Reported In:
The San Bernardino County Sentinel, Friday May 1, 2009 A Fortinado Publication in conjunction with Countywide News Services 10808 Foothill Blvd Suite 160-446 Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730, Call (909) 904-3896 or SBCsentinel@yahoo.com
Embezzlement Accusations Against Berry Surface:
GRAND TERRACE— Stephen Berry, Grand Terrace’s acting city manager since last June and a leading candidate to assume the mantle of permanent city manager, engaged in two acts of what has been characterized as embezzlement while in the employ of the city, according to former city employees and a recently unearthed sheriff’s department report.
Berry this week strongly contested those accusations, asserting he was the victim of rumor, hearsay and vituperative disgruntled employees and sloppy investigative work. He insisted he has not stolen or embezzled from the city of Grand Terrace.
The first incident of alleged embezzlement occurred in 2002; roughly a year after Berry had been hired to fill the role of assistant city manager. A 129-page compendium of reports, witness statements, memos, receipts, time cards and computer read-outs compiled by the San Bernardino County sheriff’s department and obtained by the Sentinel documents the case put together against Berry and John Carranza, a work release inmate who had been assigned to the city of Grand Terrace by the county probation department.
Carranza was one of scores of county jail inmates deemed “low risk” by the county probation department who under a court approved arrangement are permitted to leave custody and engage in community service work at several locations around the county, including being assigned to work crews with various cities. For the most part, those crews are given basic maintenance and repair assignments or participate in menial tasks such as landscape work. Occasionally, if an inmate has a particular skill that would allow him to undertake an assignment which the county, a city or agency has a particular or pressing need, the inmate can be detailed to specialized assignments, including construction or technical work.
According to a report by San Bernardino County sheriff’s detective Robert Morris, “A court order directed Carranza to serve weekends in the custody of the San Bernardino County sheriff’s department. Subsequently, he was assigned to the city of Grand Terrace as a work-release inmate. He failed to show up at the job site as required. It was learned that he entered into an agreement with assistant city manager Berry to tint windows in some of the city government facilities; and …. “Berry apparently relaxed Carranza’s work-release commitment by allowing him to show up for work at random times and unsupervised. Carranza sometimes failed to show, and Berry falsely verified that Carranza had shown.”
Carranza had been given assignments in Grand Terrace that included assisting in maintenance and repair work at the senior citizen center and at the city’s day care facility. Carranza owned a window tinting business known as Commercial Window Tinting. At some point after Carranza was working in the city, according to detective Morris, “Carranza and Berry formed an agreement wherein Carranza would tint the windows of specified city government buildings in Grand Terrace. It appeared that no bidding process had taken place prior to Berry authorizing the purchase of materials for this project, and it appeared that no bidding process had taken place prior to Berry authorizing Carranza to do the work.”
In 2002, Tanya Cahill worked in the capacity of the city of Grand Terrace community service officer, which was essentially the sheriff’s department liaison with the city. According to Morris, on or just before November 5, 2002, “Tanya Cahill had reported that she’d received information that San Bernardino County work-release inmate John Carranza had possibly profited from his work-release efforts in Grand Terrace.
Allegedly, Carranza had received payment for his work in Grand Terrace via assistant city manager Steve Berry. It was alleged that Carranza had also performed work on Berry’s personal property. Furthermore, it was alleged that when Carranza failed to show up at his assigned work-release job site, Berry had falsified and forwarded documents to show that Carranza had been present.”
Morris’s report continues, “Cahill provided me with a copy of a jail information management system work crew sheet dated 10/15/02. The form indicated that Carranza had been present for his work assignment on this day, and Carranza’s attendance appeared to have been verified by Steve Berry. Cahill informed me that Carranza had been a no show on this day.”
Morris then contacted Deputy R. Lons at the Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center, from which inmate work-release assignments were made. “At my request, deputy Lons conducted a crew check at the city of Grand Terrace on 11/06/02. He subsequently informed me that Carranza was a no show but documentation showed that he had been checked off as being there.”
Morris then spoke with Ruben Montano, a maintenance worker with the city of Grand Terrace. “On 11/12/02, I contacted Ruben Montano at the Grand Terrace Child Care Center, 22400 Barton Road. Montano stated that Carranza had frequently not shown up as assigned per his work-release program agreement,” according to Morris. “Montano refused to document that Carranza had been showing up for work when he hadn’t, and he expressed this to Steve Berry. Berry then falsely documented that Carranza had been showing up for work on the days and times specified in Carranza’s work-release agreement.”
Later that day, Morris contacted Mike Mullins, another maintenance worker with the city of Grand Terrace. In his report, Morris noted, “Mullins had sometimes supervised the work release inmates in Grand Terrace. For the past six to eight weeks, Steve Berry had assumed the responsibility of docu-menting the inmates’ attendance. When Mullins informed Berry that Carranza had been a no show, Berry had told Mullins to leave Carranza alone. Berry had documented that Carranza had showed up when he had not, Mullins said.”
Also on November 12, 2002, Morris interviewed Sandi Ah Sue, then the director of child services for the city of Grand Terrace. Ah Sue told Morris that on three occasions in September and October, Carranza had failed to show up for work at the child care center. She also said that Carranza told her he had tinted the windows on Berry’s vehicle.
The next day, November 13, 2002, Carranza did not show up for his scheduled work-release assignment in Grand Terrace and Morris contacted him by phone. Morris arranged to interview Carranza later that day at the sheriff’s department’s central station. Initially, according to Morris, “Carranza said that he had nothing to do with the tinting of Berry’s vehicle,” saying that the job had been done by one of his employees named Ben. He later acknowledged to Morris that he was present when the work on Berry’s vehicle was ongoing. Carranza also admitted to Morris that Berry had filled out time cards indicating he had showed up for his scheduled work days in Grand Terrace when he had not, but said that in doing so Berry “was crediting the time that Carranza had showed up on other days,” according to Morris’s report.
One issue investigated by Morris related to the actual purchase of the tint film used at City Hall and on Berry’s vehicle.
Anaheim-based Bekaert Specialty Films, which is also known as Solar Gard Window Films, sold the city of Grand Terrace 3,600 square feet of window tinting film and window tinting tools. According to Morris’s report, an unsuccessful effort was made by Carranza to use city money to buy the tinting film for his company.
“On 11/13/02, I contacted Eric Flores at Bekaert Specialty Films in Anaheim,” Morris’s report states. “Flores explained that he had handled the account with the city of Grand Terrace. Carranza had come to the business in person and had wanted to establish an account in his (Carranza’s) name. He had told Flores that he needed to buy window-tinting supplies for projects in Grand Terrace. Carranza did not have a business license, and as a result Flores refused to set up an account in Carranza’s name. Instead, an account was set up in the name of Grand Terrace wherein purchase orders would be used.”
