California Parks Director Ruth Coleman Resigns Amid Scandal

The moves come in the wake of a scandal, revealed by The Bee on Sunday, in which a deputy director at State Parks carried out a secret vacation buyout program for employees at department headquarters last year. That buyout cost the state more than $271,000.

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Laird emphasized that it remains unclear who is to blame for the surplus, and whether it is linked to the vacation buyout, which sources told The Bee was carried out by Manuel Thomas Lopez, 45, of Granite Bay, who was demoted in October and then resigned in May.

The surplus money consists of $20.3 million in the Parks and Recreation Fund, and $33.5 million in the Off Highway Vehicle Fund, which are the two primary operating funds at the agency. This money was not reported to the state Finance Department, in contrast to normal budgeting procedures.

The department sat on the money for unknown reasons even as it carried out, over the past year, the unprecedented closure of 70 parks to satisfy state budget cuts.

Most of those closures ...

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/20/4645141/state-parks-director-resigns.html

Jerry Brown appoints interim parks chief in wake of scandal

Gov. Jerry Brown has appointed Natural Resources Agency Undersecretary Janelle Beland acting interim director of the California Parks and Recreation Department...

The Natural Resources Agency sought in a release to shift blame from the Brown administration, saying underreporting occurred "over the course of two prior gubernatorial administrations." It said the state Attorney General's Office is investigating, while Brown has ordered reviews be conducted by the Department of Finance and Natural Resources Agency John Laird.

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He added, "We will also work with the Legislature to see how this money can be used to mitigate park closures."

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/07/jerry-brown-appoints-interim-parks-chief-in-wake-of-scandal.html