March 2009 Archives
Members of Youth Action Project, a local youth-driven nonprofit group, will participate in a clean-up of Seccombe Lake Park in San Bernardino as part of its Second annual Cesar Chavez Day Park Clean Up.
San Bernardino County Fifth District Supervisor Josie Gonzales has shown her support for the project by donating $1,000 to this year's clean-up event. The clean-up runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Hundreds of volunteers will descend upon the downtown park at Fifth Street and Sierra Way for the massive clean up. The group will gather afterward for a ceremony honoring the Mexican-American civil rights leader.
Volunteers can sign-up to work two-hour shifts.
For more information or to volunteer call Youth Action Project at (909) 888-7881, ext. 254 or visit their website at www.youthactionproject.org. Interested parties can also sign-up online at www.volunteermatch.org.
San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry is proposing to hire controversial anti-illegal-immigration czar Joseph Turner to serve as his special projects coordinator.
Derry's proposal goes before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday for action. It comes five days after his chief of staff, Jim Erwin, was arrested and charged with 10 felony counts of perjury and filing forged or falsified documents relating to gifts he took from an influential Rancho Cucamonga developer in January 2007.
Derry placed Erwin on administrative leave the day of his arrest. He rejected Erwin's voluntary resignation, but has not said if he plans to stand by Erwin during his criminal proceedings.
In 2006, Turner proposed a ballot measure to ban city-funded day laborer centers in San Bernardino and require all city business be conducted in English only. He also proposed penalizing landlords who rent to illegal immigrants. His actions made San Bernardino a focal point in the heated national debate on illegal immigration and possible border reform.
In June 2006, Turner got into an altercation with a man outside the San Bernardino County Courthouse following a court hearing challenging his ballot intiative. He admitted saying to the man, "Do you know what? Your mother can go (expletive) herself!" The man, in turn, slapped Turner, sheriff's officials said.
In October 2006, the San Bernardino City Unified School District union rescinded its endorsement for Turner as a school board member, citing his anti-illegal-immigration activism. Some board members were angry after seeing Internet photographs of Turner alongside neo-Nazis at a rally against day labor centers.
In 2003, Turner started the anti-illegal-immigration nonprofit Save Our State. The home page on the Web site asked the question: "Is your community becoming a 3rd World city?"
Turner currently works for the county's Department of Public Health as a staff analyst.
Derry said that out of a candidate pool of more than 20 people, Turner is most qualified due to his exceptional writing skills and aptitude for finance.
Turner graduated from USC with a degree in finance in 2000.
"He's very bright when it comes to financials, and he's going to work on special projects and communications for the office," Derry said.
Turner couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Jim Erwin, chief of staff for San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry, said today that his arrest Thursday was politically motivated because his boss supports pay cuts to District Attorney's staff and discontinuance of judicial benefits for county judges.
Erwin, 46, of Highland, said during an interview this afternoon in San Bernarino that his infractions at most warrant fines from the Fair Political Practices Commission and not the 10 felony counts and $220,000 bail he was slapped with Thursday for allegedly lying about gifts and trips he received from influential Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum in January 2007.
Burum treated Erwin to a trip to New York City in late January 2007, where he lavished Erwin with a Rolex watch and prostitute as compensation to help shepherd a $102 million settlement with the county over control of flood control property at one if his Upland developments.
Erwin said his boss, Third District Supervisor Neil Derry, is pushing for the discontinuance of judicial benefits for 71 judges that will save the county $1.4 million a year. Derry also supports a 5-percent pay cut for all county prosecutors, public defenders and investigators at each office. Derry also supports the elimination of take-home vehicles for investigators at both the District Attorney's and Public Defender's offices.
One of the judges that appeared before the Board of Supervisors recently to contest the discontinuance of judicial benefits, Douglas Elwell, was the same judge that signed Erwin's arrest warrant, Erwin said.
Elwell could not be reached for comment today.
Erwin posted bond on $220,000 bail Thursday night and was released from custody. He said he offered his resignation Thursday to Derry, but Derry turned it down.
Jim Erwin, chief of staff for San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry, former assistant assessor and former president of the San Bernardino County Safety Employees Benefit Association, has been arrested in connection with the ongoing criminal investigation into the San Bernardino County Assessor's Office.
Investigators from the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office arrested Erwin, 46, this morning without incident at the County Government Center.
