June 15, 2007

Closed meeting yields no solutions, insight into city auditor questions

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

The San Jose City Council held its second closed meeting on June 5 regarding City Auditor Gerald Silva’s leave of absence. No announcements were forthcoming other than the mayor’s office admitting that seven or nearly half of the 16 employees in the City Auditor’s office have taken leaves of absence.

The San Jose City Council again met behind closed doors on June 12 to discuss the situation and did not set a new meeting, according to Mayor Chuck Reed’s spokeswoman Michelle McGurk.

City Auditor Gerald Silva

The seven staff members, including Silva, will remain on leave until the council makes a decision.

Silva has been on leave since mid-May because of “job stress.”

“These issues are personnel issues and the city’s attorneys have shown us laws that prevent us from speaking on these issues,“ said Michelle McGurk, spokeswoman for the mayor.

In a later e-mail, McGurk reiterated that no action was taken and that city employees are unable to discuss who is on leave or the reasons these employees have taken leave.

A city hall employee—who asked to remain anonymous—told the Times that the situation stems from an event several months ago when Silva was investigating an employee in the office for an audit that “wasn’t quite kosher.” Before Silva could reprimand the employee, the employee filed a hostile working environment claim against the auditor.

In addition, the source said that a City Debt and Investment program audit, which is focusing on debt, might not be favorable to the Finance and City Attorney’s offices.

The question, according to the source, comes in the area of legal advice. “Get a list of the litigation that’s been conducted since 2000. There was nothing questioned about the NorCal garbage scandal, but the city did bring lawsuits or answered lawsuits against eminent domain involving the Tropicana Center, suing Santa Clara County over the Fairgrounds, the recent suit losing $7 million for a parking structure and the law suit against the San Jose/Chamber of Commerce during last year’s mayoral election. It seems that there has been a lot of litigation costing the city millions of dollars and they might not have been necessary.”

However, while two sources did concur, none of these factors, other than the seven employees on leave, could be confirmed. “There are a lot of rumors out there and rumors aren’t fact,” said McGurk, who asked that these employees privacy be respected.

Silva, who has served as San Jose’s auditor for more than 20 years, took a leave of absence in May. His office is by City Council appointment. He receives a salary of $184,000 per year.

Two other city employees asked to attest to Silva’s honesty in the newspaper. Both asked to remain anonymous. “If you can depend on anyone to be impartial it’s Jerry,” said one adding, “but I don’t know if some of his staff is that accountable.”

“Jerry is a fantastic auditor,” said another. “He is fair and impartial.”