CSUN Names New Overseer of Quake Work

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 following disclosures in The Times last month that the two CSUN administrators heading the recovery received free construction work from employees of the primary engineering firm on the job.

Wilson also had decided to rebid the firm’s contract and 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 the 53-year-old Elbert, 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 intended to have the Chathams continue to handle day-to-day management of recovery projects, but 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.

According to the report, Elbert repaid the university $196 for reimbursement of an expense claim for a hotel charge that was actually paid by Barnes & Noble. The report said that Elbert thought he had paid the bill because the hotel took an impression of his credit card.

The report also criticized Elbert for removing merchandise from the university golf course pro shop without paying for it and for allowing his parents to stay at a university-owned hotel for free. Elbert said he was authorized to use the merchandise for a fund-raising event and reimbursed the university $45 for his parents’ hotel room, saying the failure to pay had been an oversight.

University officials said Elbert brought the allegations to the search committee’s attention and that reference checks persuaded them that the allegations were groundless and Elbert was a victim of political intrigue.

“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.

The Times’ investigation of the CSUN recovery disclosed that the Chathams formed a close personal relationship with the project manager of Law/Crandall Inc.--entertaining him at their home, vacationing with him in British Columbia--while negotiations were under way to more than double the firm’s contract to $19.6 million.

The Chathams said the patio repair was done by Law/Crandall employees solely out of friendship and that it never influenced their oversight of the firm’s engineering contract.

However, Wilson wrote state Chancellor Barry Munitz, “It is my judgment that permitting Law/Crandall employees to assist with repairs at their home was a serious error in judgment . . . which created an appearance of impropriety.”

Wilson asked 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.”

Now that the new vice president has been chosen, university staff will report to him, 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 teaching and special administrative duties. The university’s longtime director of financial and logistical services, Karen Hoefel, has filled the post in the interim.

Hoefel, one of three finalists for the job, will return to her former duties, university spokesman Bruce Erickson said.