The Stanislaus Council of Governments has placed Executive Director Rosa De Leon Park on paid leave, at $25,000 a month, following a grand jury probe.
The StanCOG policy board voted 11-5 on Monday night, June 30, after a closed session of nearly two and a half hours. Some of the dissenters made especially strong statements that the pay was not justified.
The Stanislaus County Civil Grand Jury issued a report June 25 accusing Park of lavish spending on travel and rude treatment of her staff. The agency oversees transportation funding for the county government and nine cities.
Park took part in both the closed and open sessions, sitting as usual next to Chairman Buck Condit in the downtown Modesto boardroom. She has not commented to the media about the report.
Park has retained an attorney, Kevin Rooney of Stockton, who also sat in on both sessions. He emailed a statement to The Modesto Bee later Monday. It said in part, “Ms. De Leon Park was disappointed to read the many inaccuracies and misrepresentations contained in the civil grand jury’s report, particularly after she and her staff worked cooperatively and collaboratively with the grand jury to provide voluminous and accurate documentation responsive to their inquiries.”
The board returned to closed session after 9 p.m. to discuss appointing an interim manager. The outcome was not available as of Tuesday morning.
The dissenters on the paid leave included three of the five county supervisors: Mani Grewal, Channce Condit and Terry Withrow. Also voting against the motion were Councilmembers Kayleigh Gilbert of Oakdale and Carlos Roque of Patterson.
Roque read a statement composed on his smart phone: “I voted no as a matter of principle to uphold accountability, ensure transparency and maintain public trust until this issue is fully resolved.”
Gilbert said, “... I do not believe that Rosa should get paid her $25,000-a-month administrative paid leave.”
Channce Condit said he had made a motion to put Park on unpaid leave, but it failed. Withrow said he opposed the final motion because the leave did not have a specific length. Grewal said he would rather pay Park for her accrued vacation time.
None of the supporters of the paid leave gave their reasons during open session that followed the closed meeting. Buck Condit did comment to The Bee afterward.
“It was more strictly due process,” he said. “We appreciate all the work that the grand jury has done on this, but we need to follow up with our own facts and make sure that when we do make decisions about people’s careers, it is correct.”
County Supervisor Vito Chiesa voted for the paid leave. So did all three of Modesto’s members, Mayor Sue Zwahlen and Councilmembers Rosa Escutia-Braaten and David Wright. The motion also was supported by Riverbank Mayor Rachel Hernandez, Ceres Mayor Javier Lopez, Turlock Councilmember Erika Phillips, Newman Mayor Casey Graham, Hughson Mayor George Carr and Waterford Mayor Charles Goeken.
The board had held another closed session the day the report was released. It issued a statement that the document “is deeply troubling” and called for further investigation. This will include an audit of past spending, improved financial controls in the future, and a review of “hiring, retention and staff treatment.”
Park’s attorney said she does not deserve a leave of any kind and “looks forward to the results of an independent and unbiased review of the claims made in the grand jury’s report.”
Rooney also noted that Park helped secure $85 million in project funding from the California Transportation Commission last week. The money will go to replacing the Seventh Street Bridge in Modesto, extending the Highway 132 bypass and building sidewalks on a few blocks in Empire
“Once an ineffective body, under her leadership StanCOG has been recognized not only statewide, but also nationally for the pivotal role it has played in the county and region,” Rooney said. Park has worked for the agency since 2009 and held the top post since 2015.
The grand jury said a change in the joint powers agreement in 2017 designated the StanCOG financial services director as the auditor-controller for the agency, which removed outside oversight.
The grand jury also was critical of the generous salaries for the top three senior managers of StanCOG.
According to the report, the jury’s investigation found Park was allowed nine weeks of paid vacation per year, the unused portion of which could be converted to cash twice a year. The executive director’s vacation time was set at nine weeks as of June 30, 2023, but the grand jury probe never determined how it was approved or when.
The report says the jury asked the StanCOG administrative services director for figures on vacation cashouts for the executive director but the information wasn’t provided. Witnesses told the grand jury the executive director rarely took vacation. Her paid vacation could be cashed for $27,864 every six months, the report says.
The grand jury claimed that Park’s total compensation was worth $484,156 in 2022, including base salary of $246,553, $71,447 in other pay and $166,156 in benefits. That was $138,000 higher than the compensation for the Sacramento Council of Government’s top executive, who oversees 31 agencies compared to StanCOG’S 17 and has an annual budget that’s twice as large. The comparison relied on data from Transparent California, a nonprofit service that tracks pay for public employees.
Park’s compensation topped the list among the seven Council of Governments in the Central Valley, even though StanCOG is the smallest agency, with 14 employees.
The grand jury report has numerous recommendations for correcting problems at StanCOG and improving the work environment.
StanCOG should amend the joint powers agreement to include the county auditor-controller to provide oversight, the report says, adding the policy board should institute monthly, quarterly and annual reviews of travel expenditures and project funds.
It recommends abolishing the executive director position and using an operations officer to oversee daily operations. A proposed information officer position would have responsibility for engagement with political officials and jurisdictions.
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