Easelgate Update
Editorial staff

On June 27, Councilman Lance MacLean was quoted in the Saddleback Valley News, saying an activist should have called city hall to ask questions after seeing easels from the city’s photo exhibit trashed on a hillside on April 22. Contrary to the implication by MacLean, a blogger immediately called city hall upon seeing photos of the pile of easels. A city staffer incorrectly claimed the easels weren’t part of the city’s photo display. That’s not the only misstatement from city hall, and the city has now delayed a request for public information about the easels and photo display for 38 days.

On May 23, activist Lisa De Paul-Snyder requested records about costs of the city’s 20th anniversary photos that were displayed on 500 custom-built easels from March 22 to April 6. City officials have delayed releasing records, saying they aren’t able to compile the information before June 30.

In the matter dubbed “Easelgate,” city workers trashed approximately 200 easels on public property after the 20th anniversary photo display ended in April. A high number of broken easels were later discovered in a county dump off El Toro Road.

As another problem for city hall, city administrator Keith Rattay was quoted in the May 23 SVN saying the easels cost approximately $15 each. Residents have estimated each easel cost at least $50. Given Rattay’s involvement where city projects can run three times over budget, each easel could end up costing approximately $150. If that sounds like a joke, read on.

To date, payment isn’t evident to those looking through the city’s check register for some of the costs. A review of the check register six weeks ago revealed only the cost of 500 disposable cameras ($1,185.30). In the past month, a high number of checks have been cut to businesses, individuals and city contractors that reference “20th anniversary.” In most cases, the description of costs is two or three words. Examples include $13, 998.60 and $1,473 to Mission Viejo Rentals for such things as table and linen rental; $2,662.69 and $5,972.87 to Home Depot for “miscellaneous” supplies including two separate charges for paint sprayers; $2,318.27 and $402.00 to Techniform for announcements and 750 balloons; and $8,019.63 and $605.29 to ZCater for a “free” dinner enjoyed by the city staff and (how many?) residents. These are a few of many charges specifically tagged “20th anniversary” or they appear to be related.

Among costs for the city employees’ anniversary spend-a-thon, a longtime city contractor’s invoices warrant attention. Jamey Clark’s contract apparently includes odd jobs around Mission Viejo, and he’s had the contract for years. Clark appears to be the likely person who provided the easels, and his billing practices are a whole lot odder than the jobs he performs. For activists looking through anniversary billings, one invoice from Clark for a whopping $58,724 stands out like a hot-orange tube top in church.

As a curious characteristic of Clark’s invoices, the dates of charges within a billing period – if it can be called that – overlap considerably. For example, jobs he does in one month are billed over a period of several months. The date of the charge can be unrelated to the date he provided the service. It would take a forensics accountant to sort out his invoices, and maybe that’s the point. Clark often bills the city for $20,000 to $30,000 a month, and his work descriptions in the check register are vague. A frequent description is “misc. maint/repair various locations,” which could cover – or cover up – almost anything.

One of Clark’s recent invoices includes a March 4 charge of $1,517 to “assemble frames.” On March 18, he charged $1,035 to “paint frames.” On March 27, he charged $508.94 to “repair/maint frames,” and on April 3, he charged $5,205 to paint frames. Are “frames” easels? On 4-11, he billed $20,116.46. From 4-23 to 5-06 he billed $14,869.09. On 4-25, he billed $5,042, and from 5-02 to 5-09 he billed $6,650.92.

A follow-up request for public information will be needed to review Clark’s total amounts and work orders. His accounting methods appear unconventional – that may be an understatement. Somehow, a handyman is making more than the superintendent of the Capistrano school district, and no one on the council is asking questions. By the way, a blog contributor who seems to know a lot about Easelgate said the easels cost the city approximately $150.00 each – no kidding, $75,000 for 500 easels.

Regarding the city’s delay of 38 days to provide records, are the costs of the photo display so obscure that city staffers can’t find them? The council isn’t paying attention to what city employees spend, so the employees shouldn’t go to any trouble hiding things from those who won’t even look. However, hiding things from the public and then lying about it would be another story.

Several years ago, activist Bo Klein discovered that the city created a make-work grading project for one of its contractors, Granich Construction. The contractor charged more than $200,000 to grade Lower Curtis Park as a stealth capital improvement project before activists raised Cain to shut it down. One of the activists took the matter to the Grand Jury. The Grand Jury declined to prosecute anyone because the city council had approved payment. According to Grand Jury’s finding, council members had given the stealth project their blessing by approving all of Granich’s charges as part of the consent calendar. Recently, the sleeping circus on the council likewise approved a payment of $58,724 to Jamey Clark, no questions asked.