Early in the interview, Carranza said that the tinting applied to Berry’s car windows had been supplied by his employee, Ben. Later, however, he acknowledged that the tinting used both at the city’s facilities and on Berry’s vehicle had been purchased by the city.
Morris interviewed Berry on January 7, 2003. “He informed me that Carranza had initiated the offer to tint windows for the city of Grand Terrace; and Berry had told him that the city did not have the budget for such a project,” Morris’s re-port states. “Carranza convinced him that the city would only incur the cost of the materials, not the labor. No total cost for tinting the windows had ever been determined, Berry said.”
Morris’s report continues: “Carranza also offered to tint the windows of Berry’s privately-owned vehicle. Berry agreed to let him do this. Berry explained that as a direct result of the work being done to tint his vehicle’s windows, an internal part of one window broke and had to be repaired. Berry paid cash for the cost of the window repair, and in turn, Caranza had cancelled the cost of tinting the windows. Berry denied that he had known that the city of Grand Terrace had incurred the expense of buying the window tint film for his vehicle.”
In the interview with Morris, Berry admitted that the arrangement with Carranza was an extraordinary one.
“Berry stated that he had never given a contractor or outside worker the authority to make purchases on behalf of the city of Grand Terrace, and he stated that he had never had business arrangements with other contractors as he had with Carranza,” Morris’s report states.
In his investigation, Morris delved into a public representation Berry made, which was not accurate, that another company owned by a person named Brandon Crowley had actually done the window tinting at the civic center. Crowley had trained as an apprentice in the window tinting trade under Carranza, including doing work at Grand Terrace City Hall.
“Berry confirmed that in an article in the Blue Mountain Outlook he had identified Cutting Edge Tinting Technology of Temecula (CETTT) as the company tinting the windows in Grand Terrace,” Morris’s report states. “I informed him that it seemed unreasonable that a window-tinting business would tint windows for free, and I informed him that according to Brandon Crowley, CETTT had not existed until after he had stopped working in Grand Terrace. I further explained that Brandon Crowley had said that Carranza had employed him, and he had expected to get paid by Carranza for his work in Grand Terrace.
“Berry responded,” Morris’s report continues, “by telling me that he had believed Carranza and Brandon Crowley’s CETTT business had been working jointly to tint the windows, and he had believed that the free labor was the result of Carranza being ‘generous.’ He said that he had not made the ‘connection’ that the business CETTT was not doing the work.”
Berry denied that there was a deal between him and Carranza by which Berry’s car windows were tinted in exchange for his fraudulently signing off on Carranza’s work-release time cards and allowing Carranza’s company to use tint film purchased by the city, though Berry acknowledged that Carranza still had a quantity of the city-purchased tint film in his possession well after the work at the civic center had been completed.
“Berry stated that he had not made any arrangements with Carranza to credit him work-time for no-show periods pertaining to his work-release commitment in Grand Terrace,” Morris’s report states. “Berry believed that Carranza possessed the excess window-tint film that was outstanding. He denied having knowledge of the windows in Carranza’s personal residence being tinted by Brandon Crowley and other workers, using window-tint film purchased by the city of Grand Terrace.”
This matter, involving the assistant city manager in a city that contracts with the sheriff’s department for law enforcement services, presented a dilemma for the sheriff’s department. Normal procedure would have entailed forwarding the entire report and the back-up documentation Morris had accumulated during the course of the investigation to the district attorney’s office for a determination as to the filing of charges. The filing of criminal charges against one of the Blue Mountain City’s highest ranking city officials, however, would have been an awkward development that the department hoped to avoid. Consequently, a break in protocol was made. Rather than providing the report and its supporting materials in their entirety to the district attorney’s office, a sanitized version of the events, with both the names of the suspects and the city redacted, was provided not to the district attorney’s central office, which oversees Grand Terrace, but to a deputy prosecutor in the district attorney’s High Desert office.
That deputy district attorney was Gary Bailey, who reviewed the case in the abstract, without knowledge of who, exactly, had perpetrated the alleged crimes and which city had been victimized. Bailey knew only that the incidents involved an assistant city manager, a work-release inmate and one of the county’s 24 incorporated cities.
Despite the somewhat unconventional nature of the request, Bailey returned a finding that multiple prosecutable crimes had been committed.
In an interoffice memo dated January 15, 2003 from Morris to lieutenant Hector Guerra, Morris wrote “During the investigation I contacted deputy district attorney Gary Bailey with the San Bernardino County district attorney office in Victorville. Without identifying the suspects, I provided him with enough details of the case so that he could assist me in determining what crimes, if any, had been committed by the suspects. With the understanding that he had not reviewed the report, he determined the following:
“Suspect #1 (Carranza) appeared to have violated PC 496 (receiving stolen property) respective to Suspect #2 (Berry) providing him with the property after it had been embezzled from the city government,” the memo continues. “Depending on the circumstances, he (Carranza) may be in violation of PC 503 (embezzlement) or PC 487 (grand theft).”
Turning to Berry, Morris’s memo to Guerra continues, “Suspect #2 (Berry) violated PC 503 (embezzlement) by using city funds to purchase materials that were then given to Suspect #1 (Carranza). Further support of this violation resulted when window-tint film purchased by the city was applied to Berry’s personal vehicle and allegedly to Carranza’s residence.
“Suspect #2 (Berry) also violated PC 115 (offering false instrument for record),” the memo continues. “He committed this act when he falsely reported by documentation that Suspect #1 (Carranza) had reported for his work-release assignment when in fact he had not.”
The interoffice memo concludes with Morris’s report to Guerra that “Furthermore, Suspect #2 (Berry) violated PC 470(d) (corruption of record) when he signed a work-release document to falsely verify that Carranza had shown for his work-release assignment when he had not.”
Ultimately with regard to this matter, however, the sheriff’s department did not forward the report and its supporting materials to the district attorney’s office. Instead, Morris’s notation shows that the case against Berry was “cleared by exceptional means.”
This meant that it was left up to the city of Grand Terrace to deal with the matter and Berry administratively.
The Sentinel sent emails to mayor Maryetta Ferré and council members Bea Cortes, Lee Ann Garcia and Jim Miller, seeking to determine their level of awareness about the incident involving Berry and Carranza and the sheriff’s department report, what action with regard to Berry had been taken following the conclusion of Morris’s investigation and the closing out of the case by exceptional means in 2003, whether some level of discipline had been meted out to Berry, and whether they were aware of any mitigating information pertaining to the matter. In 2003, Ferré, Cortes and Garcia were members of the council. Miller was not, having first been elected to the council post in 2004. All four were on the council last year, when Berry was elevated to the acting city manager’s position. None responded to those emails.
Councilman Walt Stanckiewitz, who was first elected last November and did not join the council until December, said he was not aware of the sheriff’s department report and appeared genuinely surprised when he was provided with copies of several witness and suspect interviews taken from the report.
