First 5 investigation in a nutshell
Bakersfield Californian 4/8/07
First 5 Kern initiated the original evaluation contract with CSUB in 2001. Kern’s agency also administered what was, for a time, a group contract that included First 5 agencies from five nearby counties. By mid-2004 the other agencies had dropped out, leaving just First 5 Kern as Cal State’s client.
What we found
Car payments
• More than $17,000 went toward lease payments of the former principal researcher’s car.
No documents have yet surfaced indicating terms of the car allowance were ever put in writing or accounted for as possible income.
Neither CSUB officials nor First 5 commissioners knew about the payments until The Californian’s investigation.
In response to The Californian’s questions, First 5 Kern’s executive director and Cal State officials said the payments were cheaper than mileage would have been for what was, at one time, a research contract involving six counties.
A Californian analysis found the lease payments were significantly more expensive than mileage would have been for two of the three years the deal lasted — a finding later validated by an outside audit released in February.
Retreats
• More than $15,000 paid for Morro Bay retreats for Cal State researchers and First 5 executive directors.
One trip included an $1,800 charter flight to bring Inyo County’s First 5 chief to the seaside event.
First 5 and university officials have defended the retreats as typical business expenses. The charter flight from Inyo, they say, was the only flight available and the winter-season drive would have been eight to 10 hours each way.
First 5 commissioners weren’t aware of retreat details prior to The Californian’s coverage.
Computers
• More than $62,000 for new computers and another $22,000 for software and accessories.
The location of all the equipment has not yet been provided by Cal State.
The former principal researcher did not properly track or account for the computer equipment, the university’s policies show.
University officials said the computer purchases were fine because First 5 staff approved them. First 5 Kern chief Steve Ladd said the university research center was like a new business and “we helped them buy whatever they needed, just like any contractor who’s starting fresh.”
First 5 commissioners weren’t aware of the purchases prior to The Californian’s reporting.
Other spending
• More than $155,000 for consultants, at least two of them spouses of research-center staffers.
• More than $100,000 for travel, including trips not directly related to First 5 but rather for researchers’ “professional development.”
• Thousands more for furniture, framed wall maps, shirts and satchels embroidered with the research center’s logo, cell phone bills, home Internet service, professional dues, car adapters, Palm Pilots, digital cameras, an overhead projector, recording equipment and numerous other items.
Outcome
An outside forensic audit of the contract paid for by First 5 Kern and released in February said adequate oversight mechanisms were in place. It did not evaluate whether these expenses should have been paid with public First 5 money meant to help children through age 5. Rather the audit said the expenses were allowable within the contract budget.
Data audit
Cal State paid an outside evaluator about $100,000 to look into the work done by former researchers who left the First 5 project last June. Their work had been criticized by new researchers who took over the project.
The data evaluation, also released in February, said the original work held water.
Nevertheless, Cal State officials in March announced the university’s withdrawal from the First 5 contract. (Researchers will help through October or so.)
Ladd’s departure hasn’t changed those plans, university spokesman Mike Stepanovich said Friday.
“Nobody (at Cal State) is interested in continuing the relationship with First 5,” Stepanovich said.