Supervisor Raps Sanitation Agency Officials

Frustrated by continuing troubles at the Orange County Sanitation Districts, county Supervisor Roger R. Stanton accused the agency’s administrators Thursday of muddling critical information about agency contracts and management policies.

“You can’t get a . . . answer out of those people,” said Stanton, a member of the agency’s board of directors. “It is just incredible down there. It’s an organization that has a high level of obfuscation.”

In recent weeks, the agency has been beset by a range of troubles, from two ongoing criminal investigations related to a fatal fire at one of its treatment plants and possible conflicts of interest by sanitation officials to a personnel dispute involving the agency’s laboratory manager.

Some of those problems, Stanton said, have been exacerbated by serious management problems.

“This organization is several decades behind in terms of management structure,” he said.

Top agency administrators were unavailable for comment Thursday.

With his statements, Stanton joins colleagues on the board of directors in expressing concern about sanitation agency operations. Last week, several directors called for a review of legal expenses, which have totaled $4.2 million in the past five years.

And this month, directors are expected to give final approval to the first phase of a management audit, which could extend to a review of the entire agency.

At a meeting of the agency’s executive committee Wednesday night, Stanton became particularly angry over how long and difficult it was to obtain estimated costs for computers to replace a faulty system at the agency’s treatment plants.

Following lengthy exchanges involving a number of confused directors who were forced to dig through a pile of documents, and after the total cost was finally estimated at $9.5 million, Stanton said: “This is really unacceptable.”

Wednesday night, administrators pledged to streamline their reports and policies so as not to cause further board confusion.