Friday, December 05, 2008

Who is Steve Berry Working for When We Pay Him?

Steve Berry a City Paid Employee apparently has sufficient time in his busy schedule during the day to take time to work for the Benefit of Riverside City Schools in a volunteer fund raising capacity for the REEF Non Profit. Now some of the activities of this organization directly benefit the children in the school district of Riverside. However, much of what is donated to this Organization is spent in funding trips to Safari type "Educational Enrichment for Teachers".

Here is the real problem I have with Steve Berry's involvement with this organization. When he attends a meeting on Wednesday Morning to its conclusion once a month... Does he take time unpaid while he Volunteers to serve on REEF? Does he take unpaid leave when he is attending REEF Events, or spends time soliciting funds for REEF? Or are we the citizens of Grand Terrace Subsidising his REEF Fund Raising efforts by paying for his time and labor.

This needs to be audited and IF he is working for REEF on GT City Time it should stop. It seems that the effort he expends on REEF could be spent on obtaining funds for OUR Children, and Our Youth in the CITY who PAYS for his time. Note on the REEF web page the number of times Steve Berry is attending events and accepting checks for the REEF funds. What were the meetings leading up to these contributions, their time and length. Is Grand Terrace paying for his time while he is spending time working for REEF? It is time to check this and all the accountability related to the "Contributions" he collects for his Party Days in Grand Terrace.

Often when I go to the City Hall, neither Steve or Tom are there.... this may be why. Perhaps the City Clerk and the "Staff" who run the city should be the only people the City should Pay for their work, and let Tom and Steve, retire/pursue their other interests on some one eles dime.