city officials’ use of nearly untraceable license plates reserved for police work.

Hudson said he thinks the issues were addressed when they arose a few years ago but he’s willing to discuss them again if council members have other questions.

A coalition of community groups Monday sent a letter to the council accusing Hudson of malfeasance and calling his actions “unethical and unprofessional.” The letter was signed by Michael Dunn and Deborah Wong, who are co-chairs of the Riverside Coalition for Police Accountability, and Mary Figueroa, chairwoman of the Eastside Think Tank.

The guns were sold to Hudson and De Santis after they obtained concealed weapon permits.

The state attorney general’s office raised questions about the legality of the sales and they were redone through an authorized gun dealer.

Officials have said the issues were corrected after they learned the gun sales and use of “cold plates” may have violated state laws. No charges were filed against any city officials in either incident.

Councilman Paul Davis said he wants Hudson to explain how he handled the issues of the guns, cold plates, problems at the Fox theater, and city management in general.

“I have received many, many e-mails and phone calls from my constituency” with questions about those issues, Davis said. Also, he has “serious concerns” over discrepancies in accounts given by former police chief Russ Leach and De Santis in court depositions.

In that testimony, Leach suggested he didn’t authorize cold plates for city management staff and elected officials’ cars. De Santis said putting a cold plate on his car was the chief’s idea.

To read entire story, click here.

10:00 PM PDT on Monday, July 26, 2010

The Press-Enterprise

Voters likely will be asked in November whether the city treasurer should be appointed by the city council.

The council will decide whether to put the issue on the November ballot when it meets Aug. 3. The treasurer currently is an elected post.

Finance Director Tina Kundig has been serving as treasurer since September 2008, when she was appointed by the council to complete former Treasurer Jon Michael Reynolds’ term, which expires in 2012.

Reynolds, who served nearly 28 years, retired in August 2008. He was arrested in 2007 and charged with three felonies, including misappropriation of about $38,000 in public funds. He pleaded guilty in August 2008 to one felony count of forging a public record.

–Jan Sears

10:00 PM PDT on Monday, July 26, 2010

Cassie MacDuff

With the scandal over exorbitant pay for Bell officials, Inland residents may wonder if their city governments, too, have approved extravagant salaries unbeknownst to them.

A 2007 Press-Enterprise survey showed Inland city manager salaries doubled between 1996 and 2006. Some now top $200,000.

But they’re nowhere near the $787,637 a year Bell’s city manager was making.

On Monday, a spot check of cities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties showed some managers have taken pay cuts along with rank-and-file employees.

Grand Terrace City Manager Betsy M. Adams, for example, took a 10 percent salary cut, reducing her base pay from $175,000 a year to $166,500. Grand Terrace has no assistant city manager position or police chief (a sheriff’s lieutenant supervises a few deputies).

Dave Mora, West Coast director of the International City/County Management Association, said most city managers are forgoing salary increases or reducing their salaries as employees’ pay is being reduced.

Redlands’ city manager, Enrique Martinez, on the other hand, got a health stipend for himself and the city attorney this spring, while laying off workers and cutting others’ pay.

Redlands couldn’t provide figures but Councilman Mick Gallagher said Martinez’s pay tops $240,000.

Corona Deputy City Clerk Toni Taber said her city had been expecting questions about pay in the wake of the Bell scandal. It readily provided the information:

City Manager Brad Robbins makes $230,256 a year; Assistant City Manager Greg Ervine makes $208,392 a year and the police chief makes $181,236 a year.

I never heard back from San Bernardino. But its manager, Charles McNeely, was making $275,000 a year when he was hired in March 2009. A year ago he recommended raising the assistant city manager salary to $197,000.

Riverside City Manager Brad Hudson’s salary is $294,525 plus benefits; Assistant City Manager Tom DeSantis makes $220,031 plus benefits and Police Chief Sergio Diaz makes $229,999 plus benefits. (Spokesman Austin Carter said Bell figures excluded benefits.)

