The Patterson City Council
responded to the grand jury’s findings that the city ignored regulations and
wasted $2.4 million on a building purchase for a City Hall annex. The formal
response approved Tuesday says:
▪ The council
did not violate the state’s public meeting law with its agenda notices and
minutes on the closed-session discussions for the purchase.
▪ It complied
with law in purchasing the 100-year-old building at 21/25 S. Del Puerto Ave.
▪ And it did
what it could to cooperate with the civil grand jury’s request for documents
related to the purchase.
In June, the grand jury charged
that city leaders ignored regulations when they bought the old building for
$650,000 in 2012. It’s now known the building needs about $2.4 million in
upgrades and repairs before it can be used for a City Hall expansion, the
report said, citing estimates from the city.
Mayor Luis Molina told the
grand jury Nov. 13 that the council thought it was a good purchase at the time,
but he felt the city had “bought a lemon.”
According to the grand jury,
the council violated the Brown Act when it did not report the votes of each
council member or consistently report actions taken for the purchase.
A city building official
inspected the Del Puerto Avenue property in April 2012 and recommended the city
seek an architect’s advice on what improvements were needed to make the
building accessible to the disabled. That was not done before escrow closed in
August 2012.
According to the report, the
seller was supposed to make about $110,000 in repairs and be reimbursed by the
city. The purchase was completed without the work being done and the seller was
never required to make the improvements, based on advice from the deputy city
attorney.
The council approved a response
Tuesday that disagreed with most of the grand jury’s 16 findings. But it did
agree the building cannot be used for its intended purpose without an extensive
makeover. The project was supposed to create additional space for the Chamber
of Commerce, Historical Society and public meeting rooms.
“While the city had hoped the
property would be a convenient location and an opportunity to expand City Hall,
it turns out that there are significantly more repairs required to
satisfactorily update the building’s condition,” the response said.
A shorthanded council made a
few changes before the proposed response was approved. It claimed the $2.4
million figure was not a documented estimate or valid. It also charged the
grand jury violated its own rules by disclosing the mayor’s testimony.
City Attorney Tom Hallinan said
council members Dominic Farinha and Deborah Novelli did not participate in the
item.
The grand jury also charged
that city officials failed to comply with a request for a copy of the purchase
agreement and did not comply with a Feb. 2 subpoena to turn over information.
The city’s response disagreed with that finding, saying they substantially
complied with the request for documents.
The response says there never
was a written purchase agreement for the transaction. Any delays in turning
over documents were due to former City Manager Rod Butler’s departure last year
to take another job, the response said.
Most of the negotiations over
the purchase of the building were handled by Butler. Ken Irwin, who took over
as city manager, told the grand jury last November that he had no knowledge of
the deal.
The Patterson council agreed to
create a property acquisition policy with procedures to follow for future
purchases. And it will endeavor to provide meeting minutes as quickly as
possible.
The grand
jury is a government watchdog panel that performs a public service when it
exposes this kind of scandal. It’s the kind of information that voters remember
when they participate in local elections.
September 3, 2015
The
Modesto Bee
By
Ken Carlson
No comments:
Post a Comment