Complicated answer that would take too long here. I ALWAYS worried about it and we had some dedicated finance people who worked their hearts out to keep the books clean and tidy, which they were as much as could be done at the time. I had a very good, very well regarded, consultant to try to manage everything and keep things in check. (Bender let him go, and the current, competent, interim City Manager brought him back to help him bring things back to normal.) We desperately needed Measure K and I prayed for it to come so the old financial system could be replaced and we could fix the structural deficit. Measure K saved the City and it is vital to keeping this City afloat.
The fact that Moore and Bender spent down the reserve, chased finance people and other great staff away, and that Bender made Manny integrate the new ERP system by himself is crazy and sad. Integrating new systems like that, which I have experience with and have seen done in several cities I worked with, require an army of people to transfer records, etc. There was no way one person could do this AND run a finance division, especially if it were bifurcated. It was a no-win situation for him and I can't even imagine the stress he went through.
Using money to hire a bunch of new people that had nothing to do with administration and finance was dumb. Spending $50,000 on new logo that was nothing but three trees made my blood boil. So...much...silly....spending. Why no news person EVER asked to speak to me for any of this was and is hilarious. I could have given many people, including the grand jury, a lot of insight. And the Moore issue is a big one and the old school cliques in this town are...brutal.
I will say this knowing Manuel Orozco for decades before joining the city of Willits his attentiveness to is his community gave him pride in trying to solve the city catastrophe he walked into day one. Frankly Willits had a white washing era that was at times a direct benefit to the former counsel member and heavy winded social media poster, her actions will not be taken lightly in this small tight knit community as frankly she herself is only a implant that cornered public curry through various small businesses and charity. I only hope this is not the death march so many say it is as Willits deserves a chance to thrive and not just be a folly 125 years in the making as Willits has seen dark days and the new effluent of citizens now wonder if they chose right.
Before Bender, the City had regular budgets and clean audits every year. The City actually won two budget awards for excellence in budgeting from the California Finance Officers Association. Andy Heath worked as a consultant before Bender, his services were terminated by Bender, and now he is back picking up the pieces. Pre-Bender, Willits also produced a Certified Annual Financial report, that detailed how actual spending compared with the budget. Willits did have a ridiculously inadequate finance system, but they could not afford to get a new one and Bender and the Assistant City Manager chased them out before they hired Manny, who was given little help. Willits was desperately poor and could not afford a new system until measure k funds came in, but the implementation was clearly botched. Bender should not have hired anyone new, Willits desperately needed the funds to rebuild aging systems and ensure proper staffing and training for the positions already there. Willits never skipped a budget or an audit before Brian Bender. This is the truth.
Would you care to comment in regards to Cathy Moreheads long tenure that included acting City Manager while you transitioned to our community to be City Manager and the position she held under Brian Bender and the failed due diligence that took place in that position. The city offices have been rife with social clicks for years and sadly that may be the very reason you and Mr.Bender were told all is well and don't worry about it, that is until Manuel found the perverbial rats nest of financial records that delayed him and took a toll on concense as a Willits local who has far too many ties to just let old records lie in dark boxes unknown to the public trust.
Well this sure sounds familiar. In my opinion, a mirror image of how Mendo County operates, except, in Willits’s case, on a lesser scale. Plenty of examples to cite on the County level: the Cubbisson fiasco, Public Health Directors threatened, resigning or unceremoniously shown the door, Eyster’s Broiler House “training” dinners, not to mention the ongoing bumbling incompetence of the BoS.
Complicated answer that would take too long here. I ALWAYS worried about it and we had some dedicated finance people who worked their hearts out to keep the books clean and tidy, which they were as much as could be done at the time. I had a very good, very well regarded, consultant to try to manage everything and keep things in check. (Bender let him go, and the current, competent, interim City Manager brought him back to help him bring things back to normal.) We desperately needed Measure K and I prayed for it to come so the old financial system could be replaced and we could fix the structural deficit. Measure K saved the City and it is vital to keeping this City afloat.
The fact that Moore and Bender spent down the reserve, chased finance people and other great staff away, and that Bender made Manny integrate the new ERP system by himself is crazy and sad. Integrating new systems like that, which I have experience with and have seen done in several cities I worked with, require an army of people to transfer records, etc. There was no way one person could do this AND run a finance division, especially if it were bifurcated. It was a no-win situation for him and I can't even imagine the stress he went through.
Using money to hire a bunch of new people that had nothing to do with administration and finance was dumb. Spending $50,000 on new logo that was nothing but three trees made my blood boil. So...much...silly....spending. Why no news person EVER asked to speak to me for any of this was and is hilarious. I could have given many people, including the grand jury, a lot of insight. And the Moore issue is a big one and the old school cliques in this town are...brutal.
I will say this knowing Manuel Orozco for decades before joining the city of Willits his attentiveness to is his community gave him pride in trying to solve the city catastrophe he walked into day one. Frankly Willits had a white washing era that was at times a direct benefit to the former counsel member and heavy winded social media poster, her actions will not be taken lightly in this small tight knit community as frankly she herself is only a implant that cornered public curry through various small businesses and charity. I only hope this is not the death march so many say it is as Willits deserves a chance to thrive and not just be a folly 125 years in the making as Willits has seen dark days and the new effluent of citizens now wonder if they chose right.
Before Bender, the City had regular budgets and clean audits every year. The City actually won two budget awards for excellence in budgeting from the California Finance Officers Association. Andy Heath worked as a consultant before Bender, his services were terminated by Bender, and now he is back picking up the pieces. Pre-Bender, Willits also produced a Certified Annual Financial report, that detailed how actual spending compared with the budget. Willits did have a ridiculously inadequate finance system, but they could not afford to get a new one and Bender and the Assistant City Manager chased them out before they hired Manny, who was given little help. Willits was desperately poor and could not afford a new system until measure k funds came in, but the implementation was clearly botched. Bender should not have hired anyone new, Willits desperately needed the funds to rebuild aging systems and ensure proper staffing and training for the positions already there. Willits never skipped a budget or an audit before Brian Bender. This is the truth.
Would you care to comment in regards to Cathy Moreheads long tenure that included acting City Manager while you transitioned to our community to be City Manager and the position she held under Brian Bender and the failed due diligence that took place in that position. The city offices have been rife with social clicks for years and sadly that may be the very reason you and Mr.Bender were told all is well and don't worry about it, that is until Manuel found the perverbial rats nest of financial records that delayed him and took a toll on concense as a Willits local who has far too many ties to just let old records lie in dark boxes unknown to the public trust.
Well this sure sounds familiar. In my opinion, a mirror image of how Mendo County operates, except, in Willits’s case, on a lesser scale. Plenty of examples to cite on the County level: the Cubbisson fiasco, Public Health Directors threatened, resigning or unceremoniously shown the door, Eyster’s Broiler House “training” dinners, not to mention the ongoing bumbling incompetence of the BoS.