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SLO County finds no conflict of interest with Ogren’s relationship

October 4, 2011

Paavo Ogren

UPDATE: Find an audio of the altercation between Linde Owen and Adam Hill at the bottom of this article. 

San Luis Obispo County’s top official said Tuesday his investigation showed Public Works Director Paavo Ogren having a dating relationship with former Los Osos Community Services District director did not create a conflict of interest regarding the Los Osos Sewer project.

In June, Supervisor Bruce Gibson asked County Administrator Jim Grant to look into allegations that Ogren and Maria Kelly were “conspiring to help push through a $200 million sewer project.”

Grant concluded that because the sewer was placed under county control in 2006 and Kelly was not elected into office until 2008, there was no conflict.

Nevertheless, the allegations of a conflict of interest were in regards to a vote Kelly made in 2009 that stopped a complaint and the possibility of the district taking civil action against Ogren for illegally backdating a contract.

In 2006, Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Brown acknowledged that “falsification of a public record by a public employee is a felony,” and that a criminal act relating to the backdating apparently had occurred. But Brown declined further investigation by determining that a three-year statute of limitation had expired.

The 2006 LOCSD Board believed the district attorney’s decision was wrong because penal code Section 803(c) says the time limitations do not commence until the discovery of an offense and filed a complaint with the Construction Management Association.

The court stayed the complaint when the district filed for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy Protection.

MWH asked the district to drop its complaint to the contractors’ association in exchange for MWH forgiving a $1 million bankruptcy claim against the district.

Meanwhile, Kelly ran for the board and was seated in 2008.

On Dec. 17, 2009, Kelly voted in favor of the MWH proposed settlement. County phone records indicate that Kelly and Ogren spoke twice the morning before the vote, once the day after the vote, and four times on Dec. 19, 2009.

Kelly’s vote to settle that particular case nullified Ogren’s culpability in ordering the back dating of the MWH contract.

Grant also said that Kelly and Ogren started dating in 2011 and were good friends for four prior years. Late night phone calls and allegations made by Kelly’s ex-husband to CalCoastNews and posted on the Razor support allegations the pair had dated for years.

On Thursday, the Tribune said it received an email from Gibson saying that he would announce the findings of his investigation at Tuesday’s board meeting.

However, Grant made his announcement at 9 a.m., causing a small ruckus shortly after 1:30 p.m. when attendees wanted to hear his presentation.

In addition, the notice of Grant’s investigation report was not placed on the meeting agenda as is the usual practice.

———–

Audio: Linde Owen at the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors meeting, Tuesday 10/2011
(link)


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yada yada yada…. Anything to derail the sewer project. Suck it up, or better yet, flush it down. THE SEWER WILL BE BUILT AND YOU WILL HOOK UP TO IT. Your other alternative is to sell and move somewhere else… For most of us that would be a blessing. Protest the sewer loan that has been attached to your tax bill this year, just don’t pay your taxes. Then down the line the mean old tax man will sell your property at auction on the county courthouse steps. If you were smart you didn’t print on both sides of your protest signs, now you can turn it over and write something against Diablo Canyon. What I like best about this area is the fresh air and all the things we can protest about.


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If you cannot make a credible argument for your opinion without reframing the argument so you can “win,” or throwing red herrings hither and yon to distract the discussion, then maybe you should reconsider your opinion.


Trying to cast those opposing whoreish ethics in local government as being against Paavo’s Sewer Vision is clearly both an attempt to reframe the argument AND a red herring.


The issue is public officials breaking county and state government regulations regarding conflicts of interest and other unethical conduct.


The Los Osos sewer project is simply the stage upon which public officials are demonstrating their whoresque ethics.


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Of course Mary, I wouldn’t expect you to reply any differently. Obviously all governments are evil and corrupt, especially those in SLO. So I beg the question, are you for the sewer? Are you for Diablo Canyon NUCLEAR power plant? There appers to be a connection in that those who agree with the article above and these two issues as well. Obviously there was no confilct between Julie Tacker and Jeff Edwards. Oh, well, maybe there was :-)


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Again, reframing the argument and red herrings.


I am addressing the Ogren-Kelly actions of unethical and probably illegal conflicts of interest and abuse of power.


The fact that, this time, the stage they chose for these actions happens to be the LO WWT facility is irrelevant.


Ogren’s previous actions of conflicts-of-interest (including investigation by the state AG’s office) was about his public works staff absconding with SLOCo resources, using county resources for private benefit, as well as conflicts of interest in the awarding of contracts. That time, the stage was Ogren’s performance as the head of Public Works.


