(July 1)  The county board of supervisors last week approved contracts with two companies for a combined total of  $13.88 million  for the provision of drug addiction treatment services to individuals identified by the county’s behavioral health department as mentally disordered narcotics users.
According to Casonya Thomas, the director of the department of behavioral health, two companies, Aegis Treatment Centers, LLC and WCHS, Inc. doing business as Colton Clinical Services, will be given the contracts.
Thomas said Aegis Treatment Centers, LLC’s contract will be in the amount of $8,282,679 and WCHS, Inc.’s contract will be for $5,598,948.
The department of behavioral health, through the alcohol and drug services program, maintains a provider network comprised of contracted community-based agencies licensed by the California Department of Health Care Services to provide substance use disorder treatment services to eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries through the Drug Medi-Cal Narcotic Treatment Program. Aegis Treatment Centers, LLC and WCHS, Inc. are licensed by the California Department of Health Care Services to provide substance use disorder treatment services and are the only two entities within San Bernardino County that provide the required narcotic treatment program services to county residents. The department of behavioral health anticipates that the two companies will provide narcotic treatment services countywide to approximately 1,739 clients annually at an estimated cost of $2,661 per client.
The department of behavioral health serves as a pass-through agency billing and receiving reimbursement from Medi-Cal for qualified narcotic treatment program services provided by its contracted a agencies. The department of behavioral health determines the number of narcotic treatment program slots allocated to the county based on the recommendation of the department of behavioral health’s alcohol and drug administrator. Because of the California Department of Health Care Services’ oversight and licensing requirements, there is no procurement conducted for these substance use disorder treatment services. Narcotics treatment program services include narcotic replacement therapy to individuals with substance use disorder, as well as individual and group counseling. As Medi-Cal narcotics treatment program providers, Aegis and WHCS deliver services to eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries at California Department of Health Care Services-licensed outpatient clinics located in San Bernardino County.
The department of behavioral health has provided narcotics treatment program services through contracted providers since 2002.
Narcotic replacement therapy is an umbrella term encompassing a variety of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment modalities, including therapeutic use of the specialized opioid compound methadone to extinguish drug craving, prevent withdrawal symptoms, and thus establish a maintenance state.
The recommended contracts with Aegis and WCHS for narcotic treatment program substance use disorder services include the option of two one-year extensions contingent upon funding and contractor performance. The department of behavioral health will monitor contractor performance on a regular basis to ensure compliance standards are met.

(July 2)  VICTORVILLE —Vic tor Valley College Board Member Joe Brady this week expressed absolute confidence in the future prospects of the college as the result of the appointment of former Copper Mountain College president Roger Wagner to serve as the permanent replacement of  departed Victor Valley College superintendent/president Christopher O’Hearn.
The college, which had faced challenges relating to its accreditation since 2011, saw those issues finally redressed in February while the college was under the interim guidance of Peter Allan. Allan had been acting as college superintendent since shortly after the board last year declined to renew O’Hearn’s contract.
There had been dissension on the board relating to perceptions about the alacrity and effectiveness of O’Hearn’s response to a series of moves by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges which placed the college’s accreditation into a state of warning or probation. In February the accrediting commission signaled the college’s status in academic limbo was ended. Shortly thereafter, however, the college lurched into yet another crisis as it was learned that the college is burdened with a $6.3 million deficit in its budget.
Allan, who had come out of retirement to oversee the college over the last 12 months, retreated into retirement at the close of the fiscal year on Monday.
Wagner, who served in the Air Force prior to obtaining a bachelors degree in social science from the University of the Philippines, a master’s degree in organizational management from the University of Phoenix and a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Nebraska, served as part-time faculty in the disciplines of administration of justice, management, and sociology for Labette Community College in Kansas, Crowder College in Missouri, and Los Angeles Metropolitan College Overseas before becoming the dean of career and technical education, the dean of economic development, and associate dean of instruction at Crowder College in Missouri. He came to Copper Mountain College as the vice president for academic affairs in July of 2007 and acceded to the position of that college’s superintendent/president in July of 2008.
Wagner competed against four other college administrators during the superintendent/president recruitment effort at Victor Valley College. Those included Chaffey College administrator Sherrie Guerrero; Nicholas O. Akinkuoye, an administrator with the City College of San Francisco; Dr. Christopher Villa, the vice president of student services at Fresno City College; and Dr. Luis Sanchez. Even before the board conducted formal interviews with any of the candidates, rumors surfaced that Wagner was a shoo-in to get the position. Subsequently, Guerrero and Akinkuoye dropped out of the competition in late May. After the interviews, the position was formally offered to him and he was subsequently hired on a contract running from July 15 to June 30, 2017 at $192,000 annually plus stipends and benefits.
There was immediate second guessing of the hiring decision from some quarters of the community, with charges that the competition had been fixed from the outset and that Wagner had been anointed very early on.
Brady dismissed such suggestions, saying the competition had been above board and fierce, resulting in a “decision that we all felt was in the best interest of VVC, our students (our stakeholders, stockholders and shareholders), our employee partners, the taxpayers and voters.”
