A preliminary hearing in the Chamise Cubbison criminal “misappropriation” case resumes Monday amid new disclosures about the roles of key County officials who allegedly engaged behind the scenes to oust the embattled Mendocino County Auditor-Controller.
Mendocino County CEO Darcie Antle is expected to face rigorous questioning from defense attorneys when she resumes testimony about events leading up to Cubbison’s suspension by the Board of Supervisors in October 2023. The move against an elected official rocked the local political establishment and fueled a community controversy that continues, now more than 15 months later.
During a month-long pause in criminal proceedings Antle was identified in newly filed court documents of being a key participant with others including District Attorney David Eyster in events leading up to Cubbison’s charging and removal from office. Antle’s role is described in the documents as pushing for Cubbison to be criminally charged in politically laced efforts to force her from office.
According to the documents, Antle was among County administrators who supported the forced consolidation of two independent County financial offices. They hoped to eventually create a new Department of Finance under control of the County Supervisors. The board in fact did force the consolidation of the Auditor-Controller Office with the Treasurer-Tax Collector but the plan to create a new Department of Finance requires voter approval. The political fallout from the Cubbison case has raised doubts about a county-wide election anytime soon.
Besides Antle’s role, the new court filings elaborate on how DA Eyster, who was challenged by Cubbison about his own office spending, secretly presented a three-step plan to force a controversial consolidation plan.
Eyster is alleged to have filed a criminal felony charge of misappropriation of public funds against Cubbison after attempting for a year to pressure her into resigning in return for a misdemeanor criminal case. Cubbison chose to fight the allegations instead, and hired noted Sonoma County attorney Chris Andrian to defend herself.
The new court documents specifically cite the roles of Eyster, Antle, and former County Supervisor Glenn McGourty in embracing the secret three-step forced consolidation plan that the DA outlined to County administrators then, including former CEO Carmel Angelo. Eyster’s plan was part of his successful effort to block Cubbison’s appointment by the Board of Supervisors in 2022 as interim Auditor-Controller.
Cubbison eventually was elected by voters to lead the consolidated offices of Auditor-Controller and Treasurer-Tax Collector but within four months of her being sworn in, the Board of Supervisors suspended her without pay and benefits after Eyster filed the felony criminal case.
That case stems from the county’s former Payroll Manager Paula June Kennedy drawing about $68,000 in unauthorized extra pay over three years during the Covid pandemic. Kennedy is a co-defendant in the Cubbison criminal case that has been making its way at a snail’s pace 16 months after Eyster’s filing.
For now Antle is a key witness in a criminal prosecution that is seething with political tension. So far, the preliminary hearing has been focused on internal county pay processes and lack of oversight rather than hard evidence of any criminal intent. Testimony supports defense claims that Kennedy worked the hours paid for, and that Cubbison did not personally benefit from any of the extra pay.
For weeks Cubbison attorney Andrian has called it a case of “he said, she said, they said” because of the conflicting accounts given by Cubbison, Kennedy, retired Auditor Lloyd Weer, and County administrators about Kennedy’s work, the typical pay process for managers like her, and who may have given her the green light for any extra pay.
Looming large in the background, however, are emerging accusations in an acrimonious war of words related to the civil lawsuit Cubbison filed against the county Board of Supervisors and multiple “John Does.” Cubbison was suspended by supervisors without pay or benefits and locked out of her office by CEO Antle in October 2023 four days after Eyster filed his criminal case against the auditor.
A team of San Francisco lawyers representing the county in the civil litigation contend supervisors had to do so to “protect” the County treasury, justifying the use of a 1947 state code that is specifically applicable to only a County Treasurer. Cubbison had no connection to the County Treasurer’s Office until after the controversial consolidation, but the County’s attorneys argue the code became applicable to her because of the subsequent merged responsibilities.
Liebert-Cassidy-Whitmore is the San Francisco law firm that so far has been paid about $120,000 to defend County supervisors in the civil litigation.
In a new 26-page court filing, the firm’s attorneys accuse Cubbison of presenting “irrelevant and sensational claims to support a baseless conspiracy” allegedly waged by board members, Antle, County staff, and DA Eyster.
Cubbison and her civil lawyers are making a “libelous claim” that Eyster ensured that the criminal investigation pointed to Cubbison to “remove her from her elected office,” according to the Jan. 31 filing.