In a written response to questions about the information contained in Morris’s report, Berry asserted, “[i]n regards to the allegation that I improperly benefited from having my car windows tinted by a person working on city property using tinting material paid for by the city, this allegation is completely without merit. Had you bothered to contact me directly, I could have told you that I have a credit card statement that clearly shows where I paid a company in San Bernardino to tint the windows on that vehicle. Even a cursory examination of the facts would have shown this allegation to be false because the tinting on the city buildings is copper in color, while the tinting on my vehicle was black.”
Berry further responded that “you also referenced a 129-page sheriff’s department investigation into this alleged incident, which you say occurred in 2002. As you know, no charges were ever brought as a result of this investigation.”
Berry took exception with the phraseology Morris had used in saying the case was “cleared by exceptional means.” He quibbled with the interpretation of exceptional means as a reference to the sheriff’s department’s way of avoiding an official report of the matter to the district attorney’s office as a courtesy to the city to prevent the city from being subjected to the embarrassment of having one of its officials criminally charged.
”I want to be certain that you understand that such allegations are not based in fact,” Berry wrote. “I am concerned that by reporting such hearsay and innuendo, you may damage my reputation in the city of Grand Terrace and beyond. For your information, I never was so much as even verbally reprimanded in connection with the tinting of my car windows, which I paid for with my own money, so any indication that the city dealt with this situation privately is patently false. There was nothing with which to deal.”
Berry referenced questions that were emailed to the members of the city council relating to the suggestion that the exceptional means mentioned in Morris’s report implied that the matter was to be dealt with administratively by means of Berry’s termination.
“[Y]ou state that I was to be quietly terminated as a result of this ‘incident’ seven years ago, then question why I remain employed with the city,” Berry wrote. “Did it occur to you that I am acting city manager because the allegation was found to be without merit?”
Berry did not address the charges of offering false instrument for record and corruption of record specified by detective Morris and deputy district attorney Bailey.
A second allegation of embezzlement that has surfaced against Berry consists of accusations that he absconded with wine the city had purchased for use during the city’s thirtieth anniversary celebration last year.
At least two cases of the wine were obtained for the festivities. After the celebration a case or more of the libation was left over. City officials put it into cold storage shortly after the celebration, but later, it went missing.
According to Mike Mullins, a former city maintenance worker who was with the city at that time, the wine was last known to be in Berry’s custody before it disappeared.
“The wine was bought for the thirtieth anniversary party,” Mullins said. He was unable to quantify how much was purchased. “I don’t know how many cases, exactly,” he said. “There was quite a bit.”
After the anniversary celebration, Mullins said, “There was a lot of it left. It was stored up in the refrigerator at the workshop. It stayed there for a while and one day Steve told me to bring it down to his office.”
Mullins said he was not told what use Berry had in store for the wine. “All I know was I was told to bring it down to Steve’s office and set it on the floor. It sat on the floor for two days and then it was gone. I don’t know where it went from there.”
Mullins shot down the suggestion that the wine was served at the Christmas party held for city employees.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “The employee Christmas party was held in the middle of the day. We shut down City Hall for lunch, basically for the party. There was no alcohol served. After the party everyone had to go back to work.”
When he was pressed about a report that the wine had been served at a Christmas party put on by Steve Berry, Mullins reluctantly referenced a Christmas party that had been held at Berry’s Riverside home, where several members of the Grand Terrace city council as well as members of the Riverside city council were in atten-dance. Word had gotten back to him that the wine was served there, Mullins said, but he could not say for certain. “That’s what I heard through the grapevine,” Mullins said. “I wasn’t invited to that party. I wasn’t there.”
In emails sent to members of the city council, all of whom were in attendance at the party at Berry’s residence, an inquiry was made about whether they witnessed the wine being consumed that evening. None of the council members responded to those emails.
Berry denied that he had stolen the wine, asserting that he had purchased it.
“The second allegation involves, as you described, “alleged theft” of wine purchased by the city,” Berry wrote. “Again, the facts of the matter are diametrically opposed to the allegations you are pursuing. The city never purchased wine for that occasion; it was donated by one of our council members. And, most importantly, I purchased wine that was left over after the event, and I have a receipt for that purchase. Had you bothered to contact me directly, I could have saved you the time wasted with reporting this non-story by showing you this receipt. If anything, the city made a profit from my purchase of wine that was donated free of charge!”
Berry expressed dismay, impatience and disgust with the focus on his action and the allegations that they constituted criminality.
He suggested the Sentinel’s pursuit of the story demonstrated a lack of professionalism.
“I am writing today to inform you of these facts in the hope that you will see that such a line of inquiry is baseless and amounts to little more than repeating a false rumor or rumors,” Barry wrote, adding “the line of questioning you have been pursuing falls dramatically short of the standards for responsible reporting.”
Moreover, Berry suggested, others, including city employees and detective Morris, whom he did not mention by name, had acted unprofessionally or negligently while relying upon unsubstantiated rumor or hearsay evidence in maligning his good name.
“As I am sure you are aware, embezzlement is a serious allegation, and by raising it, you already are running the risk of damaging my reputation and that of the city of Grand Terrace. I am concerned that you would pursue such a line of reporting based on what appears to be hearsay and rumor. Who has characterized these episodes as embezzlement? Is it a “former city employee,” as you mention in your email? Responsible reporting is not built around the citing of anonymous and possibly disgruntled sources, and I am disappointed you chose to base your line of questioning on such grounds. Printing anything based on such hearsay and rumor would only compound the damage.”
Worse, Berry charged, the Sentinel and others are elevating rumors and false accusations to the status of unchallenged assertions of fact.
“At this point, you are not asking questions about an allegation, albeit a false allegation,” Berry asserted. “Instead, you are accepting the allegation as fact and asking questions based on that perceived fact. In doing so, you stated that I have ‘been demonstrated to have engaged in embezzlement,’ which is patently false. If anything, the complete lack of charges or administrative discipline in either incident indicates the opposite of your statement. I am quite concerned that in your reporting you have made a leap from raising an allegation to stating it as fact, then asking questions about this newly-established ‘fact,’ which is in truth baseless. Again, I am concerned that your reckless reporting is damaging my reputation in the process and creating an impression that I have done something improper when nothing could be further from the truth.”
Berry declined to discuss specifics contained in Morris’s report.
AND THEN IN THE SAME ISSUE OF THE PAPER
Old Guard in Grand Terrace Endorse Schwab
Tom Schwab
On Tuesday, April 28, the Old Guard in Grand Terrace turned out en masse to advocate on be-half of their favorite son and the man the Avant-Garde sees as a vestige of the old regime.
