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Extracted from Consolidated Report

This investigation was originally published as part of a larger consolidated report containing multiple investigations. View the consolidated PDF for the complete document.

Tulare County Grand Jury • 2015-2016

Citizen Complaints & Forms

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⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.

⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

Findings 8 findings

The TLHCD routinely withheld pertinent information and financial data from the Bond Oversight Committee, thus rendering the Committee incapable of performing its oversight function.

The Bond Oversight Committee failed to exercise due diligence in following up on requests for detailed financial information which was necessary for the independent oversight of the expenditure of bond funds.

The 2005 voter authorized $85 Million in bonds has been completely expended. At the time this report was drafted, TLHCD had only an uncompleted and non-functional structure to show for it.

It appears that TLHCD either intentionally or unintentionally failed to comprehend the issue of the cost differential between the $85 Million in bond authorization and the total project cost estimated to be well in excess of $100 Million. It further appears that TLHCD attempted to justify their position by unsupported estimates of reserves and projection of future revenues.

Strict and complex statutes regarding public disclosure of information pertaining to the expenditure of funds proceeding from the issuance of bonds, appear to have been routinely circumvented by the TLHCD Board of Directors.

Minutes of TLHCD meetings from January 2010 through December of 2015 fail to disclose the TULARE COUNTY GRAND JURY REPORT 2015-2016 5 6 dire situation into which the Phase I project had devolved, thus leaving TLHCD taxpayers without direaccess to information to which they were entitled.

The turmoil surrounding the personnel turnover at the top of the TLHCD management structure served to distract Board Members’ attention from the Phase I Project, thus leading to additional delays and severance agreements in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The court ordered settlement represents 9.29 percent of the $85 Million in proceeds from the sale of bonds and required funds needed to complete Phase I to be allocated to a purpose other than construction. CONCLUSION: The Tulare County Grand Jury undertook investigation of this complaint with the goal of uncovering truths and answering questions which had been withheld from the public for nearly a decade (from commencement of construction of the Phase I Tower in 2005, through the end of 2015). Seven months of intense investigation has brought the Grand Jury to the conclusion that millions of dollars in public funds have not been accounted for by the TLHCD. Moreover, the preponderance of evidence presented to the Grand Jury indicates that over the same period of time, the TLHCD withheld information pertaining to the expenditure of public funds to which the District’s constituents were entitled.

Recommendations 3

R1

That the TLHCD Board of Directors, without delay, undergo training in aspects of governmental transparency and disclosure requirements pertaining to the expenditure of public funds.
R2

That the TLHCD Board of Directors, without delay, release to the general public a full disclosure of the manner in which proceeds from the sale of $85 Million in bonds were expended from September of 2007 through December of 2015.
R3

That the current Bond Oversight Committee be disbanded and a new Committee seated, fully enabled to disclose the actual/present financial circumstances surrounding the Phase I Project. REQUIRED RESPONSES: 1. Tulare Local Health Care District Board of Directors