Opinion: EDC’s future in the wrong hands
By Larry Weitzman
About or shortly after the time Larry Combs was dismissed from his two-year stint as CAO of Merced County he was asked by the Board of Supervisors of Sutter County to help them find a new CAO. It was a paid consultancy.
Combs recommended a man named Jim Arkens, who at the time was the CAO of Mono County, a county of about 3,000 square miles, but only 14,000 people, with only 6,000 of those residents living in the unincorporated areas. The only incorporated city, Mammoth Lakes, has a population of about 8,000.
Larry Weitzman
Arkens had only been CAO of Mono for about a year, accepting the position initially in Mono as its human resources director in 2011, eventually becoming chief administrative officer a year later. Sutter agreed to pay $185,000 annually on a three-year contract, plus $4,000 in moving expenses. His resume consisted of a 21-year career with Scott Paper as a fire and safety protection technician, working for the Northwest Regional Planning Commission (in Wisconsin), serving on the City Council for a claimed 24 years in Menominee, Mich. (pop. 8,458) and for the five years prior to his stint in Mono County, he was the human resources director of a small Taos, N.M., (pop. 5,716) hospital.
Obviously, being a Sutter CAO was a more significant government position, but that didn’t stop Arkens from breaking some serious rules. In a county with an annual general fund budget of about $60 million, Arkens, among other issues according to a June 2015 Grand Jury Report, sold the Sutter BOS on a $10.5 million solar system that required the county to take on $9.1 million in debt service at an interest rate of 3.7 percent. It was supposed to be able at peak hours under perfect conditions produce 1.468 megawatts of power, which was nothing special as most solar systems sell for about $7 a watt as this one did.
Because of its cost, it will not return any monetary benefits until year 16 based on the seller’s (optimistic) projections. That’s a big system and a lot of debt for such a small county. And two years after the contract it is not yet completed, but the county is still paying for it. However, the big problem didn’t occur until some months later, when the county conducted an outside audit by Gallina LLP that revealed that CAO Arkens (and the Sutter County supervisors) were violating government accounting principles and Government Code Section(s) 27008 and 27005. The question is how?
Arkens actually was found to have a “second set of books” and kept not only this $10.5 million contract from the auditor/treasurer, but collected and spent funds regarding this contract in a separate account apart from the county general fund handled by the auditor/treasurer. GC Section 27008 requires that the auditor certify all claims against the county while 27005 sets forth the treasurer’s role regarding disbursements.
Because of this second set of books it has been all but impossible for the proper allocation to the various departments of the receipts and disbursements. Some reports said Arkens had heard that the former auditor Robert Stark was tough to work with as was the California law. Nathan Black who was elected auditor 2014 after Stark retired after 30 years as the auditor said he was “shocked” by the Gallina audit and not knowing anything about the $10.5 million contract and the related debt.
A few months after the Gallina audit, the Sutter BOS advised Arkens with the proper 120-day notice (actually about five months in this case as the notice was given in early September 2015) that his three-year CAO contract was not going to be renewed. So what did Arkens do? He used up about 40 days of leave and stopped showing up at the county. He will be paid through this month.
How does this apply to El Dorado County? It was Combs who took a fee to find for Sutter County a new CAO three years ago and this was the best he could do? Guess who our BOS gave the job to lead the recruitment for our new CAO? That’s right, the same Larry Combs. Last Monday was the NFL’s “Black Friday” where almost every failed NFL coach was given his walking papers. Combs has a worse record, especially if his entire history is evaluated. Yet who does our BOS hire for the job? The biggest loser (no offense meant to the TV show where individuals work their butt off to be “the biggest loser”).
You can bet that the chances of getting a qualified, non-dictatorial candidate that has the entire county’s best interests in mind, one who follows law, regulation and procedure, one who appoints and hires not their friends, one who does not play the game of government musical chairs, one who demands hard work and works hard themselves, one who does not tolerate feather bedding, one who creates complete transparency and demands absolute honesty, one who will not use lawyers to facilitate cover-ups, one who reports clearly to the BOS with no favoritism among BOS members and one who will do proper background checks (something that hasn’t happen for at least six years) will never happen as long as Combs is involved in any way with the selection process. If past experience is how we predict future performance, Combs is absolutely disqualified.
Larry Weitzman is a resident of Rescue.
My contacts throughout the state tell me the El Dorado County position is toxic and not to expect any top tier applicants.
Until a MORATORIUM is put on the spending EL DORAGO COUNTY and THE CITY OF SOUTH LAKE TAHOE are in big trouble financially.
