Inglewood City Treasurer Dr. Wanda Brown announced during today’s city council meeting that she has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer.
During her public remarks she mentioned she has three stages to go through: aggressive chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. She is in the final stages of chemotherapy and still made time to come to council meetings.
During today’s meeting she made reference to an Investment Committee that was due to be created based on findings of a previous state audit performed by the state controller’s office.
Brown established the city’s only Investment Committee, since the city’s inception, which is not required under Government Code 53600. Brown initially was due to accept applications from those in the community who chose to serve.
Brown, City Manager Artie Fields, Finance Director David Esparza, and two members from the community sate on said committee. As she continued to speak you could hear Mayor Butts huffing and puffing through his face mask, as a sign of what was to come.
Brown requested the city clerk include her report, in the city record, in the event Mayor Butts cut her mic. And on cue, Butts said her time was up.
Related: When Inglewood’s treasurer brought up city finances, the mayor cut off her mic
This comes on the heels of a scathing audit which revealed over $700,000 walked out of the city’s general fund, to pay for bonuses for executives, without any documentation substantiating said bonuses.
This is the second time that amount of money has gone unaccounted for, as a near identical amount was misspent from the city’s housing authority and listed in a 2016 audit. Both under the direction of CFO David Esparza.
Related: Inglewood’s Mayor Promised Fiscal Responsibility. Has He Delivered?
Mayor Butts is claiming “racism” from the results of the May 4, 2020, audit findings however anyone with a half functioning brain would call it fiscal malfeasance which should result in the termination of the finance director and his subordinates for failure to properly account for taxpayers funds.
The current fiscal year ends September 30, 2020, and residents have yet to have a mid-year budget presentation as the city took nearly $3 million out of the general fund today, to create a housing department, to hire 17 people.
The city has experienced revenue losses from COVID-19 and the announcement that SoFi Stadium needs to borrow more money to finish constructing the multi billion dollar project. The revenue shortage will impact negotiations as all bargaining units contracts are set to expire this year.
Mayor Butts continuously touts his multiple college degrees in business as to why the city is doing so well financially, however, his finance department is grossly incompetent.
Why is Mayor Butts allowing this?
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A FORENSIC AUDIT IS OVERDUE/ INGLEWOOD HAS BEEN MISMANAGED FOR YEARS