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.

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July 22, 2010 4:14 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • Two city leaders clashed during Tuesday night’s meeting, with Councilman Ryan McEachron asking Mayor Pro Tem Mike Rothschild to stop “spouting off” against issues that are already settled and Rothschild accusing his colleague of letting “side politics” guide his decisions.

The conflict stemmed from Rothschild continuing to speak out at public meetings and in a letter to the Daily Press against decisions approved by the rest of the council, including Helendale’s efforts to expand and plans for Apple Valley’s Yucca Loma Bridge.

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Victorville

Agency: Projects look to be ‘defunct’
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/18/2010 09:49:59 PM PDT

VICTORVILLE – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has ordered the city to stop raising money from foreign investors for projects at the Southern California Logistics Airport, which the agency says appear to be defunct.

About $10 million has been raised for the projects USCIS’s EB-5 Regional Center program, which allows foreigners to obtain green cards in exchange for $500,000 investments in the U.S.

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July 17, 2010 11:28 AM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The city is prepared to accept three more $500,000 loans from foreign citizens through the federal EB-5 visa investor program, even while the federal government decides whether Victorville’s program will be allowed to continue.

If the council accepts these seventh, eighth and ninth loans, Victorville will have borrowed a total of $4.5 million through the program, which puts aspiring immigrants on the path to citizenship in exchange for a loan that creates at least 10 jobs.

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July 13, 2010 9:27 AM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • One council member had no idea the city’s EB-5 investor program was being questioned by federal officials until reading about it in Sunday’s Press Dispatch, reflecting a communication gap she’s been raising concerns about for the last two years.

“I’m tired of it,” Councilwoman JoAnn Almond said by phone Monday, with a promise from City Manager Jim Cox when he returned to Victorville in January 2009 that all five members would always get the same information.

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Immigration officials question ‘viability’ of city projects
July 10, 2010 8:04 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • Federal officials intend to halt the city’s efforts to raise much-needed funds through loans from foreign citizens, unless Victorville can convince them it hasn’t misrepresented itself in marketing the program and that projects deemed “defunct” are still viable.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved Victorville’s application as an EB-5 Regional Center in June 2009, allowing the city to solicit $500,000 loans from foreign citizens so long as that money helps create 10 local jobs. In exchange, the aspiring immigrants are put on the fast track to getting U.S. visas.

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Victorville stands by airport operations
July 10, 2010 12:04 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The runway at Southern California Logistics Airport has perhaps never been busier, with Boeing testing high-profile jumbo jets and a number of major airlines sending grounded planes to Victorville for repainting or temporary storage.

But even as traffic picks up, staffing levels are going down, with the airport’s top two aviation professionals gone and their positions unfilled.

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July 07, 2010 5:32 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • Even as the city starts this fiscal year with a balanced budget, officials are advising that Victorville isn’t out of the woods yet.

“I want to caution the council, we are using $4.7 million in reserves in order to balance this budget,” Deputy City Manager Doug Robertson said during the city’s recent budget workshop. “So in essence between now and June 30 of next year we need to see revenue increases and expenditure decreases that equal $4.7 million or we’ll have to make further cuts of some type.”

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July 01, 2010 5:22 PM
From Staff Reports

SAN BERNARDINO • Victor Valley property values plummeted faster than every other city in San Bernardino County over the past year, according to the annual property assessment roll signed this week by Assessor Dennis Draeger.

County-wide, property values saw a 4.5 percent decline compared to 2009-10, the assessor reported. The county’s roll of 819,827 parcels is now valued at $162.8 billion.

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June 26, 2010 12:04 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The city attorney has taken the position that e-mails sent by council members from their personal accounts are not subject to public records requests, regardless of whether they deal with official city business.

“To me that’s ludicrous,” said Judy Alexander, a Soquel-based attorney who works with the California First Amendment Coalition and filed a request for the records. “I think their interpretation of the law is incorrect.”

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City found cash to cover Sheriff’s union raises but will see a 10-percent drop in coverage due to vacant deputy positions.
June 24, 2010 8:05 PM
BROOKE EDWARDS, STAFF WRITER

VICTORVILLE • The city is no longer considering dropping nine deputies for the coming year, however seven deputy positions currently vacant will not be restored in the upcoming budget.