Attorneys Morin Jacobs and Madeline I. Cline (no relation to the First District Supervisor) also contend that Cubbison “asserts, without evidence, that the filing of the criminal complaint and her subsequent suspension were part of a coordinated effort.”
Cubbison civil attorney Therese Cannata of San Francisco, a noted labor law lawyer, filed a blistering response a week ago.
In it, Cannata said recorded interviews exist confirming that CEO Antle had “numerous communications with the District Attorney urging him to hurry up and bring criminal charges” against Cubbison.
Eyster, stated Cannata, delayed filing charges for a year while he tried to “extort Ms. Cubbison’s voluntary resignation.”
Cannata contended that during the year-long delay the DA and Antle were in “regular communication in 2022 and 2023 about how to pressure Ms. Cubbison to voluntarily resign from her duly elected office.”
The new revelations lend insight into what was going on behind closed doors at a time when the county board was blaming the Auditor’s office for delays in financial reporting and other updates. Some supervisors publicly suggested the county was failing fiscally but that proved untrue. The forced merger had consequences that senior finance staff warned would happen because of inadequate staffing, loss of experienced personnel, and a faulty computer system.
Eyster, a pugnacious prosecutor who quarreled with other County Auditors before Cubbison questioned his own office spending, has refused to publicly comment on his alleged larger role despite repeated written requests. Antle and other county officials involved also remain publicly mum except while testifying under oath.
Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman will hear final testimony in the preliminary hearing this week and is then expected to rule on whether the criminal case will go to trial. Moorman also could act on two pending motions to dismiss criminal charges that have been submitted by Andrian and Kennedy’s public defender FredRicco McCurry. The motions cite a lack of evidence.
Moorman is also overseeing proceedings in the civil litigation. It is occurring parallel to the criminal case although any outcome could be months away. A March 14 conference between Moorman and attorneys is scheduled.
When CEO Antle returns to the witness stand as the criminal preliminary hearing resumes Monday after a month-long break, she is likely to face a grueling cross examination. Special Prosecutor Traci Carrillo, a Sonoma County attorney hired by Eyster to press his case against Cubbison at a rate of $400 per hour, had said before the break she has no further witnesses.
So far, the preliminary hearing has slogged its way through questions surrounding internal county pay processes, and whether an overworked management employee was entitled to 390 hours of compensation after she exhausted compensatory time off beginning in 2019. A key issue is who oversaw the Auditor’s office payroll at the time Kennedy, who worked from home during the pandemic, began giving herself extra pay using an obscure county pay code.
Retired Auditor-Controller Lloyd Weer was still in charge of the office when Kennedy began to use the “470” code to reimburse herself for hours that everyone testified she worked, including Weer, Cubbison, Antle and lead sheriff’s investigator, Lt. Andrew Porter.
Weer denied giving any direct authorization although he testified he was aware of the chronic long hours Kennedy put in to single handedly produce the payroll every two weeks for 1,200 county employees, some of whom were themselves working from home. Weer acknowledged meeting with Kennedy and learning from her about two other salaried county managers who were receiving extra pay.
“I told her to look into it and maybe we could use the forms they were using,” Weer acknowledged.
Kennedy, a close office colleague of Weer, initially told investigators she never discussed the pay issue with him and pointed the finger instead at Cubbison for agreeing to the extra pay scheme.
Cubbison, a 16-year county veteran, with a reputation for being no-nonsense and stickler for process, has denied giving the green light to Kennedy. She maintains that the payments began two years before she became Weer’s successor, and at a time when she was swamped with County board demands to step up financial reporting and prepare for the threatened forced merger of the County’s two key finance offices.
Cubbison joined other senior county staff in opposing the merger, which was pushed through by County supervisors, and unknown until recent court filings, supported in the background by DA Eyster.
Attorney Cannata said it is clear that “several county officials” including Eyster targeted Ms. Cubbison and “took deliberate steps to derail” her career starting in the fall of 2021.
Eyster “devised a three-step plan to remove Ms. Cubbison from the Auditor’s Office and to appoint a Director of Finance, which is described in excruciating detail in an email to a sitting member of the Board of Supervisors,” according to Cannata’s most recent filing.
Former County Supervisor Glenn McGourty is identified in the email as the recipient of Eyster’s plan. McGourty has denied ever seeing it, suggesting “maybe it went to spam.”
However, in the new filing Cannata contends that the Eyster email landed in the hands of Antle, who was then Assistant Chief Executive Officer under former CEO Carmel Angelo. The email at the time was not made part of the Board of Supervisors’ minutes.
