Affordable Housing Team, er, Family
— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 8 October 2009 — 2 comments below »
Affordable Housing Solutions Group (which also does business as NEO Consulting), the contracted consultant that runs the City’s affordable housing program, is made up — in part — of the following team…
- Michael A. Sakamoto, former Hercules City Manager and one-time mentor of current City Manager Nelson Oliva;
- Walter McKinney, former Chief of Police of Hawaiian Gardens (in Southern California), where Nelson Oliva was City Administrator from 1990 through 1995;
- Taylor Oliva, Nelson’s daughter, who is listed as Chief Executive Officer, and her two sisters;
- Imelda Deano, who once sued Los Angeles County for tripping over a mat at the LAX airport;
- Jonathen Sakamoto, presumably related to Mike Sakamoto; and
- Rachael Redford, who sold her home this past December, courtesy of a $350k affordable housing loan, at a time when her condo was valued ~$100k.
As Tom Lochner reported last week, “NEO Consulting — the initials are Nelson E. Oliva’s — was founded by Oliva, but he divested himself of his interest in the company in early 2007 before he became Hercules city manager that April.”
And this is the company’s logo (taken from their website)…
Once again Hercules staff and council: this nepotisn and cronyism stinks to high heaven! I’m sorry but NO ONE can make the case that Taylor Oliva – 22ish year-old daughter of City Manager Nelson Oliva – is a legitimate CEO and to bill her as such is proof positive that Nelson Oliva and the council members that retain NEO think 1) the citizens of Hercules are incredibly stupid and 2) that city government may be used in the bright light of day to line their pockets as well of those of their family and friends . Most so-called Chief Executive Officers who are billed as “the guiding force of the company” don’t moonlight as servers at the Powder Keg (although I’m sure PK is a very nice place to work). And I won’t even go into Sakamoto & Son and the Hawaiian Gardens Chief of Police relationships.
Hercules Staff and Council: End the relationship with NEO. Stop your disgusting disdain for the citizens of Hercules and adopt city-wide practices banning cronyism, nepotism and business practices that might even faintly smell of impropriety. We employ/vote for you! You may not use your position with the city to enrich yourselves or your associates beyond your normal salary. Keep it up and Forbes.com will vote Hercules “Most laughable city” instead of “Most livable”!
Hercules Citizens – Please tell city officials and staff that you’ve had enough! Let’s take back our city before this on-going nepotism and cronyism do irreparable harm and demand that city staff and officials keep all business practices above-board.
So the city attorney has opined there is no violation of ethics laws and no conflict of interest in these dealings. Assuming that is true (and that would be a stretch), the real issue is that the bail out is a gift of public funds, a violation of the state constitution.
As for the apparent nepotism, many cities have adopted anti-nepotism provisions that would preclude these “insider” dealings. I challenge the council to do the right thing and adopt anti-nepotism provisions that would preclude elected and appointed officials from hiring family, friends and other insiders in no-bid deals that are routinely approved without discussion on the council’s consent calendar.