Erwin was charged with ten felony counts including: eight counts of
perjury and two counts of offering a false or forged instrument for filing. If convicted on all counts, Erwin faces up to 11 years in state prison, according to a news release by the District Attorney's Office.
Erwin's bail has been set at $220,000.
The criminal investigation is continuing.
A Rancho Cucamonga developer has until March 31 to meet the terms of its contract with the county for a $20 million waterpark at Cucamonga-Guasti Regional Park in Ontario, otherwise the contract will be terminated.
The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday granted Liquid Management Group, Inc. the reprieve after the company's vice president, Mark Mitzenmacher, assured the board LMG would be able to clear its debt and satisy the terms of its contract.
"We've been assured in writing the project will be funded," Mitzenmacher told the board Tuesday.
Supervisor Josie Gonzales was adamant that the county cancel the contract if LMG doesn't make the March 31 deadline so no other fees are incurred.
"I'm sticking my neck out for you because I know it is a good project," Gonzales told Mitzenmacher.
If all goes according to plan, the Caribbean Island-themed waterpark will be open by May 2010. It will feature a 500,000-gallon wave pool, a water slide tower, an activity pool and a raft ride.
The park will also feature a five-acre outdoor, three-tiered amphitheater with 700 stadium-style seats and lawn seating. It will be open year-round.
The Board of Supervisors entered into a a 25-year lease agreement with LMG on May 13, 2008. LMG entered into its funding agreement with World Equity Partners soon therafter, and about four months later the financial market collapsed, Mitzenmacher said.
"We hit the perfect storm of financial meltdown. September (2008) comes and everything stopped, across the globe, so it put us into a delay," Mitzenmacher said.
Since then, the developer has failed to pay the county a substantial portion of park usage and monthly license fees as negotiated in its contract. It has failed to timely submit reports on gross income and has failed to submit proof of insurance.
As a result, the county was forced to serve LMG with notices of default.
In mid-January, World Equity Partners informed LMG things were stabilizing and funding for the project was loosening up. Now, the developer is in the process of closing the deal, Mitzenmacher said.
If the waterpark project is salvaged, the county expects to receive about $8.6 million in revenue from it over the term of LMG's 25-year lease agreement.
The project will bring hundreds of construction jobs to the region, and the waterpark is expected to employee about 400 people once it opens, Mitzenmacher said.
LMG will begin pulling permits immediately after settling its contract obligations with the county.
"The day the money hits the account we're moving forward," said Mitzenmacher. "Because we want to get this park built and open."
San Bernardino County will embark on a nearly $23 million program aimed at revitalizing neighborhoods sacked by the mortgage crisis by providing financial assitance to families who wish to buy foreclosed properties.
The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors today approved using $22.7 million in federal funds to establish programs through its Department of Community Development and Housing that will assist qualified families in the purchase of foreclosed properties.
Qualified homebuyers' choices will be narrowed in scope to areas of the county hit hardest by the collapse of the housing market.
Under federal guidelines, the county has 18 months to obligate the funds after receiving the grant, and four years to spend them.
One program would allow eligible families to receive down payment assistance of up to three and a half percent of the purchase price for a property. Another service would provide low-interest loans to families to cover the cost of fixing up properties they are buying.
The county will also, under the program, partner with the Inland Empire Economic Recovery Coporation (IEERC) to buy foreclosed properties, renovate them and then sell them to qualified families, said Mitch Slagerman, director of the county Department of Community Development and Housing.
The IEERC is a recently formed public-private partnership between San Bernardino and Riverside counties and private investors. The nonprofit's goal is to stabilize the local economy by purchasing foreclosed properties, revitalizing them and then reselling them.
Forty-seven percent of San Bernardino County communities are eligible for the program, Slagerman said.
From Jan. 1, 2006 to present, banks have foreclosed on 39,119 homes across the county and issued mortgage default notices to 95,245 people, said Paul Herrera, spokesman for the San Bernardino County Economic Development Agency.
The county is seeing a monthly average of 5,000 notices of default being sent out to homeowners. In February, 4,822 homeowners received such notices, Herrera said.
"That's the most we've ever recorded in the history of the county," Herrera said.
Among the areas being hit hardest by the mortgage meltdown are the cities of San Bernardino and Fontana and the High Desert.