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You bastards who run our government are as corrupt as the sob’s from Bell, CA. We need to show up at the county courthouse in the 1000’s and kick every darn one of the employees to the street and start over. A citizen’s advisory panel can advise to retain the honest ones but any with a blemish will be kicked to the street. So let’s see…..all judges…..gone, county admin Grant…….gone, Parkinson…..gone, DA Shea…….gone, and list goes on and on. Pretty sad we are being forced to put up with this.


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This “investigation” was a farce from the get go. No way is Jim Grant qualified to do a competent investigation on this matter. A REAL INVESTIGATION would have been done by an outside independant firm that has a history & track record of doing investigations against CORRUPTION. It certainly should NOT have been conducted by one of SLO Countys “top employees”…It’s NO WONDER he didn’t find any “conflict of interest”…he’s protecting his cushie SLO COUNTY job!


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He didn’t find any “conflict of interest” because, if he did, it would be an indictment on himself and his inability to adequately perform the duties of his county administrator position.


Indeed, by having Grant do the investigation the BOS broke regulations on conflicts of interest since Grant had a financial interest (the continuation of receipt of his salary as a county administrator, whose duties include administration and oversight of county staff) in the outcome.


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What we have here plain as dirt is the establishment of a cover-up of criminal misdeeds committed by Paavo Ogren orchestrated by Supervisor Bruce Gibson and carried out by Administrator Jim Grant.


Thank you, Bruce Gibson, you make my job so much easier. You also contribute to the growing cynicism and distrust in local government, and you contribute to the perpetuation of the charge of corruption in county government.


You’ve earned the right to be drubbed out of that chair, come next election.


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Can’t members of the BOS be recalled?


As my midwestern mother often said, “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”


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Now that they are settled in their power, salary and benefits, they feel they have no problems, only the people that put them in office has the problem, at least until the next election.

Sometimes these Supervisors make me feel like I should have voted for some conscientious homeless person instead of them.


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I feel the same way about our SUperior Court judges. Let’s replace Judge Crandall with a homeless person. Any homeless person.


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Hey, maybe when the AG is “weighing in” on SLOCo’s high-priced judges, there can be some weighing in on Ogren and Kelly.


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Surprise, Surprise!!!! Is anybody really – surprised – about this decision? I doubt it.


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If you were really going for the Gomer Pyle saying, it would three in a row, like: Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!!!!! But I really agree with you. Same ole’ crap, different agency, different day …


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The ruckus is understandable. “It is my intention to report out after closed session,” County Administrator Jim Grant wrote in an email to The Tribune. Reports out of closed session normally happen after 1:30 PM. Also, the agenda only had one public comment, and that was in the morning. People weren’t able to provide a rebuttal.


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Agreed. As one woman from Los Osos said, “We drove here to hear the report.”


I think Grant was afraid to face the media’s questions.


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Grant shouldn’t be afraid of the media. All he has to say is “I done what they told me to do”


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But then after he said it, he would either have to be able to run like hell to get away from the media—or flop on the ground, draw little “x”s over his eyelids, and feign death— because there is no way he could survive their Q&A (not if Karen was in the group).


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Of course no conflict was found. This is SLO county, the happiest place on earth. Nothing bad EVER happens here. …Or should I say, the powers that be ensure that nothing bad EVER gets proven here.


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You’re right, SLOChuck! At least, NOTHING BAD ever happens to the “good old SLO County Government top employees”…Doesn’t SLO County have a “morals clause” in their employment contracts? Other Countys do.


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Not sure if they have a “morals clause” but they definitely have a bed tax.


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Grant’s fake investigation is not the end of the line on this deal. It’s just the step that is best taken before filing a complaint with the AG.


Since the AG’s office, just two years ago, investigated another Paavo Ogren linked conflicts-of-interest and WORSE ethics violation fiasco, I’m sure they’d be quite happy to COME BACK DOWN HERE and go through all of that mess again. Indeed, they would welcome Ogren demonstrating to them how he thinks the AG’s investigations, and the count and state ethics regulations, don’t apply to himself.


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Yeah, I heard the “ruckus.” Those peeps were outraged, and I don’t blame them. To make it worse, members of the board and Grant derisively dismissed their outrage. Who in the bloody hell do they think they are?


It’s clear Grant pulled his bait-and-switch timing of the report’s release so he wouldn’t have to face the media with his cockamamie report.


Absolutely disgusting. And what a sniveling little coward he is, too.


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