Steve Berry’s tenure as acting city manager will end with the close of the city’s recruitment process for a permanent city manager later this year, the Grand Terrace
City Council determined on a 4-0 vote Tuesday night
On a motion by councilman Walt Stanckiewitz, seconded by councilman Jim Miller, the council voted to retain Berry as acting city manager until the recruitment process is completed. Stankiewitz’ motion, however, contained language indicating that it was in the city’s best interest for the recruitment to be conducted only from among “outside candidates,” meaning Berry’s application for the city manager’s spot will not be considered.
The council made its decision during the course of a nearly three-hour closed session that followed the public portion of the July 14 meeting.
Several city residents and business owners weighed in with regard to the advisability of keeping Berry as the city’s top administrator.
Berry has been the center of controversy in Grand Terrace for more than four months.
Hired as assistant city manager in 2001 by then-city manager Tom Schwab, Berry has been serving in the role of acting city manager since when Schwab was felled by a subdural hematoma. Schwab was on medical leave for six months but was brought back in December to serve in a limited capacity as a consultant to the city in the preparation of the 2009-10 budget As Schwab’s health returned, he showed increasing interest in returning to the position of city manager. Berry, however, had found favor, at least temporarily, with three of the council’s members and appeared to be edging Schwab out in the competition to assume the role as the city’s permanent city manager.
A series of press exposés pertaining to Berry’s comportment while in the capacity of assistant city manager were published throughout the late winter and spring. That adverse publicity, however, appearing in the relatively limited venue of the Sentinel, was characterized by Berry as “falling dramatically short of the standards of responsible journalism” and did not appear to be sufficient to sway the three-fifths majority favoring Berry over Schwab. In early June, Schwab was persuaded to retire as a city employee, taking with him a $177,000 retirement bonus in addition to his pension.
Schwab also withdrew as an applicant in the statewide search for candidates the city had initiated as part of a recruitment drive to fill the permanent city manager’s position.
The once cordial relations between the two men had been compromised by that point and on June 30, the San Bernardino Sun, the largest circulating newspaper in the county, reiterated one of the earlier exposés that ran in the Sentinel on May 1, a report pertaining to an alleged embezzlement Berry had engaged in in 2002 in conjunction with John Carranza, a probation department work release inmate who overbilled the city for tools and material used to tint windows at City Hall and who subsequently tinted the windows on Berry’s personal vehicle. The newspaper article was based upon a sheriff’s department report completed in 2003, which indicated that Berry had engaged in embezzlement and the falsification of public documents. The Sun article further featured a sharp exchange of accusations between Berry and Schwab in which Schwab said he should have fired Berry at the time and Berry railed against Schwab for dwelling on a seven year-old issue that he claimed had long before been resolved.
In the aftermath of the Sun article, the Grand Terrace City News, the largest circulating newspaper in Grand Terrace and one that had historically been very supportive of Berry, followed up with an article referencing the alleged embezzlement. That was followed by another article, this time in the Riverside Press Enterprise, which publicized the embezzlement investigation involving Berry.
The city council scheduled a closed session evaluation of Berry’s performance as city manager at the end of its July 14 meeting.
During public comment that night several residents and business operators from Grand Terrace weighed in with their perspectives on the city manager controversy.
Their comments ranged from ones that supported Berry to stern indications that he should either resign or be fired.
Julie Beebe lambasted Berry’s action as “childish” and “inappropriate.” She charged Berry with “bullying” city employees and local businessmen.
“What you should have done is man up to what happened, and take responsibility for poor judgment,” Beebe said. “You do not deserve to work for our fine city.”
Beebe then asked the city council to “please take the right action and rid our city of this unethical individual.”
Joanne Johnson said, “I can only describe my feeling as overwhelming sadness.”
Johnson said that “good intentions go awry” and that the community should endeavor to not make a “snap judgment” and “try to see both or all sides of any situation.”