"The foreclosure crisis has disrupted many lives and neighborhoods and the vacant homes left in the aftermath must be occuppied in order to prevent further damage to neighborhoods," said Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, whose district includes the High Desert.
With the passage of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, $3.92 billion in emergency assistance was allocated to address abandoned and foreclosed homes. Of that amount, the county received the one-time grant of $22.7 million.
The county is preparing to launch in the next week an interactive Web site that will post maps showing all the areas of the county hit hardest by the mortgage crisis. It will serve as a navigtional tool to members of the public interested in purchasing foreclosed properties.
For further information on the program and the Web site, contact Paul Herrera at (909) 387-9809.
Sam Clauder, who served as spokesman and finance chair for the San Bernardino County Democratic Central Committee and as a representative for Congressman Joe Baca, has been charged with felony possession of child pornography.
Clauder, 57, of San Bernardino, pleaded not guilty to the charge during his arraignment March 11 in San Bernardino Superior Court. He posted bond on $25,000 bail and will next appear in court on April 20 for a pretrial hearing. He faces a maximum of three years in prison if convicted, Deputy District Attorney Angela Sonico said.
Clauder was charged with the alleged crime on Feb. 24, which occurred on or about April 16, 2008, according to court records.
Clauder vehemently denies the allegations, and believes he is being framed by his estranged wife, Lana Clauder. He said he and his wife have been ensnared in bitter divorce proceedings since last May.
"This has all got to do with an ugly divorce case, and that's the bottom line," Clauder said.
His attorney, Rajan Maline, said polygraph examinations given to both Lana Clauder and her son by sheriff's detectives were inconclusive. He said his client had moved out of the house months before authorities were notified about the pornography.
"They claim to have found these images on a computer, and this is in the middle of a very heated divorce," Maline said. "The funny thing is is Mr. Clauder wasn't even living in the house at the time the images were found. It's very suspect."
Lana Clauder's attorney, Randall Billington, said his client has a restraining order out against her husband and is concerned for her safety and has no reason to be making things up. He said she is a psychologist for the Jurupa Unified School District in Riverside County and has a solid reputation.
"Ms. Clauder has a long career as a school psychologist. She's well respected in her field," Billington said.
He said his client has no animosity toward her husband.
"She wishes him the best and hopes he goes on to live a successful life," Billington said.
Clauder said he was fired Monday as Congressman Joe Baca's Congressional representative after Baca's reps started getting phone calls from the media about Clauder's legal woes.
Last month, Clauder resigned as spokesman and finance chair for the San Bernardino County Democratic Central Committee, said Carol Robb, chairwoman of the organization.
Clauder, however, still remains a committee member, Robb said.
She is standing by Clauder.
"As the wife of a former prosecutor, I have faith in the system, and I also know from being a teacher's advocate and the president of a local teacher's union that anyone can be accused of just about anything," Robb said.
She's confident the allgations against Clauder have no merit.
"I have no reason to believe than they are anything other than bogus," Robb said.
Clauder has a history of run-ins with the law.
He pleaded guilty in December to a charge of disturbing the peace and was ordered by the court to enroll in a 52-week batterers treatment program no later than March 1.
Clauder said that conviction occurred as a result of a spat he had with a sheriff's bailiff during a court divorce proceeding.
On April 16, 2008, Clauder was arrested on suspicion of hitting his wife and was subsequently jailed. The charges were later dismissed, and Clauder said he filed for divorce about 10 days later.
In 1986, Clauder said he was convicted in Orange County of misdemeanor corporal punishment of a child. The charge stemmed from him spanking his stepson and leaving scars on his buttocks. He said the judge sentenced him to one year of informal probation and 20 hours of communty service at a child abuse center.
Despite that history, Clauder's attorney believes the evidence against his client has all the ingredients of a dismissal.
"I beieve that Mr. Caluder will be cleared after all is said is done," Maline said. "This kind of allegation is going to be hard to clear his name, but clear his name we will."
As two independent probes into alleged misconduct at the San Bernardino County Assessor's Office remain under investigtion, the Board of Supervisors has yet to initiate a process for replacing disgraced former Assessor Bill Postmus.
Postmus resigned from office Feb. 13 following an arrest for suspected methamphetamine possession and a spate of allegations that the office he oversaw was used for political purposes. He has not been charged with a crime.
