Ruling Due on Gates Flights After Board Gets the Plane Facts

When Sheriff Brad Gates figured he couldn’t make a timely trip to Sacramento on a commercial airline a few years ago, he ordered up a flight from his department’s Aero Squadron Reserve Unit--a volunteer group of deputized private pilots and planes.

But Gates’ trip was flagged by county auditors who said that the trip violated county government’s travel policy because the personal escort cost more than a commercial flight.

Three years later, Gates and the county are still fighting over the difference: the grand sum of $86, for the Sacramento trip and another trip he took in 1986 aboard one of the private planes to Visalia.

“He’s personally liable for it until it gets cleaned up,” said Auditor-Controller Steve Lewis. “In effect, he spent that money not in accordance with county policy.”

Gates is now appealing the auditor’s decision to the Board of Supervisors, saying his use of the Aero Squadron’s planes actually saved the county money, since he was able to return to Orange County a day earlier than commercial flight schedules would have permitted. The board is scheduled to consider the request next Tuesday.

The Aero Squadron Reserve Unit is a group of Orange County civilian pilots who are trained by the Sheriff’s Department for special assignments such as search-and-rescue, surveillance and transporting high-risk prisoners.

The volunteer pilots provide their personal aircraft and time for department assignments without pay, Lt. Richard J. Olson said. They are reimbursed only for the cost of fuel used during their mission.

The Sheriff’s Department said the Aero Squadron’s fuel cost for Gates’ trip to Sacramento was $238.34, while a round-trip ticket on a commercial flight would have cost $218. Gates visited the governor during his trip to lobby for money for additional jails in Orange County.

For the trip to Visalia, where he attended an annual jail training seminar, the Sheriff’s Department paid $239.62 to the Aero Squadron, compared to the commercial airline price of $174.

Combined, the Aero Squadron trips cost $477.96. Commercial flights to both destinations would have cost $392.

Gates paid the Aero Squadron pilots from the Sheriff’s Department’s petty cash fund. When Gates submitted expense reports asking to be reimbursed, the auditor rejected the request.

“Basically, we just told the sheriff we didn’t have the authority to pay,” Lewis said. “I’m sure the sheriff feels we are being petty, but all we can do is what the law allows us to do.”

In June, 1987, Gates filed a request that the Board of Supervisors reimburse him for his two trips and that it change the travel policy to allow his use of the Aero Squadron for business travel.

But the request was rejected by the county administrative office before it ever reached the board. Last month, the CAO agreed to recommend that the supervisors reimburse the sheriff for the two trips in 1986.

County Administrative Officer Larry Parrish was unavailable Thursday to explain whether he approved of the sheriff’s use of the Aero Squadron for business travel.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas F. Riley was also unavailable Thursday.

Olson said the sheriff still uses the Aero Squadron for business travel when scheduling conflicts make commercial travel impossible or when he is traveling to locations without commercial airports. Auditor-Controller Lewis said, however, that he is not aware of any other requests for reimbursement to the department’s petty cash fund.

Olson said he did not know what fund was used to pay for the sheriff’s most recent trips in which he used Aero Squadron pilots.