Ways Sought to Strengthen Investment Controls : Camarillo Hires Interim Finance Department Chief

Camarillo, which last year lost $20 million through risky investments, has hired a former Los Angeles County finance manager to serve as the city’s interim finance director, officials said Tuesday.

C. Robert Green, former director of financial management for the Los Angeles County Community Development Commission, will take over Camarillo’s finance department until a permanent replacement is found, Assistant City Manager Larry Davis said. A permanent finance director is expected to be hired in the next six months, he said.

Green, of West Hills, said city officials have told him to recommend ways to strengthen controls over Camarillo investment procedures. He replaces former Finance Director Larry Weaver, who submitted his resignation in February but continued working until last Thursday, Davis said.

Highly Speculative Market

Weaver resigned after city officials discovered that former City Treasurer Donald Tarnow last year lost $20 million of the city’s $24-million investment fund by engaging in highly speculative bond market investments.

Tarnow, who said the losses came because of a drop in the bond market last spring, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. He was fired from his position Feb. 2 after serving as the city’s investment officer for 18 years.

Weaver, Tarnow’s boss, told city officials that he was unaware of the investment losses until the money was gone. Weaver, a city employee for 23 years, was not asked to resign, city officials said.

The accounting firm of Arthur Andersen & Co. has been conducting an audit of the city’s investment losses and is expected to report on its findings in about two months, city officials said. The city has so far spent about $110,000 on the audit, officials said.

Camarillo May Sue

City Atty. Colin Lennard has said the city very likely will try to recover some of the lost money through lawsuits against individuals and corporations. There has been no evidence that Tarnow, who had authority over city investments, received personal gain from the investment transactions, Lennard said.

Green, who declined to give his age, said he has about 20 years of experience in municipal finance, including seven years as finance director of Daly City, south of San Francisco. He recently served as a financial consultant for the newly formed city of Santa Clarita, he said.

Green said he will assist in the preparation of the city’s 1988-89 budget, which is expected to be considerably smaller than this year’s $21-million budget.

City services--such as police, garbage collection and street sweeping--have not been cut because of the investment losses. But construction of a city building and some road work probably will be delayed, city officials said.