The outcome was not predetermined, Brady said.
“I will assure you, the Pope and the world that there was ‘no deal’ done before we heard from him and we fully vetted the other candidates,” Brady said.  “We got a full – and I mean a full – debriefing on each candidate. The only thing we did not find out was the type of toothpaste they used. It was a very, very impressive background check. I never looked at the names until they were given to us and even then I did not pay any attention until the first interview. Each candidate was given one hour and 15 minutes, as I remember, for the interview. There were, I think, 12 predetermined questions and no one left the room with the questions. There were a number of protections put into place, so there was no ‘tampering’ as I say a few years earlier.”
Anyone seeing something untoward in Guerrero and Akinkuoye’s early exodus from the competition are reading something into the situation that is not there, Brady said.
“The others dropped out for reasons I cannot state, none having to do with Dr. Wagner,” Brady said. “Candidates drop out sometimes after their candidacy becomes public. Maybe their school offered them something that they did not have before? I do not know. I did hear that one of the candidates notified the media.”
Wagner has gone on record as stating that he envisions Victor Valley College becoming “the college of first choice for every community member that seeks a higher education or new work-ready skills.” He said he is ready to deal with the college’s accreditation issues because of his past experience as either a member or chairman of accreditation teams.
Wagner emphasized the ethos of “service leadership” he has adopted, which he said was an outgrowth of his having studied under Dr. Kent Farnsworth, who instilled in him the importance of emphasizing the concept of service as espoused by Robert Greenleaf.
Brady said, “I think Roger with this servant leadership style, his passion, his knowledge – he knew what he was getting into – wanted this opportunity and he prepared himself for it. I think he is the right person at the right time.”

(June 30)  The board of supervisors last week renewed the “Class A” permits Burrtec Waste Industries and Allied Waste Services have to provide trash disposal service in Fort Irwin, Wonder Valley, the unincorporated area around Twentynine Palms, Needles, Lake Havasu, Amboy, Ludlow, and Goffs.
The county’s solid waste management division of the department of public works provides for refuse collection services within the unincorporated area of the county by private refuse haulers under the authority of a franchise agreement or “Class A” operating permit granted by the county pursuant to Section 33.0840 et seq. of the San Bernardino County Code.
Currently the only refuse collection areas that have not been franchised are Fort Irwin, Wonder Valley, the unincorporated area around Twentynine Palms, Needles, Lake Havasu, Amboy, Ludlow, and Goffs.
Fort Irwin, Wonder Valley, and the sphere of 29 Palms are serviced by Burrtec. Needles, Lake Havasu, Amboy, Ludlow, and Goffs are serviced by both Burrtec and Allied Waste.
According to Gerry Newcombe, the county director of public works, “Due to low population density in these remaining permit areas, the solid waste management division has not recommended franchising these areas.”
Newcombe said renewing the Burrtec and Allied Waste permits at this time will contribute toward “maintaining public safety by meeting the county’s responsibility of providing for solid waste handling services and assures residents are afforded safe refuse service. This action also allows for monitoring the specific haulers’ qualifications to render refuse collection, meet insurance requirements, and ensure the hauler information is current. Each hauler is required to submit a permit renewal application annually to the solid waste management division. The applications are reviewed by staff for proof of insurance, vehicles information, number of accounts and company information prior to being recommended for board of supervisors approval.”

By Ruth Musser-Lopez
One year ago, on Independence Day, I was writing the article for the Sentinel’s very first “Glimpse of San Bernardino’s Past” column and snapped a couple of shots of my mother, Hope Musser, all dressed up for the occasion and praying hardily for the state of the Union in 2013. She was also praying for me and the new Glimpse column—blessing it, that it might be used to bring understanding of our past to work for the good of the future.
The first column was to be published the day after the Fourth of July. So I saved for this year a history I found about the 4th of July in San Bernardino County. The following excerpt from the History of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties by Brown and Boyd, 1922, was published by the Western Historical Association:
“The honor of first raising the American flag over the soil of San Bernardino is claimed by Daniel Sexton, who states that while cutting timber in the San Gorgonio Pass for Colonel Williams, in 1842, in answer to a query by Native Americans regarding Americans’ feast days, he made an American flag and celebrated the Fourth of July, 1842.
“The first authentic celebration of Independence Day in the County occurred in 1853 when John Brown, Sr., went to Fort Tejon to secure a flag and was presented with a large bunting emblem by L. A. Bishop. On his return this was secured to a liberty pole brought from the mountains, speeches were made from a raised platform, and a twelve-pounder, brought from Los Angeles, was fired.”
July 4, 2013 is the birthday of this column, Glimpse of San Bernardino’s Past. The first story was published on July 5—with all the global warming, it was hotter than fireworks and so I kept thinking about going swimming. Instead, I wrote about historic swim plunges.
