Emails: County officials at odds
County says the matter is under investigation
Humboldt County’s chief auditor and a county supervisor are at odds over a $23,000 payment to a group of businessmen, engaging in a tense email exchange Thursday about a check that the supervisor wanted to hand-deliver, he said, to “tax paying citizens who happen to be my friends.”
Auditor-controller Karen PazDominguez and 1st District Supervisor Rex Bohn have publicly disagreed before, but Thursday’s email exchange led to Paz-Dominguez saying she was in “disbelief” over how Bohn worded his email to her.
County spokesperson Sean
Quincey declined
Friday to directly provide comment on the emails.
“That matter has been referred to (Human Resources) and it’s now under investigation,” Quincey said. “We take these things seriously.”
Specifically, the supervisor had asked to hand-deliver the check to “hard working east Indians who pay their bills,” instead of having them wait for the check to arrive in the mail. Paz Dominguez had already sent out a check by mail, but said Friday she felt pressured to upend her office’s “first come, first serve” process on Bohn’s behalf.
“We will continue working diligently to issue payments to all vendors in as timely a fashion as possible, not just your “Man”, “Gentlemen” “east Indian” friends,” Paz Dominguez said in her final email to Bohn, a reference to Bohn’s capitalized characterization of the businessmen.
The business owners, who own a hotel in Humboldt County, had agreed to provide homeless residents with housing during the coronavirus pandemic in exchange for payment.
In the time since, Bohn had “been getting a lot of direct inquiries regarding the payment and wants to hand deliver the check in appreciation to his friends for their service,” according to an email to the auditor from another county
employee.
In a response, Paz Dominguez said the supervisor would have to wait for the check to arrive by postage instead of being given a check.
“Supervisor Bohn wanting to personally deliver a check to his friend is not a legitimate reason for us to ignore internal controls over cash equivalents,” Paz Dominguez wrote.
Less than an hour later, Bohn responded.
“You may not have a concern about the timeliness of this transaction they are under extreme pressure to make payments,”
Bohn wrote. “I can pretty much Guarantee that this is legitimate as they are being charged late fees daily, checks mailed tomorrow put 4 more days of late fees to these tax paying citizens who happen to be my friends. I am just trying to facilitate and relieve their anxiety and fears.”
The exchange comes amid continued disagreements between Paz Dominguez and staff over the state of the county’s budget. On Thursday, Paz Dominguez gave an interview to the radio station KMUD about issues she said she has noticed in internal accounting.
In closing, Bohn said in his email: “I have multiple times tried to access Auditor/Controller office to no avail, hope to see it open soon.”
Paz Dominguez responded: “There are 2 staff persons in the office every day and they have just confirmed to me that you have never knocked on the door. You have also made no attempt to request an appointment to speak to any of us.”
Bohn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.