D.A. Reviews Planner’s Potential Conflicts : Orange: Two companies owned in part by Don Greek were awarded at least $104,000 in contracts while he was a planning commissioner, investigators find.

While Don Greek was a city planning commissioner, two companies he owns in part were awarded at least $104,000 worth of city projects, a potential conflict of interest now being reviewed by the district attorney’s office, according to documents released Friday.

Greek, who resigned from the Planning Commission in August to run for City Council in the Nov. 6 election, was warned in a 1986 letter from then-City Atty. Gene R. Minshew that the payments could be considered improper under a state conflict-of-interest code.

“You and I have talked twice about this matter,” Minshew wrote. “I have a feeling that you may not be giving the matter the attention it deserves.”

Greek said Friday that he does not remember receiving the letter or discussing the matter with Minshew.

“If I had received it, I probably would have reacted to it, but I don’t have any recollection of reacting to it, and I don’t have any recollection of the letter. I honestly can’t remember it,” said Greek, who was a commissioner from 1983 until August.

Documentation of eight engineering projects awarded to DGA Consultants Inc. and Don Greek & Associates from 1986 to June and Minshew’s letter were released Friday by Corrado & Newton, a law firm hired by the City Council to look into city contracting procedures.

The documents were copies of those turned over to the district attorney’s office. Robert Corrado, special counsel to the City Council, released the documents after the district attorney’s review became public earlier this week.

The documents include copies of invoices from DGA Consultants Inc. and Don Greek & Associates and checks from the city totaling more than $104,000. The largest of the projects was a $44,000 contract to analyze street alignments and improvements for a joint Orange-Santa Ana project. The average contract amount was $4,013.

Projects of less than $10,000 are generally awarded by city staff members without City Council approval, said Bert Yamasaki, Orange’s administrator of economic development; contracts worth more than that must be bid and require a City Council vote.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John D. Conley is reviewing the situation after a conflict-of-interest complaint was filed Monday by local political activist Shirley Grindle.

In the 1986 letter to Greek, Minshew details a case in San Diego where an appeals court ruled that it was a conflict of interest under the City Charter and state law for a parks and recreation board member to have his business enter into contracts with the city.

Because the City Council and not the Planning Commission has final approval of contracts, Minshew added, “it does not appear to me that there is a conflict of interest in your situation.”

However, Minshew said, Greek should be “concerned” about the San Diego court decision and should consult his attorney “to be sure that there will be no violation of Government Code Section 1090.”

That section says state, county and city employees and officers “shall not be financially interested in any contract made by them in their official capacity or by any body or board of which they are members.”

Greek said Friday that he believes that the investigation was instigated by Councilwoman Joanne Coontz, a foe in the City Council election.

“I know I haven’t done anything wrong,” Greek said, “and I also know it’s a misuse of city funds to use them to discourage me from running for office.”

Coontz replied that the Greek inquiry emerged from an overall review of the city’s contracting procedures and was not directed at him.

“In the process of learning about contracts, we ran across this and asked, was this legal for a person who was on the Planning Commission,” Coontz said. “That’s all it was, just everyday procedure.”