Criminal, financial woes part of history
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/10/2010 10:12:33 PM PDT
ADELANTO - When E.H. Richardson, inventor of the Hotpoint electric iron, settled in this once dusty desert outpost in 1915, he had a grand vision of transforming it into Southern California's first master-planned community.
He purchased a chunk of land for $75,000 and subdivided it into 1-acre plots, hoping to sell it to World War I veterans with respiratory problems. He also envisioned a respiratory hospital to serve the veterans.
Richardson's vision, however, never materialized.
Like Richardson, the 54-square-mile Adelanto, population 28,500, has had a difficult time realizing its vision over the years, enduring myriad scandals, a Wild West reputation and a perpetual financial crisis it can't seem to shake. "Adelanto, historically, has been in the red," said Riverside attorney Tristan Pelayes, who served as the city's mayor from 2000 to 2003. He said his first order of business as mayor was disbanding the city's embattled police department and contracting with the Sheriff's Department for service. He said he aggressively pushed to attract businesses to the city and eliminate blight.
He said when he left office in 2003, the city was in the black and on the upswing.
But it didn't stay that way for long.
According to an independent audit released in April, the city's operating revenues have declined by 27.5 percent over the last three fiscal years, and the city has a structural deficit of $4.2 million. The severity of the economic recession has exacerbated the issue.
Adelanto's budget woes are so dire that the Grand Jury, in its recently released annual report, recommended that the city consider cutting back on patrol time for sheriff's deputies.
City and law enforcement officials say that is not going to happen, and that the city is already operating with minimum staffing.
"The city cannot cut back any hours. This is a very busy place. The deputies are nonstop out here," said sheriff's Lt. Phil Brown, who oversees patrol operations for the city.
The city has already taken major strides in addressing some of its budget problems and securing revenue streams until it can figure out a way to close it's nearly $5 million budget gap.
Last month, the city sold its prison, the Adelanto Community Correctional Facility, to a Florida-based company for $28 million. That should keep the general fund healthy for the next five to six years as the city tries to figure out a way to fill its budget hole.
"Instead of waiting four years down the road, we're starting to look at it now to see what we can do to reduce that $5 million deficit, so when that $28 million runs out, we're not right back where we started," City Manager James Hart said.
In December, the Sheriff's Department shifted its Victor Valley patrol operations in Victorville to Adelanto's much larger facility off Highway 395, merging the two stations. It was a cost-savings measure that boosted efficiency and police presence, officials say.
"It reduced everybody's cost. Our savings alone was about $700,000," Hart said.
Lt. Mike Stansell, who oversees patrol operations for the unincorporated areas of the Victor Valley, said the merger has provided more resources to Adelanto, even though the city isn't paying for them.
For example, if a major incident were to occur in the city, patrol deputies for the unincorporated areas could serve as backup since they are now headquartered in Adelanto and in closer proximity, Stansell said.
Brown said the additional deputies, though not assigned to Adelento's patrol rotation, provide a perception of increased police presence in the city because more patrol cars are now seen along the city's main thoroughfares.
"It's a visible deterrent," Brown said.
Since the city's incorporation in 1970, the city has not had, until recently, a professional administrator to guide and direct its operations. It also has not had a full-time treasurer.
As the Grand Jury learned more about the city's finances, it learned the issue was more severe than anticipated and a long time in the making. The Grand Jury has recommended, among other things, that Hart and his staff complete annual audits for the last three fiscal years and promptly submit them, and that Hart develop a comprehensive financial projection and plan for resolving the city's deficit in the next five years.
Hart said none of the Grand Jury's findings came as a surprise.
"We had already been working on all of the issues that they raised," said Hart. "There's nothing that's coming out of the financial reports that's different from what we already knew."
He said the city will host a series of public workshops toward the end of the year to inform the public about the fiscal crisis and get input, another of the Grand Jury's recommendations.
Pelayes believes the city must first shake its Wild West reputation in order to effect long-term change.
It seems like logical advice, but the city's checkered past suggests that Hart and the City Council have their work cut out for them.
In October, Kevin Murphy, the city's former animal control director, was convicted of drowning more than 50 kittens in cages over a four-month period. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail as part of a plea bargain with county prosecutors.
In April 2008, former Mayor Jim Nehmens and his wife were convicted of embezzling more than $20,000 from the Adelanto Little League from 2004 to 2006. They were each sentenced to six months in jail.
In 1997, former Adelanto Police Chief Philip Genaway was sentenced to four years in prison for stealing $10,000 from the department's canine unit. Two other officers were jailed for beating a handcuffed man and forcing another to lick his own blood off the floor.
"There were some bizarre things out there. It was like there were no laws," said former District Attorney Dennis Stout, who oversaw the trial of Genaway and the two officers in the late 1990s. "Because of the small nature of the city, they had difficulty recruiting people of caliber, so they always recruited people with baggage. It seemed like every cop with a bad jacket wound up in Adelanto."
In 1994, Tom Thornton, who had served a year in prison on federal drug smuggling charges, was appointed mayor.
In 1993, the Grand Jury scolded the city in its annual report, alleging possible misuse of public funds and election fraud. It also questioned the legality of the city's spending of redevelopment funds to file lawsuits and accused city officials of overspending and inappropriate behavior.
When Pelayes left the city in 2003, he was hoping things would improve, but they didn't.
"When I left the city, my mayor pro tem was arrested for embezzling money. That was a huge hit to the city," said Pelayes. "You take one step forward, and you take three steps back."
He said it will take leaders who are impervious to influence and have a strong moral compass to turn the city around.
"Unless you're willing to say `there's a new sheriff in town, and we're not going to deal with this, you're not going to progress," he said.
http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/sanbernardinocounty/ci_15488528
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