The city council was expected to vote during the budget workshop coming up Tuesday on whether to move one sergeant, one detective and seven deputies out of Victorville.

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June 17, 2010 5:36 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The city could have nine fewer Sheriff’s deputies starting July 1, unless the council approves another way to cut $1.3 million just added to an extremely tight budget.

An alternative on the table is laying off more city employees outside public safety. However, Mayor Pro Tem Mike Rothschild said that option is drying up.

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Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/05/2010 09:23:49 PM PDT

VICTORVILLE – Ten Chinese investors have pumped $5 million into the Victorville Regional Center project at Southern California Logistics Airport in the last month, bringing the city that much closer to its goal of $25 million by November.

In exchange, investors will receive green cards under the federal EB-5 program, which makes visas available to foreign nationals who invest $500,000 in a regional center project that creates 10 jobs.

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June 05, 2010 12:02 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • For the first time, the city has adopted a policy to set aside at least 15 percent of its operating budget for a rainy day.

The move was triggered by the current rainy day, which could be deemed a flood in Victorville’s case.

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James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/02/2010 03:13:34 PM PDT

Ask Pacific Gas and Electric why voters should support Proposition 16 – a measure on next week’s ballot that would make it harder for local governments to start their own power companies – and they’ll likely mention Victorville.

The High Desert city has had several miscues over the past few years as it has tried to develop new power plants. In May, the city settled a dispute with General Electric, losing $50 million on a power plant that never came to be.

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May 31, 2010 12:00 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • An attorney with the First Amendment Coalition is looking into how Victorville officials use personal e-mail accounts to do city business, and whether their practice conflicts with state or city policy.

The inquiry was sparked after Mayor Pro Tem Mike Rothschild discussed during a council meeting in March an e-mail exchange he’d had with a foreign citizen interested in investing with the city. But when the Daily Press requested a copy of those e-mails a couple of days later, Rothschild said he couldn’t provide them because he’d deleted the messages.

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Victorville’s VV2 power plant gamble presents massive loss for years to come
May 29, 2010 12:30 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The city breathed a sigh of relief to recently get out from under threat of a lawsuit from General Electric for just $50 million, with twice that amount potentially on the line.

However Victorville will be paying for that loss for another 30 to 40 years, bond documents show — at a total cost, under current interest terms, of roughly $193,000.

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Johns

May 23, 2010 5:09 AM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • On Dec. 8, a representative from Inland Energy stood before the Victorville council and pledged to raise $25 million in loans for the city by mid-May through the federal EB-5 Visa Investor program.

To date, Victorville has received $3 million.

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City loses $50 million deposit, skirts additional $56 million claim
May 18, 2010 8:46 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The city has settled its lengthy contract dispute with General Electric, losing the $50 million deposit it put down on power plant equipment but avoiding a looming legal battle and additional $56 million claim.

While GE is keeping the deposit, under the settlement agreement announced following closed session Tuesday night, the power giant has agreed to hold $10 million of it as a credit toward the purchase of future equipment. And if the city is successful in selling rights to develop the power plant the original equipment was purchased for, that $10 million credit can be transferred until 2016.

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May 11, 2010 3:18 PM
BROOKE EDWARDS AND NATASHA LINDSTROM Staff Writers

VICTORVILLE • Four months after Victorville City Council asked the grand jury for help conducting an independent investigation into the city’s finances, it appears the citizen watchdog group has stepped up to the plate.

In a rare move, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved paying $195,000 to Michael Kessler & Associates Ltd. to provide the 2009-10 grand jury with forensic accounting services.

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April 08, 2010 – 5:44 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • By not paying a $142,000 bill, the city attorney is warning that Victorville has left itself open to a potential breach of contract lawsuit from Inland Energy, the Newport Beach-based developer that’s partnered with the city for a number of large-scale projects over the last several years.

While Inland denies it intends to initiate a suit, a company spokesman said they can’t control what action their unpaid subcontractors might take.

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March 22, 2010 3:44 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The city’s request for the grand jury to hire on a firm to investigate its finances has stalled, with no answers from the San Bernardino County body as to why.