Loma Linda City Manager Jarb Thaipejr is paid $175,000 a year. But he also serves as public works director, city engineer and human resources director, doing four jobs for the price of one.

To read entire story, click here.

10:00 PM PDT on Monday, July 26, 2010

By JIM MILLER
Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO – Several Inland governments, businesses and other groups have rallied behind a recently introduced state bill meant to preserve millions in revenue for the agency in charge of redeveloping the former Norton Air Force Base.

The support comes even though some of the agencies would stand to get more money if current law was left alone.

The situation stems from a recent change in ownership of the Mountain View power plant in Redlands. The ownership change in March requires a reshuffling of property tax payments from the plant.

The Inland Valley Development Agency, the Norton redevelopment agency, would lose as much as $4.5 million in Mountainview revenue, according to one estimate.

Inland lawmakers are trying to avoid that loss. A bill by Assembly members Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, and Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto, would carve out an exemption to a 2007 state law that otherwise would shift much of the Mountainview revenue away from the development agency.

The Senate Local Government Committee approved the bill June 30. The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider the measure Monday.

“The bottom line is I want them to succeed because they create jobs,” said Cook of the development agency. “It’s kind of a common-sense bill.”

The development agency “wins” under AB 308, according to an analysis of the measure by the local government committee.

“However, the bill also results in lower future allocations to some school districts and special districts with territories that do not encompass…(the) Mountainview power plant,” the analysis reads.

Mountainview’s change in ownership would cause San Bernardino County’s share of Mountainview tax revenue to increase from $486,000 to $2.5 million. Redlands’ share would go from about $723,000 to $2 million. And Redlands Unified School District could get as much as $2.4 million, according to estimates.

Yet officials from all three agencies are backing the Cook-Carter bill. In a letter to lawmakers, a Redlands Unified official called the bill “vital to our struggling communities and local economy.”

Brian Hardy, the district’s coordinator for facility planning services, said the current tax-sharing arrangement with the development agency gives the district more flexibility in how it spends the Mountainview money.

In addition, he said, any surge in Mountainview tax revenue for the district would trigger a corresponding decrease in funding from Sacramento.

“Flexibility of dollars is so key,” Hardy said. “There are not a lot of those funds out there.”

More support

San Bernardino Mayor Patrick Morris, the co-chair of the development agency, said the agency has been crucial to attracting job-creating projects to the airport, such as the 2.3 million-square-foot Stater Bros. Markets’ corporate headquarters and distribution center project.

The money also has helped pay for low- and moderate-income housing. The Western Center on Law and Poverty backs the measure.

Michael Burrows, the agency’s assistant director, said the bill’s supporters recognize his agency’s value.

“Any funds we get are re-invested in their programs,” he said.

To read entire story, click here.

The Loma Linda City Council will swear in its two newest members and choose a mayor Tuesday night.

Ron Dailey, the executive associate dean of Loma Linda University’s dental school, and Phillip Dupper, a San Bernardino County sheriff’s sergeant, won election June 8.

Outgoing councilmen Floyd Petersen, who did not seek re-election, and Robert Ziprick, who lost his seat, will be honored during a reception before the 7 p.m. meeting.

To read entre story, click here.

Wes Woods II, Staff Writer
Created: 07/26/2010 09:31:00 PM PDT

LA VERNE – The City Council has approved a contract with Assistant City Manager Robert T. Russi to become the city manager, effective Aug. 6.

Russi will make $169,000 per year. He could make up to $195,000 by 2013 if he receives satisfactory evaluations from the council.

If Russi passes the proper evaluations, he would make $177,600 in 2011, $185,990 in 2012 and $195,000 in 2013.

Russi will also receive a car allowance of $550 per month. He must provide his own vehicle, insurance, fuel, registration fee and maintenance.

Marty Lomeli will step down Aug. 5 after 23 years as La Verne’s city manager.

“I did talk to Marty earlier about his contract,” Mayor Don Kendrick said. “One thing I wanted to make sure was that nowhere in the spelling of La Verne was the word `Bell.’ He assured me it wasn’t.”