The “Glimpse” was not initially intended to be “political” or as a current event story. It was supposed to be an apolitical feature article, something fun to break from Mark Gutglueck’s depressing county corruption news. But, as it turned out, that first story did report news just as a consequence of me going down to Chaffey High’s swim plunge to snap some photos of that wonderful place I swam in as a child. It got hot back then too, but apparently still a couple of degrees cooler on the average than it was last summer. When I got to the plunge last year, it was being rehabilitated with public funds, a good thing, and news worthy.
Alas, the program which was such a wonderful one for which I have tremendous nostalgic sentiment, has yet to be revivied.
It has now been one year since I began writing the historic places column for the Sentinel and it has become more and more obvious to me that history and politics pretty much go hand in hand. With few exceptions, there is typically something political associated with important historic places. Perhaps it’s a consequence of physical “place” being limited and through time the demands and pressure on “important physical places” like watering holes in the desert, makes some places by their very nature, political hot spots.
Or maybe it’s just me – or the “universe” that just naturally calls or gravitates me toward politically charged cultural hot spots.
Whatever the case may be, its obvious that the direction of the Glimpse is going to change with my new perspective and role as “candidate” for the new California Senate District 16 that extends roughly speaking, from Bakersfield to the Colorado River, crossing the northern half of San Bernardino County including most of its Mojave Desert area.
Beefing up my knowledge of historic legislation would be a plus for my campaign…so looking at the impact upon San Bernardino from a current perspective of the historic decisions made by the State of California’s legislature, is one of the new approaches to the Glimpse column that I will be taking.
One of the stories that I am currently attempting to obtain information about is historic school district taxation and appropriation. So, if any readers can direct me to unconventional sources of information on that topic, I would appreciate it. I recall “‘old timers” here in Needles complaining that our own school district was very well to do at one point prior to the 1980s because the tax on railroad land went to the school district that the railroad land was in. Since there is a lot of railroad land in the Needles School District, the district was apparently well-heeled attracting the best teachers at that time.
Recalling how good it was in the past, these seniors complained that the law had been wrongly changed. There has since been a redistribution of tax funds on railroad property and the school district coming out on the short end. If elected, I’d like to direct attention to research on what we can do legislatively to turn around our loss and get funding back to our poorly equipped desert schools and our now lost desert courts.
A staff could help to turn legislative history around to our favor and this column could potentially be used to report back home what is transpiring in our state capital with regard to historic legislation and how it could be improved. This is one archaeologist who wants Sacramento to throw the Desert more than just an old bone.
In retrospect, writing a story every week (with one or two exceptions) has been intense, thought provoking and challenging. It requires discipline, particularly keeping up with the “filing” end on my computer with all of the downloads of history research and uploads of new photographs of old things.
This week, I need to get organized…so, I am going to give myself an independence day break from research and simply list all of the stories that I wrote during the past year: You will note that I delivered a column in 47 out of 52 straight weeks, missing only the July 26, August 23, November 1, and April 11 issues.

A Compendium of the “Glimpse”
1) July 5, 2013.       Historic Swim Plunges of San Bernardino County.
2) July 12, 2013.     Historic SBC Swimming Pools: Mansker’s Prohibition Era Plunge.
3) July 19, 2013.     Needles’ Mystic Maze: Questions Over Validity Now Complicated by Contamination.
4) August 2, 2013. Mystic Maze: Part II. A continuation of the July 19, 2013 story.
5) August 9, 2013.   The Historic Arizona & California Railroad
6) August 16, 2013. Part II Arizona & California Railroad Sidings: Chubbuck—A Lesson in Desert Survival.   A look at the historic railroad sidings straddling the AZ&CA Railroad right-of-way on public land which would be impacted by the Cadiz desert water drainage project…these sites should be subject to federal review but the Department of the Interior is staying mum.
7) August 30, 2013. Flood Fatalities A Reality in SBC’s Past and Present. Notable San Bernardino County floods.
8) September 6, 2013. Historic Heroics during SBC Floods. Notable flood events and how heroism saves the day.
9) September 13, 2013. A Couple of Old Cows Come Home. Two “old cows” show up in San Bernardino County after years of being resolved as “dead” or “missing.” Also historic structures that are no more–Marquette Hotel and Shady Grove Dairy east of Grove, between 6th and 7th Street in Ontario, formerly Upland.
10) September 20, 2013. The Destruction of the Oasis of Mara. Road construction without a effort to save important prehistoric Native American village area remains from the path of bulldozers? Are city officials at fault of violating CEQA?
11) September 27, 2013. Preserving Celebrity Past: The James Cagney Place. A seemingly forgotten Twentynine Palms area former home of by-gone celebrity and what can be done to preserve it.
12) October 4, 2013. Ghost Towns & Pioneer Towns: Use or Lose. Calico and Pioneer Town are examples of how an entrepreneur can take “theme” to the bank and that profiteering off of historic properties can also be beneficial to historic preservation.
13) October 11, 2013. Old Railroad Gems: Restoration and Reuse. Historic Barstow, San Bernardino, Needles, Redlands and Etiwanda railroad depots have been or are being restored and reused for purposes other than as a depot.