The District Attorney's Office continues its investigation into alleged political malfeasance at the Assessor's Office. John Hueston, the trailblazing attorney who successfully prosecuted key figures in the Enron scandal and was commissioned by the county to do his own investigation into the Assessor's Office, has yet to report his findings to the Board of Supervisors.
"It's going to happen. How it happens and when it happens is still up in air," said Mark Kirk, chief of staff for Supervisor Gary Ovitt, the board chairman.
As for naming Postmus's successfor, Kirk said Ovitt's office is currently working on a proposal for replacing Postmus that should go before the Board of Supervisors sometime in April.
Assistant Assessor Dennis Draeger, who is currently acting as the interim Assessor, former Assessor Donald Williamson and state Sen. Bob Dutton (R- Rancho Cucamonga) have all expressed an interest in taking over the Assessor's Office, said Second District Supervisor Paul Biane.
He said he sent a memo to Ovitt about two weeks ago suggesting it was time to get the ball rolling.
"I think it's time to start moving forward on the process," Biane said.
Whomever Postmus' successor is, preference will likely go to someone with local real estate experience and management skills who is also a credentialed real estate appraiser, Biane said.
Biane said Sen. Dutton's interest in the position is keen.
"He said if he doesn't get it he will be running for the office in 2010," Biane said.
As for Hueston's investigation, Kirk said county officials are in the process of compiling information and "tying up some loose ends." They also want to be sensitive to the separate and pending criminal investigation by the District Attorney's Public Integrity Unit.
But the public can remain hopeful that the findings from Hueston's investigation will eventually be made public, it's just uncertain when that will be.
"I think it's pretty clear to everyone that the public has an expectaton of results for the money that's been spent on this investigation," said Kirk, adding that the couhty has thus fr spent about $90,000 for Hueston's services. "And it's this office's desire to give them that."
San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry is seeking applicants to fill current vacancies on various boards, committees and commissions throughout the Third District he represents.
Members of Boards, Commissions and Committees, also known as BCC's, assist governmental bodies in decision-making processes. Registered voters who wish to find out more information on the BCCs can visit Derry's Web site at http://www.sbcounty.gov/bosd3/ and follow the direct link "Boards/Commissions".
By clicking on the direct link, you will be taken to the Clerk of the Board Web site where roles and responsibilities for each BCC can be found along with the application to become a member.
The Clerk of the Board can also be contacted at (909) 387-3841 if further assistance is needed.
]San Bernardino County may be facing a $131 million budget deficit over the next two years, but its $4 billion investment pool remains one of the best in the state, Treasurer-Tax Collector Dick Larsen announced Monday.
The county recently received a top rating of AAAf from Stanard & Poor's, an arm of McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. that publishes financial research and rates stocks and bonds according to investment risk. The county, which is rated quarterly by the company, has received the coveted ranking since 1999.
"As the guardian of the public's dollars it is of utmost importance to me and our office to ensure the county's tax dollars are invested properly and kept safe," Larsen said in a news release.
Essentially, it means the county's investment pool carries the smallest degree of risk and an expectation that any adverse economic factors, such as the flagging economy, will have minimal impacts to the fund, Larsen said.
The county's investment pool is made up of property tax dollars and local government agency funds. For the fiscal year 2007-2008, the county's investment pool yielded more than $175 million in investment earnings.
A trailblazing political consultant from San Diego County has been hired on as the San Bernardino County Republican Party's new executive director to help boost the number of registered Republican voters in the county.
As an executive board member for San Diego County's Republican Party, Matt Schumsky, 42, helped bolster the number of Republican elected officials in San Diego County over the last six years, from about 30 percent to about 70 percent. He hopes to do the same thing in San Bernardino County, where the number of registered Republicans has waned in the last year.
"Our main mission is getting Republicans registered and getting Republicans elected," Schumsky said Wednesday. "We're basically going to be doing a lot of the same things we did in San Diego here in San Bernardino."
Democrats have been gaining marginal ground in San Bernardino County since the November election. As of Monday, there were two-percent more registered voters in San Bernardino County than Republicans, with 337,283 registered Democrats and 320,414 registered Republicans, according to the county Registrar's Office.
In October, registered Democrats in San Bernardino County had a 1.21-percent lead over registered Republicans.
An aggressive signature drive by Republicans in September, which led to allegations of voter fraud, could not thwart the number of voters registering as Democrats.