“This, and other emerging facts, support the inference that Ms. Antle, the Board of Supervisors, and other members of the executive office coordinated with Mr. Eyster to target [Cubbison] by concealing from the public any evidence of each other’s involvement,” according to Cannata’s filing.
“Even though Mr. Eyster’s plan was crafted in 2021, Mr. Eyster’s continuing campaign against Ms. Cubbison is evident in the way in which he directed a biased and incomplete criminal investigation in 2022, and his collaboration with Ms. Antle to pressure Ms. Cubbison to resign and, and later effect Ms. Cubbison’s suspension in October 2023.”
The County’s attorneys counter that Cubbison’s “reliance on unsupported and irrelevant claims is not only a distraction but indicative of the lack of substantial legal merit in her positions.”
Their legal brief argues that “The alleged conspiracies and grievances she raises, such as unfounded accusations about the District Attorney and Board of Supervisors conspiring against her, are entirely irrelevant to whether the board lawfully exercised its authority to suspend her” pursuant to a disputed state statute – Section 27120.
“The law does not mandate a pre-suspension hearing, and none of the speculative or sensational claims made by [Cubbison] alter that reality,” the San Francisco lawyers declare.
The government code, adopted by the state Legislature in 1947, is in dispute because it only identifies a County Treasurer who may be suspended by a Board of Supervisors “if an action based upon official misconduct is commenced.”
Some government attorneys argue that Section 27120 applies to the treasurer only, not the auditor and for good reason. A county Treasurer is entrusted to keep and invest public funds whereas an Auditor’s role is monitoring and approving disbursement of public funds.
They say that the reasoning is to ensure a system of checks and balances. A justification for an emergency suspension is obvious: a need to protect public money from a potentially dishonest Treasurer. Since the Auditor doesn’t have access to the actual public treasury that concern is not present, according to that theory.
County attorneys counter that later legislative action independent of that specific code allows for consolidation of county finance offices, thus providing a path for Cubbison to be suspended only two months after she was formally sworn in to oversee a newly consolidated Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector office forced by the Board of Supervisors.
The county’s law firm dismissed other contentions about Eyster’s role, including a chronic tug-of-war with the Auditor’s Office over his office spending practices, including staff dinners that skirted County prohibitions by labeling them “training sessions.”
“Whether or not the District Attorney sought changes to accounting practices for the benefit of his office is irrelevant to determining whether the Board of Supervisors had the authority to suspend [Cubbison] based on an ‘action’ for ‘official misconduct’.”
As for contentions that the DA conspired with board members and county administrators to remove her from office, the county attorneys dismissed the claim as “outlandish and relies solely on gossip blogs and online editorial articles, not factual evidence.”
Finally, county attorneys conclude that “A court cannot issue a writ of mandate that requires the county to do more than is required by law.”
On behalf of Cubbison, Cannata is seeking a writ to at the very least compel Antle’s deposition in the civil proceeding.
Cannata says Antle’s sworn testimony in the civil case is essential based on her declarations and documents produced during the criminal proceedings.
Among the issues cited by Cannata are:
- Antle’s rush to contact Eyster in September 2022 to initiate a criminal investigation into potential financial misconduct.
- Antle’s apparent “urgent desire” to see Cubbison face criminal charges.
- Antle’s coordination with the District Attorney to physically eject Cubbison from county offices.
- Antle’s presentation of an unnoticed, off agenda item to suspend Cubbison at the Oct. 17, 2023, meeting of the Board of Supervisors.
“The speed of which Ms. Antle and Mr. Eyster acted to suspend Ms. Cubbison from her position was breathtaking,” concluded Cannata.
Cannata said in fact “there is no sufficient evidence to support to Board of Supervisors’ decision to suspend Ms. Cubbison. The decision is arbitrary and capricious, and the decision is not supported by the evidence that has surfaced to date.”
Cannata is asking Judge Moorman at the very least to allow “more time for Ms. Cubbison to obtain additional discovery.”
This isn’t news. It is an editorial or more like a political speech laced with seething hyperbole:
“politically laced efforts” sounds poisonous
“seething with political tension” from a horror movie
“county officials involved also remain publicly mum” is there a way to remain mum any other way?
Quotes are from the writer. In the context of the time preceding her firing, it was clear to me that the Auditor’s public hissy fits before the Board whenever they asked her pertinent questions about the county’s finances were in themselves grounds for dismissal if they only had had the power to dismiss for insubordination and incompetence.
