Grand jury investigating Victorville

VV Daily Press

April 20, 2009 - 1:00 PM

VICTORVILLE • The San Bernardino County grand jury is investigating the city of Victorville, officials confirmed, with questioning targeted at finances, the November campaign, handshake contracts and verbal agreements.

Mayor Rudy Cabriales and Councilman Ryan McEachron said they were both questioned for an hour by a team of three citizen-members of the county grand jury. The team spent two days at City Hall nearly two weeks ago, the councilman confirmed, also speaking with City Manager Jim Cox, Finance Director John Sullivan and Economic Development Director Keith Metzler, among other management staff.

“The questions were straightforward and the answers were the facts,” Cabriales said, with inquiries targeted at the city’s financial condition and other “recent events.”

He was reluctant to discuss his interview in detail fearing any confidentiality stipulations, though he said he wasn’t asked to sign anything saying not to discuss it.

When asked if any one person or office that was the target of the questioning, McEachron said the only person who was singled out was former city manager Jon Roberts.

“Because of the supposed verbal agreements they did focus somewhat on Jon Roberts and what he did with respect to signing of contracts,” McEachron said.

Both Cabriales and McEachron said the jury told them they were chosen for questioning because they wanted to talk to an official who had been there for some time and someone who is new to the council. They were both also told that the jury grew interested in investigating the city after reading about issues that have appeared in the newspaper.

“I guess with everything that’s gone on I’m not surprised by it,” McEachron said. “It’s too bad that it’s happening to the city of Victorville, but we’ll get through it.”

Neither councilman was given any indication of when the investigation will be over or what, if any, further action the group planned to take.

“They just said if we didn’t hear it was good news and if we did it was bad news,” McEachron said.

So far, nearly two weeks after his interview, McEachron said he hasn’t heard anything — though he doesn’t expect it to be a quick process.

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Brooke Edwards may be reached at 955-5358 or at bedwards@VVDailyPress.com.

Grand jury investigating possible Rancho Cucamonga land sale

By Joe Smilor on April 17, 2009 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | ShareThis

The San Bernardino County grand jury is investigating the potential sale of
1,200 acres of surplus flood-control land in Rancho Cucamonga, and
whether a certain developer is getting preferential treatment.

Five developers are vying for the land, and the county will ultimately decide which gets it.

At least one county supervisor and three Rancho Cucamonga officials have been questioned by the San Bernardino County grand jury regarding the property.

Rancho Cucamonga Mayor Don Kurth said he met with the grand jury last week and was asked about the value of the land and whether the city will benefit from its development. He said the city would not be getting any development fees.

"We've asked the county for those fees, but the county told us they're counting on the development fees to be part of the sale," Kurth said. "(The grand jury) thought we were somehow benefiting by it."

Rancho Cucamonga City Manager Jack Lam said he met with the grand jury and confirmed the topic of questioning was the 1,200-acre property located north of Los Osos High School.

Rancho Cucamonga City Councilman Rex Gutierrez said he met with the Grand Jury on April 7.

"They were wondering whether or not if I felt this deal was a sweetheart deal that would benefit the Rancho Alliance, and in particular, the former members of Diversified Pacific," Gutierrez said. "They were trying to establish whether or not preferences were given to one applicant over another."

Jeff Burum, a principal in Diversified Pacific, is also part of Rancho Alliance Investors, a consortium of developers seeking to develop the land. Burum is also co-managing partner of the Colonies Partners, which sued the county over a flood-control basin on its Upland development. At one time, the 1,200 acres now up for grabs were part of a proposed settlement between the Colonies and the county, but the land was taken off the table after concerns were raised that the county was undervaluing the land as part of the settlement. The county later agreed to pay the Colonies $102 million to settle the lawsuit.

Gutierrez said the grand jury was looking into how the land was appraised, and whether or not it benefitted developers, or if the Board of Supervisors had done anything to give Diversified Pacific some kind of advantage.

Gary Ovitt, chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, met with the grand jury about two weeks ago to discuss the issue, said Mark Kirk, his chief of staff.

"There were a lot of questions that were asked," Kirk said, declining to elaborate on what specifically was discussed.

Burum has become ensnared in an investigation into the county Assessor's Office. He gave Jim Erwin, the former assistant assessor and chief of staff for Supervisor Neil Derry, a $13,000 Rolex watch and a trip to New York City in return for helping shepherd the Colonies settlement.

Burum is on vacation and couldn't be reached for comment for this story.

Erwin has been charged with 10 felony counts of failing to properly report the gifts and will be arraigned May 20.

In February, the Board of Supervisors approved an agreement with the county Flood Control District for the purchase of the land. Once the county buys the land, it will then enter into an entitlement agreement with a selected developer.

A preliminary appraisal of the land by the county determined its value at between $37.5 million and $75 million, but Supervisor Paul Biane has estimated its value at between $25 million and $50 million. Another appraisal is expected next month.

Rancho Alliance Investors is composed of Diversified Pacific, Rancho Cucamonga-based Young Homes, Upland-based Lewis Homes and Walnut-based Shea Homes, and also includes Riverside-based O'Reilly Public Relations and a consulting company owned by former Sen. Jim Brulte.

The four developers competing with Rancho Alliance are not based in the Inland Empire, and that could be a major disadvantage.

Rancho Cucamonga officials have said they will likely lean toward the developer with the biggest footprint in the community.

Rancho City Councilwoman Diane Williams said because the projects that Rancho Alliance is responsible for are in the city, it's easy to have a sense of trust.

"They're local and we can count on them. We've had lots of dealings with the Lewises," Williams said.

Kirk said Ovitt has been rethinking his opinion as to what the best direction is to take regarding the 1,200 acres.

"We have actually started talking in our office - talking about other options other than the current process of awarding it to a developer and negotiating some sort of deal with the developer," Kirk said.

The county can pull out of its contract with Rancho at any time, which is stipulated in the contract, Kirk said.

joe.nelson@inlandnewspapers.com

wendy.leung@inlandnewspapers.com

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