A the heart of the corruption probe against Beaumont officials is the city’s relationship with the consulting firm Urban Logic and three of its founders.
The city has contracted with the company for more than two decades and at one time employed many of Beaumont’s top administrators.
Originally hired to help with infrastructure and financial planning, the firm eventually helped put together a $655 million debt-financing plan for Beaumont to pay for public improvements during the next 25 years.
Here’s a look at it’s history:
• 1992: Temecula-based Trans-Pacific Consultants is tapped by Beaumont to help the city get a stalled sewer-treatment plant project off the ground. Ernest Egger and David Dillon are colleagues at the firm.
• 1993: Dillon and Egger leave Trans-Pacific and form Urban Logic. Deepak Moorjani, an engineer from Yorba Linda, is the third principal.
• 1994: While still with Urban Logic, Dillon is functioning as Beaumont’s city planner.
• 1995: Urban Logic is awarded a $2 million contract to run Beaumont’s expanded 1.5-million-gallon sewage treatment plant for five years.
• 1996: Urban Logic provides several key administrators to Beaumont: Moorjani as the city’s director of public works, Dillon as the economic development director and Egger as the planning director. The three men held these contract jobs for more than decade. Urban Logic also provides six sewage treatment plant operators.
• 2010: Urban Logic files a libel lawsuit against Beaumont Citizens for Responsible Growth, an advocacy group critical of Urban Logic’s dealings with the city. The suit demanded that the group’s website be shut down and sought $3 million in damages for defamation.
• 2011: Urban Logic loses its libel case in Riverside County Superior Court and again on appeal.
• 2012: Kieran McKiernan buys Urban Logic, keeping the name. Former owners Moorjani, Egger and Dillon are retained for a time. None are listed as running Beaumont’s city departments by the end of year.
• 2013: Beaumont City Council approves a four-year contract with Urban Logic for engineering services. The contract calls for employees to work on a per-hour basis.
• 2015: Riverside County and federal agents raid Beaumont City Hall and the offices of Urban Logic, among other locations, as part of a corruption probe. Less than a month later, the Beaumont City Council votes to continue its contract with Urban Logic.
• May 17, 2016: The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office announces Dillon, Moorjani and Egger are among seven charged as part of a corruption probe. Each faces one count of conflict of interest and six counts of embezzlement, all felonies.
Contact the writer:
ne**@pe.com