14) October 18, 2013. Old Railroad Gems: Restoration and Reuse (Part II). A story continued from the previous week. The opportunities for converting historic structures to modern uses are only limited by one’s imagination.
15) October 25, 2013. SBC’s Haunted Historic Habitats. These properties are just for starters…wait until you see the amended list coming up this fall. Contact Ruth@RiverAHA.org to get your haunt and story listed.
16) November 8, 2013. Prehistoric Art of San Bernardino County. Rock Art is found all over the world and we have an abundance of stylish prehistoric artwork in the SBC. By the way, the American Rock Art Research Association will be in the Needles area of San Bernardino County next year, July 2015, for their annual meeting and to see our prehistoric art.   Prehistoric art attracts visitors from around the world and brings tourism dollars here.

17) November 15, 2013. Thanksgiving: Sometimes Friendly, Sometimes Deadly. American history in elementary schools often leaves out the devastating deadly conflict that existed between Euro Americans and Native Americans after the first blush of contact.
18) November 22, 2013. Thanks for Food from Native San Bernardino County. Put some Native American food on your Thanksgiving table this year.
19) November 29, 2013. Skiing the SBC 1930s Style: Claim Your Slope & Install Your Rope. Cool old pics from back in the day. Keep your tips up.
20) December 6, 2013. New Kicks on Route 66: the Mother Lode of the Mother Road. A corridor management plan to be prepared by the Bureau of Land Management in conjunction with the “California Historic Route 66 Association.”
21) December 13, 2013. Not Daggett? Dag-Nab-It! The land grab and ultimate frustration over not being the favored location of the railroad’s depot.
22) December 20, 2013. Historic Holiday Tradition: Christmas at SBC’s Indoor Shopping Malls.
23) December 27, 2013. New Year’s Resolution: End the Three Minute Rule. Restore Robert’s Rules of Order to local government.
24) January 3, 2014. Needles to Demolish Route 66’s Overland Hotel. The town is in desperate need of professional help in the form of a historic commission.
25) January 10, 2014. Etiwanda Celebrates SBC’s 100 Year Old “Red Car” Depot.
26) January 17, 2014. Live–The Stunning Metamorphoses of SBC’s Historic Movie Theatres. Upland, Needles, San Bernardino, Redlands and more…
27) January 24, 2014. The “Throw Away Society,” “Googie” Architecture and our last “Sambo’s.”
28) January 31, 2014. SBC’s Atomic Age: Googie, Doo Wop and Populuxe.
29) February 7, 2014. San Bernardino County Just Can’t Get Enough Googie.
30) February 14, 2014. The Beatles from Tall Trees in San Bernardino County. This article is dedicated to 50 years of Beatlemania in the SBC.
31) February 21, 2014. Get Back to Where You Once Belonged—in the SBC. Listing of historic places and museums in San Bernardino County.
32) February 28, 2014. Marmalade Mansions and Tangerine Skies. Victorian mansions in the SBC and more tribute to the Beatles and other English influence in our SBC.
33) March 7, 2014. A Share of the Kicks on Sexy Route 66 (Part I). An annotated listing of the roadside attractions along the historic Route 66.
34) March 14, 2014. “Then and Now” A Share of the Kicks on Route 66 (Part II). Annotated of roadside attractions along historic Route 66, continued from prior week.
35) March 21, 2014. RT66:A Large Shot of Steinbeck in Needles. Annotated listing of roadside attractions along historic Route 66 in the Needles area.
36) March 28, 2014. RT66:   A Large Injection of Unique in Needles.   Annotated listing of roadside attractions along historic Route 66 in the Needles area (continued from previous week).
37) April 4, 2014. Sunkist San Bernardino County. A symbol of San Bernardino County’s past rises out from under the dust of destruction in Upland.
38) April 11, 2014. Virgil Earp, Town Marshall in Colton. By Mark Gutglueck.
39) May 2, 2014.   Thrill Ride: Historic Dips and Timber Trestle Bridges on SBC’s Route 66. Assessment of historic bridge safety on Route 66 in the works.
40) May 9, 2014.   From Corruption to Clovis to Calico–Who Makes SBC’s Past?
41) May 16, 2014. New Rest Stop Marks Eastern Gateway Segment of Historic RT 66
42) May 23, 2014. The Visitor Experience: What Should Route 66 Look Like?
43) May 30, 2014. The Rocks Begin to Memorialize—Bighorn Rock Art in the Mojave Desert.
44) June 6, 2014.   Sentinel Weaponry of our Prehistoric Past. Stone projectile points.
45) June 13, 2014. Our Historic San Bernardino County Fair.
46) June 20, 2014. Homemade: Our Prehistoric and Historic Arrowweed Homes.
47) June 27, 2014. The Doom of the Hidden River of Hinkley.
48) July 4, 2014.  SBC’s First Independence Day Celebration.

(July 1) The county board of supervisors last week approved contracts in the aggregate amount of $3,126,568 with four companies for the provision of what is referred to as “institution for mental disease services” for the current fiscal year running from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015.