"What we have seen is a slow, steady increase in Democratic registration since the November election," said Carol Robb, chairwoman fo the San Bernardino County Democratic Central Committee. "I think people are beginning to realize that the Republican party may not be representing their interest. Clearly, the candidcacy and election of Barack Obama really captured many people's imaginations and hearts and minds."
County Republicans, however, are not deterred, and say the slight Democratic majority will be "short lived."
Schumsky plans to bring in more paid staff to the county Republican Central Committee soon, but that hinges on raising enough money to do so.
"For now, it's a one-man show," Schumsky said.
State Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Party, said Schumsky's organizational skills and demonstrated leadership while working under former San Diego County Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring, now the chairman of the California Republican Party, makes him the perfect candidate for the job.
"We're hoping Matt can bring some of the great work he did in San Diego to San Bernardino County," Adams said, stressing Schumsky's "very aggressive" voter registration and precinct programs in San Diego County and excellent fund-raising skills."
Adams has come under heavy scrutiny from fellow Republicans in recent months for supporting temporary tax hikes in California of more than $13 million. Sen. Robert Dutton asked Adams to resign late last month, and in January, radio shock-jocks John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou made Adams a target of their "heads-on-a-stick" campaign after Adams said he would support tax increases to help resolve the state's $42 billion budget deficit.
Controversy aside, Adams will remain the chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Party.
"Anthony is a very hard working guy, and no matter what other things are going on . . . he's helping the party as much as he can," Schumsky said.
Last year, Schumsky ran the John Mccain/Sarah Palin Congressional campaign for the California Republican Party. Prior to that, he was the campaign manager for Congressman Duncan D. Hunter.
The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved an ordinance calling for a 5-percent cut in hours to all county administrators and a voluntary retirement package for qualifying employees.
The cost-cutting measures are part of the county's plan to help alleviate its more than $131 million budget deficit for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 fiscal years.
The ordinance will go before the Board of Supervisors on March 17 for a second reading. It calls for an eight-hour reduction per pay period for all county administrative staff and certain contract employees beginning July 1.
In addition, eligible employees who voluntarily retire before June 30 will receive an additional $1,000 a year for the first five years of their retirement.
The county is still negotiating with its labor unions on similar packages, and plans to meet with them this month, said Bob Windle, assistant human resources director for the county.
Those unions include the San Bernardino County Public Employees Association (SBPEA), the San Bernardino County Safety Employees Benefit Association (SEBA), the county Public Attorneys Association and the California Nurses Association.
"We've thrown everything on the table, and we expect they will bring some ideas to us as well," said Windle. "At this point it's hard to say what will happen."
The pay cuts for administrative staff are expected to save the county $3.6 million in the next fiscal year, while the early retirement incentive program is expected to save the county $35 million over the five-year period following retirement.
All the unions, with the exception of the one representing county probation officers, have agreed to the voluntary retirement program, Windle said.
It is unclear when a proposal will go to the board regarding pay cuts for unionized employees. Windle estimated anywhere from one to four months.
Michelle Scray was sworn in Tuesday as San Bernardino County's chief probation officer, the same day the county Board of Supervisors approved a new, $63 million juvenile hall in San Bernardino.
Scray, 45, a native of Needles and San Bernardino resident of 18 years, has worked for the Probation Department for 23 years. She will oversee a department with 1,200 employees and an annual operating budget of $135 million.
"I have a significant investment in this community and the safety and protection of this county," Scray said following her swearing in at the Board of Supervisors meeting. "Whatever happens in San Bernardino County affects me and my family as well."
Among the first orders of business for Scray include overseeing the construction of the new Central Juvenile Detention and Assessment Center at 900 E. Gilbert St. in San Bernardino. It will replace the antiquated and deteriorating juvenile hall that opened in February 1958.
"We have young offenders who are housed in a facility that is deteriorating . . . and it's time for a change," Scray said.
Demolition of the existing facility will begin in six to eight weeks and take about 30 months to complete. Some juvenile wards have already been transferred to the county's two other juvenile detention facilities in Rancho Cucamonga and Apple Valley, while the remaining wards in San Bernardino will stay housed in their existing unit until the new one is complete. Then, they will move into the rebuilt unit, Scray said.
A request for proposals from contractors for the demolition and construction of the new facility began in December 2007, and the county ultimately chose Tempe, Az.-based Sundt Construction, Inc. for the job.
