Pool Participants Complain of Being Pressured : Bankruptcy: Investor agencies object to letter from CEO Jan Mittermeier urging them to sign off as quickly as possible on the county’s complex recovery plan.

Some participants in Orange County’s ill-fated investment pool on Thursday accused County Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier of pressuring them to sign off on the county’s bankruptcy recovery plan before all the issues in the complicated document have been finalized.

The pool investors, made up of some 200 cities, school districts, special districts and other agencies, said they were astonished when they received an Oct. 10 letter from the CEO asking them to formally approve the so-called “consensus recovery plan” agreement as soon as possible.

“I think she’s having an out-of-body experience. It’s strikes me as very premature to be sending this out to our clients,” said Jon Schotz, financial adviser to the pool investors--who, together with the county, lost nearly $1.7 billion when county investments soured and the county declared bankruptcy Dec. 6.

“We still have a number of issues to resolve before we would sign it,” Schotz said.

Patrick C. Shea, an attorney representing the pool investors, advised his clients in a letter Thursday not to sign the document until all issues have been resolved.

Mittermeier this week laid out an ambitious timetable for getting the county out of bankruptcy by June 30. As part of that schedule, she is counting on pool investors to formally ratify the final recovery plan agreement no later than Nov. 10.

On Thursday, Mittermeier said through a county spokeswoman that she was “puzzled” by the pool investors’ response to her letter. She and other county officials contend that the recovery plan is finalized. If there were any issues that still needed to be resolved, the pool investors’ attorney has not brought them to the county’s attention, they said.

“We haven’t heard a peep from them,” said John Amsden, a county bankruptcy attorney. He added that even though the agreement was technically approved by the leadership committee of the pool investors in August, many of the investors still have not received a copy of the draft agreement from their attorney.

County officials contend that approval of the agreement is being held up by the special interests of a small faction of pool participants that are unhappy with the plan.

“As far as we’re concerned, the agreement is final,” Amsden said.

Not so, according to some of the pool investors.

“I think it’s premature,” said Stan Oftelie, chief executive of the Orange County Transportation Authority and chairman of the Orange County Investment Pool Participants’ Committee.

Oftelie said there are still several issues in the recovery plan that need to be clarified in writing. He added that he was “perplexed” by Mittermeier’s letter and “amazed” that she sent it out.

Wally Kreutzen, finance director for the Transportation Corridors Agency, said he was going to follow Shea’s advice and not sign the agreement until all the details have been worked out. He said he was confident that the document will be ready for approval in the next couple of weeks.

Shea could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Under the proposed agreement, the pool investors agreed to let the county repay a portion of their losses solely with litigation proceeds. If the county received no such money, neither would the pool participants.

The plan also diverts sales tax revenue from the Orange County Transportation Authority, as well as property tax revenue from the county’s harbors, beaches, and parks and redevelopment agencies. Legislation that was needed to implement the recovery plan was signed by Gov. Pete Wilson on Monday.