Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/great-park-board-of-directors/)
The California Board of Accountancy issued a scathing report on two separate audits of spending and contracts for Irvine’s Great Park and is recommending the accountant firm that performed the audits have its license suspended.
The board wants staff to draft a five-year plan that cuts costs and identifies new revenue sources.
As it has become more likely that the park will lose funding totaling $2.2 billion over 40 years, its leadership has been privately exploring other fundraising ideas. One city councilman wants to have a more public discussion.
The park’s board approves a fiscal 2012-13 budget that includes significant cuts to no-bid contractors, including public relations firm Forde & Mollrich.
Irvine Councilman Larry Agran refers to backup plans if the park
loses redevelopment funds. Yet no one else seems to know what those
plans are.
The Great Park Board of Directors Thursday approved a no-bid
contract with a $25,000-per-month consultant to do something that
its $100,000-per-month consultant is already being paid to do.
She replaces Larry Agran who said the politics of being chairman
wouldn’t allow him to focus on projects he’s interested in — like
a massive forestation effort at the park.
After a tumultuous half-decade reign as the head of the Great
Park Board of Directors, Agran will not be seeking
reappointment.
Original plans for Irvine’s Great Park called for the demolition
of old hangars and runways. Now, in a cost-cutting effort, planners
are considering hangars as museum buildings and runways as parking
lots.