In an about face, the Upland City Council last week decided not to hire a private investigator to dig into a grand jury report accusing the city of deceiving the public and hiding information on city pension debts.
However,
the Nov. 2 report issued by the San Bernardino County Civil Grand Jury will
remain a thorny issue for several months for the City Council and for City
Manager Rosemary Hoerning.
The
City Council on Jan. 11 will take up the report’s 16 recommendations for
bettering the way the city deals with its finances and being more transparent.
One suggestion is to place pension debt reports on the city’s website.
“I’m
really nervous this will be brought up again and again if we don’t resolve
them,” said Councilwoman Janice Elliott at the
Dec. 14 City Council meeting.
Despite
strong pushes by new Mayor Bill Velto at two previous meetings to hire a
private firm at a cost of $50,000 to investigate the city, he failed to gain
the votes. On Dec. 14, new council members Shannan Maust and Carlos Garcia did
not indicate support for the idea.
Instead,
Maust suggested the investigation be done once a new city attorney is hired, a
process underway. A new city attorney would be impartial and could conduct
interviews of current and past city personnel and find out what led to the Grand
Jury’s findings, she said.
“There
might be a need for disciplinary actions,” she added, hinting that either a
city staffer or council member could be called out for wrongdoing. Velto
concluded that his earlier calls for a private investigative firm to
investigate the city were moot. The entire City Council agreed on the new
approach.
“I
felt it was better that we complete the hiring of the city attorney and allow
that party to conduct an investigation,” Velto said in a Dec. 22 interview. The
new city attorney would review the Grand Jury’s 17 findings and 16
recommendations.
“If
we are able, to obtain any basis for those findings from the Grand Jury. Then
we will allow the city attorney to use that information to conduct an
investigation,” Velto said.
Appointing
newly elected City Treasurer Greg Bradley as chief investigator was supported
by Lois Sicking Dieter, who ran for mayor and came in third, and Albert
Pattison, long-time Upland resident.
But
Velto said that would place too much of a burden on the new treasurer and was
not his role. He said he has spoken with Bradley and has increased the role of
city treasurer in city finance discussions and city meetings — issues at the
heart of the Grand Jury report.
The
Grand Jury found:
• Five times in early 2019, the city covered up a
handwritten notation from then Upland City Treasurer Larry Kinley indicating
the city had a bill of $112,039,675 in unfunded pension liabilities by removing
it from the city’s monthly Treasury Report. Altered reports were filed with the
City Clerk and presented to the City Council for approval, but the Council was
not made aware of the changes by city staff. In July 2019, the Finance
Committee became aware of the altered reports and stopped the practice, but no
disciplinary action was taken.
• The witnesses interviewed agreed unanimously
that the city’s pension debts “posed both a serious threat and a financial
liability to the citizens of the City.” Also, the City Council was not educated
on the implications of such a large pension debt.
• The city purposely deceived the public about
pension liabilities because it didn’t want the public asking difficult
questions. Back in 2016, the city reduced the role of the city treasurer and
prevented him from participating in other meetings involving city finances.
Among
the Grand Jury recommendations: Any changes to the City Treasury Report after
signed, be documented in writing to the city manager, treasurer and mayor; the
treasurer should present his report at City Council meetings monthly; all
fiduciary duties be restored to the city treasurer; city should support the
appointment of a deputy city treasurer; providing training to council members
on unfunded pension liabilities; placing Finance Committee meeting minutes and
a report on pension liabilities with a 10-year cost projection on the city’s
website.
The
report’s recommendations must be implemented by the end of March. But the city
doesn’t have to do them all.
“It
is not required that the city implement the recommendations but state it is
going to implement (some) or isn’t going to (implement others) and what its
reasons are,” said Interim City Attorney Steven Flower.
San
Gabriel Valley Tribune
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
By STEVE SCAUZILLO
December 28, 2020
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