Councilman Ryan McEachron called for the investigation in early December, asking for a third party to take a closer look at the city’s payroll and accounts payable records plus all city contracts, in hopes of putting to rest persistent claims that malfeasance has occurred.

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March 17, 2010 4:49 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • On a split vote, the council opted not to approve allocating limited general fund reserves to pay $142,000 in bills from developer Inland Energy.

It remains to be seen how the invoices from last May and June will be paid, as staff is now tasked with finding an alternate funding source from amongst the city’s cash-strapped accounts.

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March 11, 2010 5:04 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The city’s director of Public Works has resigned along with a top management analyst from the department, as employees still reeling from salary and benefit cuts have been told to expect more layoffs soon.

Public Works Director Amer Jakher is leaving to become assistant city manager for the City of La Puente, according to Victorville spokeswoman Yvonne Hester.

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BY BROOKE EDWARDS
STAFF WRITER

VICTORVILLE • Though the two incumbents are off to a slow start, City Council challenging candidate Angela Valles has already raised nearly $16,000 to make a run in the Nov. 2 election.

Neither incumbent Councilwoman JoAnn Almond or Councilman Terry Caldwell raised a penny for their campaigns in 2009, according to finance forms filed with the city, and they didn’t spend much either.

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McEachron

McEachron still brings in the most donations
BY BROOKE EDWARDS
STAFF WRITER

VICTORVILLE • Though he’s not up for re-election again until 2012, Councilman Ryan McEachron easily raised and spent the most money in 2009 of any sitting or challenging Victorville candidate.

McEachron brought in more than $40,000 last year. Most of those funds went to repay more than $50,000 in loans he’d taken from his own ISU-ARMAC Insurance Agency to fund his successful campaign efforts in 2008.

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Councilwoman still plans to run for reelection
March 05, 2010 – 3:30 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • Councilwoman JoAnn Almond returned to City Hall on Thursday after missing a month of meetings, having narrowly avoided a life-threatening heart attack.

“My doctor told me, ‘JoAnn, you cannot believe how close you were,’” the fourth-term councilwoman said, relieved to be feeling almost normal again after weeks at home.

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City may recover a few million for $25 million in power plant equipment.

March 01, 2010 5:05 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The city is still struggling to sell off $25 million worth of equipment purchased for its failed energy ventures, with hopes to replenish the dwindling general fund that has subsidized the projects for years.

However, though many of the massive tanks and generators bought over the last six years or so were never even used, estimates from one broker show the city will likely only recover a few million dollars of its investment on the open market.

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Wesley G. Hughes, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/27/2010 08:25:27 PM PST

Victorville moved forward Friday in what is expected to be the first of many steps toward healing its economy.

The first foreign investor is willing to put up $550,000 toward a $25 million wastewater treatment plant and site preparation for a $120 million bottling plant to the city.

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February 17, 2010 4:14 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • Staff has looked into the implications of filing bankruptcy and is not recommending it as an option to keep the struggling city solvent, according to City Manager Jim Cox.

“The staff feels that is the worst possible thing that could possibly happen,” Cox said during Tuesday’s council meeting, in response to a resident asking whether bankruptcy is on the horizon.

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February 17, 2010 5:23 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • One council member is defending Victorville’s relationship with Inland Energy while another is calling for the city to cut all ties with the Orange County firm.

“I would request that all services being provided by Inland Energy be terminated immediately and that there would be no further involvement in city projects by Inland Energy,” Councilwoman JoAnn Almond said in a statement, read by the City Clerk in her absence from Tuesday’s meeting.

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SCLA, city utility deficit hits $130 million; Water district funds nearly depleted
February 12, 2010 5:08 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • For the second time in a matter of days, officials have expressed doubt about the city’s ability to stay solvent in the coming year.

City Manager Jim Cox told the council Tuesday that Victorville won’t survive the 2010-11 fiscal year unless it trims millions from its budget, with impending layoffs and cuts to services for residents.

Now a new independent audit report warns that massive deficits and recurring losses in the city’s general, airport and utility funds “should raise substantial doubt about the city’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

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Council gives staff little direction on how to stay afloat
February 11, 2010 4:59 PM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • Reducing the number of sheriff’s deputies and firefighters on city streets may be necessary to close Victorville’s $4.36 million deficit, according to City Manager Jim Cox.