She sure did not stay mum when she complained of being overworked and understaffed even though she signed up for the job in an election.
Why would the County CEO want to get rid of the Auditor/Treasury? In a word, incompetence. Incompetence which made it impossible for the board to make necessary allocations of the county’s money or even know how much money the county had or would have.
Without deconstructing your own seething hyperbole, please misrepresent these events under your true name next time or this is your one-shot at this story, Mr./Ms. Insider with your ax to grind on behalf of Team Eyster.
Com mon Bruce what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Do opinions which clash without your own justify threats?
You sound more like Vlad Putin than Thomas Jefferson
Your opinion is just that. It doesn’t make you correct.
King Putin is what you’re sounding like! Typical Trumpublican dictator supporting Nazi! You appear to proudly assist in personal retribution for those in power positions like Eyster ! Hummmm…….Two tier justice…..really sounds familiar! If you believe in fairness in criminal prosecutions you would be insisting that Eyster be arrested for his MOB behavior in theft of tens of thousands of dollars from drug confiscations that he spent without any accountability until someone called him out on it! Nothing done when he knew he was committing a crime! His illegal use of tax payer money for parties at the Broiler, and being told they didn’t qualify for reimbursement by more than just Cubbinson! Eyster just changed the name from Christmas party to Training to circumvent the requirement for reimbursement! Fraudulent behavior for a DA don’t you think! What’s in it for you? Mob bosses always have something to offer their loyalists! Certainly sounds like your looking to gain his approval with your biased analysis, Justice is at issue in this County and when we as citizens observe the lack of integrity and dishonesty it makes one question what else he’s up too! Additionally when someone believes Cubbinson is guilty and adamantly screaming for prosecution yet states nothing of Eyster’s criminal behavior! Walks like a duck!
It is remarkable how much taxpayer money is being spent to protect the reputations of county supervisors and officials.
I am imagining what it could have done to improve our terrible roads.
It is also sad what Cubbison has to pay to get her reputation back (and it looks like the county is going to end up paying for that several times over too).
The $68K in overtime should have been disclosed and approved, but I wonder if the supervisors office would have been open and fair about it.
It is one thing when private parties squander their own money to puff up their ego and power, but is is pretty disgusting to watch our public funds swirling down this rathole.
Thank you for making it easy for us to keep an eye on this.
When public employees take it upon themselves to invent an entry code for wages which were not approved by the Board of Supervisors, we have lawlessness.— regardless if the employee worked overtime on her own accord without approval by the CEO or Board.
It is a bad precendent which left unpunished by the court will encourage other public employees to do the same.
You cannot track money unless there is proper code entered next to it. Accounting software without the code, loose track.
Let the criminal trial get underway. The defendants have tried every trick in the book to delay it and pike lawyers fees on both sides. It is time for the judge to rule decisively for the trial to begin
Yes, and the worst part about this story you Trumpublican’s fail to mention and want the public to forget about, ( sets a bad precedent)is Eyster is the criminal and was looking for retribution because someone ( and others before her) told him him he was falsely using taxpayers money to party at the Broiler! Also not the first time he illegally used funds, (hundreds of thousands of dollars) he was not entitled to use until he was called out on it! Isn’t Eyster a public employee? Sounds like you enjoy a two tiered justice system depending on who is committing the crime! BUT…,Cubbinson didn’t approve this process of payment and didn’t benefit. Doesn’t make sense for someone to commit a robbery, (so to speak) and not benefit in any way!
Eyster has used his DA position to intimidate, manipulate and influence others like Darcy , and his buddies the BOS . Grow up and stop playing the chauvinist! Obviously you think it’s ok for Eyster to rob the bank just because he’s the DA! Reminds me of Trump the Nazi, dictating, poor excuse of a human and his supporters who won’t tell him NO! Regardless of what he does or lies about their backing him up! ONLY PATHETIC SHEEP would dare to defend this criminal but these types defend Trump also! Eyster is not qualified to keep his position after continuously displaying a lack of integrity and honesty ! Sad state of affairs when people comment in defense of the real criminal who is supposed to stand for fair and impartial justice. Yes let the trial get underway and hopefully this Judge is fair and impartial and not influenced by this corrupt criminal DA and drops the charges! And…Hopefully someone arrests Eyster and charges him for his fraudulent behavior. You certainly believe criminals should be held accountable right King Putin?