According to Casonya Thomas, the director of the county’s behavioral health department, Braswell Enterprises, Inc. doing business as Sierra Vista; Shandin Hills Rehabilitation Center, Inc. doing business as Shandin Hills Behavioral Therapy Center; Vista Pacifica; and Golden State Health Centers, Inc./Sylmar Health and Rehabilitation Center are to provide “programs of organized therapeutic activities designed to improve functional living and social skills to severely mentally ill clients. The department of behavioral health will refer severely mentally ill clients to receive institution for mental disease services at a predetermined bed rate. The standard daily basic bed rates for institution for mental disease services are determined by the California Department of Health Care Services and vary by region, with bed rates ranging from $162.83 to $316.50. The cost per client is difficult to determine as the bed type/bed rate varies based upon the individual psychiatric needs of the client and the type of treatment required. The department of behavioral health anticipates the four institution for mental disease contracted service providers will provide one or more bed types/bed rates with an estimated number of 12,962 bed days in 2014-15.”
Thomas continued, “Included within the aggregate amount for institution for mental disease services are ancillary charges related to the client’s psychiatric needs to include psychotropic medications, psychotropic prescriptions, and lab work necessary as a result of psychotropic medication being prescribed at a daily rate of $50 per client.”
The department of behavioral health provides mental health and substance use disorder services to county residents who are experiencing major mental illness and substance use disorders. An integral part of the service delivery system consists of providing specialized treatment services to the seriously mentally ill population.
“The department of behavioral health operates a continuum of care system that consists of county operated clinics and contracted service providers delivering a variety of mental health treatment services within each geographic region of the county,” Thomas said. “The highest level of care is a state hospital psychiatric unit; the next highest level of treatment is provided through an institution for mental disease. Institutions for mental disease are locked nursing facilities that provide specialized treatment services to the severely mentally ill population whose functioning level is too low to be maintained at a board and care facility or in the community.”
Braswell Enterprises, Inc and Shandin Hills Rehabilitation Center, Inc. are the only state licensed institution for mental disease services facilities in San Bernardino County. Vista Pacifica is the only state licensed institution for mental disease services facility in Riverside County.
Golden State Health Centers Inc./Sylmar Health and Rehabilitation Center is located in Los Angeles County.
The total amount for institution for mental disease services for 2014-15 has been established at $3,126,568. Each contract has been written on a fee-for-service basis not to exceed this amount.

(July 3)  Colton City Manager Stephen Compton’s suspension by the city council last month came about as a result of his having exceeded his authority by micromanaging the operations in the public works department.
Specifically, Compton is alleged to have bypassed the public works director in approving payments relating to six public works contracts in an amount totaling $81,851 without conferring with the public works department beforehand.
Compton, a former assistant city manager in Ridgecrest and the one-time finance director for Omnitrans, in March 2013 was lured from his then-position as the accounting manager for the city of Fountain Valley to serve as Colton city manager.
He had 32 years in various municipal government assignments before coming to Colton. While he was considered to be the top staffer and had the power to suspend city employees on his own authority and hire and fire department heads serving below him with the consent of the city council, his authority did not extend to department operations. Though he was permitted to dictate operational policy as arrived at by the city council to the city’s department heads, he was limited to delegating the actual operational authority to those below him.
Compton was placed on paid administrative leave on June 5 pending the outcome of an investigation into his actions, the nature of which were not specified. There has been continuous speculation about the grounds for his suspension in the weeks since. The city attorney’s office, however, has yet to complete its review and provide a conclusion to the city council.
At the July 1 city council meeting, differences among the council members surfaced with regard to whether the actions at the center of the matter pertaining to Compton should be considered public or remain confidential at this time.
Councilman Frank Gonzales asserted that the items pertained to the expenditure of city funds that had already been made, thus falling into the public domain. Most of his council colleagues differed, seemingly because that spending involved a matter relating to a potential personnel matter, which is considered confidential.
The parameters of the discussion, however, revealed that the expenditures related to the public works department and most or all were for consulting services which had not been signed off on by the public works director.
Of the  $81,851 in unauthorized spending Compton is alleged to have been engaged in, the Sentinel has identified four recipients of $75,000 of that total.
Beginning in August 2013, Compton retained for $25,000 the services of Imperial Beach-based Government Staffing Services to perform a long term financial modeling project. In October 2013 Compton retained on the city’s behalf the services of Fullerton-based Revenue & Cost Specialists, Ltd. at a cost of $12,000 for a development impact report. In March 2014 Compton retained the services of Lancaster-based Passantino Anderson Communications LLC at a cost of $25,000 for work on the Colton and Grand Terrace Wastewater Project. Compton also retained in March the Carlsbad-based firm of BW Research Partnership at a cost of $13,000 to work on the Colton and Grand Terrace Wastewater Project.

(July2)  The San Bernardino City Council this week passed its 2014-15 budget during a public meeting with neither city manager Allen Parker nor finance director David Cain present.