“No one wants to suggest that, no one wants to telegraph that, no one wants to go there,” Cox told the council this week. “I think the reality is you may have to look at public safety.”

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Special meeting Tuesday to discuss more cuts, layoffs
February 06, 2010 3:20 PM
By brooke edwards

VICTORVILLE • Still reeling from massive cuts to close a $13 million deficit last summer, Victorville is facing a $4.36 million gap to stay afloat through June.

Now city staff is looking to the council for direction in closing that gap, with a special meeting called Tuesday night to discuss further cuts.

Roughly $1.36 million of the mid-year deficit comes from five departments spending beyond what was budgeted last summer, according to a staff report included in Tuesday’s agenda.

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February 03, 2010 11:42 AM
Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The city is calling for employees willing to be voluntarily laid off, with another round of cuts expected soon.

“Due to a severe drop in revenues over the last two years, we are anticipating additional layoffs to occur within the next two months,” states a letter from City Manager Jim Cox, which was sent to city staff on Jan. 25.

It’ll be the second hit in a matter of months, with some 50 employees laid off last summer as the city struggled to close a $13 million deficit in its general fund.

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City still scrambling to resolve $126 million dispute with GE
BY BROOKE EDWARDS
STAFF WRITER

VICTORVILLE • It’s been nearly four months since the city quietly selected a New Jersey company as the leading contender to buy development rights for the planned $1.2 billion Victorville 2 power plant.

The deal was meant to help stabilize the city’s precarious financial position, with a $126 million payment to General Electric for the power plant’s equipment roughly 15 months past due.

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Move will save $750,000 in three years
January 25, 2010 5:34 PM
BROOKE EDWARDS Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • The city is returning 43 vehicles it’s been leasing for employees, as another cost-saving measure to get through its current financial crisis.

The move will save $250,00 a year, city spokeswoman Yvonne Hester said, for a total savings of $750,000 over the next three years.

The vehicles were all leased from Sunland Ford Lincoln Mercury for five years starting April 1, 2008, in effort to replace aging, less fuel-efficient models with newer ones.

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January 18, 2010 10:48 AM
BROOKE EDWARDS Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • The city hasn’t repaid an interfund loan it made to itself in 1999, according to its latest audit report — even though state law dictates that this particular loan must be paid back with interest within five years.

Still the audit of the city’s Redevelopment Agency, which is up for approval at Tuesday’s council meeting, shows an unqualified or “clean” opinion on the agency’s financial statements for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

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January 06, 2010 4:08 PM
BROOKE EDWARDS Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • The council voted to move forward with plans to expand Victorville some 32 square miles to the north, in spite of concerns raised by the area’s largest property owner and by City Manager Jim Cox.

Cox recommended Tuesday night that the council hold off on its vote for another couple of weeks, until staff could meet with representatives from Apple Valley over conflicts indirectly related to the expansion and with San Bernardino County 1st District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt.

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Brooke Edwards,
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • Over protest from Mayor Pro Tem Mike Rothschild, the council voted to move forward with an investigation into city finances with the San Bernardino County grand jury at the helm.

Councilman Ryan McEachron first 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 helped land Victorville in the financial hole it’s currently in.

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Bonds downgraded as property values plunge $1.6 billion

BY BROOKE EDWARDS
STAFF WRITER

VICTORVILLE • Moody’s Investors Services has downgraded more than $90 million in Southern California Logistics Airport Authority bonds to near-junk status, citing concern over whether the city will be able to continue covering the hefty debts amid plummeting property values.

Moody’s reports that property values are down more than $1.6 billion from last year in the 90,000-acre redevelopment area surrounding former George Air Force Base.

As property values drop, so does the amount of tax revenue flowing to every local city as members of the redevelopment area managed by the Victor Valley Economic Development Authority.

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December 23, 2009 3:32 PM
BROOKE EDWARDS Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • A judge declined to dismiss fraud claims against Councilman Terry Caldwell and former city manager Jon Roberts, in a $33 million civil suit filed by CMB Exports.