Everyone seems to know that but the taxpayers!!
WAKE UP people and do something NOW.
The County Board of Supes is THE problem. They appoint one corrupt clown after another and each of them try to outdo the last one. Where is the firm that was supposed to be selecting the new CAO? Where is the list of candidates? The Board should have a selection committee of residents involved as a further layer for vetting.
Until a MORATORIUM is put on the spending EL DORADO COUNTY and THE CITY OF SOUTH LAKE TAHOE are in big trouble financially.
Everyone seems to know that but the taxpayers!!
WAKE UP people and do something NOW.
The RATS are jumping ship with YOUR money and leaving the peons to pay the bills as they surface.
‘They’ are appointing and passing the thieves, drunks and incompetents around the City, County, State and EDUCATION positions.
Normal hard working people in the community with rent and children haven’t the wherewithal to read resumes and make educated informed decisions about who to hire and trust with their futures.
You people that have been elected and trusted with these jobs are shameful.
Criminals
Is it that these backwoods county politicians are so uninspired, unmotivated, uneducated, or simply ignorant and inept, that they allow this kind of wasteful negligence and incompetence to occur?
Steve,
This ALL started back in 1960’s when the Tahoe Keys was built and destroyed 50% of the upper Truckee (which is now a drainage ditch that requires $MILLIONS$ to address…the history is not a unitary phenomenon.
Hence the fact that since 1965 when the City of South Lake Tahoe was incorporated the SAME players have been shuffling BILLIONS of $’s and it is now catching up with them.
Too long and complicated for a comment posting but it’s deep and dirty.
Justice, you are missing your trademark phrases about “liberals” wrecking everything… ECD is probably one of the most “conservative” counties in the State. Why didn’t you point that out? The County BOS is “conservative” to the extreme. Yet, you say nothing. Hmmm.
And, Larry, still no mention of the auditor? Joe Harm has been overseeing every one of these appointments and expenditures for decades.
Voters in this overwhelmingly conservative County have accepted the status quo and reelected these obviously inept and corrupt individuals for decades. This is where that sort of apathy and blind trust lead us to. Sadly, the same thing is happening throughout the political spectrum and the politicians encourage voters to ignore facts. And it has nothing to do with “liberals”. It is incompetent leadership put into office by incompetent voters. You reap what you sow.
The Tahoe Keys planning and construction began in the 1950’s long before the 1960’s
The outcome was clearly not as it might have been, but you also have to remember that most of the regulations and laws requiring review of projects like this were not on the books in the 1950s.
What this has to do with the current County BOS and the City management is NOT MUCH.
What is the status of the recall of the BOS…this or something equally draconian may be the thing needed to shove the county off the corrupt spot is in.
Recalling the Board of Sups will not resolve the economic and budget issues so there is no magic bullet and no rabbits that can be pulled out of a hat by a new governing body.
The BOS needs to avoid new screwups, tighten their belts and WORK out of the issue. Like paying a mortgage, it is a years long process and we may as well understand this and get it started.
Michael Clarke-
Your points are well taken re liberals etc and incompetent voters and elected officials.
One question though, re Joe Horn—
I don’t see that Joe Harn can oversee or over ride anything the BOS wants to do…he is to make sure these things are according to statutes etc and report if it is not. Is not Harn being sued or threatened with such for not paying some things he believes is against the codes?
Gerald. It is not so much legal standing that I am pointing out, if wrongdoing is perpetrated for a long period of time, one usually looks at what or who was there during that long period of time. One of the most consistent presences is that of Mr. Harn, who has been voted back into office repeatedly. As an auditor, I would expect his voice to be more present than it has been, in both County proceedings and in articles about the County and it’s apparent lack of fiscal responsibility. Of all people, one would expect the County Auditor to be the most vocal about irresponsible fiscal decisions. Unless, of course, you were only looking out for your own future. Mr. Harn will be retiring very soon, I suspect.
Re: Mr.Clark, Cranky Gerald, et al:
The idea that because it is “legal” makes it O.K. in the bureaucratic world, merely as a way to avoid the responsibility that’s fiduciary, without any financial penalty to them. . .
Both political sides elude repercussions this way, but the conservatives make a particular science of-it, relying as they do on (1) ‘law & order’ to do all the things they might find distasteful, and (2) the very money that is now overharvested (& hoarded) to allow them to keep control…
Looking the other way can then become the ‘modus operandi’, & unfortunately – does. . .’Reap what you sow’, indeed !
“The Big Short” exemplifies this still prevalent mindset…
Who died and put this convict in charge of selecting anything or anybody in a County Position.