O.C. Health Consultant Has Disputed Pay Pact

Los Angeles County’s retired director of health services will continue his work as a management consultant for the Orange County Health Care Agency next year despite questions raised Tuesday about his pay.

Robert C. Gates, who retired from his Los Angeles County post in 1995, will be paid about $144,000 by Orange County, which also will pay his unemployment insurance, Social Security and workers’ compensation. He will be paid through a nonprofit organization called Public Health Foundation Enterprises Inc.

The pay arrangement through a third party is necessary, officials told the Orange County Board of Supervisors, because former workers for Orange and Los Angeles counties cannot work more than 700 hours for another government agency after they retire. By working through a third party, Gates isn’t bound by the hourly limitation.

Gates was employed by the Orange County Health Care Agency from 1968 to 1978, and by Los Angeles County for 17 more years, then left with an ending salary of $177,679. He is drawing retirement payments from both counties’ retirement systems.

Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby raised questions about the contract Tuesday, saying he was troubled by public officials who retire and then return to government work at or near their previous salaries.

He rejected the notion that Gates had “a unique set of skills” that couldn’t be found in anyone else on the county payroll. By agreeing to contract with the foundation for Gates’ work, Norby said, the county set a precedent of violating the intent of the law that restricts public employment after retirement.

“I’m making no aspersions on his talent or him personally,” Norby said, “but he’s already drawing checks from two different retirement systems, and as a matter of public policy, it’s not a good idea to hire these people.”

Supervisors Chuck Smith and Bill Campbell said they agreed with Norby in principle but said Gates’ work has been valuable in reducing costs for Orange County’s program that provides medical services to indigents. Gates also has worked on a proposal of Smith’s to allow county employees to buy medicine from Canada at a savings to them and the county.

“He’s saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs, and his services are vital,” Smith said.

The contract approved Tuesday by supervisors, over Norby’s objection, calls for Gates to be paid the equivalent of nearly 45 weeks full time at $81 an hour. He has been paid $75 an hour for his county work this year, also through the foundation, for a total contract amount of $152,713.

Spurred by the issue, supervisors asked County Executive Officer Thomas Mauk to report in January how many retired employees had been hired back as independent contractors.

Internal Auditor Peter Hughes said his office found that one retired employee had worked more than 700 hours this year, an improvement over past years, when as many as 14 retirees were logging too many hours.

Gates left Los Angeles County employment Nov. 1, 1995, amid a healthcare budget crisis in the county hospital system.

Officials at the Los Angeles offices of Public Health Foundation Enterprises weren’t available Tuesday to comment on Gates’ relationship with the group.