Dennis Kidd, who is active in the Friends of Blue Mountain, said, “Steve Berry is doing a good job as city manager.” He credited Berry with “contact[ing] the Riverside Land Conservancy on how we can get state or federal funding to buy land. All this turmoil at City Hall is not good.”
Kidd said that as far as the efforts of Friends of Blue Mountain to obtain a park have progressed, there were setbacks when former planning director Gary Koontz departed and the group had to reorientate Berry with regard to their efforts. “If you replace Steve, we will have to start over at square one with a new person,” Kidd said.
Jerry Rivera sounded a somewhat ambiguous note, telling Berry “I think you are a great guy” but then questioning whether he had been loyal to Schwab and, by extension, to the city.
“I don’t want this to turn into a circus,” Rivera said.
Virginia Harford insisted that Berry had been wrongfully maligned. “He didn’t do anything wrong,” she said. “She suggested that the community conduct “a funeral for Steve Berry’s reputation” and that the city then hire him as full time city manager and “put him on probation for a couple of years. There’s not one of you who hasn’t made a mistake in the past,” she said.
Planning Commissioner Doug Wilson was far less charitable in his assessment of Berry.
“Tonight you have a serious task in closed session,” Wilson said. “I urge you to stand up for yourselves and end this tragedy. You deserve better. Every one of you has suffered from the misdeeds of one person. We are the laughing stock of San Bernardino County.”
“What kind of opportunist moonlights, falsifies documents, takes another man’s job and methodically pursues salary increases on one hand, while balancing a budget on termination and reduced services on the other?” Wilson continued. “Grand Terrace businesses operate in fear of retribution. City employees are subject to a similar burden of fear. Why and for how long?”
Wilson went on to say that “Some council members have endured lousy treatment for asking tough questions. Some have had a change of heart. Where innocent faith has been misplaced before, let’s hope the attraction of sound management ethics wins over the temporary sparkle of recreational activities.”
Wilson then appealed to mayor Maryetta Ferré, telling her “You have way too much class, experience and intelligence to put up with this. You are the presiding officer of the city of Grand Terrace. You direct council business, maintain order, enforce rules, execute documents and you can remove dissidents from the council chambers.
On a motion by councilman Walt Stanckiewitz, seconded by councilman Jim Miller, the council voted to retain Berry as acting city manager until the recruitment process is completed. Stankiewitz’ motion, however, contained language indicating that it was in the city’s best interest for the recruitment to be conducted only from among “outside candidates,” meaning Berry’s application for the city manager’s spot will not be considered.
The council made its decision during the course of a nearly three-hour closed session that followed the public portion of the July 14 meeting.
Several city residents and business owners weighed in with regard to the advisability of keeping Berry as the city’s top administrator.
Berry has been the center of controversy in Grand Terrace for more than four months.
Hired as assistant city manager in 2001 by then-city manager Tom Schwab, Berry has been serving in the role of acting city manager since when Schwab was felled by a subdural hematoma. Schwab was on medical leave for six months but was brought back in December to serve in a limited capacity as a consultant to the city in the preparation of the 2009-10 budget As Schwab’s health returned, he showed increasing interest in returning to the position of city manager. Berry, however, had found favor, at least temporarily, with three of the council’s members and appeared to be edging Schwab out in the competition to assume the role as the city’s permanent city manager.
A series of press exposés pertaining to Berry’s comportment while in the capacity of assistant city manager were published throughout the late winter and spring. That adverse publicity, however, appearing in the relatively limited venue of the Sentinel, was characterized by Berry as “falling dramatically short of the standards of responsible journalism” and did not appear to be sufficient to sway the three-fifths majority favoring Berry over Schwab. In early June, Schwab was persuaded to retire as a city employee, taking with him a $177,000 retirement bonus in addition to his pension.
Schwab also withdrew as an applicant in the statewide search for candidates the city had initiated as part of a recruitment drive to fill the permanent city manager’s position.
