SANDAG’s divided board is already off to a rocky yr

9 board members on the San Diego Affiliation of Governments walked out of their first assembly of the yr over rising frustrations that the company’s weighted voting construction is weakening the voice of the smaller cities they symbolize.

The transfer is prone to proceed board discord as SANDAG continues to grapple with a collection of controversial audits and divided selections over its long-term transportation planning.

“We noticed no level in persevering with,” stated Steve Vaus, Poway mayor and the town’s consultant on the SANDAG board. “You noticed the dialogue in regards to the weighted vote. They preserve pushing it apart, however the one approach this county’s going to come back collectively and meet the wants of all of the folks in all of the county will probably be if we have now a collaborative, collegial, cooperative board.

“That’s not occurring now. So there’s no level being there.”

Since 2018, state regulation has allowed a weighted voting system at SANDAG that provides extra energy to San Diego County’s bigger cities. It implies that representatives from simply three jurisdictions — the town of San Diego, the county and Chula Vista — could make up the bulk vote for a board made up of 19 native governments.

Supporters say the voting system offers proportional illustration to residents of bigger cities, whereas opponents say it’s diminishing the voices of smaller cities. Beforehand, the SANDAG board needed to have a majority tally vote and a weighted vote to cross gadgets. 

Now, simply the weighted vote is required. That got here into play final week, when the board ushered in its new management. 

County Supervisor Nora Vargas will function SANDAG chair and San Diego Metropolis Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera as first vice-chair, each of them being appointed with a weighted vote.

However when a tally vote taken on Friday would have made Del Mar Metropolis Councilmember Terry Gaasterland the board’s second vice-chair, Vargas subsequently known as for a weighted vote, prompting Gaasterland and others to stroll out of the assembly. SANDAG’s board in the end appointed Solana Seashore Mayor Lesa Heebner as second vice-chair utilizing a tally vote amongst those that remained on the assembly.

‘Tally majority and weighted minority’

Those that walked out included elected officers from Coronado, Del Mar, El Cajon, Escondido, Oceanside, Poway, San Marcos, Santee and Vista. Together with Imperial Seashore, the cities’ SANDAG representatives had earlier this month requested for the weighted vote system to be mentioned on the assembly final week. 

“They’ve handed on an apparent alternative for a consensus candidate simply to occupy the second vice-chair place, which is a largely ceremonial submit,” Vista Mayor John Franklin instructed inewsource outdoors of SANDAG’s boardroom. “It might’ve been a straightforward gesture to the tally majority and weighted minority.”

Vargas stated all county residents will proceed to be thought of in SANDAG selections and that the weighted vote was amongst policymakers’ “instruments within the toolbox.”

“There’s all the time a chance for them to work with their state legislators to switch it,” she stated.

Elo-Rivera known as the walkout a “legislative tantrum,” and instructed inewsource after the assembly that it was an “overwhelmingly, a radical Republican stunt.” 

Gaasterland is the only Democrat of the group that left the assembly early. All three newly elected SANDAG board leaders are Democrats.

“The concept you’d stroll out of a gathering and attempt to shut down authorities as a result of we’re using proportional illustration makes me unhappy,” Elo-Rivera stated. “There’s no motive why we will’t collaborate. The weighted vote is by no means, form or type an automated dismissal of the necessity to collaborate.”

SANDAG’s auditor to retire

Whereas the board division has persevered, SANDAG, a $1 billion company, has been dogged by damning audits. 

Now, the massive board turnover at SANDAG comes because the company awaits the outcomes of one other audit — and as its unbiased auditor, Mary Khoshmashrab, prepares to retire later this yr. Khoshmashrab plans to depart by July, however has instructed officers she is prepared to remain on longer if wanted to make sure a clean transition.

Khoshmashrab instructed the company’s Audit Committee, which is able to lead the search course of for her alternative, that she’s already recognized “a number of native preferences” to assist discover “the following top-notch” unbiased auditor, in line with a employees memo.

Throughout her tenure, Khoshmashrab has flagged improper severance funds, questionable spending on agency-issued bank cards and enormous will increase to vendor contracts. 

Her workplace is anticipated to launch in April what is going to possible be her final audit: An extra evaluate of SANDAG contractors’ efficiency, invoicing and any potential fraud.

Auditors beforehand discovered the company elevated vendor contracts by tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} greater than their unique quantities, and what gave the impression to be a “disproportionate desire to sure distributors” and a “potential overuse of on-call contracts.”

Whereas Khoshmashrab initially supposed for the newest audit to be accomplished by this month, she has been pressured to increase and scale down the audit due to what she stated was poor data administration by the company.

“I’ll say that it’s been troublesome,” Khoshmashrab instructed the Audit Committee final week. “It’s been a tough audit, most likely certainly one of our hardest and it’s harder on account of disorganization, actually, of data, than anything at this level.”