The stage was set by the competition that has been brewing for months between acting city man-ager Steve Berry and Tom Schwab, Berry’s mentor who was city manager from 1989 until he was felled by a subdural cranial hematoma last June.
Since that time, Schwab has substantially recovered and is itching to get back into place as city manager. The city council, however, has been reluctant to reestablish Schwab into his former position as the city’s top administrator, taking the half-step last December of giving him the limited assignment of devising the city’s budget for upcoming fiscal year 2009-10. Schwab’s contract to perform that task expires on June 30 and it is anticipated that at that time or slightly before, the council will make a decision on whether to allow Schwab to reassume his previous post or show him the door and allow Berry to settle into the city manager’s office on a permanent basis.
The council appears to be divided on the issue, with councilwomen Bea Cortes and Lee Ann Garcia heavily favoring Berry and Mayor Maryetta Ferré and Councilman Jim Miller siding with Schwab. The council’s newest member, Walt Stanckiewitz appears to be leaning in favor of Berry.
The council was scheduled to discuss the issue of settling on the appointment of the city manager in closed session Tuesday night. The prospect of Berry’s ascendancy brought out a bevy of Schwab partisans.
Francis Carter told the council, “I firmly believe Tom Schwab should be given the opportunity to return. He has been a great manager for Grand Terrace. He has done a great job.”
Byron Matteson, a former Grand Terrace mayor, advised the council to “keep Tom in office. Walt [Stanckiewitz] was saying we should do everything for the people. Tom has had an improvement in health. He’s got his back to work release from his doctor.”
He said Schwab had demonstrated his physical recovery by his performance coordinating and working as server during the Lions Club pancake breakfast. Matteson said Tom’s readiness to get back into the saddle is apparent to the community at large but that “it takes a little more time for the city council to go along with that.”
Betty Trimble said “I want to show my support of Tom coming back as city manager. He had a life threatening illness but he has made a miraculous recovery.” Trimble, who worked as Schwab’s executive secretary, said that “He is responsible for many of the services we enjoy. While working for him I saw him as man who cares for his city. Some people,” Trimble said, fixing Berry with a hard stare, “are saying his mind and memory have not returned. There have been a lot of negative comments along the way that have had people thinking he has not recovered. His health has returned. His health is back. He is too young to retire. I’m not the only one who wants him back. Tom researches things before he says he can do something. Tom believes in second chances. He has given them.”
Tony Petta, the city’s first mayor, said that it was “Seth Armstead, the architect of Grand Terrace and the first city manager” who brought Tom to Grand Terrace. “Seth knew someday he would retire and his goals was to make sure our city was left in good hands. He carefully selected and groomed the best candidate to continue the program of excellence. Tom Schwab was selected because of his superior skills in finance and administration.. Under Tom our city prospered, main-tained adequate financial reserves, maintained adequate law enforcement. During our 30th anniver-sary Grand Terrace made the list of the 100 best cities in the country in which to live. Tom paid his dues. He is ready to come back. In these tough economic times we need tom back.”
Pauline Grant said of Schwab, I think he is in good health now and is quite capable of doing his job.”
Grant said that under Schwab’s leadership the city had avoided the political scandals that had rocked the county government. “He did not promote the interests of others. If you should vote to deny Tom Schwab of his position, you will be in trouble. Elections are coming up.”
Thelma Winkler Beach said, “I am here to express my opinion that under the circumstances we should be welcoming Tom back to his position and be rejoicing. Tom is capable. Tom should return to his job and be given the chance to prove to you he can perform his duties or prove to himself that he cannot. See your duty clearly and welcome Tom Schwab back as city manager of Grand Terrace. It is the right thing to do.
There’s nothing wrong with his mind and memory.
Roy Nix, a former Grand Terrace city councilman said, “I had the pleasure of being on the city council when Tom Schwab came to work for the city. He had a fine performance in the job of finance director.”
Schwab grew into the role of city manager and “ community pride grew under Tom’s leadership.” He commended Schwab for creating or improving community institutions such as Grand Terrace Days and the Halloween Haunt by inspiring volunteerism. “I am somewhat concerned that those things have tended to go more commercial” under Berry’s guidance.
“I’d like to see us return to where we were under Tom’s leadership,” Nix said. “I know he is re-gaining his strength. He is more active with his family. He wants to return to the city.”
R.P. Bidney, once a member of the planning commission, said, “The professional attitude of Tom Schwab is undeniable. I got straight answers from him. It is nice to work with an honorable man with integrity. He has served 25 years with the city and has a proven record to be honorable and honest.” Under his leadership, Bidney said, “There were no bribes or other illegal dealings under the table. Grand Terrace, to my knowledge, has no corruption and is fortunate to have a city manager who is straightforward and does his job. If it’s not broken, please don’t fix it.”
Schwab addressed the city council, telling its members, “As I look around the room, the pictures hanging on the walls are of every city council member elected since incorporation. It has been my pleasure in the past 24 years as finance director and city manager to work with every one of the members except Jack Allen who was on the original council and Walt [Stanckiewitz], who was elected in November of last year. Grand Terrace is not just a job for me. Since 1984, I have lived, worked, and attended church here. It is my family’s home and I hope to live here for the rest of my life. I’ve heard some stories and I would like to set the record straight. I do want to be reinstated as the city manager of Grand Terrace. I suffered a serious injury in June of last year and it has taken me nearly a year to fully recover. Having been your city manager for the last 20 years, I understand the demands of the job. All of my doctors have cleared me to return to work full time and I no longer have doctor appointments or therapies related to this medical condition. Grand Terrace is at a critical juncture in its history. Our ability to survive is directly related to the previous Councils that saved money in the good years and we now have $7 million in reserves and fund balance to sustain us through the bad years. In preparing the 2009-10 fiscal year budgets with finance director, Bernie Simon, we can present a balanced budget to the council but we must cut unnecessary items to maintain the programs the citizens expect we provide. This year is critical and next year will be worse. The revenues are trending downward and expenses continue to increase. When Grand Terrace High School opens we will need to fund at least one deputy to be assigned exclusively to the school. Our challenge ahead is to allow Grand Terrace to survive this recession and return to the days of surpluses. I feel I am uniquely qualified to lead the city through this difficult time and would like to be reinstated to my position as Grand Terrace city manager. I would like to thank the council for listening to me and I hope to join you soon on the dais.”
Following his presentation, Schwab was given a standing ovation.
That night, Grand Terrace’s Old Guard held sway. But no final decision was made, and the Avant-Garde, represented by Berry, is waiting in the wings.
GRAND TERRACE— Stephen Berry, Grand Terrace’s acting city manager since last June and a leading candidate to assume the mantle of permanent city manager, engaged in two acts of what has been characterized as embezzlement while in the employ of the city, according to former city employees and a recently unearthed sheriff’s department report.