The once cordial relations between the two men had been compromised by that point and on June 30, the San Bernardino Sun, the largest circulating newspaper in the county, reiterated one of the earlier exposés that ran in the Sentinel on May 1, a report pertaining to an alleged embezzlement Berry had engaged in in 2002 in conjunction with John Carranza, a probation department work release inmate who overbilled the city for tools and material used to tint windows at City Hall and who subsequently tinted the windows on Berry’s personal vehicle. The newspaper article was based upon a sheriff’s department report completed in 2003, which indicated that Berry had engaged in embezzlement and the falsification of public documents. The Sun article further featured a sharp exchange of accusations between Berry and Schwab in which Schwab said he should have fired Berry at the time and Berry railed against Schwab for dwelling on a seven year-old issue that he claimed had long before been resolved.
In the aftermath of the Sun article, the Grand Terrace City News, the largest circulating newspaper in Grand Terrace and one that had historically been very supportive of Berry, followed up with an article referencing the alleged embezzlement. That was followed by another article, this time in the Riverside Press Enterprise, which publicized the embezzlement investigation involving Berry.
The city council scheduled a closed session evaluation of Berry’s performance as city manager at the end of its July 14 meeting.
During public comment that night several residents and business operators from Grand Terrace weighed in with their perspectives on the city manager controversy.
Their comments ranged from ones that supported Berry to stern indications that he should either resign or be fired.
Julie Beebe lambasted Berry’s action as “childish” and “inappropriate.” She charged Berry with “bullying” city employees and local businessmen.
“What you should have done is man up to what happened, and take responsibility for poor judgment,” Beebe said. “You do not deserve to work for our fine city.”
Beebe then asked the city council to “please take the right action and rid our city of this unethical individual.”
Joanne Johnson said, “I can only describe my feeling as overwhelming sadness.”
Johnson said that “good intentions go awry” and that the community should endeavor to not make a “snap judgment” and “try to see both or all sides of any situation.”
Dennis Kidd, who is active in the Friends of Blue Mountain, said, “Steve Berry is doing a good job as city manager.” He credited Berry with “contact[ing] the Riverside Land Conservancy on how we can get state or federal funding to buy land. All this turmoil at City Hall is not good.”
Kidd said that as far as the efforts of Friends of Blue Mountain to obtain a park have progressed, there were setbacks when former planning director Gary Koontz departed and the group had to reorientate Berry with regard to their efforts. “If you replace Steve, we will have to start over at square one with a new person,” Kidd said.
Jerry Rivera sounded a somewhat ambiguous note, telling Berry “I think you are a great guy” but then questioning whether he had been loyal to Schwab and, by extension, to the city.
“I don’t want this to turn into a circus,” Rivera said.
Virginia Harford insisted that Berry had been wrongfully maligned. “He didn’t do anything wrong,” she said. “She suggested that the community conduct “a funeral for Steve Berry’s reputation” and that the city then hire him as full time city manager and “put him on probation for a couple of years. There’s not one of you who hasn’t made a mistake in the past,” she said.
Planning Commissioner Doug Wilson was far less charitable in his assessment of Berry.
“Tonight you have a serious task in closed session,” Wilson said. “I urge you to stand up for yourselves and end this tragedy. You deserve better. Every one of you has suffered from the misdeeds of one person. We are the laughing stock of San Bernardino County.”
“What kind of opportunist moonlights, falsifies documents, takes another man’s job and methodically pursues salary increases on one hand, while balancing a budget on termination and reduced services on the other?” Wilson continued. “Grand Terrace businesses operate in fear of retribution. City employees are subject to a similar burden of fear. Why and for how long?”
Wilson went on to say that “Some council members have endured lousy treatment for asking tough questions. Some have had a change of heart. Where innocent faith has been misplaced before, let’s hope the attraction of sound management ethics wins over the temporary sparkle of recreational activities.”
Wilson then appealed to mayor Maryetta Ferré, telling her “You have way too much class, experience and intelligence to put up with this. You are the presiding officer of the city of Grand Terrace. You direct council business, maintain order, enforce rules, execute documents and you can remove dissidents from the council chambers.
Please do so. Tonight in closed session, please take care of Grand Terrace. Enough is enough. Let your strength be your legacy. Staff can manage until someone who respects this city is interviewed and hired.