Kendrick’s comments were in reference to the city of Bell giving a $787,637 annual salary to City Manager Robert Rizzo. Rizzo was one of three administrators who resigned after their high salaries sparked outrage in Bell, a suburb of Los Angeles. The City Council accepted the resignations on Friday.

Lomeli makes $195,000 a year.

To read entire story, click here.

July 26, 2010 3:52 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • One of the top forensic auditing firms in the country now has its own temporary office at City Hall, as an investigation into Victorville’s finances by the San Bernardino County Grand Jury moves forward.

The grand jury first began probing Victorville in spring 2009, interviewing a slew of city officials regarding troubled finances, reported handshake deals and more.

In December, Councilman Ryan McEachron requested a forensic audit to specifically look for evidence of any fraudulent activities, after a year in office hearing continued concerns from residents that malfeasance had contributed to Victorville’s financial problems.

In January, McEachron suggested having the county’s grand jury take charge of the audit, fronting the cost for the cash-strapped city and ensuring that the results would be viewed as completely independent.

Victorville didn’t hear anything until May, when, in a request officials said has been made perhaps twice in two decades, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors approved giving the grand jury an extra $195,000 to hire auditor Kessler International.

On July 1, for the first time in the history of San Bernardino County, six citizens were held over from the 2009-10 grand jury to continue serving with this year’s watchdog group, according to Presiding Judge Douglas Elwell.

For the full story, read Tuesday’s Daily Press. To subscribe to the Daily Press in print or online, call (760) 241-7755, 1-800-553-2006 or click here.

Brooke Edwards may be reached at (760) 955-5358 or at bedwards@VVDailyPress.com.

Attorney General Edmund “Jerry” Brown

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State

July 26, 2010 | 4:45 pm

Ten television trucks and a crowd of reporters showed up for a news conference Monday where California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown announced that he had issued subpoenas for records as part of his investigation into “excessive” salaries in Bell, but the Democratic gubernatorial nominee insisted he was just doing his day job.

Last week The Times examined Brown’s dual roles as candidate and attorney general — prompting the campaign of his opponent, Meg Whitman, to request public records detailing Brown’s official travel and the personnel records of his communications staff.

When asked at Monday’s news conference whether he was seeking attention for his campaign, Brown replied, “You know, it was just a few weeks ago that some members of the political press were complaining that I don’t campaign enough. I was spending too much time at my job, my day job, which is attorney general,” he said. “So I will continue to uphold my responsibilities, and in this case, there’s nothing more fundamental than holding public officials to account. And when you have an egregious payout like this, it becomes incumbent to act expeditiously, and that’s what I’m doing.”

When pressed on the issue after the news conference, Brown added: “Things happen, things happen every day, and the attorney general has that responsibility. So, yes, people are going to judge me, certainly my opponents judge my record, and this will be my record as we go forward.”

Whitman spokeswoman Sarah Pompei called Monday’s news conference “nothing more than a campaign stunt paid for by California taxpayers. The fleecing of Bell taxpayers has been going on under his nose ever since becoming the attorney general, yet only since media interest has grown in the last week has Brown shown any interest in the outrage.”

– Maeve Reston in Los Angeles

July 26, 2010 | 4:55 pm

Bell Mayor Oscar Hernandez issued a news release Monday apologizing to residents for high salaries the city paid administrators and said he would serve the rest of his term without pay. He will not run for reelection.

“Since my first day as mayor, my priority has been to make Bell a city its residents can be proud to call home,” Hernandez said in his statement. “To the residents of this great city, I apologize that the council’s past decisions with regard to the indefensible administrative salaries have failed to meet that test.

“We must restore Bell’s pride in our city, and that requires a full, transparent and deliberate review of the city’s actions. To that end, I will dedicate the remainder of my term to spearheading our city’s cooperation with the Los Angeles County district attorney and the California attorney general’s inquiries.”

To read entire story, click here.