Berry this week strongly contested those accusations, asserting he was the victim of rumor, hearsay and vituperative disgruntled employees and sloppy investigative work. He insisted he has not stolen or embezzled from the city of Grand Terrace.
The first incident of alleged embezzlement occurred in 2002; roughly a year after Berry had been hired to fill the role of assistant city manager. A 129-page compendium of reports, witness statements, memos, receipts, time cards and computer read-outs compiled by the San Bernardino County sheriff’s department and obtained by the Sentinel documents the case put together against Berry and John Carranza, a work release inmate who had been assigned to the city of Grand Terrace by the county probation department.
Carranza was one of scores of county jail inmates deemed “low risk” by the county probation department who under a court approved arrangement are permitted to leave custody and engage in community service work at several locations around the county, including being assigned to work crews with various cities. For the most part, those crews are given basic maintenance and repair assignments or participate in menial tasks such as landscape work. Occasionally, if an inmate has a particular skill that would allow him to undertake an assignment which the county, a city or agency has a particular or pressing need, the inmate can be detailed to specialized assignments, including construction or technical work.
According to a report by San Bernardino County sheriff’s detective Robert Morris, “A court order directed Carranza to serve weekends in the custody of the San Bernardino County sheriff’s department. Subsequently, he was assigned to the city of Grand Terrace as a work-release inmate. He failed to show up at the job site as required. It was learned that he entered into an agreement with assistant city manager Berry to tint windows in some of the city government facilities; and …. “Berry apparently relaxed Carranza’s work-release commitment by allowing him to show up for work at random times and unsupervised. Carranza sometimes failed to show, and Berry falsely verified that Carranza had shown.”
Carranza had been given assignments in Grand Terrace that included assisting in maintenance and repair work at the senior citizen center and at the city’s day care facility. Carranza owned a window tinting business known as Commercial Window Tinting. At some point after Carranza was working in the city, according to detective Morris, “Carranza and Berry formed an agreement wherein Carranza would tint the windows of specified city government buildings in Grand Terrace. It appeared that no bidding process had taken place prior to Berry authorizing the purchase of materials for this project, and it appeared that no bidding process had taken place prior to Berry authorizing Carranza to do the work.”
In 2002, Tanya Cahill worked in the capacity of the city of Grand Terrace community service officer, which was essentially the sheriff’s department liaison with the city. According to Morris, on or just before November 5, 2002, “Tanya Cahill had reported that she’d received information that San Bernardino County work-release inmate John Carranza had possibly profited from his work-release efforts in Grand Terrace.
Allegedly, Carranza had received payment for his work in Grand Terrace via assistant city manager Steve Berry. It was alleged that Carranza had also performed work on Berry’s personal property. Furthermore, it was alleged that when Carranza failed to show up at his assigned work-release job site, Berry had falsified and forwarded documents to show that Carranza had been present.”
Morris’s report continues, “Cahill provided me with a copy of a jail information management system work crew sheet dated 10/15/02. The form indicated that Carranza had been present for his work assignment on this day, and Carranza’s attendance appeared to have been verified by Steve Berry. Cahill informed me that Carranza had been a no show on this day.”
Morris then contacted Deputy R. Lons at the Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center, from which inmate work-release assignments were made. “At my request, deputy Lons conducted a crew check at the city of Grand Terrace on 11/06/02. He subsequently informed me that Carranza was a no show but documentation showed that he had been checked off as being there.”
Morris then spoke with Ruben Montano, a maintenance worker with the city of Grand Terrace. “On 11/12/02, I contacted Ruben Montano at the Grand Terrace Child Care Center, 22400 Barton Road. Montano stated that Carranza had frequently not shown up as assigned per his work-release program agreement,” according to Morris. “Montano refused to document that Carranza had been showing up for work when he hadn’t, and he expressed this to Steve Berry. Berry then falsely documented that Carranza had been showing up for work on the days and times specified in Carranza’s work-release agreement.”
Later that day, Morris contacted Mike Mullins, another maintenance worker with the city of Grand Terrace. In his report, Morris noted, “Mullins had sometimes supervised the work release inmates in Grand Terrace. For the past six to eight weeks, Steve Berry had assumed the responsibility of docu-menting the inmates’ attendance. When Mullins informed Berry that Carranza had been a no show, Berry had told Mullins to leave Carranza alone. Berry had documented that Carranza had showed up when he had not, Mullins said.”
Also on November 12, 2002, Morris interviewed Sandi Ah Sue, then the director of child services for the city of Grand Terrace. Ah Sue told Morris that on three occasions in September and October, Carranza had failed to show up for work at the child care center. She also said that Carranza told her he had tinted the windows on Berry’s vehicle.
The next day, November 13, 2002, Carranza did not show up for his scheduled work-release assignment in Grand Terrace and Morris contacted him by phone. Morris arranged to interview Carranza later that day at the sheriff’s department’s central station. Initially, according to Morris, “Carranza said that he had nothing to do with the tinting of Berry’s vehicle,” saying that the job had been done by one of his employees named Ben. He later acknowledged to Morris that he was present when the work on Berry’s vehicle was ongoing. Carranza also admitted to Morris that Berry had filled out time cards indicating he had showed up for his scheduled work days in Grand Terrace when he had not, but said that in doing so Berry “was crediting the time that Carranza had showed up on other days,” according to Morris’s report.
One issue investigated by Morris related to the actual purchase of the tint film used at City Hall and on Berry’s vehicle.
Anaheim-based Bekaert Specialty Films, which is also known as Solar Gard Window Films, sold the city of Grand Terrace 3,600 square feet of window tinting film and window tinting tools. According to Morris’s report, an unsuccessful effort was made by Carranza to use city money to buy the tinting film for his company.
“On 11/13/02, I contacted Eric Flores at Bekaert Specialty Films in Anaheim,” Morris’s report states. “Flores explained that he had handled the account with the city of Grand Terrace. Carranza had come to the business in person and had wanted to establish an account in his (Carranza’s) name. He had told Flores that he needed to buy window-tinting supplies for projects in Grand Terrace. Carranza did not have a business license, and as a result Flores refused to set up an account in Carranza’s name. Instead, an account was set up in the name of Grand Terrace wherein purchase orders would be used.”
Early in the interview, Carranza said that the tinting applied to Berry’s car windows had been supplied by his employee, Ben. Later, however, he acknowledged that the tinting used both at the city’s facilities and on Berry’s vehicle had been purchased by the city.
Morris interviewed Berry on January 7, 2003. “He informed me that Carranza had initiated the offer to tint windows for the city of Grand Terrace; and Berry had told him that the city did not have the budget for such a project,” Morris’s re-port states. “Carranza convinced him that the city would only incur the cost of the materials, not the labor. No total cost for tinting the windows had ever been determined, Berry said.”