“A few months ago the city council and planning commission received ethics training from the city attorney,” Wilson said. “We were told to avoid conflicts of interest and be honest in our dealings. Failure carried a severe penalty. We were told to withdraw from decision making if there was any question of integrity. No payment from other entities while employed by the city. No activities incompatible with our city position.
Common sense like regular hours, getting along with others, credit for our own deeds. No lying, no stealing, no bullying were things we learned in kindergarten.”
Irene Michaelis took exception with Berry’s efforts to shame the local press for having written about his activity.
“The newspapers do not have to take directions from you about what to write,” she said.
She further charged that Berry was protecting some of his friends from code enforcement action.
Jeffrey McConnell said that the evening was turning into “pile on Steve Berry night.”
He praised Berry as an “energetic” public servant who “brings good things to the city.”
In “doing that much you have to step on toes either intentionally or unintentionally,” McConnell said. “You can’t please everybody all the time. In this small community the overlap is intense. There is conflict of interest that abounds. Most of it is unintentional.”
McConnell said that there are “so few doers,”
San Bernardino County Sentinel
June 2008,
Jim Miller
Investigators from the San Bernardino County district attorney’s public integrity unit on Wednesday arrested Grand Terrace City Councilman Jim Miller at his home on a warrant issued by Judge Annemarie Pace.
The warrant cited a felony conflict of interest, pursuant to Government Code Section 1090, which prohibits an elected official from participating in a vote in which he or she has a financial interest.
According to deputy district attorney John Goritz, over the last two years councilman Miller repeatedly voted for city expenditures that benefitted the Grand Terrace City News, a newspaper owned and operated, the district attorney’s office alleges, by Miller and his wife.
Miller, an employee in San Bernardino County’s real estate services department, has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of a personnel investigation.
Miller was booked at the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino. He was released Wednesday afternoon after posting bail of $25,000.
The Sentinel has learned that both former city manager Tom Schwab and current acting city manager Steve Berry, when he was formerly serving in the capacity of assistant city manager, had taken out legal ads in the Grand Terrace City News on the city’s behalf beginning in 2006, within nine months after Marge Miller, Jim Miller’s wife, purchased the newspaper along with its sister publications, the Loma Linda City News and the Colton City News.
Prior to Marge Miller’s purchase of those newspapers, the Grand Terrace City News had published legal ads for the city of Grand Terrace. In early 2006, the city of Grand Terrace was using the San Bernardino Sun to publish most of its legal ads. After Marge Miller purchased the Grand Terrace City News, she increased its circulation substantially, elevating it to the most widely distributed newspaper in Grand Terrace.
According to statements made by Schwab, who was then city manager, the decision to publish the city’s legal notices in the Grand Terrace City News was made after a determination that the rates for doing so were less than those for publishing in the Sun.
Miller was notified by Grand Terrace city attorney John Harper in August 2008 that there was a potential legal conflict inherent in his votes that ratified the city’s payments to his wife’s newspaper. The Grand Terrace City News ceased publication of those city legal notices immediately thereafter.
An examination of the wording in Harper’s letter to Miller indicates that there had been no previous recommendation to the councilman from the city attorney’s office with regard to the potential conflict inherent in the sale of the newspaper ads.
The council’s votes with regard to the ratification of the city’s payments to the Grand Terrace City News were made pursuant to the approval of the city’s consent calendar. The consent calendar consists of multiple routine housekeeping items certified by city staff as “noncontroversial” in nature. These multiple issues contained in the consent calendar are not voted on individually, but are listed together and approved in one single vote during the course of each meeting.
Now acting city manager Steve Berry, when interviewed by district attorney’s office investigator Robert Ransdell on April 24 of this year, said that in December 2006, when he was then serving in the capacity of assistant city manager and learned that Schwab was going to reinitiate purchasing ads from the Grand Terrace City News, he “thought it was not a good idea because of the conflict of interest issue.”
