County Supervisor and Board Chairman Jaime De La Cruz recently
laid blame for what he called the Spur Hotel
”
fiasco
”
on County Counsel Dennis LeClere for his advisement on the
project and said he has told the attorney he’d be fired
”
the first moment I feel uncomfortable.
”
County Supervisor and Board Chairman Jaime De La Cruz recently laid blame for what he called the Spur Hotel “fiasco” on County Counsel Dennis LeClere for his advisement on the project and said he has told the attorney he’d be fired “the first moment I feel uncomfortable.”
De La Cruz’s comments came in a meeting with the Free Lance Editorial Board. His opponent in the District 5 race, Marian Cruz, also spoke to the editorial board about the Spur Hotel and talked before De La Cruz’s statements, but more so about the importance of picking the right planning commissioner. Cruz could not be reached for additional comment.
De La Cruz said he recently approached LeClere about the project, which supervisors had sent back to the drawing table when officials realized they hadn’t followed the right procedures.
According to the supervisor in the editorial board meeting, he had this to say to LeClere: “If you can’t do the job, the first moment I feel uncomfortable you are gone.”
He also said he instructed the county counsel not to allow for another “fiasco” to occur on the hotel project. In a later interview with the Free Lance, De La Cruz spoke of blaming the county counsel’s office as a whole as opposed to just LeClere.
LeClere did not return phone calls Thursday seeking comment.
De La Cruz’s statements about the county counsel were among several potentially significant comments he made. He and Cruz also talked openly about a need to eventually consider consolidation of the county sheriff’s office and city police department. And both said there is a need to create a five-year financial plan to coincide with the current system of budgeting from year to year, a practice some county officials blame on how the state budget heavily plays into the planning. De La Cruz, who formed a finance committee to study the five-year forecast idea, and Cruz both criticized past boards for not taking more initiative on such longer-term planning.
It was De La Cruz’s statements about the county counsel, however, which represent the first time an official has spoken so pointedly about the delays to the controversial hotel project, pegged for the intersection of Highway 25 and Southside Road.
The Spur Hotel is a 44-unit project in Tres Pinos that has been opposed by nearby residents and touted by others who see an economic benefit. The most recent botch occurred when supervisors felt compelled in February to essentially go back for a “redo” on its planning due to procedural errors.
While De La Cruz was the first county official to so boisterously call into question LeClere’s performance on the hotel project, Spur developer John Eade openly criticized the county counsel.
Eade had said at the time that the most substantial mistake, due to county counsel advice, was a failure in October to certify the “mitigated negative declaration.” It’s a lesser version of a full environmental impact report that addresses piecemeal question areas as opposed to a much broader set of studies. Supervisors already had upset hotel opponents by moving it forward without a full EIR.