Morris’s report continues: “Carranza also offered to tint the windows of Berry’s privately-owned vehicle. Berry agreed to let him do this. Berry explained that as a direct result of the work being done to tint his vehicle’s windows, an internal part of one window broke and had to be repaired. Berry paid cash for the cost of the window repair, and in turn, Caranza had cancelled the cost of tinting the windows. Berry denied that he had known that the city of Grand Terrace had incurred the expense of buying the window tint film for his vehicle.”
In the interview with Morris, Berry admitted that the arrangement with Carranza was an extraordinary one.
“Berry stated that he had never given a contractor or outside worker the authority to make purchases on behalf of the city of Grand Terrace, and he stated that he had never had business arrangements with other contractors as he had with Carranza,” Morris’s report states.
In his investigation, Morris delved into a public representation Berry made, which was not accurate, that another company owned by a person named Brandon Crowley had actually done the window tinting at the civic center. Crowley had trained as an apprentice in the window tinting trade under Carranza, including doing work at Grand Terrace City Hall.
“Berry confirmed that in an article in the Blue Mountain Outlook he had identified Cutting Edge Tinting Technology of Temecula (CETTT) as the company tinting the windows in Grand Terrace,” Morris’s report states. “I informed him that it seemed unreasonable that a window-tinting business would tint windows for free, and I informed him that according to Brandon Crowley, CETTT had not existed until after he had stopped working in Grand Terrace. I further explained that Brandon Crowley had said that Carranza had employed him, and he had expected to get paid by Carranza for his work in Grand Terrace.
“Berry responded,” Morris’s report continues, “by telling me that he had believed Carranza and Brandon Crowley’s CETTT business had been working jointly to tint the windows, and he had believed that the free labor was the result of Carranza being ‘generous.’ He said that he had not made the ‘connection’ that the business CETTT was not doing the work.”
Berry denied that there was a deal between him and Carranza by which Berry’s car windows were tinted in exchange for his fraudulently signing off on Carranza’s work-release time cards and allowing Carranza’s company to use tint film purchased by the city, though Berry acknowledged that Carranza still had a quantity of the city-purchased tint film in his possession well after the work at the civic center had been completed.
“Berry stated that he had not made any arrangements with Carranza to credit him work-time for no-show periods pertaining to his work-release commitment in Grand Terrace,” Morris’s report states. “Berry believed that Carranza possessed the excess window-tint film that was outstanding. He denied having knowledge of the windows in Carranza’s personal residence being tinted by Brandon Crowley and other workers, using window-tint film purchased by the city of Grand Terrace.”
This matter, involving the assistant city manager in a city that contracts with the sheriff’s department for law enforcement services, presented a dilemma for the sheriff’s department. Normal procedure would have entailed forwarding the entire report and the back-up documentation Morris had accumulated during the course of the investigation to the district attorney’s office for a determination as to the filing of charges. The filing of criminal charges against one of the Blue Mountain City’s highest ranking city officials, however, would have been an awkward development that the department hoped to avoid. Consequently, a break in protocol was made. Rather than providing the report and its supporting materials in their entirety to the district attorney’s office, a sanitized version of the events, with both the names of the suspects and the city redacted, was provided not to the district attorney’s central office, which oversees Grand Terrace, but to a deputy prosecutor in the district attorney’s High Desert office.
That deputy district attorney was Gary Bailey, who reviewed the case in the abstract, without knowledge of who, exactly, had perpetrated the alleged crimes and which city had been victimized. Bailey knew only that the incidents involved an assistant city manager, a work-release inmate and one of the county’s 24 incorporated cities.
Despite the somewhat unconventional nature of the request, Bailey returned a finding that multiple prosecutable crimes had been committed.
In an interoffice memo dated January 15, 2003 from Morris to lieutenant Hector Guerra, Morris wrote “During the investigation I contacted deputy district attorney Gary Bailey with the San Bernardino County district attorney office in Victorville. Without identifying the suspects, I provided him with enough details of the case so that he could assist me in determining what crimes, if any, had been committed by the suspects. With the understanding that he had not reviewed the report, he determined the following:
“Suspect #1 (Carranza) appeared to have violated PC 496 (receiving stolen property) respective to Suspect #2 (Berry) providing him with the property after it had been embezzled from the city government,” the memo continues. “Depending on the circumstances, he (Carranza) may be in violation of PC 503 (embezzlement) or PC 487 (grand theft).”
Turning to Berry, Morris’s memo to Guerra continues, “Suspect #2 (Berry) violated PC 503 (embezzlement) by using city funds to purchase materials that were then given to Suspect #1 (Carranza). Further support of this violation resulted when window-tint film purchased by the city was applied to Berry’s personal vehicle and allegedly to Carranza’s residence.
“Suspect #2 (Berry) also violated PC 115 (offering false instrument for record),” the memo continues. “He committed this act when he falsely reported by documentation that Suspect #1 (Carranza) had reported for his work-release assignment when in fact he had not.”
The interoffice memo concludes with Morris’s report to Guerra that “Furthermore, Suspect #2 (Berry) violated PC 470(d) (corruption of record) when he signed a work-release document to falsely verify that Carranza had shown for his work-release assignment when he had not.”
Ultimately with regard to this matter, however, the sheriff’s department did not forward the report and its supporting materials to the district attorney’s office. Instead, Morris’s notation shows that the case against Berry was “cleared by exceptional means.”
This meant that it was left up to the city of Grand Terrace to deal with the matter and Berry administratively.
The Sentinel sent emails to mayor Maryetta Ferré and council members Bea Cortes, Lee Ann Garcia and Jim Miller, seeking to determine their level of awareness about the incident involving Berry and Carranza and the sheriff’s department report, what action with regard to Berry had been taken following the conclusion of Morris’s investigation and the closing out of the case by exceptional means in 2003, whether some level of discipline had been meted out to Berry, and whether they were aware of any mitigating information pertaining to the matter. In 2003, Ferré, Cortes and Garcia were members of the council. Miller was not, having first been elected to the council post in 2004. All four were on the council last year, when Berry was elevated to the acting city manager’s position. None responded to those emails.
Councilman Walt Stanckiewitz, who was first elected last November and did not join the council until December, said he was not aware of the sheriff’s department report and appeared genuinely surprised when he was provided with copies of several witness and suspect interviews taken from the report.
In a written response to questions about the information contained in Morris’s report, Berry asserted, “[i]n regards to the allegation that I improperly benefited from having my car windows tinted by a person working on city property using tinting material paid for by the city, this allegation is completely without merit. Had you bothered to contact me directly, I could have told you that I have a credit card statement that clearly shows where I paid a company in San Bernardino to tint the windows on that vehicle. Even a cursory examination of the facts would have shown this allegation to be false because the tinting on the city buildings is copper in color, while the tinting on my vehicle was black.”
