Finance Director Jones Refused to Speak, so City Manager Urtiaga Lied to Council and the Public to Justify Hiding Urban Logic.
By: Libi Uremovic | Original Article at patch.com
The City of Beaumont’s 2015/2016 Budget contains a new department: Department 3100: Public Works Development Services. This department did not exist until the 2015/2016 Budget was created.
This newly created Department has a $3.9 Million Budget for ‘Contract Services’
General Ledger shows that the only contract services listed in this department is Urban Logic
In the past; most of Urban Logic’s money was paid out through Department 10: Sewer Services Fund.
Now that the true condition of the sewer plant has been revealed Urban Logic is being paid through Department 3100 to avoid accountability.
The August and September General Ledgers lists $139,558.40 coded to Urban Logic. The only other entry in Department 3100 is to the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce for $15.00 coded to ‘Travel, Training, and Meetings’.
Below is the Beaumont City Council Special Meeting on October 29, 2015 in which Acting Finance Director Onyx Jones was asked about the 3100 Account, but Acting City Manager Elizabeth Urtiaga spoke.
“$2.5 Million is Refuse – which is Waste Management.”
The Budget lists $2,387,063 for ‘Refuse’ in Dept. 3100, but refuse is not being recorded in this Department . On 09/16/2015 Transaction #296330 Paid Waste Management $425,008.66, but this entry is not recorded in the 3100 Account nor are the Collection of Revenue to offset the Expenses recorded in Dept 3100. All Revenue is still recorded in Dept. 1200 – Administration.
“remainder of the contracts within that particular department with contractual services equates to Plan Check and Inspection – $1,050,000”
Incorrect. The General Ledger clearly shows Plan Check Fees paid to Scott Fazekas and Willdan were recorded in Dept. 2150 – Building Inspector. The City also has Dept. 1350 – Planning, which is where the plan check fees should be recorded.
242:00 Urtiaga: Department 3100 is a department newly created. We did not have a Public Works Department per se. Council Adopted the Budget with Department 3100 as the Public Works Department. The breakdown for the Contract Services in the amount of $1,351,000, which is not the total contract services. However the other portion, the $2.5 Million is Refuse – which is Waste Management. So the remainder of the contracts within that particular department with contractual services equates to Plan Check and Inspection – $1,050,000. That is 75% of our projected revenue of $1.4 Million. That RFP is out to bid, it is due Thursday at noon and we do expect to have other companies, several companies, come and respond to that particular RFP. Once we vet the proposals received we will bring the contracts to Council for your approval.
White: If we have a new company doing plan check, their revenues will show up in Account 3100. It’s not an Urban Logic specific account.
Urtiaga: Correct. It’s not named ‘Urban Logic’. It’s not for Urban Logic. It Public Works Department just like Admin Services Dept, Police Dept, Community Services Dept. Going back to the $1.3 Million. $1,050,000 is budgeted for Plan Check Services regardless of who the vendor is. $50,000 has been budgeted for engineering, miscellaneous engineering, to give engineering support through contracts. $90,000 has been budgeted to the contractual City Engineer, who at this time is Innerwest Consulting. $160,000 was budgeted for the MS4 storm drain permit, which Wildan currently holds that contract. $1,000 was budgeted for our required mandatory notifications. So that’s the $1,350,000 in Contractual Services aside from the Waste Management contract.
Dept 1350: Planning – Also Contain Urban Logic
Dept 2150 Building Inspector – Fazekas and Willdan with ‘plan check fees’ in notation
Dept 3100 Public Works Development Services – Only Urban Logic
“A Pattern and Practice of Deception”
“Fraud by Clear and Convincing Evidence”
Judge Chaffee, $42 Million WRCOG Judgement