"It's chutzpah": John Williams stuck in the spanking machine

Jennifer Muir of the OC Reg reports that SOCCCD trustee JOHN WILLIAMS is an even bigger idiot than we thought:

Public administrator accused of mismanagement. Again.

Orange County's Public Administrator and Public Guardian John Williams has continued to expand his already bloated management staff and engage in questionable personnel practices despite warnings from the grand jury earlier this year, a new report alleged Tuesday.

The grand jury took a rare second look at Williams and his agency and found that the problems still existed.

"We couldn't believe it," grand jury foreman James Perez said. "They basically went on to do the same thing in spite of our report. It's chutzpah."

But Williams says the grand jury's allegations are not accurate, the second probe is redundant and it was released prematurely – before the deadline for his office to formally respond to the first barrage of charges against him. Working with the grand jurors was frustrating, he said, because many struggled to understand the complex documents and cases they were investigating.
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The Orange County public administrator/public guardian manages more than $38 million in assets while administering the estates of more than a thousand people each year.

The public administrator is an elected job charged with settling the estates of recently deceased residents who have no known heirs. The public guardian is responsible for overseeing the estate and physical well being of folks who are unable to care for themselves, such as the mentally ill and elderly.

Those roles were combined in 2005 after Williams and then-Treasurer Tax Collector John Moorlach promised county supervisors that merging the departments would save the county $300,000. Williams earns about $145,000 a year for his work overseeing both roles, he says.

Fueled by public complaints of "inappropriate activities" within the department, the grand jury published results of its first probe in May, accusing Williams of doubling salary costs at the agency, engaging in questionable personnel practices and failing to save taxpayer money.
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After the report was published, Perez says the grand jury received more complaints about the department, which led them to take a second look.

They discovered that Williams had hired another manager, "even though there does not appear to be a suitable organizational reason for taking that action," expanding the cost of management to $1.15 million by June 2009.

Williams defends his management practices, saying the grand jury's report is riddled with inaccuracies. For example, their analysis of management salaries is misleading for several reasons: The 2005 figures don't account for the Health Care Agency staff that was helping manage operations before the public administrator and public guardian were consolidated. Also, the 2005 salary figures only reflect base pay, while the 2009 figures also include benefits.
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Additionally, he says there are nine managers in his department, not 11 as the grand jury report says.

Moorlach said the grand jury's second report seems to be an offshoot of a memo circulated by the county's human resources director.

"I think the grand jury's facts have been corroborated by our human resources dept," Moorlach said. "I'm not having trouble with the grand jury's facts. I think it would be good that we have a good discussion to air it out."