Former mayor concerned over Lindsay city manager’s reported role with Caglia | News

BY CHARLES WHISNAND

cwhisnand@portervillerecorder.com

The City of Porterville’s and Lindsay City Manager Kuyler Crocker’s communications with a Central Valley waste management company has raised eyebrows and now a former mayor and a longtime community leader in Lindsay has raised his concern.

Valeriano Saucedo has sent a letter to Lindsay mayor Misty Villarreal asking for the council to do an independent review when it comes to what he describes as taxpayer safeguards concerning City Manager Kuyler Crocker’s association with Caglia Environmental. Saucedo has requested the letter also be presented to all of the council members.

Saucedo stressed in the letter he’s not accusing Crocker, the council, Caglia or anyone of wrongdoing.

Caglia has been in communication with the city of Porterville and Crocker over the past year. That has raised eyebrows since the Porterville City Council has decided to possibly pursue privatizing the city’s waste management services.

Eyebrows were also raised when at the first meeting on April 21 in which the Porterville City Council voted to begin the process of possible privatizing the city’s waste management services, Richard Caglia of Caglia was at the meeting to give a presentation.

“The City is committed to conducting a fair, competitive, and transparent Request for Qualifications process,” Portervlle City Manager Richard Tree said. “The purpose of the RFQ is to identify qualified firms with the experience and capabilities necessary to provide high-quality refuse services should the City determine that contracting is in the community’s best interest. Throughout the process, staff will provide regular updates to the City Council, and all major decisions will be considered in public meetings. The City is committed to ensuring that residents and the City Council remain informed at each stage of the evaluation process.

“No decisions have been made regarding the future delivery of refuse services. The RFQ is an important step in gathering information, evaluating available options, and ensuring the City Council has the information necessary to make an informed decision that is in the best interest of the Porterville community.”

Crocker didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“I write to request a clear, public, document-based explanation of how the City is protecting Lindsay taxpayers, City resources, and the integrity of the City Manager’s office in connection with reported or potential outside consulting by City Manager Kuyler Crocker, including the reported Caglia Environmental matter connected to the City of Porterville’s consideration of solid-waste service alternatives,” Saucedo wrote.

“This letter does not accuse Mr. Crocker, the Mayor, the Council, City staff, Caglia Environmental, or anyone else of wrongdoing. It does not assert that City time, City funds, City equipment, City staff, City information, City contacts, or City influence have been used for private gain. It does not conclude that any Charter provision, Personnel Rule, contract term, conflict-of-interest law, or other legal standard has been violated.”

“The concern is narrower and important,” Saucedo wrote, adding he hasn’t seen anything from the city on “how any outside consulting by the City’s chief executive is being managed and how the City is protecting its interests.”

Saucedo added the same concern applies to any active or paid outside relations involving the entity Crocker Knoll LLC.

“The request is simply that the City use a consistent approval and safeguard process whenever an active outside paid relationship exists,” Saucedo wrote. “Questions have arisen in the community about whether outside paid work by the City Manager is permitted outside regular City hours or on personal time. The City should address those questions through its own records and policies.

“The relevant issue is not informal understanding, but whether the City has a written authorization, an independent approval process, clear restrictions, and verifiable taxpayer safeguards. The City is the proper public body to resolve these questions. A clear public answer would protect Mr. Crocker, protect the Council, protect taxpayers, and reduce avoidable speculation in the community.”

Saucedo went on to write: “The purpose of this letter is not to ask the City to prohibit, terminate, direct, or otherwise interfere with any lawful private consulting relationship involving Mr. Crocker.”

Saucedo added he personally asked Crocker if he was working as a consultant for Caglia and stated “I did not receive a denial in response.”

As far as Crocker’s outside consulting Saucedo wrote “The City should resolve this question with a public, document-based answer. He added “The public identification of the City Manager creates a citywide public-confidence and potential reputational-risk question the Council should address openly.”

“In a controversy involving possible privatization of a public-service operation, public use of the City Manager’s official title can make it difficult to separate the person from the office he holds. This does not establish legal wrongdoing. It does not establish that Mr. Crocker used his office inappropriately. It does not establish that Caglia Environmental has any matter before the City of Lindsay. It does not establish that Lindsay has suffered actual reputational damage.”

Saucedo added the issue “is an oversight and transparency question, not an accusation.” He stated “Any approval, compatibility review, conflict screening, recusal protocol, time-and-availability control, City-resource restriction, expense safeguard, audit procedure, and public-reporting rule should apply to every active or future paid outside relationship conducted through Crocker Knoll LLC or otherwise involving the City Manager.”

Saucedo stated “The City should not rely on informal assurances when its chief executive may have outside paid roles. Taxpayers deserve written authorization, independent review, clear boundaries, documented records, enforceable restrictions, and public accountability.

“The appropriate response is not to presume wrongdoing. It is to establish transparent controls before uncertainty becomes a larger public problem.”

Saucedo requested the issue be placed as an open-session agenda item at a council meeting. In addition he requested city staff “to report whether the City has reviewed or approved any current or recent outside consulting relationship involving Caglia Environmental and Mr. Crocker or Crocker Knoll LLC and, if so, to identify the date, approving authority, scope, conditions, and compatibility analysis to the extent permitted by law.”