Berry further responded that “you also referenced a 129-page sheriff’s department investigation into this alleged incident, which you say occurred in 2002. As you know, no charges were ever brought as a result of this investigation.”
Berry took exception with the phraseology Morris had used in saying the case was “cleared by exceptional means.” He quibbled with the interpretation of exceptional means as a reference to the sheriff’s department’s way of avoiding an official report of the matter to the district attorney’s office as a courtesy to the city to prevent the city from being subjected to the embarrassment of having one of its officials criminally charged.
”I want to be certain that you understand that such allegations are not based in fact,” Berry wrote. “I am concerned that by reporting such hearsay and innuendo, you may damage my reputation in the city of Grand Terrace and beyond. For your information, I never was so much as even verbally reprimanded in connection with the tinting of my car windows, which I paid for with my own money, so any indication that the city dealt with this situation privately is patently false. There was nothing with which to deal.”
Berry referenced questions that were emailed to the members of the city council relating to the suggestion that the exceptional means mentioned in Morris’s report implied that the matter was to be dealt with administratively by means of Berry’s termination.
“[Y]ou state that I was to be quietly terminated as a result of this ‘incident’ seven years ago, then question why I remain employed with the city,” Berry wrote. “Did it occur to you that I am acting city manager because the allegation was found to be without merit?”
Berry did not address the charges of offering false instrument for record and corruption of record specified by detective Morris and deputy district attorney Bailey.
A second allegation of embezzlement that has surfaced against Berry consists of accusations that he absconded with wine the city had purchased for use during the city’s thirtieth anniversary celebration last year.
At least two cases of the wine were obtained for the festivities. After the celebration a case or more of the libation was left over. City officials put it into cold storage shortly after the celebration, but later, it went missing.
According to Mike Mullins, a former city maintenance worker who was with the city at that time, the wine was last known to be in Berry’s custody before it disappeared.
“The wine was bought for the thirtieth anniversary party,” Mullins said. He was unable to quantify how much was purchased. “I don’t know how many cases, exactly,” he said. “There was quite a bit.”
After the anniversary celebration, Mullins said, “There was a lot of it left. It was stored up in the refrigerator at the workshop. It stayed there for a while and one day Steve told me to bring it down to his office.”
Mullins said he was not told what use Berry had in store for the wine. “All I know was I was told to bring it down to Steve’s office and set it on the floor. It sat on the floor for two days and then it was gone. I don’t know where it went from there.”
Mullins shot down the suggestion that the wine was served at the Christmas party held for city employees.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “The employee Christmas party was held in the middle of the day. We shut down City Hall for lunch, basically for the party. There was no alcohol served. After the party everyone had to go back to work.”
When he was pressed about a report that the wine had been served at a Christmas party put on by Steve Berry, Mullins reluctantly referenced a Christmas party that had been held at Berry’s Riverside home, where several members of the Grand Terrace city council as well as members of the Riverside city council were in atten-dance. Word had gotten back to him that the wine was served there, Mullins said, but he could not say for certain. “That’s what I heard through the grapevine,” Mullins said. “I wasn’t invited to that party. I wasn’t there.”
In emails sent to members of the city council, all of whom were in attendance at the party at Berry’s residence, an inquiry was made about whether they witnessed the wine being consumed that evening. None of the council members responded to those emails.
Berry denied that he had stolen the wine, asserting that he had purchased it.
“The second allegation involves, as you described, “alleged theft” of wine purchased by the city,” Berry wrote. “Again, the facts of the matter are diametrically opposed to the allegations you are pursuing. The city never purchased wine for that occasion; it was donated by one of our council members. And, most importantly, I purchased wine that was left over after the event, and I have a receipt for that purchase. Had you bothered to contact me directly, I could have saved you the time wasted with reporting this non-story by showing you this receipt. If anything, the city made a profit from my purchase of wine that was donated free of charge!”
Berry expressed dismay, impatience and disgust with the focus on his action and the allegations that they constituted criminality.
He suggested the Sentinel’s pursuit of the story demonstrated a lack of professionalism.
“I am writing today to inform you of these facts in the hope that you will see that such a line of inquiry is baseless and amounts to little more than repeating a false rumor or rumors,” Barry wrote, adding “the line of questioning you have been pursuing falls dramatically short of the standards for responsible reporting.”
Moreover, Berry suggested, others, including city employees and detective Morris, whom he did not mention by name, had acted unprofessionally or negligently while relying upon unsubstantiated rumor or hearsay evidence in maligning his good name.
“As I am sure you are aware, embezzlement is a serious allegation, and by raising it, you already are running the risk of damaging my reputation and that of the city of Grand Terrace. I am concerned that you would pursue such a line of reporting based on what appears to be hearsay and rumor. Who has characterized these episodes as embezzlement? Is it a “former city employee,” as you mention in your email? Responsible reporting is not built around the citing of anonymous and possibly disgruntled sources, and I am disappointed you chose to base your line of questioning on such grounds. Printing anything based on such hearsay and rumor would only compound the damage.”
Worse, Berry charged, the Sentinel and others are elevating rumors and false accusations to the status of unchallenged assertions of fact.
“At this point, you are not asking questions about an allegation, albeit a false allegation,” Berry asserted. “Instead, you are accepting the allegation as fact and asking questions based on that perceived fact. In doing so, you stated that I have ‘been demonstrated to have engaged in embezzlement,’ which is patently false. If anything, the complete lack of charges or administrative discipline in either incident indicates the opposite of your statement. I am quite concerned that in your reporting you have made a leap from raising an allegation to stating it as fact, then asking questions about this newly-established ‘fact,’ which is in truth baseless. Again, I am concerned that your reckless reporting is damaging my reputation in the process and creating an impression that I have done something improper when nothing could be further from the truth.”
Berry declined to discuss specifics contained in Morris’s report.
AND THEN IN THE SAME ISSUE OF THE PAPER
Old Guard in Grand Terrace Endorse Schwab
Tom Schwab
On Tuesday, April 28, the Old Guard in Grand Terrace turned out en masse to advocate on be-half of their favorite son and the man the Avant-Garde sees as a vestige of the old regime.
The stage was set by the competition that has been brewing for months between acting city man-ager Steve Berry and Tom Schwab, Berry’s mentor who was city manager from 1989 until he was felled by a subdural cranial hematoma last June.
Since that time, Schwab has substantially recovered and is itching to get back into place as city manager. The city council, however, has been reluctant to reestablish Schwab into his former position as the city’s top administrator, taking the half-step last December of giving him the limited assignment of devising the city’s budget for upcoming fiscal year 2009-10. Schwab’s contract to perform that task expires on June 30 and it is anticipated that at that time or slightly before, the council will make a decision on whether to allow Schwab to reassume his previous post or show him the door and allow Berry to settle into the city manager’s office on a permanent basis.
