Did landscaping assessments in Calabasas Park go to the Tennis and Swim Center?

Did landscaping assessments in Calabasas Park go to the Tennis and Swim Center?

By Michael Picarella

Acorn Staff Writer

Some Calabasas residents are upset that money they’ve paid for services in their part of the city might have been used elsewhere.

Calabasas Park Homeowners’ Association (CPHA) president Helene Regen said that she and others want to know how much is missing. They also want to be reimbursed, she said, if the funds were either lost or misappropriated.

The city of Calabasas is separated into four local landscape assessment districts.

CPHA is one of about 17 homeowners’ associations that belong to landscape District 22. Money that homeowners have paid for landscape projects in their district has been used for about five years, according to the city’s interim finance director Bill Yeomans, for projects related to the city-owned Calabasas Tennis and Swim Center at 23400 Park Sorrento.

"We question why the carry over (in District 22) has gone down to $200,000 when two years ago it was over $800,000," Regen told the city council during last week’s meeting. "We are not demeaning the management or administration or the staff ... What we’re questioning is, ‘What happened to the homeowners’ money and how is it managed?’ Whether it be properly or improperly, we need to know. It’s our money."

Regen went on. "We need separate check registers. The money comes into the (city’s) general fund and then it’s dispersed out (among the districts). We don’t know how and when it’s dispersed."

Regen asked the council––and she said she’s asked for five years

––for a board of five individuals to organize the district’s financial records and make reports available to the public.

Calabasas public works director and city engineer Charles Mink said, "I believe that we’ve opened our books. Anybody can look at them."

City Councilman Barry Groveman said he’s tried to find documentation regarding monies transferred from District 22 to the city’s Tennis and Swim Center and he can’t find any records whatsoever.

"One of the things I’m bothered by is the fact that this city has been transferring money out of the general fund to an account out of our control, which is the landscaping districts—without any council approval that I am able to find," Groveman said.

"I find no resolution, no public reporting, no consistency with the Brown Act (a law that requires public access and notification of meetings) that explains to me how that’s been happening."

It’s the symptom of what could be a disaster, Groveman said, if it’s not fixed.

"If there were hundreds of thousands of dollars spent out of District 22 for a city-owned facility, we’re going to pay it back," Groveman said. The city council, according to Groveman, already authorized an audit of the landscape districts. That audit is being delayed until it’s completely necessary, he said. That time has arrived, according to Groveman.

According to Yeomans, monies allocated for the Tennis and Swim Center only paid for landscaping in front of the property. Groveman said he believed funds were spent for projects inside the facility, adding that he wants to see receipts that prove otherwise.

"This is the problem: you always get a different answer and nothing is recorded," Groveman said.

Yeomans said monies were transferred from District 22 to the Tennis and Swim Center from about 1996 to 2001. City Manager Donald Duckworth said he stopped the transfers in 2001.

"I did it based on management judgment," Duckworth said. His action was documented in a report, Duckworth said.

That kind of system, Groveman said, must be eliminated. Decisions of this type, he said, should be conducted in public with a vote by the council.

Groveman will propose a solution next week addressing the matter, he said. But an audit also must be completed in a timely fashion, said Groveman.

Mayor Pro Tem Michael Harrison said the issue probably won’t be resolved until the city finds a chief financial officer. The city now operates with an interim finance director.