The council signed off on the spending plan, which calls for expenditures of $117,354,540 out of the general fund over the next 12 months. The city anticipates $123,809,391 in revenue into the general fund, so the budget is ostensibly and provisionally balanced, a considerable feat for the city which filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in August 2012.
The budget, however, was reworked from previous drafts which at that time reflected a $22.8 million deficit.
Parker and Cain obtained the pared-back spending plan through a series of economies, many of which angered the city’s stakeholders.
One example was the sacrifice the fire department was called upon to make, with $2.33 million being subtracted from its operational allowance, reducing its scheduled spending from the $30.4 million it had in 2013-2014 to $28.07 million this fiscal year. In response, fire chief Paul Drasil is set to close Fire Station 230, located at Mill and Arrowhead Avenue and will decrease operations at Station 224, north of Highland Avenue and E Street, by one unit.
The budget also calls for deferring $10.6 million in payments to creditors, many of whom have been lined up nearly two years to be paid following the city’s bankruptcy filing.
The Herculean task of arriving at a budget for the county seat has clearly taken its toll on Parker and Cain.
Both of Parker’s predecessor’s as city manager, Charles McNeely  and interim Andrea Travis-Miller, were undone by San Bernardino’s financial challenges. McNeely left just prior to the city’s bankruptcy filing. Travis-Miller was understandably overwhelmed at taking the helm of a financially foundering city.
Parker and Cain, exhausted at having put the unwieldy fiscal figures onto paper, apparently were not up to the task of withstanding the firestorm of protest that they anticipated would take place in the public forum for the document’s official passage.
The approval of the budget this week was considered to be a milestone and members of the council labored at having to negotiate through the thicket of decisions relating to its passage without the city manager or finance director present, as questions with regard to several line items manifested during the course of the meeting.
The council soldiered on, however, approving the budget on a 5-2 vote, with council members John Valdivia and Benito Barrios dissenting.
For the most part, the council as a body maintained its outwardly calm demeanor, but it was hinted that a job review for Parker, who is being paid $221,976 annually, will soon be scheduled as a closed-door discussion item for the council.

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A retired postal inspector has alleged Chino city officials have engaged in a number of illegal acts and breaches of their fiduciary duty in providing themselves benefits and compensation to which they are not entitled totaling at least $478,000 since the year 2000.
Specifically, Bob Nigg, a 15-year resident of Chino who was formerly employed by the federal government as a postal inspector, maintains that members of the city council with the assistance of senior city staff and the city attorney passed resolutions which conferred upon themselves retirement and allowance benefits that exceeded those permitted by law and which were not the same as benefits made available and paid to the city’s employees, actions which are in violation of California’s Government Code §1222, §36506, §36514.5, §36516, §37206, §1090 and Penal Code §424.
Chino’s official spokeswoman, Michelle Van Der Linden, told the Sentinel, “We have reviewed the allegations raised by Mr. Nigg and are convinced that the city, its employees, and its council members have fully complied with all legal requirements, including the Government Code sections referenced by Mr. Nigg.”
Nigg’s accusations against the city council are contained in a complaint on file with the district attorney’s office’s public integrity unit. In addition, Nigg has also requested that the district attorney look into accusations that Chino City Attorney Jimmy Gutierrez  violated Government Code Section 1090, which is aimed at prohibiting government officials from engaging in financial conflicts of interest by which they personally benefit, when he acted to negotiate on the city’s behalf the terms of his own employment contract with the city, and in which the city council members also had a financial benefit.
That accusation parallels one made in a lawsuit brought against the city of Chino and Gutierrez by the Inland Oversight Committee, which is represented by attorney Cory Briggs.
According to Van Der Linden, “The city is currently involved in litigation brought by Cory Briggs to challenge the city attorney contract and will reserve further comment until that matter has been resolved. We are confident of a favorable outcome.”
At present, according to documents obtained by the Sentinel, district attorney’s office investigators are examining and assimilating scores of city documents which are alleged to demonstrate how public funds were illegally used to compensate the elected officials of the city of Chino.
Nigg says he became concerned over the transparency and accountability of how public moneys were being spent as a consequence of the public corruption scandal in the city of Bell. As a consequence, he turned his focus to the city of Chino and its officials, discovering what he considered to be excessive salary and benefits paid to the city’s elected leaders.
In the aftermath of the Bell revelations, the California state controller created a database in which information concerning the compensation and benefits paid to California’s governmental employees is posted.
“One of the purposes of the controller’s database is to make available records to the public so that possible illegal compensation to public employees does not go unnoticed as it had in Bell,” Nigg said.
Based upon a review of the controller’s database, Nigg learned that Chino elected officials’ total compensation was significantly higher than that paid to officials in other comparably sized local cities. Upon conducting a further analysis of the issue and making various public records requests to the city of Chino, Nigg uncovered what he believes are numerous violations of California state laws.
“Most of those consist of the method in which the elected officials of Chino are being compensated,” he told the Sentinel. “Unlike Bell, which is a charter city, Chino is a general law city and there are various laws restricting the eligibility and amount of compensation that can be paid to elected official.  Under Government Code §36516, there is a maximum amount of salary that can be legally paid to city council members. The Chino City Council enacted several policies, procedures, resolutions or ordinances to circumvent the maximum compensation as allowed by law. By my interpretation, such schemes are illegal.”
