Cambria CSD finance manager out as questions arise over financial glitches

There’s an interim finance manager at the Cambria Community Services District, but so far, district officials haven’t said why the previous manager is no longer on the job.

Then finance manager Rudy Hernandez presented the district’s draft operating budget for fiscal year 2018-2019 at the Board of Directors’ June 28 meeting, but by the next Monday, his name was no longer in that position on the district’s website, cambriaccsd.org.

General Manager Jerry Gruber said by email the next day that the CSD’s former finance manager Alleyne LaBossiere would take up those duties again on an interim basis but has declined repeated Cambrian requests for more information to elaborate on why Hernandez was no longer employed by the district.

“We are checking with district counsel to see what is appropriate to release,” Gruber said.

Some financial glitches were mentioned in the June 28 meeting, however, such as a check for purchasing a truck being submitted without a signature to the vendor and the district being late in paying some of its bills, resulting in doubled-up payments in a single month.

Gruber hasn’t said if those errors were made by Hernandez or someone else.

Gruber said the first check for the truck was sent without a signature, so the district cut and sent a duplicate check — this one properly signed.

According to the receipt from Perry Ford Lincoln in San Luis Obispo, CCSD bought the brand new 2018 F150 Ford truck for $22,598.65 as the vehicle for Sustainable Water Facility operator James Green.

The truck does not have four-wheel drive, which Board President Amanda Rice questioned at the meeting because as chief plant operator Green likely will have to drive the vehicle in muddy winter conditions.

The CSD’s expenditure report listed two checks for that amount, which raised some hackles and questions at the June 28 meeting.

The cost of the truck wasn’t in the district’s 2017-2018 budget. The district board must approve any unbudgeted expenditure over $25,000, but under normal circumstances (or if the situation is an emergency) Gruber can spend more than that on his own.