Over the years, the existing 280-bed juvenile hall has deteriorated significantly, and its construction design is no longer conducive to the safety of both wards and staff, officials said.
"I've toured the facility a couple of times and have seen safety situations that needed to be addressed," said Fifth District Supervisor Josie Gonzales, whose district includes San Bernardino.
While the new juvenile hall will present a safer and more structurally sound environment for juvenile wards and Probation Department staff, Gonzales said it is unfortunate that a need exists for such facilities.
"The social economics and the familial makeup of our communities has changed drastically, and it is contributing to the need for such a facility, and that is quite unfortunate," Gonzales said. "But if we are going to be entrusted with the safety and welfare and hopefully the positive rehabilitation of our youth, we need to have adequate facilties . . ."
An ordinance proposing to cut all county administrators' work hours by 5-percent and offer special incentives to employees who voluntarily retire early goes before the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday for a first reading.
Under the terms of the ordinance, administrative staff and certain contract employees would see their work schedules reduced by up to eight hours per pay period. In addition, eligible employees who voluntarily retire before June 30 would receive an additional $1,000 a year for the first five years of their retirement.
An identical proposal is aimed at the two labor unions representing county employees, the San Bernardino County Public Employees Association (SBPEA) and the San Bernardino County Safety Employees Benefit Association (SEBA). The county is still in negotiations with the unions, and the Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on a similar agenda item soon, said David Wert, county spokesman.
"This just makes it clear to union employees that this isn't something they won't be by themselves on, and management is going to participate as well," Wert said.
It's part of an effort by the county to shore up a more than $131 million budget deficit for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 fiscal years. The proposed pay cuts to admistrative staff and contract employees is expected to save the county $3.6 million in the next fiscal year, while the early retirement incentive program is expected to save the county $35 million over the five-year period.
More than two years ago, county officials started observing a disturbing blip in the housing market and began taking steps to address the looming mortgage meltdown and economic crisis. It imposed a hiring freeze, cut back on employee travel and other miscellaneous expenses and implemented an eight-percent cut to all department budgets, Wert said.
The proposed pay cuts to the two labor unions, as they stand now, would save the county an estimated $18.2 million.
The proposed ordinance for administrative staff and certain contract employees goes before the board for a final reading on March 17.
The county has settled a lawsuit with the operator of a Hesperia juvenile group home for $2.7 million in order to avoid a trial.
The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday is expected to approve a payout from the county's general fund that will go to Tucson-based VisionQuest, the parent company that operates the Fred D. Jones Youth Center.
The county, under orders from the state to reduce overcrowding at San Bernardino Junvenile Hall, entered into a 10-year, $95 million contract with Lodgemakers of California Inc., a subsidiary of VisionQuest, in January 2002 to house wards at the youth center. Under the terms of the contract, the county was supposed to refer 72 juvenile wards to the group home on a monthly basis, said David Wert, county spokesman.
In 2006, a dispute arose between Lodgemakers and the Probation Department over the number of wards being referred to the facility, or lack thereof. It was the county's contention that the number of youths to be referred to the group home was not clearly defined in the contract, Wert said.
A spate of unfortunate incidents that occurred at the facility didn't help matters.
The state investigated the facility in 2006 following allegations of at least two instances of sexual misconduct between female staffers and boys in their care. The same year, a riot erupted at the facility involving about 50 boys.
In 2005, 82 wards were reported to have run away from the group home, and from mid-April to Mid-July 2006, the Hesperia sheriff's station responded to more than 50 calls for service there.
"The facility just ended up not being very well run, and the county started reducing the number of youths it sent there and eventually canceled the contract," Wert said.
VisionQuest President Mark Contento declined to comment today, saying he wouldn't do so until after the Board of Supervisors' action on Tuesday.
Lodgemakers sued the county in April 2007 for $5 million, alleging the county hadn't provided the appropriate number of wards as agreed to in its contract.
On Feb. 3, the day before the county was set to go to trial with Lodgemakers, the county settled.
"The county feels there was a real enough risk it could lose the lawsuit, and that it just made sense to settle," Wert said.
In 2003, the West Valley Juvenile Detention and Assessment Center opened its doors for up to 182 wards. Two years later, the $31 million, 200-bed High Desert Juvenile Detention and Assessment Center in Apple Valley opened, alleviating the overcrowding problem with juvenile wards in the county, said Michelle Scray, chief probation officer.
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