Nigg said mayor Dennis Yates and all four of the other council members – Eunice Ulloa, Glenn Duncan, Tom Haughey and Earl Elrod – were implicated in the wrongdoing.
According to Nigg, what he called “the most egregious” illegal compensation scheme relating to Chino consisted of the city council’s adoption of Resolution 2006-051 on June 20, 2006, made retroactive to August 1, 2005.
“This resolution resulted in a health benefit bank compensation paid to the city council members that was not the same benefit available and paid by the city for its employees as mandated under Government Code §36516(e),” Nigg said. “As an example, in 2010 city council members received health benefit bank compensation of approximately $26,629 annually, whereas other city employees received benefit bank compensation of $15,672, a difference of $10,957 annually in what I believe to be excessive and illegal compensation. In my complaint filed with the district attorney’s office, I alleged such payments to be in violation of California Penal Code §424, related to the misappropriation of public monies.  My complaint also alleges that in order to circumvent the maximum compensation requirement of the government code, the city council tailored a unique employment contract with the city attorney, which would allow the excessive health payments to also be classified as retirement benefits.  Such a unique contract tailored for only the few council members and only one other individual, the city attorney, is also alleged to be a violation of Government Code §1090, as the city council members had a financial interest in the contract with the city attorney.  In 2011, after the State Controller required the compensation of the city council to be included in the database made available to the public, the city council took action to reduce the health bank benefits they had voted for themselves to being the same benefit amount as made available and paid to the other employees of Chino.”
Nigg estimated the “total illegal benefits” so derived as “over $270,000 between 2005 and 2011.”
Nigg further alleges that city council voted to approve a “unique and tailored retirement benefit” for councilwoman Eunice Ulloa, who is a full time employee with another public agency, the Chino Basin Water Conservation District, where she receives both health and retirement benefit compensation.
“California retirement law restricts those enrolled in the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) to only one retirement plan,” according to Nigg. “To circumvent this legal restriction, the Chino City Council created a unique deferred compensation benefit tailored to benefit only Ulloa in possible violation of § 36516(e). I believe that such a plan resulted in Ulloa being compensation the value of the PERS plan into a separate retirement plan, and no other employee of Chino was bestowed this unique benefit. It is alleged in my complaint to the district attorney that such a benefit would be a violation of Government Code §1090 as a conflict of interest and would also be in violation of Penal Code §424.  It is estimated that such alleged misappropriation of public monies could exceed $24,000 since August 1, 2005.”
Moreover, Nigg maintains that members of the city council for thirteen years helped themselves to a perquisite to which they were not entitled in a way that ran afoul of state law.
“Since the year 2000, Chino City Council members have received $1,440 annually in deferred compensation in addition to their salary,” Nigg stated. “Such deferred compensation was never authorized by the passage of a city resolution or ordinance as required under Government Code §36506 and §37206.  Such unauthorized payments continued until August 6, 2013, when the city council adopted Resolution 2013-46, authorizing such payment without taking any action to have the city council reimburse the city for the alleged previously unauthorized and illegal payments.”
Nigg’s complaint on the matter, filed with the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, alleges that even after the passage of Resolution 2013-46, the deferred compensation payments are still illegal and are in violation of §36516(e) as the same retirement benefit is not made available and paid to the other employees of Chino.  In 2000, the annual deferred compensation payment represented over 13 percent of the salary of the city council.  Currently, the deferred compensation is calculated to be over 9 percent of their salary. It is alleged that the enactment of Resolution 2013-046 is a violation of Government Code §1090 as a conflict of interest because the deferred compensation benefit was tailored and unique to only the city council members.  It is also alleged that a violation of §36516(e) has occurred as the other employees of Chino are not paid the same benefit of deferred compensation of over 9 percent of their salary, in addition to the city paid PERS contributions.  It is believed that as a result of such possible violations of state law, the city council could have misappropriated as much as $90,000 of public monies since the year 2000 in violation Penal Code §424.
Nigg has zeroed in on how the city council misapplied the process for obtaining reimbursement for expenses such that they received financial benefits to which they were not legally entitled.
“Based upon abuses to payments made to government officials for official expenses, the state legislature enacted Government Code §36514.5, requiring that city council members can only be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of official duties, subject to the requirements of §53232.2 and §53232.3 of the same code,” Nigg said. Nigg’s complaint to the district attorney’s office alleges that the Chino City Council in violation of §36514.5 adopted Resolution 2005-093 in December of 2005, resulting in a monthly communication allowance of $100.  It is alleged that this $100 monthly allowance is in violation of the reimbursement laws as such a monthly allowance is not for an actual expense.  Additionally, it is alleged that prior to 2005, the city council never adopted a resolution or ordinance authorizing the payment of a communication allowance as required under §36506 and §37206.  The failure to abide by the reimbursement laws is alleged to have resulted in the misappropriation of public monies in violation of Penal Code §424 that could exceed over $80,000 since the year 2000.
