Audits Sought to Get to Bottom Line of Accusations

The main topics for Tuesday’s special City Council hearing are in-depth, outside audits of the Civic Arts Plaza’s financing and the $75-million upgrade of the Hill Canyon waste water treatment plant.

But the real issue behind the audits, every council member agrees, is much more personal: Who is right and who is wrong?

In one corner are Mayor Andy Fox, the proponent of the audits, and his philosophical partners, council members Judy Lazar and Mike Markey. They argue that their council foes, Elois Zeanah and Jaime Zukowski, have tarnished the city’s reputation with countless claims that council members and city officials are not only incompetent, but corrupt as well.

“This audit is absolutely because of their claims,” Fox said. “It’s being done because there is a need to restore faith in our city government after two irresponsible council members have criticized the city for years without anything to back up their conspiracy beliefs.”

In the other corner, Zeanah and Zukowski argue that their council opponents are trying to paint them as blowhards for simply doing what they believe to be the principal duty of elected officials: asking questions and holding people accountable for their answers.

“I have never accused anyone of being corrupt,” Zeanah said. “That’s his [Fox’s] description of the concerns I have voiced. My point has always been that taxpayers deserve to know where their money is being spent. I want to make sure that this city does not raise fees due to mismanagement.”

Council members agree on one thing: there’s a lot riding on the audits.

Fox said that if the probe into the finances of the Civic Arts Plaza or the waste water treatment plant uncovers the sort of corruption and mismanagement that Zeanah and Zukowski have, in his opinion, consistently implied was there, some heads are going to roll. And he is talking about top-level city officials--perhaps even City Manager Grant Brimhall himself.

But if, as Fox and his allies strongly believe, there is no basis to Zeanah and Zukowski’s claims, they better have some apology speeches ready, he said.

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“If people are dishonest and incompetent, they will be fired,” Fox said. “If we have a problem at the top levels of city management, I’m going to take care of it.

“If that is not the case, however, then we have two council members who have a lot of explaining to do, not only to the city staff and the other members of the City Council, but to our entire community.”

Zukowski disagrees. She said that whether the audits unearth something or not, she and Zeanah should not be criticized for being the council’s fiscal watchdogs.

“It’s a very strange state of affairs when the mayor is accusing his colleagues of accusing him of something,” Zukowski said. “I feel this is slander, unless he can point to what I said about him that was so bad.”

Tuesday’s hearing at 4:30 p.m. in the City Manager’s Conference Room will include a presentation from Diehl Evans & Co., the accounting firm conducting Thousand Oaks’ regular annual audit.

At a contentious meeting with those auditors June 4, Fox unveiled a list of proposed special audits of the finances of some of the council’s longest-running and most divisive debates topics--mainly the funding for the Civic Arts Plaza and the expansion of the Hill Canyon waste water treatment plant.

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Diehl Evans studied those proposals and has come up with a list of ways to perform the audits, which will be discussed at Tuesday’s meeting.

However, the firm will probably not perform the actual work. Arguing it would make the process even more objective, Fox is proposing that the council hire a different auditing firm for each audit. Likewise, Zeanah is proposing that the council stay away from Diehl Evans in favor of firms the city has not worked with before.

Thousand Oaks officials have sent letters to seven cities, including Camarillo, Ventura, Oxnard and Simi Valley, asking for examples of audits they have had done. The city has also sent letters to 10 auditing firms asking for examples of the sort of audits they have performed.

Council members must still decide what kind of audits they are interested in and what the subjects will be. But on a few topics they appear to have reached consensus.

City leaders are eager to look into the complex funding mechanism used to build the Civic Arts Plaza--the subject of fierce debate since before the $64-million City Hall and performing arts center was even completed.

In particular, Zeanah and Zukowski have charged that so many funds for other city services were drained to help pay for the building, and so much money was transferred between funds, that neither the council nor the public has a true picture of what Thousand Oaks’ financial status really is.

Fox wants the Civic Arts Plaza audit to cover both the building and land costs, which added almost $20 million to the project’s overall cost. He also wants a review of the original financial plan for the building, a listing of all loans between various city funds that took place and a review of the theater operations to ensure they are not draining the city’s general fund.

The center’s two theaters were intended to pay for themselves, and although that is the case according to city officials, Fox wants a separate opinion.

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The planned $75-million expansion of the Hill Canyon waste water treatment plant--and the hefty sewer fee increases that have been proposed to help pay for it--is another topic that council members are eager to explore.

Zeanah and Zukowski contend that the monthly $7.35-per-household fee increase originally proposed by city officials and supported by the remainder of the council was much higher than necessary. They also question where millions of dollars of the city’s depleted waste water fund went, saying that other projects--especially the Civic Arts Plaza--sucked up more of that fund than city officials have let on.

The City Council, which needs a four-fifths vote to raise the sewer fees, recently approved a more modest $1.80-a-month increase. But city public works officials contend that the new fees will only cover operating costs and will not pay for the upgrades and expansion projects they see as a critical need.

Brimhall said he is looking forward to the day the audits come back. He said he sees the probes as a way to clear his employees from what he believes to be unfair criticism by Zeanah and Zukowski, because city officials are not going to challenge their elected bosses to a debate.

“You’re in a boxing ring and your hands are tied behind your back, that’s a good analogy for what it’s like sometimes,” Brimhall said.

“I think aspersions have been cast on some folks in an egregious manner, and it pains me to see that happen,” he added. “I know the integrity of these individuals, and it is beyond reproach.”

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Lazar, who publicly asked the council last week for “a return to civility,” said she is not sure the audits will change anything. But at this point--even though they figure to cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars--she is willing to give audits a try.

“We have two council members who are passing around this kind of verbiage--really garbage--and unfortunately, because we don’t always get into it with them, some people believe we are covering something up,” Lazar said.

“They don’t believe staff. They don’t believe our consultants. I’m not sure they will believe the auditors. But at least we may have another thing to point to and say, ‘There is no evidence supporting your claims.’ ”

Zukowski said the audit will certainly provide the public with more detailed information about the way their city is run, and that alone is worthwhile.

As a council member, Zukowski said, she cannot always get the information she wants, so the public must really have a difficult time.

“When you don’t have information, you can only rubber-stamp what the staff is recommending, or raise questions,” she said. “I have chosen to raise questions, even if they are not always substantiated. This audit will give me some of the answers I have been looking for.”