The suit stems from a 2008 trip to China, where CMB took Caldwell, Roberts and Inland Energy’s William Buck Johns along to seek funding for Southern California Logistics Airport through the EB-5 investments-for-visas program. The federal program allows foreign citizens to get American visas in exchange for loaning $500,000 to the city.

While in China, Caldwell signed a memorandum of understanding with CMB agreeing to explore a partnership and forbidding the city from using any of the company’s information or consultants for two years.

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Questionable practice alarms forensic auditor

By Brooke Edwards
Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • The city has two versions of its Water District audit done by two different firms for the 2007-08 fiscal year — and the reports show the same $51 million used two different ways, the Daily Press has learned.

On the Water District audit completed by Charles Z. Fedak & Company, the district was shown to have $58 million in cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, 2008.

That audit was used to help try and secure bond financing for the city’s wastewater treatment plant, according to Deputy City Manager Doug Robertson. But on the citywide audit for the same time period, completed by Mayer Hoffman McCann P.C., the Water District was listed as having just $7 million in cash.

That’s largely because the city’s audit includes $39 million in interfund loans not mentioned on the Water District audit. The city audit states these loans were needed to plug revenue holes for Southern California Logistics Airport Authority, the city’s utility and its golf courses.

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SCLA’s biggest employer files claim against Victorville
By Brooke Edwards
STAFF WRITER

VICTORVILLE • They’re already at the center of a $200 million RICO claim against the city and of a $36 million difference in opinion between Victorville’s last two auditors.

Now a set of hangars at Southern California Logistics Airport has triggered another claim against the city, with Leading Edge Aviation Services — the largest employer at SCLA — asking for more than $1 million it says was lost after the city leased the same space twice.

The council is expected to deny that claim during tonight’s meeting, though spokeswoman Yvonne Hester said the city declined to comment per its usual policy on pending litigation.

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By Brooke Edwards
Staff Writer

December 13, 2009

VICTORVILLE • When one or two council members have a meal with a private developer to discuss a potential project, some chalk it up to being active, pro-growth representatives for the city.

Others say it’s symptomatic of the way business has been conducted in Victorville for some time, meeting at the local watering hole and leaving some council members out of the loop.

Developers of the private DesertXpress train from Victorville to Las Vegas recently held a meeting in the Grumpy Golfer restaurant at Greentree Golf Course.

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Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/08/2009 06:50:37 PM PST

VICTORVILLE – City Councilman Ryan McEachron has called for a forensic audit of all city contracts, payroll and accounting records amid an ongoing Grand Jury investigation into the city’s business practices.

Since being elected to the City Council last November, McEachron said he’s been troubled by a barrage of complaints from citizens alleging the city is corrupt and engaged in an incestuous relationship with energy magnate William Buck Johns, president of Newport Beach-based Inland Energy, Inc.

Johns has been instrumental in the entitlement and development of the Victorville 1 (VV1) power plant at the Southern California Logistics Airport and several other power plant projects in the High Desert.

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December 04, 2009 9:01 AM
STEVE WILLIAMS Opinion Page Editor

Thursday’s Daily Press said Ryan McEachron, Victorville city councilman, is calling for a “forensic audit” of the city’s finances.

We might point out that forensic science (often shortened to forensics) is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to a legal system. The concept is related to the notion of authentication, whereby an interest outside of a legal form exists in determining whether an object is what it purports to be, or is alleged as being.

That’s not gobbledegook, exactly, but it is a working definition of what is looked upon increasingly by the public as an unsatisfactory, and untrustworthy, method of investigation.

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An Orange County based political consultant on retainer to San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos has now entered the fray of two investigations, One by the Orange County District Attorney, and second by a San Bernardino County Grand Jury.

The Orange County investigation involves actions of the Orange County Fair Board, which David Ellis serves as Vice-Chairman.

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By Michael Kane

Sources this morning tell iePolitics that a Special Criminal Grand Jury has issued at least two subpoenas related to an investigation involving activities in the City ofVictorville, it’s Redevelopment Agency (RDA), and Housing Authority.

Areas of interest that is under investigation include the sale of the Victorville II power plant, the former city manager’s improper approval of contracts, and the expenditure of $770,000 for “China visa recruitment”.

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