An investigation into the San Benito County Planning Department
found no evidence of criminal activity, according to a 2005
document recently provided by the county in response to a Free
Lance public records request.
HOLLISTER
An investigation into the San Benito County Planning Department found no evidence of criminal activity, according to a 2005 document recently provided by the county in response to a Free Lance public records request.
Those general findings were reported in the Free Lance several months after Martin Dodd, then-Special Assistant Santa Clara County Counsel, presented his final report to the San Benito County Board of Supervisors in April 2005. But according to a search of the newspaper’s archives, the details of Dodd’s report were never published.
Dodd was asked to investigate allegations made by building inspectors Ken Speciale and James Stevens that the county planning department was corrupt and unfair, according to the report.
“I found no evidence that (then-Planning Director) Rob Mendiola is ‘corrupt,’ i.e., that he was taking bribes or receiving personal favors in return for favorable treatment of some applicants or harsh treatment or others,” Dodd wrote.
He also found no evidence that Mendiola falsified building records or that he had unlawful business dealings with other county employees, according to the report.
Dodd was specifically investigating claims that the planning department allegedly sped up the rezoning of the Beaver Lumber Co. property to benefit then-Supervisor Richard Scagliotti and that Mendiola and the planning department allegedly treated the Aromas Cafe with unnecessary harshness during the inspection and code enforcement process.
Dodd wrote that he found no evidence of unlawful behavior in either case, but he added, “I find that the speed and ease with which the Beaver Lumber Company application … was processed is startling when compared to other projects pending at or about the same time, and difficult to explain completely for reasons other than that Supervisor Scagliotti was involved.”
The report was provided Friday by County Administrative Officer Susan Thompson in response to a Free Lance public records request. That request was filed on Nov. 29 and asked for all documents related to then-county consultant Sally Reed’s investigation into the planning department.
Prior to the Free Lance’s request, county staff either did not return phone calls about the investigation or said they couldn’t comment. Thompson said Tuesday that the county counsel’s office is reviewing the request and might allow the Free Lance access to the requested documents today.
Allegations against the planning department, and particularly that Scagliotti abused his power as supervisor to benefit his business interests as a developer, are at the heart of lawsuits that Monterey County attorney Michael Pekin has filed against Scagliotti and the San Benito County Board of Supervisors on behalf of his son Patrick. One of those lawsuits is scheduled to go to trial in March.
As reported on Nov. 30, Pekin recently gave the Free Lance a copy of e-mails from Reed to Dodd describing “a (planning department) pattern and practice in place in the last several years to reward friends and punish enemies of Supervisor Scagliotti and perhaps of others.”
When contacted by the Free Lance for that article, Reed said she wrote the e-mails while she was working as a consultant to then-Interim County Administrative Officer Susan Lyons. The e-mails were written before her investigation was finished, Reed said in November, so it would be “a mistake” to take their contents as proven fact.
“Rather they were clear indications that many people felt they were unfairly treated and that politics was driving department decisions,” she said.
At that time, Dodd told the Free Lance that he couldn’t comment on his correspondence with Reed or his work for the county.
When asked about Dodd’s findings, Pekin noted that the report also voiced concerns about department practices in the sale of the Churchill Nut Co. site, co-owned by Scagliotti, to the Beaver Lumber Co.
“The other stuff has nothing to do with my lawsuit,” Pekin said. “It could be the rain in Spain, for all I care.”
Pekin added that Dodd never contacted him during the investigation.
Dodd’s report also describes Mendiola as a “lightning rod for controversy” and states that he found strong suspicion of Mendiola throughout the community.
“Although that perception is not shared by everyone with whom we spoke, many believe that Mendiola does in fact favor Scagliotti and those with whom he and/or Scagliotti are friendly,” Dodd wrote.
Possible reasons for that perception were Mendiola’s “aura of certitude … that could be perceived by some as arrogance or imperiousness,” inconsistent department communication and a possible “lack of internal procedures, training and controls sufficient to ensure consistency of treatment of applicants and the security and integrity of records,” Dodd wrote.
Although he was vehemently defended by some locals, the board of supervisors voted to fire Mendiola shortly after Dodd’s report. Mendiola, now facilities director with the Gilroy Unified School District, declined to comment for this story.