Nigg said that on August 6, 2013, the city council implicitly acknowledged that such communication allowance payments were unlawful and put an end to such compensation by the passage of Resolution 2013-046.  However, Nigg points out that the city council never reimbursed the city for the past illegal compensation, and in another move to pad their compensation, the council increased its members’ vehicle allowance by the equal amount of $100 per month.
“The city council is now receiving $500 per month in compensation for a vehicle allowance and has done so without ever presenting any empirical evidence that such a vehicle allowance is reasonable,” Nigg said.
Additionally, Nigg alleges that under IRS regulations, the $500 allowance is considered to be included in the salary of the employee.  Nigg points out that under the standards of Government Code §36516,   the $500 per month in vehicle allowances should be included in the total salary calculations paid to the city council. Thus, he reasoned, the compensation paid to the Chino City Council exceeds the maximum salary allowed to be paid to city council members.  Such payments would also be in violation of the Government Code and are alleged to be in violation of Penal Code §424.
“Government Code §36516 states that for a city with a population the size of Chino the monthly maximum salary of the city council is $600 per month,” Nigg said. “This law also allows for the maximum salary of $600 per month to be increased by up to no more than 5 percent per year since the last increase.  The Chino City Council has showed a pattern of normally voting itself the maximum 5 percent per year, and the current salary of the city council members is $1,281 monthly or $15,372 annually.”
Even though the city council is allowed the 5 percent per year increase as permitted by §36516(a)(4), the city council salary had been illegal compounded, Nigg insists.
“The California State Attorney General in issuing Opinion Letter #06-504 made clear that the 5 percent salary increases should not be compounded,” Nigg said. “Since at least the year 2000, the city of Chino has unlawfully compounded the salary increases of the city council, which would not be permitted under §36516.  Such alleged illegal compounding was brought to the attention of the city manager and the city council in late 2012.  Chino officials took no known action to correct the improper payment or to have the city council reimburse the city for the improper payments.  It is alleged that such payments would be in violation of Penal Code §424 and could exceed $14,000 in unlawful compensation since the year 2000.”
Nigg’s complaint also alleges a violation of Government Code §1222 has occurred as the public officers of Chino have willfully failed to perform their duties as enjoined by law.
Nigg said he was aware of current civil litigation in the San Bernardino County Superior Court, including Case No. CIVDS 1314931. Attorney Corey Briggs had alleged city attorney Jimmy Gutierrez acted improperly when he negotiated the terms of his law firm’s contract with the city. Nigg alleges the contract not only contained a conflict of interest because the city attorney negotiated his own level of remuneration, but the contract created a financial conflict of interest for the elected officials of Chino whereby they were able to increase their compensation as elected officials paid in retirement benefits and that these retirement benefits were not made available and paid to the other employees of Chino as required by law.  “I believe the contract between the city attorney and the city was tailored and contained a unique benefit in which only the city attorney and the elected officials received the additional compensation,” Nigg stated.
In the demurrer to the lawsuit brought by Briggs on behalf of the Inland Oversight Committee relating to Gutierrez negotiating his employment contract, the attorneys representing Gutierrez, his law firm and the city of Chino, Stephen Larson and Jonathan Phillips of the Los Angeles-based law firm Arent Fox, maintained no crime of any sort had been committed and that the lawsuit seeks to apply an impossibly impractical standard to the conducting of the city’s business.
“Plaintiff The Inland Oversight Committee has brought a meritless and untimely claim for an alleged violation of Government Code Section 1090. Despite a complete lack of legal or evidentiary support, plaintiff contends that defendants Gutierrez, Fierro & Erickson, a professional corporation, and its individual attorneys, Jimmy L. Gutierrez, Arturo N. Fierro, and James E. Erickson violated Section 1090 when they entered into an amended contract to continue serving as city attorney for real party in interest the city of Chino,” the demurrer states. “In filing this frivolous complaint, plaintiff ignores the fact that California law permits government employees to negotiate the terms of their own employment, and fails to recognize the absurd real-world consequences that would otherwise result.”
Nigg acknowledged that in terms of scale and monetary totals, the scandal that engulfed Bell was more egregious than the action involving Chino officials. Nevertheless, he said, he believed Chino officials had acted contrary to the interests of those who had entrusted them with the authority they are wielding and that they had violated the law.
“This may not be as big as what happened in Bell, but the same principle is involved,” Nigg said. “They abused their positions of trust.”
Nigg, who obtained documentation relating to the crimes he is alleging through a several-month long series of public records requests, has turned that documentation over to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office’s Public Integrity Unit. He called upon the district attorney’s office to pursue criminal charges against all five members of the city council rather than merely seeking restitution and allowing them to remain in office.
“I believe the acts they engaged in are violations of the official duties of the Chino officials,” Nigg said. “Under California laws, including Government Code §1770(h), if convicted in a court of law for the alleged criminal violations, the law would require their removal from office as their positions become vacated.”