Just minutes after Colusa City Councilwoman Denise Conrado praised city officials on their work to rebuild trust with the public after a scathing grand jury report, Colusa Mayor Tom Reische, in the same meeting, interfered with City Treasurer Devin Kelley’s effort to address the council as an elected public official. He also told a member of the public to sit down just seconds into his public comment on a separate agendized matter.
Reische, who has been on the dais for 20 years, is no stranger to talking over criticism and opinions he doesn’t like. He threatened a member of the press with ejection from a public meeting in 2020, and more recently walked out of a City Council meeting because he didn’t want to hear what a member of the public had to say.
Seconds after she praised Reische, Councilman Greg Ponciano, and City Manager Jesse Cain for their longevity with the city, Conrado praised the council, whose majority of members are fairly new, for implementing new policies and ordinances after the Grand Jury found numerous violations, particularly related to unauthorized purchases and misuse of credit cards.
The City Council agenda, as does the agendas of the Colusa County Board of Supervisors and Williams City Council, allots time for members, department heads, and staff to briefly update the public on general matters, although that portion of the Colusa City Council agenda had been removed in late 2021 and was only reinstated this summer.
Conrado, during her report, said she wanted to combat some of the negativity surrounding the investigation by taking a few moments to speak positively about matters going on in the city, including updating out-of-date ordinances.
“The city council has more transparency than it’s ever had,” Conrando said.
Yet, old habits apparently die hard.
Within seconds of Kelley starting her report, Reische interrupted her and instructed her to speak in the future only as a member of the public, which is a procedure not required of the elected city clerk or contracted staff.
The exchange left Kelley stunned – and the audience and some city officials in a moment of shocked silence.
“Communication is important to remain transparent and build trust between individuals and elected officials,” Kelley said later. “Lack of communication and transparency causes speculation and a lack of trust.”
Kelley, who had left the room in near tears shortly after the exchange, had started her report by trying to follow Conrado’s lead to speak positively about the changes the city has implemented.
“I wanted to continue the nature of positivity by advising the council that the receipts for the A/P check runs have improved over the last year, especially receipts for the city credit cards,” Kelly said. “I also wanted the council to know that I was still working on the July Treasurer’s report and that I had recently received additional information from Ish (finance director), and it should be done soon. Then I wanted to inform the council of a couple of checks that were on the August warrants list (when) I was interrupted by Mayor Reische.”
Under California law, elected treasurers, although paid by the city, are accountable only to their constituents, and are not employees under the authority of the City Council or City Manager. They are bound by California law to perform a number of duties, among them paying out money signed only by legally designated persons, and regularly, at least once each month, submitting to the city clerk a written report and accounting of receipts, disbursements, and fund balances to be placed on the agenda.
Although much of the duties of elected treasurers have been usurped by city finance departments throughout California, with or without their agencies establishing ordinances amending the responsibilities as outlined in the government code, many treasurers (including former Colusa Treasurer Gar Rourke, now deceased) or their designees also give oral reports.
In Williams, the treasurer participates in the City Finance Committee meetings, and while the treasurer’s report is prepared and delivered by the finance director, the report itself, as well as the check warrants, are agendized for the City Council as an open session item for consideration and public discussion.
Because Colusa approves check warrants only on the consent agenda without discussion, with Reische recusing himself due to his financial interest in Messick’s Hardware, which provides goods and services to the city, Kelley intended in her oral remarks to bring attention to a check written for professional tree services in the amount of $37,600 that had not come to City Council for approval, nor could city staff produce a contract with the provider as required by the city’s purchasing policy.
Kelley said she was also concerned about a check written for $59,482.50 for a new engine to be installed in a firetruck.
“Although there is a policy for emergency purchases, the policy states that “in the case of contracts in the amount of $50,000 or more, this determination shall be made retroactively by the city council,” Kelley said. “There have been two council meetings since this prepayment in full was made and the item has (still) not been placed on the agenda. Also, there was no written determination for the basis of the emergency or for the selection of the particular contractor, nor was a contract or agreement for this service/purchase generated.”
