Huntington Beach City Attorney Draws Fire as Ex-Employee Probed

A former employee of the Huntington Beach city attorney’s office is the subject of a police investigation into allegations that for six months he secretly worked two full-time jobs--one with Huntington Beach and another with the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

Huntington Beach City Administrator Paul Cook said Walter F. Burk, a 15-year city employee who had spent the past four or five years as an analyst in City Atty. Gail C. Hutton’s 16-person office, quit March 31 when he was confronted with information that he was working dual day jobs.

Burk earned about $40,000 a year compiling city attorney’s office budgets and paying bills. In Los Angeles, he was hired as chief deputy to the district court administrator at an annual salary of $43,452, his supervisor there said.

The discovery that Burk was working two jobs triggered a controversy in which city officials are questioning Hutton’s management of the city attorney’s office, which employs nine attorneys, including herself. Hutton, 51, is the only elected city attorney in Orange County and one of the few in California. She earns $78,000 a year.

“I’ve got to be honest. When you’ve got a department with 16 people, that doesn’t speak too well for the supervision of the department if the head of it doesn’t know where everyone is,” Cook said.

“And for six months! I mean, I had a department of 250 employees in it (when he was director of the city public works division), and if we ever found improprieties--well, we had one guy who took off in the afternoons to go to the movies. But after two or three times, he was caught.

“I think that there is a need for improved supervision or management. And I expect all department heads to have that kind of management skill.”

Hutton, who has weathered a couple of mudslinging elections in the more than 10 years she has been in office, was reportedly on a camping vacation in Mexico and did not return phone calls this week to her home.

However, Hutton previously was quoted as calling Burk a valuable city employee who left on good terms. In fact, Cook said she had requested a promotion and raise of $3,000 a year for Burk.

Burk worked in federal court weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., said his boss, George Ryker, court executive for the Central District, which encompasses seven Southern California counties. However, he said “there were four rather lengthy periods where I granted him leave without pay . . . based on the alleged illness of his mother and her alleged subsequent death.”

Ryker said that between Oct. 19--Burk’s first day on that job--and April 1, he allowed Burk to take off 34 days--nearly seven weeks--without pay.

“I’m extremely disappointed that I believed he was working full time and he had these emergencies and I granted him the time to take care of them, since he didn’t have the (accrued time) yet,” Ryker said.

During the same period, Burk was absent from his Huntington Beach job 40% of the time, a city source said. Burk, 49, was absent six days for which he received sick pay, 19 1/2 days for which he received vacation pay and 27 days for which he was absent without pay, the source said.

City personnel rules require employees to obtain permission from a supervisor to work a second job, and what is known as “lost time,” or leave without pay, cannot be used to pursue or work at another permanent job.

Assistant City Atty. William S. Amsbary defended Hutton’s management and said Burk told them “heart-wrenching stories” about his “86-year-old mother dying and other personal tragedies.”

Amsbary said Thursday that Burk never mentioned his second full-time job in Los Angeles and, in fact, provided an array of reasons for needing time off to cope with a series of family sorrows. Amsbary said Burk worked Saturdays to make up some days he missed to go to doctor appointments.

Although he is still on the federal payroll as deputy district court executive, Burk has not shown up at work since April 1, Ryker said.

Burk is “under a doctor’s care,” Ryker said, and could not be reached for comment.

Cook said he learned of the dual jobs March 31 and immediately requested a police investigation.

Burk, who lives in La Crescenta, near Glendale, was described as being about 40 and the divorced father of at least one child.

According to Cook, Hutton said Burk had been seen working in the downtown Los Angeles federal court building late last week.

Mayor John Erskine said that he spoke briefly with Hutton before she left on vacation and that he wants to wait for the results of the police investigation, expected in two weeks, before passing judgment.

“She said that this guy had a tragic history and personal problems,” Erskine said. “While there appears to be some extenuating circumstances . . . there are some issues of management style that I think our city administrator has justifiably questioned.

“I think part of the problem is that Gail is a good public servant and wants to do the right thing. I think sometimes those who report to her take advantage of her good nature and sort of an open management style where they are all attorneys and they ought to be responsible enough to know what the law requires.”

Burk had been allowed to work from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.--an hour later than most city employees--because he lived so far away, Cook said. He said Burk worked in several city departments over the years and was hired in Hutton’s office after he earned his law degree and passed the bar.