New Finance Chief Is Appointed at CSUN : Education: Selection of Oklahoma administrator clears way for university to resume control of its trouble-plagued $350-million earthquake recovery project.

Cal State Northridge President Blenda J. Wilson announced Monday the appointment of a new vice president for finance and administrative services to oversee the university’s troubled earthquake recovery.

The selection of Arthur J. Elbert, who managed $100 million in capital improvements at the University of Oklahoma, appeared to clear the way for the university to resume control over its $350-million reconstruction program.

Wilson turned the project over to the Cal State system chancellor’s office after disclosures in The Times last month that the two Northridge administrators heading the recovery received free construction work from employees of the primary engineering firm on the job.

Wilson had also decided to rebid the firm’s contract and to place warnings in the files of the two administrators, Associate Vice President Bill Chatham and his wife, Jane Chatham, who headed the Disaster Recovery Office.

In a statement announcing the selection of Elbert, 53, Wilson pointed to his “particularly strong background in overseeing capital construction and renovation projects.” Elbert, who has been in private consulting since 1993, will assume the $110,000-a-year post Sept. 1.

Reached at his home in Oklahoma, Elbert said he did not know whether Wilson intends to have the Chathams continue to handle day-to-day management of recovery projects, although he said he has been instructed to evaluate all aspects of the contracting process.

“We are going to do a complete review of all the contracts that have been let, and the ones yet to be let, to make sure everyone has a fair and equal chance to bid, and that any change in those contracts be authorized at the highest level,” Elbert said.

During 15 years at the University of Oklahoma, Elbert oversaw budget and accounting, purchasing, risk management, physical plant operations, auxiliary services, housing, real estate development and public safety.

After he left his post as vice president of administrative affairs for the University of Oklahoma in 1993, a report by the state auditor and inspector found that Elbert created “an appearance of a conflict of interest” by allowing Barnes & Noble bookstores, which held the contract for the university bookstore, to pay part of the cost of four trips to New York to visit the company.

The report said Elbert reimbursed the university $196 for a hotel bill for which he had submitted a claim but was actually paid by Barnes & Noble. The report said Elbert thought he had paid the bill because the hotel took an impression of his credit card.

Wilson said Elbert brought the allegations to the search committee’s attention and that reference checks proved them groundless.

“Did we know about it? Did we investigate it thoroughly? Did we assure ourselves of his integrity? The answer is yes, yes and yes,” Wilson said.

Elbert could not be reached to comment on the report, obtained by The Times late Monday.

Last month, Wilson asked Chancellor Barry Munitz to assume direct control of quake reconstruction during an inquiry by the state Fair Political Practices Commission or “until a new vice president for administrative services takes office.”

The university staff will now “report to the new vice president,” said chancellor’s spokeswoman Colleen Bentley-Adler.

Elbert will assume the position left vacant by the resignation last fall of Elliot Mininberg, who returned to full-time teaching.