The 2 offices of treasurer and auditor should never have been consolidated. The DA definitely appears to have a vendetta against Cubbison. The supervisors should not have suspended her and they appear dirty in this. But they are up for reelection soon. The cost to county taxpayers is going to increase and it’s the supervisors who should themselves pay, not the taxpayers but we know that this subsequent lawsuit against the county and supervisors will be passed down to taxpayers. Supposedly the county doesn’t have a lot of money in its coffers but supervisors voted themselves a raise a yr or 2 ago. Smh
The treasurer and tax collector should be within the CEO’s office so there is accountability. About 30% conservatively of properties are not assessed and therefore produce no tax revenue for the county. Check out how many new properties were assessed under the Cubbison reign.
Tell me that last time we had a valid audit of the county’s finances. Cubbison improved the record. Nope.
There is no accountability if you have one un-elected auditor/tax collector whose career rests on the whim of the CEO; ESPECIALLY the CEO we have now; she has proven to be untrustworthy and dishonest.
Anyone, regardless of political party, can see this ENTIRE case is a WASTE of our money. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent over someone’s alleged unauthorized overtime pay of $68,000? Not to mention what the county will pay out in the civil suit. It was a violation of county policy, at best, and maybe someone deserved a reprimand. But a criminal theft charge? No.
Waste, fraud, and abuse of power cross political lines… it was a BOS full of Dems, and a Dem CEO that went along with the Republican DA. I am a lifelong Republican and we all need to put politics aside and come together to end this craziness. The CEO should be fired; this isn’t her first horrible decision. Clearly, we need to DEMAND an ELECTED Auditor and an ELECTED Tax Collector… TWO departments SEPARATE from the CEO’s office.
The county needs to own up to their screw up NOW and end this waste, fraud, and abuse of power. The longer this goes on, the more money the taxpayers lose.
My wife is an accounting & payroll professional who is well known in this county.
We just went over some approximate numbers regarding the time required to perform payroll duties for 1,200 employees.
She is incredibly efficient at what she does & she determined it would require 160 hours of work time for her to do payroll & print checks for 1,200 employees.
The small amount of extra pay Kennedy received seems to be well deserved & it is disgusting that anyone, let alone Eyster & our county supervisors has made a hard working, dedicated employee, (who saved the counties ass from being sued by employees who otherwise would have been paid late) and her supervisor out to have done something criminal.
It’s just the opposite. Kennedy & Cubbison should be given awards for going above & beyond normal duties for the county tax payers.
We all know who the real organized criminals in Mendocino county are.
This discussion is lost on me.
How did Trump, Putin and Nazis ever get into it?
This thing seems pretty simple from my perspective.
DA didn’t want anyone telling him what he could do with the public money.
Supervisors wanted to do away with the independent Auditor/Controller and Treasurer/Tax Collector elected positions and bring it in under their total control (behind their curtain).
This was an opportunity to move both of those agendas forward.
Unfortunately it turned into this big mess and is going to cost us a lot of money.
One thing is for sure, we should put the two elected positions back the way they were before.
If we don’t demand this of the supervisors we are enabling the next generation of supervisors to engage in these types of shenanigans.
Because Eyster, needed the BOS and others to carry out his retaliation on Cubbinson. Like Trump gathers his oligarchs and criminals to destroy this country! Just similar behavior patters from wanna be dictators who use other individuals to carry out the destruction behavior! Mirror image of Trump and how he does things! Just comparing how they achieve unlawful goals!
I agree completely.
FOR THE RECORD – Chamise Cubbison, an elected county official, was locked out of her office by CEO Darcie Antle on Friday, Oct. 14, 2023, on the same day DA Eyster filed his felony criminal charge against her and former Payroll Manager Paula June Kennedy. Four days later, on Tuesday, Oct. 17, Antle presented an off-agenda item to the Board of Supervisors for Cubbison’s suspension without pay and benefits. Cubbison was not given the opportunity to defend herself before the board acted.
The County owed Kennedy the money; 2. There was no clear way to pay Kennedy the money because the County’s system was wholly inadequate; 3. If Kennedy had not been paid, the County would have faced liability; 4. There were multiple discussions about this between various County officials, including Weer; 4. Weer has made conflicting statements about his involvement in these discussions; 5. The payments began when Weer was in charge; 6. Weer potentially has significant credibility issues because of 4 & 5; 7. Cubbison did not personally profit. So even absent the political shenanigans, which are arguably at least marginally relevant, it is not clear that there’s an actual crime. Is it misappropriation to pay Kennedy what she was owed, using a miscellaneous pay code because there was no other way to accomplish the action?