Nowhere in the court documents filed in connection with the case against Jim Miller is an explanation of how or why the multiple approvals of the payments to his wife’s newspaper, which the assistant city manager considered to represent a conflict of interest, were presented to the whole city council as “noncontroversial.”
Records show that Berry, along with Schwab and city clerk Brenda Mesa, requested and approved city advertisements that appeared in the Grand Terrace City News.
Ownership and registration documents pertaining to the Grand Terrace City News and its parent organization, City News Group, indicate that Marge Miller is the sole owner of the newspaper and its controlling corporation. Miller made full disclosure of his wife’s ownership of the newspaper on the California Form 700s he and all public officials are required to fill out.
The cost of the ads purchased by the city over a period of less than two years totals $18,000.
On May 8 of this year Jim Miller was interviewed by Ransdell. During the course of that interview, Miller explained that in the same time frame that his wife had purchased the newspaper, she had also purchased a property adjoining Grand Terrace City Hall in which the newspaper office was located. “As a director of the redevelopment agency,” Miller said, “Tom Schwab advised me to contact the city attorney because he was concerned that the sale of the building to my wife could represent a conflict of interest.” All property in Grand Terrace is in a redevelopment project area. “I made a call, to our city attorney [John Harper] because I wanted to know if there would be a conflict of interest with me as a councilman and her having a building there and having a newspaper business in it. The city attorney researched it and came back and said, no, as long as it’s her sole and separate property there shouldn’t be a problem,”
Miller said.
“A few months ago the city council and planning commission received ethics training from the city attorney,” Wilson said. “We were told to avoid conflicts of interest and be honest in our dealings. Failure carried a severe penalty. We were told to withdraw from decision making if there was any question of integrity. No payment from other entities while employed by the city. No activities incompatible with our city position.
Common sense like regular hours, getting along with others, credit for our own deeds. No lying, no stealing, no bullying were things we learned in kindergarten.”
Irene Michaelis took exception with Berry’s efforts to shame the local press for having written about his activity.
“The newspapers do not have to take directions from you about what to write,” she said.
She further charged that Berry was protecting some of his friends from code enforcement action.
Jeffrey McConnell said that the evening was turning into “pile on Steve Berry night.”
He praised Berry as an “energetic” public servant who “brings good things to the city.”
In “doing that much you have to step on toes either intentionally or unintentionally,” McConnell said. “You can’t please everybody all the time. In this small community the overlap is intense. There is conflict of interest that abounds. Most of it is unintentional.”
McConnell said that there are “so few doers,”
San Bernardino County Sentinel
June 2008,
Jim Miller
Investigators from the San Bernardino County district attorney’s public integrity unit on Wednesday arrested Grand Terrace City Councilman Jim Miller at his home on a warrant issued by Judge Annemarie Pace.
The warrant cited a felony conflict of interest, pursuant to Government Code Section 1090, which prohibits an elected official from participating in a vote in which he or she has a financial interest.
According to deputy district attorney John Goritz, over the last two years councilman Miller repeatedly voted for city expenditures that benefitted the Grand Terrace City News, a newspaper owned and operated, the district attorney’s office alleges, by Miller and his wife.
Miller, an employee in San Bernardino County’s real estate services department, has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of a personnel investigation.
Miller was booked at the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino. He was released Wednesday afternoon after posting bail of $25,000.
The Sentinel has learned that both former city manager Tom Schwab and current acting city manager Steve Berry, when he was formerly serving in the capacity of assistant city manager, had taken out legal ads in the Grand Terrace City News on the city’s behalf beginning in 2006, within nine months after Marge Miller, Jim Miller’s wife, purchased the newspaper along with its sister publications, the Loma Linda City News and the Colton City News.
Prior to Marge Miller’s purchase of those newspapers, the Grand Terrace City News had published legal ads for the city of Grand Terrace. In early 2006, the city of Grand Terrace was using the San Bernardino Sun to publish most of its legal ads. After Marge Miller purchased the Grand Terrace City News, she increased its circulation substantially, elevating it to the most widely distributed newspaper in Grand Terrace.
