Following a second incident in just a few years over “handshake agreements,” the city of Banning is preparing an official policy to address the use of public resources involving city labor and equipment when it comes to providing services to private parties.
The Riverside County Grand Jury’s April 30 report determined that a city council member verbally directed the city manager to assist a local auto dealership by trimming brush along Interstate 10 that was obscuring visual access to the property, a project that was completed in 2017.
Councilman Art Welch explained at the May 22 council meeting that he was approached by an employee at Diamond Hills Chevrolet Buick GMC seeking advice as to whether the city could do anything about the overgrown shrubbery along the freeway, and he recommended that they inquire with the city manager at the time.
According to Welch, that was the extent of his involvement in the case.
In the report it is noted that city council directed the Finance Department to recover the costs of staff and equipment; through a few invoices, the city received $3,459.64 from Diamond Hills auto center.
No application to the city or Caltrans was ever filled out and reviewed for approval as an expense by city council prior to the brush removal.
That lack of a paper trail and the perception of a handshake agreement caused issues for the Banning, San Gorgonio Pass Area Chamber of Commerce, which relied on a verbal agreement from years past allowing the chamber to pay just a $1 lease per year, and was not billed utilities for more than a decade.
That grand jury report from 2016 suggested to the city that it stop doing handshake agreements.
Once again, a grand jury report is issuing a similar recommendation among its findings: “The City immediately discontinue and prohibit the use of undocumented and informal ‘handshake’ agreements” and “adopt strict policies for formalizing agreements with private parties,” which would be reviewed by the city manager and evaluated by the city attorney.
Councilwoman Daniela Andrade pointed out, “Since the grand jury report says that we need to establish a policy, I think that’s what we need to start doing.” She made the motion on the floor to direct staff to prepare an ordinance and to restrict directives specifically through the city manager.
The motion passed 5-0.
Other recommendations from the grand jury calls on the city manager to review all contracts and agreements to ensure terms affecting liabilities that might be borne by the city; establish a policy to review and update city policies and procedures on a regular basis, which should be made public and possibly placed on the city’s Web site; the city should review and revise hiring and recruitment processes and procedures, and incorporate and outline expectations and performance measures into the recruitment process for the city manager (city councilmembers must comply with the city ordinance and work with city administrative services exclusively through the city manager (which is what councilmember Welch did in regards to a member of the public requesting the city’s help to benefit a private business); the city must establish a policy for training, including ethics in government, code of conduct, proper chain of command, transparency in government, Brown Act obligations); and conduct a biennial review of the financial burden to the city of any tax-sharing agreements that are more than five years-old.
According to the staff report, several components were already in the works prior to receiving the latest grand jury report.
According to the city’s staff report: the former practice of “handshake” agreements has been discontinued and staff is developing a policy”; the city manager already reviews all contracts and agreements; the staff has been developing a policy regarding agreements with governmental and nongovernmental parties; the city went through a review of policies in 2017 with the city’s insurance firm, which determined that the best course of action is to hire a human resources firm to update employee and human resource-related policies, and is preparing a request for proposal to proceed; and, in regards to establishing a policy for training of new councilmembers, “The city staff attempted to provide all of the referenced training after the last election; however, the council postponed the training due to a request for the training to include International City Manager Association code of ethics for city managers,” for which the city manager would develop a policy for the council to approve.
That last component was reflected in a statement for the Record Gazette by councilwoman Debbie Franklin after the meeting.
When asked why the city did not have an ordinance in place after the 2016 grand jury recommended one, she said, “A challenge has been that every time someone leaves, we’re back to square one again,” in reference to turnover with staff and city managers — the latest being interim city manager Alex Diaz.
May 25, 2018
Record Gazette
By David James Heiss
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