A $590,000 settlement by the Costa Mesa Sanitary District to end a whistleblower lawsuit has opened a window on allegations of overbilling and racism in the agency.
The settlement was finalized in February with former Finance Manager Steve Hodges, who alleged retaliation after he accused a veteran district engineer of overbilling for inspections.
The litigation also unearthed evidence that a high-ranking administrator verbally disparaged Mexican employees and often used the “N-word.”
The tiny sanitary district, formed in 1944, oversees trash pickup and sewer lines for a population of 118,000 in Costa Mesa and small portions of Newport Beach and unincorporated Orange County.
In 2018, Hodges reported to his bosses that engineering contractor Robin Hamers allegedly had overbilled the district by as much as $200,000 over a five-year period. Hodges claimed Hamers’ firm had been charging the district for more than 24 hours a day to, among other things, inspect sewer systems. There are 2,080 work hours in a year, but Hamers billed for an average of 2,122 a year, according to an auditing report. One year he billed for 2,468 hours.
In an interview in 2018, Hamers explained that many of the inspections were done at night and that he and his inspector work seven days a week.
An investigation was performed for the district by accounting firm Crowe LLP and the law firm of Best, Best & Krieger.
Meanwhile, Hodges was placed on paid leave for an unrelated personnel matter, according...
Police have applied for a bench warrant for YouTuber Jeon Han-gil (real name Jeon Yu-gwan), a former Korean history lecturer, on charges of defamation under the Information and Communications Netwo...