According to statements made by Schwab, who was then city manager, the decision to publish the city’s legal notices in the Grand Terrace City News was made after a determination that the rates for doing so were less than those for publishing in the Sun.
Miller was notified by Grand Terrace city attorney John Harper in August 2008 that there was a potential legal conflict inherent in his votes that ratified the city’s payments to his wife’s newspaper. The Grand Terrace City News ceased publication of those city legal notices immediately thereafter.
An examination of the wording in Harper’s letter to Miller indicates that there had been no previous recommendation to the councilman from the city attorney’s office with regard to the potential conflict inherent in the sale of the newspaper ads.
The council’s votes with regard to the ratification of the city’s payments to the Grand Terrace City News were made pursuant to the approval of the city’s consent calendar. The consent calendar consists of multiple routine housekeeping items certified by city staff as “noncontroversial” in nature. These multiple issues contained in the consent calendar are not voted on individually, but are listed together and approved in one single vote during the course of each meeting.
Now acting city manager Steve Berry, when interviewed by district attorney’s office investigator Robert Ransdell on April 24 of this year, said that in December 2006, when he was then serving in the capacity of assistant city manager and learned that Schwab was going to reinitiate purchasing ads from the Grand Terrace City News, he “thought it was not a good idea because of the conflict of interest issue.”
Nowhere in the court documents filed in connection with the case against Jim Miller is an explanation of how or why the multiple approvals of the payments to his wife’s newspaper, which the assistant city manager considered to represent a conflict of interest, were presented to the whole city council as “noncontroversial.”
Records show that Berry, along with Schwab and city clerk Brenda Mesa, requested and approved city advertisements that appeared in the Grand Terrace City News.
Ownership and registration documents pertaining to the Grand Terrace City News and its parent organization, City News Group, indicate that Marge Miller is the sole owner of the newspaper and its controlling corporation. Miller made full disclosure of his wife’s ownership of the newspaper on the California Form 700s he and all public officials are required to fill out.
The cost of the ads purchased by the city over a period of less than two years totals $18,000.
On May 8 of this year Jim Miller was interviewed by Ransdell. During the course of that interview, Miller explained that in the same time frame that his wife had purchased the newspaper, she had also purchased a property adjoining Grand Terrace City Hall in which the newspaper office was located. “As a director of the redevelopment agency,” Miller said, “Tom Schwab advised me to contact the city attorney because he was concerned that the sale of the building to my wife could represent a conflict of interest.” All property in Grand Terrace is in a redevelopment project area. “I made a call, to our city attorney [John Harper] because I wanted to know if there would be a conflict of interest with me as a councilman and her having a building there and having a newspaper business in it. The city attorney researched it and came back and said, no, as long as it’s her sole and separate property there shouldn’t be a problem,”
Miller said.
(Reading Caution: Miller is not saying he was the Director of the Revelopment Agency, he is identifying which hat Schwab was wearing when the question was raised about a possible conflict.)
Accordingly, Miller said, “I really didn’t think anything ... about the City News and approving the contracts, or approving the vouchers, or doing anything was a real issue because it was between my wife, the company and the city.”
A letter from acting city manager Steve Berry dated September 11, 2008 contained in the court documents filed in conjunction with Miller’s arrest states “Due to conflict issues related to both the Political Reform Act, and, more significantly, the Government Code Section 1090 contracting prohibition, I have made the decision to cease any advertising in the City News.”
The documents filed by the district attorney’s office with the court give no indication that city attorney Harper was interviewed by investigators in conjunction with the case constructed against Miller.
According to the complaint filed against Miller, he “while a member of the Grand Terrace City Council, knowingly and willingly, [became] financially interested in a contract made by him in his official capacity, and by a body and board of which he was a member.”
San Bernardino County Sentinel
Friday, July 17, 2009
SBC Sentinel Now has a Blogspot... http://sbcsentinel.blogspot.com/2009/05/tom-schwab-throws-in-towel.html
The SBC Sentinel has kindly sent a pdf file of July 17, 2009 issue, if you would like a copy sent via email contact grandterracenews@yahoo.com or the above blog has a link to the SBCSentinel. We should all be informed about the city and county.