The payment for the repair was issued months after the city manager also authorized the purchase and outfitting of a new BLS unit, now well over $100,000 in costs, without the purchase ever coming to the City Council for approval.
According to the California Municipal Treasurers Association’s code of ethics, city treasurers should be dedicated to the concepts of effective and efficient local government, the highest ideals of honor, integrity, and objectivity in all public and professional relationships, and to function within existing legal guidelines.
“I believe all employees, contractors, and elected officials should always follow legal guidelines and all written policies and procedures in order to protect the city and build confidence and trust within the community,” Kelley said.
Investigations into the functions of city treasurers are often undertaken by grand juries, according to news reports, although some duties, such as tax collection, have long been reassigned to other agencies or departments, with or without official changes to local ordinances that outline the duties and responsibilities of the elected treasurer.
In 2012, the Solano County Grand Jury found three of its six general law cities used the treasurer’s electronic signature to authorize checks and that none of those treasurers ever reviewed the signed documents. Only Rio Vista’s city treasurer hand-signed checks after verifying the documents for appropriateness, according to the report.
In 2020, the San Bernardino County Grand Jury found City of Upland staff were deliberately deceptive and acted improperly by covering over notations from the city treasurer to the city council regarding the city’s unfunded pension liabilities.
The treasurer, who resigned before the grand jury report came out, sent a scathing letter to the council criticizing officials for altering reports and interfering with his duties and responsibilities as the elected official.
As for being the guardian of the city’s bank accounts, which is an official duty, Kelley said she will not stop fighting for clear lines of communication between residents, elected officials, administrative officers, and employees, which is one of the many tenets of the California Municipal Treasurers Association.
“There should be no reason to not have all the appropriate documentation or provide answers to questions when asking the treasurer to sign warrants,” Kelley said.
Yet, city staff reportedly continue to interfere with her responsibilities.
Kelley said when she doesn’t sign a check, she will either ask the finance director about the purchase or place a note on the check itself.
“I never get answers to my notes and the checks are simply signed by another person, including the city manager,” Kelley said.
As for only speaking during public comment periods in the future, Reische did acquiesce to Ponciano’s response to the dustup that reports given in public comment would not allow for the city council to engage or briefly respond to the city treasurer, as they do when others give their reports.
“Fair enough,” Reische replied.
Although she was then encouraged by Reische to proceed, Kelley said the immediate damage was done and she was unable to go on with her report.
However, she said she would continue to bring these same purchasing issues to the council with each report, including the $200,000 check written for a street sweeper, which should appear on the check registry next month.
Kelley said although the need for such equipment may have been previously discussed, as she was told, she said the city council did not actually approve the purchase in an open meeting, and neither she nor the public have seen the purchasing documents.
While civil grand juries often find the actions and inaction of council members are not consistent with the duties owed to the constituents they were elected to serve (causing severe dysfunction in city governance), most issues are not found to be criminal in nature.
However, dissuading speakers in a public meeting does violate the spirit and letter of the law when it comes to California’s Ralph M. Brown Act, which can – but rarely – result in a misdemeanor citation.
The Brown Act, one of California’s main sunshine laws, is intended to provide public access to meetings of local government agencies. Codified as Government Code sections 54950-54963, its purpose is as described: The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.
“I take my role as city treasurer seriously and believe in honesty and open communication,” Kelley said. “I believe the public has a right to know how and when their tax dollars are being spent and have a right to trust that the city is being run in accordance with policies and procedures and absolute transparency. I believe some council members and staff do not want me to give reports because it exposes that this is not always the case. I have little to no communication with most staff and council members and I feel that we should be working together and not against each other. I have expressed this to the council and the city manager, who was not as responsive to my suggestion as I hoped.”
Reische was not contacted for further comment as he agreed to allow Kelley to report to the council in the future. ■