The head of the Richgrove
Community Services District said the organization is close to getting its
finances in order despite critical findings by the Tulare County grand jury.
In a press release titled
“Confusion And Chaos in Richgrove,” the grand jury states that the district —
which provides water and sewage services to about 500 homes and businesses in
the southern Tulare County town — hasn’t had an audit of its finances done
since 2006.
The grand jury also concluded
that the Richgrove district’s board of directors “has not shown sufficient
knowledge and training to enable compliance with generally accepted accounting
standards and audits of state and local governmental units publication.”
“We checked to see if they’re
doing things they’re supposed to be doing, and we found out they’re not,” said
Chuck White, foreman of the grand jury, which has released the organization’s
findings on the Richgrove district.
But the district has been
working on getting its audits done, said Alex Hernandez, chairman of the board
of directors.
“We’re trying to do everything
compliant with what the grand jury wanted us to do,” said Hernandez, explaining
that he didn’t hear about the failure to conduct the audits until 2011 and he,
along with a board full of newcomers elected recently, they have been tying to
set things right since 2012.
That included firing the
district’s office manager in 2011 after she reportedly failed to tell the board
members that the audits weren’t being done, he explained.
The grand jury is composed of
Tulare County residents who apply to served one-year terms. During that time,
they conduct periodic reviews of public agencies or initiate reviews based on
complaints.
In the case of the Richgrove
district, the complaint about financial misconduct was filed in 2013 by a
certified public accountant from Fresno hired to help the district sort out its
finances.
“The new girl was trying to set
things up like they should be, and they were taking things away from here,”
White said of the district’s board of directors.
The investigation took so long,
he added, that the originating grand jury “rolled it over” to the current grand
jury.
Hernandez said his district is
working with the same CPA who filed the complaint.
Most, from 2007 through 2012,
have been finished, and audits for 2013 and 2014 — the latter not due until
later this year — are being worked on, noted Lorena Moldonado, the Richgrove
district’s current office manager.
This isn’t the first time
Richgrove Community Services District has come under grand jury scrutiny.
A 2008 investigation into the
organization’s finances turned up evidence of criminal activity, and the grand
jury turned over its findings to the Tulare County District Attorney’s office.
That lead to the filing of criminal charges against Maria Pimentel — described
by a district official as the former office manager — and Joey David Velasquez.
Both pleaded no contest in 2013
to individual counts of embezzlement and falsification of accounts by a public
officer, but neither White nor Deputy District Attorney Anthony Fultz could
provide details Wednesday of how much the two embezzled and how they did it.
Once the DA’s Office determines
a grand jury case may involve criminal activity, the matter is dropped and
turned over to prosecutors, so no reports or recommendations to the Richgrove
district were issued in 2008.
Special districts are public
agencies, and the state requires audits of their finances, including cities and
counties.
County Tax Collector Rita
Woodard said that since she took office in 2007, her agency has sent reports to
the county Board of Supervisors and to the state Controller’s Office that the
Richgrove district wasn’t complying with its audit requirements.
The latest investigation found
no indications of criminal activity, but White noted that the purpose of the
audits are to make public agencies’ finances transparent so theft or
mishandling of funds can be discovered.
Woodard noted that special
districts are independent, so they aren’t governed by the board of supervisors
or her office, nor can the grand jury compel them to follow recommendations.
Still the grand jury listed the
following recommendations for the Richgrove district:
•Board members should set a
policy that they have to undergo mandatory “basic training” offered by Tulare
County for operators of special districts.
•A requirement that a legal
adviser and financial consultant attend all Richgrove district board meetings.
•The county treasurer should be
appointed treasurer of the Richgrove district and have custody of all the
district’s money. The board could apply to regain control once the other
recommendations are met and the Tulare County Local Agency Formation Commission
approves.
Hernandez said the governing
board will have to meet to discuss whether to follow the recommendations, but
added, “If they recommend it, we will follow it.
“We have to learn all this,
step by step,” he added. “We can probably get it all together — go through the
programs and training they want us to go through.”
March
11, 2015
Visalia
Times-Herald
By David Castellon
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