San Francisco Expenses Defended : Aide Denies Housing Chief Billed City Illegally

An aide to San Diego Housing Commission chief Ben Montijo denied Tuesday that Montijo illegally billed the city in August for a two-day trip to San Francisco. Montijo was interviewed for a job there and allegedly conducted city business.

According to a story in the San Diego Tribune, Montijo was reimbursed more than $700 by the cities of San Francisco and San Diego for an Aug. 11-12 business trip. The report said that Montijo was reimbursed $440.14 by San Francisco and then received $300.31 from San Diego for the same trip.

“I don’t believe that’s correct,” said Elizabeth Morris, the commission’s deputy director. “The reimbursement that Ben actually received from the city (San Diego) was considerably less than that.” But Morris said she did not know the amount that Montijo received from San Diego.

James Clay, executive director of San Francisco’s Housing Authority, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that Montijo was interviewed for the executive director’s job on Aug. 11. Clay was also a candidate for the job and did not participate in the interview process. He said that documents show that San Francisco paid for Montijo’s round-trip airline fare and a room for one night at the Mark Hopkins Hotel, but he denied that Montijo “physically” received $440 from San Francisco.

“The only money that Mr. Montijo received from us--money that actually went into his pocket--was a check for about $87 that was for out-of-pocket expenses such as taxi fares and lunch,” Clay said.

He said that the San Francisco Housing Authority paid the hotel and airline bills directly. Those bills, plus the $87 reimbursement to Montijo, totaled $440.14, Clay said.

Morris acknowledged that San Francisco paid for the hotel and airline and said that Montijo did not bill San Diego for expenses paid by San Francisco. She said that Montijo was in San Francisco for two nights and that he was engaged in city business for one day. But Morris said she was not sure if Montijo stayed at the Mark Hopkins for two nights.

A hotel spokeswoman said that room rates last August averaged $140 to $150 per night.

“We’re presently in the process of getting invoices from San Francisco officials, the hotel and other places and should be able to speak more intelligently about this matter on Monday. . . . It will be a lot easier to speak more specifically when we get this information,” Morris said.

According to Morris, Montijo “probably” charged at least one night’s lodging and a car rental on the Housing Commission’s city credit card. But Morris said she would not know the amounts charged and where they were charged until the commission receives the invoices it requested.

Morris denied the newspaper’s report that Montijo charged San Diego $75 for airline fare.

“Ben did not bill the city for the air fare. That’s something entirely different. The $75 bill on the document filed with the city is actually three $15 charges in one,” Morris said. However, she was not sure what the three charges were for and was unable to account for the $30 discrepancy.

David Olson, vice president of San Francisco’s DRG Financial Corp., was quoted as saying that he met with Montijo on Aug. 12 to discuss his firm’s involvement in San Diego in the rehabilitation of the Island Garden Apartments. According to the Tribune, Montijo’s travel expense report shows that he met with DRG officials while in San Francisco.

Olson and Montijo failed to return repeated phone calls Tuesday.

Steve Casey, a spokesman for the San Diego County district attorney’s office, said that his office does not plan to investigate unless the Housing Commission or the City Council decides that Montijo may have done something illegal.