The council appears to be divided on the issue, with councilwomen Bea Cortes and Lee Ann Garcia heavily favoring Berry and Mayor Maryetta Ferré and Councilman Jim Miller siding with Schwab. The council’s newest member, Walt Stanckiewitz appears to be leaning in favor of Berry.
The council was scheduled to discuss the issue of settling on the appointment of the city manager in closed session Tuesday night. The prospect of Berry’s ascendancy brought out a bevy of Schwab partisans.
Francis Carter told the council, “I firmly believe Tom Schwab should be given the opportunity to return. He has been a great manager for Grand Terrace. He has done a great job.”
Byron Matteson, a former Grand Terrace mayor, advised the council to “keep Tom in office. Walt [Stanckiewitz] was saying we should do everything for the people. Tom has had an improvement in health. He’s got his back to work release from his doctor.”
He said Schwab had demonstrated his physical recovery by his performance coordinating and working as server during the Lions Club pancake breakfast. Matteson said Tom’s readiness to get back into the saddle is apparent to the community at large but that “it takes a little more time for the city council to go along with that.”
Betty Trimble said “I want to show my support of Tom coming back as city manager. He had a life threatening illness but he has made a miraculous recovery.” Trimble, who worked as Schwab’s executive secretary, said that “He is responsible for many of the services we enjoy. While working for him I saw him as man who cares for his city. Some people,” Trimble said, fixing Berry with a hard stare, “are saying his mind and memory have not returned. There have been a lot of negative comments along the way that have had people thinking he has not recovered. His health has returned. His health is back. He is too young to retire. I’m not the only one who wants him back. Tom researches things before he says he can do something. Tom believes in second chances. He has given them.”
Tony Petta, the city’s first mayor, said that it was “Seth Armstead, the architect of Grand Terrace and the first city manager” who brought Tom to Grand Terrace. “Seth knew someday he would retire and his goals was to make sure our city was left in good hands. He carefully selected and groomed the best candidate to continue the program of excellence. Tom Schwab was selected because of his superior skills in finance and administration.. Under Tom our city prospered, main-tained adequate financial reserves, maintained adequate law enforcement. During our 30th anniver-sary Grand Terrace made the list of the 100 best cities in the country in which to live. Tom paid his dues. He is ready to come back. In these tough economic times we need tom back.”
Pauline Grant said of Schwab, I think he is in good health now and is quite capable of doing his job.”
Grant said that under Schwab’s leadership the city had avoided the political scandals that had rocked the county government. “He did not promote the interests of others. If you should vote to deny Tom Schwab of his position, you will be in trouble. Elections are coming up.”
Thelma Winkler Beach said, “I am here to express my opinion that under the circumstances we should be welcoming Tom back to his position and be rejoicing. Tom is capable. Tom should return to his job and be given the chance to prove to you he can perform his duties or prove to himself that he cannot. See your duty clearly and welcome Tom Schwab back as city manager of Grand Terrace. It is the right thing to do.
There’s nothing wrong with his mind and memory.
Roy Nix, a former Grand Terrace city councilman said, “I had the pleasure of being on the city council when Tom Schwab came to work for the city. He had a fine performance in the job of finance director.”
Schwab grew into the role of city manager and “ community pride grew under Tom’s leadership.” He commended Schwab for creating or improving community institutions such as Grand Terrace Days and the Halloween Haunt by inspiring volunteerism. “I am somewhat concerned that those things have tended to go more commercial” under Berry’s guidance.
“I’d like to see us return to where we were under Tom’s leadership,” Nix said. “I know he is re-gaining his strength. He is more active with his family. He wants to return to the city.”
R.P. Bidney, once a member of the planning commission, said, “The professional attitude of Tom Schwab is undeniable. I got straight answers from him. It is nice to work with an honorable man with integrity. He has served 25 years with the city and has a proven record to be honorable and honest.” Under his leadership, Bidney said, “There were no bribes or other illegal dealings under the table. Grand Terrace, to my knowledge, has no corruption and is fortunate to have a city manager who is straightforward and does his job. If it’s not broken, please don’t fix it.”
Schwab addressed the city council, telling its members, “As I look around the room, the pictures hanging on the walls are of every city council member elected since incorporation. It has been my pleasure in the past 24 years as finance director and city manager to work with every one of the members except Jack Allen who was on the original council and Walt [Stanckiewitz], who was elected in November of last year. Grand Terrace is not just a job for me. Since 1984, I have lived, worked, and attended church here. It is my family’s home and I hope to live here for the rest of my life. I’ve heard some stories and I would like to set the record straight. I do want to be reinstated as the city manager of Grand Terrace. I suffered a serious injury in June of last year and it has taken me nearly a year to fully recover. Having been your city manager for the last 20 years, I understand the demands of the job. All of my doctors have cleared me to return to work full time and I no longer have doctor appointments or therapies related to this medical condition. Grand Terrace is at a critical juncture in its history. Our ability to survive is directly related to the previous Councils that saved money in the good years and we now have $7 million in reserves and fund balance to sustain us through the bad years. In preparing the 2009-10 fiscal year budgets with finance director, Bernie Simon, we can present a balanced budget to the council but we must cut unnecessary items to maintain the programs the citizens expect we provide. This year is critical and next year will be worse. The revenues are trending downward and expenses continue to increase. When Grand Terrace High School opens we will need to fund at least one deputy to be assigned exclusively to the school. Our challenge ahead is to allow Grand Terrace to survive this recession and return to the days of surpluses. I feel I am uniquely qualified to lead the city through this difficult time and would like to be reinstated to my position as Grand Terrace city manager. I would like to thank the council for listening to me and I hope to join you soon on the dais.”
Following his presentation, Schwab was given a standing ovation.
That night, Grand Terrace’s Old Guard held sway. But no final decision was made, and the Avant-Garde, represented by Berry, is waiting in the wings.
Gramps Adds: We should test the statements above by both men and their supporters and detractors.
Schwab Hired and Retained Berry..The Holloween Haunt was all but cancled by Schwab and the GT Woman's Club took over the hosting duty from the city so it could continue, and Berry took it over from them and turned it into a Political and Commercial Event with Candy and lots of unaccounted for and documented donations and expences. Schwab was his manager and allowed this. Schwab also allowed the expansion of donations and outside expences for Grand Terrace Days which are not fully accounted for or in some cases within reason. Schwab was Berry's manager when all this happened, neither can be knighted or cannonized. Every finger pointed at Berry is justified, but remember when you point a finger 3 are pointing back at you. In this case pointing right back to Schwab and the Council Members and "Friends of Council" that suport him, and those supporting Berry fall to the same fate.
To suggest the above article is not quoting the sources by name is not a true statement. The Authorship is clearly the Editor of the Paper... or at least that is where accountability is. So it is not some faceless blogger... Names are named and quoted.