BIG BEAR VALLEY Had the Following:
Grand Terrace city councilman arrested
Posted on 2009 July 16 by BBVM
PDF: Read prosecutors’ news release on the arrest of Grand Terrace Councilman Jim Miller
PDF: Read the criminal complaint against Grand Terrace Councilman Jim Miller
PDF: Read a city letter to Councilman Jim Miller about alleged conflict of interest
PDF: Read court documents in the case against Grand Terrace Councilman Jim Miller
Grand Terrace City Councilman Jim Miller was arrested Wednesday and charged with felony conflict of interest stemming from his votes to place the city’s legal advertisements in his wife’s community newspaper.
His wife, Grand Terrace City News publisher Margie Miller, posted his $25,000 bail and he was released from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Central Detention Center shortly after 2 p.m.
Jim Miller did not acknowledge reporters’ questions as he left the jail, and his wife declined to comment. Jim Miller did not return a phone message left on his cell phone.
The arrest came just hours after Jim Miller attended a Tuesday night City Council meeting and voted on the fate of embattled Acting City Manager Steve Berry, who was accused by the Sheriff’s Department seven years ago of embezzlement and fraud in connection with the tinting of windows at city buildings by a jail work release inmate.
“How did this perfect little quaint, quiet city turn into a cesspool?” Grand Terrace Councilman Walt Stanckiewitz said by phone Wednesday. “Why is this going on? I’m at the end of my rope with it.”Stanckiewitz said he does not expect the council to press for a resignation from Jim Miller, who has served since 2004 and would face re-election in 2012. “If it is a legal matter, that will need to be resolved” before Jim Miller’s status on the council is addressed, Stanckiewitz said. “I think that’s how our justice system works.”
Prosecutor John Goritz said Jim Miller can keep his council seat while the case against him proceeds.
State law prohibits anyone convicted of conflict of interest charges from holding public office in California. The provision does not apply to those charged but not yet convicted, Goritz said.
Jim Miller faces a prison sentence of 16 months to three years if convicted.
The 61-year-old councilman has been placed on paid administrative leave from his job as a real estate services manager for San Bernardino County, said David Wert, a county spokesman. He said the county did so because the alleged offense is a felony and involves public malfeasance.
Miller will be allowed to return to work if county personnel officials determine the arrest has no connection to his work for the county, Wert said.
The charges stem from payments the city made to the Grand Terrace City News, said Goritz, of the Public Integrity Unit in the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office.
From Oct. 26, 2006, through Aug. 12, 2008, Goritz said, Jim Miller voted to approve routine items on the council’s consent calendar authorizing payments to the newspaper for legal advertising. Goritz said the payments amounted to about $18,000.
Goritz said it is the act of voting on matters that could potentially generate financial benefit, not the dollar amount, that makes the offense a felony.
Margie Miller said last week that Grand Terrace City News was running legal ads for the city when she bought the publication in 2006.
She continued the practice until Berry sent Jim Miller a letter on Sept. 11, 2008, stating that he considered the practice a conflict of interest with Jim Miller serving as a councilman and had ordered city staff members to stop advertising in the newspaper
Margie Miller said her staff was still receiving requests from the city to run ads, but stopped accepting them as soon as she received the letter.
In a statement filed by investigators to support the criminal complaint, Jim Miller was quoted as saying he did not think he had a conflict of interest because he did not own any part of his wife’s business. In a financial disclosure statement filed Sept. 7, 2007, he stated that he owned less than 10 percent of the business’ total worth.
Grand Terrace City Attorney John Harper said Wednesday that Jim Miller had contended until Tuesday that he had no personal interest in the newspaper.
“He said both indirectly and directly to me on many occasions that it is his belief that his wife owns the newspaper and that it is her separate property,” Harper said.