Nicely-put, straight to the chase. As often is the case, a committed staff person trying to take care of another committed staff person–trying to do the right thing–pay an over-worked staff when the written rules don’t entirely work, due to a situation not-anticipated–trying just to get the job done in an imperfect system.
Borg your last phrase nails the nub of the argument against her.
A pay code was used without the authorization for overtime. If the employee at Big Hack works overtime without clearing it with the boss first and then pays herself the overtime, the boss can a) deny the overtime or b) have her prosecuted on a number of legal grounds.
Cubbison should have gotten approval for Kennedy to work overtime before she worked overtime. This isn’t a minor technicality. It is the legal glue that prevents extensive fraud. When you audit, you have to know under what code the payment was made and it has to be a valid code for the work done.
Clear?
Yes, and clearly wrong. Weer had previously made the deal with Kennedy.
It was Weer’s deal, and he bailed…and let the women take the fall.
Ask around.
Laz
It is not at all clear that Cubbison approved the use of the pay code, based on the coverage of the hearing and other coverage I have seen. It is clear that County officials were aware of the situation (Kennedy single-handedly processing the County payroll for literally years) and that the County was apparently unable to figure out a way to pay her, which, as I understand the testimony, was an obligation the County acknowledged. Let’s put it this way: if Cubbison and Kennedy were to be convicted, does the County get the $68,000 back? Seems unlikely, given that County through its officers has admitted under oath that the money was in fact owed to Kennedy.
I’ll believe it when I see the actual transcript of the testimony and not a one sided summary from arm chair liars of what the full testimony of all was. , Assuming all practicing liars have an ax to grind or a case to win .
Why not be good reporters and publish the testimony transcript so everyone can judge what the full and complete testimony on the issue actually was. I’m not inclined to take the judgement of anyone but a judge who has heard all the testimony.
Right. We’re lying. Good catch.
You would have to pay the court reporter, for one thing, because they have property rights to the transcript. Also, it’s going to be quite long, at least a hundred pages.
It’s time to show the front door to Eyster, Antle and Moorman. As far as the County Supes who voted to dismiss Ms Cubbison and who are now facing legal issues, send them the bill for their legal representation. Our tax dollars have been and apparently continue to be spent on out-of-town lawyers for the County and the Board. I’m tired of my tax money being spent to defend county officials personal pique against an individual who was legally elected.
The county has biweekly pay periods, and issues pay checks on the 6th day following the end of the pay period. There was only one person who knew how to process payroll, and it took that person considerably more than 40 hours a week to complete the task. This person was considered a professional or management employee who was exempt from the state’s overtime laws, but who was allowed to accumulate a relatively small number of hours to be used for time off in the future. This situation went on for years, and members of the auditors office had been in contact with the CEO’s office, County Counsel, and the Human Resources department in attempts to resolve the matter. Though it has not been mentioned, it seems that the Board of Supervisors might have heard about the problem somewhere along the way. Now take this set of facts to any other county in the state and ask them if they could figure out a workable solution. It is hard not to think the county leaders that could have solved the problem instead just hung the auditors office out to dry.
It’s fascinating that the comments attached to this piece are for the most part anonymous. Our DA clearly strikes fear into the hearts of everyone, with the notable exception of our esteemed editor. Even DA Dave’s sycophants find a need to hide behind pseudonyms. And here I am, following suit for fear of picking up some bogus charges.
Reflecting on this costly and time consuming mess we are in, I had another comment I wanted to make. I mentioned it to a friend today. Thinking back over the years talking to the Auditor/Controller or Treasurer/Tax Collector they were always thoughtful professional people. Pick your elected financial person for our county. Dennis, Meredith, Lloyd, Chamise or Tim, Shari of recent years. I may not have always agreed with them on all items, but I respected them and where they were coming from. Certainly their knowledge and ability to look you in the eye and do their best to speak the truth.
In retrospect, after all this mess we are in, I am thinking maybe we got it wrong and should be champions of consolidating county offices…we just did it backwards. If the county needed to consolidate some elected offices, we should have consolidated the board of supervisors into the elected offices of the Auditor/Controller and/or the Treasurer/Tax Collector.
It sounds like a joke, but it is only funny because I am pretty sure we would have been in better hands and minds…and it would prove to be a lot less expensive than I think this experience is going to be.
Chamise sure has a good lawyer.