OC Fair CEO Can Sign $200K Contract Without Bringing It Back to Board

The governance of the Orange County Fair and Event Center is coming under greater scrutiny as the date of the sale approaches.  One item that has raised interest is the $200K signature authority granted CEO Steve Beazley by the Fair Board.  

In Policy 2.3 - Financial Condition and Activities, item 5 grants the authority to sign for up to  $200K for items "explicitly itemized in budget monitoring data previously disclosed to the Board."  In addition to the dollar amount being way larger than that for local cities, the way the authority is granted is also questionable given the past actions of Fair management.

For instance, the City of Orange has a $30K limit on contracts before the item has to be brought before City Council for approval.  The $30K limit applies to items called out in the budget.  (See Title 3 - Revenue and Finance, 3.08 - Purchasing System in the municipal code.)  Orange operates a water company, public works, and three libraries year round, in addition to all of the regular city services. Items over $30K are brought in front of Council, put in front of the residents who pay the taxes, and are voted on in an open forum.

Santa Ana limits the City Manager to $25K without going to Council.  (Article VII.II Purchasing Rules and Regulations.)  And the County of Orange limits contracts to $100K before the Supervisors need to approve the item.  (See Title 1 - Government and Administration, Article 2 - Purchasing, Sec 1-4-13)

Each of the entities runs very well by bringing items back into the public view for approval. And, each of these entities operates very large operations, year round, serving hundreds of thousands of people, while allowing the public to see who is getting public money. 

The other issue to focus on is the odd wording "itemized in budget monitoring data."  What does that mean?  Remember the after-the-contract-was-signed 60% pricing increase given to Fair vendors?  Staff's justification for that was it was in the budget, which was approved by the Board.  Given that precedent for staff action, what can be signed for without explicit Board approval in public, during a meeting, on the record, may seem only limited by your imagination.

Why does OCFEC CEO Steve Beazley need $200K signature authority?

Comments

[Vern]

Would that be how much he paid Ackerman without having to tell anyone?

[Carly]

You are comparing CITY entiities to STATE entities. The Fair is not run by the city but the state. My guess is that a Fair is an expensive event. Would you rather that the Fair Board have to approve the purchases???

Also, you refer to questionable past actions of Fair management, I am guessing, in regard to funding. Can you please elaborate?

[Publisher]

If you want to find out about the major problems with the management of the Orange County Fair and Events Center, this site has the news. Also check the Daily Pilot and Daily Voice. The Fair Board has gotten into legal trouble in previous years over massive amounts of tickets and catered lobster dinners at the Pacific Amphitheatre.(The Orange County Register has these stories. The amount of money is staggering!)

The Fair Board also formed a private Fair Foundation to buy the Fairgrounds out from under the public. There is no public good generated by allowing the CEO of the Fair to sign off on $200,000 without the public reviewing the contract. The Fair and Fairgrounds needs to be run for the benefit of the public.

[Carly]

My question was specifically about Fair management - whome you referred to specifically as CEO Steven Beazley. I am aware of the past indiscretions of the Fair Board, who are NOT employees. Beazley is. Isn't it time to separate the staff from the board? It was the board who gave themselves all the tickets, not the staff of the fair (they have since stopped). It is the board who formed the foundation, not the staff. It is the board you can go after for these items but to lump them in with staff is just wrong.