Jim Miller told an investigator during a May 8 interview that “I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong up to that time,” referring to the time when the city informed him of the conflict. He said he had checked with Harper before his wife bought City News to determine if the purchase would pose a problem.
The investigator wrote that Jim Miller told him “the city attorney researched it and he came back and said, ‘No, as long as it’s her sole and separate property there shouldn’t be a problem.’ “
Jim Miller told the investigator the city dealt directly with his wife when doing business with the newspaper, according to the report.
“I really didn’t think anything … about the City News and the approving the contracts, or approving the vouchers, or doing anything was a real issue because it was between my wife, the company and the city,” Jim Miller said, according to the report.
He told the investigator that he had not received conflict of interest training from the city and that he believed someone there would tell him if he was committing a violation. He later told the investigator that he now recognizes the problem.
“I essentially voted on approving payments to my wife’s business,” he told the investigator.
Harper said he did not know until August, a month before the practice was stopped, that Jim Miller was approving payments to his wife’s newspaper for legal advertising.
The city attorney said he wouldn’t have suspected a conflict existed “unless they disclose it to me. In fact, even today I don’t know what the ownership interest is.”
Harper said he was alerted to a potential conflict in August 2008, when Jim Miller referred at a council meeting to “my wife’s newspaper.” ( NOT BERRY BRINGING IT TO HIS ATTENTION)
Harper said he wrote a letter to Jim Miller outlining the legal ramifications of state conflict of interest and political reform laws. He said he did not address the potential City News conflict because he did not have enough facts.
Other case
Jim Miller’s arrest came the morning after he and other council members took part in a lengthy closed-door discussion of Acting City Manager Berry’s fate in a performance evaluation that was to include a discussion of allegations against Berry that recently came to light. A recently disclosed sheriff’s report, written in 2003, accused Berry of wrongdoing in connection with the tinting of windows at several city buildings by a county jail work-release inmate.
After the private council session, Jim Miller voted with three other council members to allow Berry to continue as acting city manager until a permanent manager is hired, as early as next month.
The council decided not to consider Berry for the permanent job.
Some say that the leak of a sheriff’s report alleging misconduct by Berry was connected to Berry’s move to end the city’s advertising in the paper. Margie Miller denied that she and her husband had anything to do with making the sheriff’s report about Berry public.
Berry said last week that he received an anonymous letter accusing Margie Miller of leaking the sheriff’s report to the media. (This does not fit the time line of events.)
Stanckiewitz said he believes the complaint to the district attorney about Jim Miller was made by a fellow council member, but he would not say who. He said he believes it was an attempt to discredit Jim Miller before the council could decide Berry’s fate, but came too late. (The only voting to retain Mr. Berry was Bea Cortes)
Staff writers Paul LaRocco and Leslie Parrilla contributed to this report.
Reach Darrell R. Santschi at 951-368-9484 or dsantschi@PE.com
GrandPaTerrace, on July 17th, 2009 at 11:51 Said:
Steve Berry Remains Uncharged Day 3
Many of the readers have informed the DA’s Office of the Felony Embezzlement and Falsification of Public Records Investigation against Grand Terrace City Manager Steve Berry. Read a portion of the report available here. This is only 25 pages of a report that exceeds 100 pages.
The DA’s Office has been informed of the Cover Up and have been requested to Expand the Investigation to include the Cover up and failure to report to the City Council by Staff that were aware of the problem at the time it was being transacted.
THE DA’s OFFICE has not FILED CHARGES against Steve Berry for 2 days after receipt of a complaint. We will keep count on how long it takes to get action on this much greater transgression.
Read the Documents..
http://www.pe.com/multimedia/pdf/2009/20090711_nscandal.pdf
You can down load 25 pages of the 150 page Investigation Report about Steve Berry’s Transgressions. Note he has admitted to the events, just not the criminality of the acts.
If the above link stops working, I can email it to you just send a request toGrandTerraceNews@yahoo.com…
NOTE we are not related to Grand Terrace City News… Or the Millers and our first contact with the story was a copy of the SBC Sentinel…
