Irregularities Cited in City Investigation

After an investigation of more than a year into allegations against former Pomona Fire Chief Tom Fee and two building officials, the district attorney’s office reported irregularities but no criminal violations.

The irregularities cited included a decision by a building official to give an auto paint shop a business license even though it didn’t meet city fire regulations. The official said he “felt sorry” for the business owner, who didn’t have the money to pay for needed improvements.

City Administrator Julio Fuentes said he has asked the city attorney, personnel and community development directors and the fire chief to review the findings and recommend administrative action. “We want to take remedial action to prevent this from recurring,” he said.

Employees responsible for the irregularities could face disciplinary action ranging from reprimands to dismissal but Fuentes said, “I don’t want to speculate at this point.”

James Hickey, deputy district attorney with the county’s special investigations division, outlined his findings in an eight-page letter to Police Chief Lloyd Wood. The letter discussed three separate cases triggered by complaints from a businessman and city employees.

The first case involved Don Beeler, a city code enforcement officer. Beeler told police last year that Fee, who then supervised code enforcement, had told him not to bother certain business people with zoning regulations. After his talk with police, Beeler said, Fee ordered him reassigned to office duties. Beeler filed a complaint with the city, charging that he was being penalized for being a “whistle blower.”

Fuentes overruled the reassignment, and Hickey said that stopped the matter “from evolving into a possible criminal violation.”

In another case, city officials discovered last year that Bedrock Auto Body and Paint on Holt Avenue had received a business license even though it failed to meet the city fire code. Hickey said Simon Shoo, the building official who approved the license, “felt sorry” for the owner, who had complained that the cost of a required fire wall would put her out of business.

Hickey said no evidence was found “that any money or property of value was transferred to any city official in return for Mr. Shoo’s act of generosity.”

Shoo said he granted a temporary occupancy permit, clearing the way for a license, because the new owner was continuing a business that had existed since the 1950s and there was no hazard. He said he tries “to help the public when you feel they have been caught in the web of government procedures. We are not here to put people out of business.”

In the third case, businessman Allen Jeffers complained that George Barrigan, a city building inspector, ordered him to demolish a house and referred him to demolition contractor Dennis Dewald. Hickey said Jeffers told investigators that he believed that the house was targeted by Barrigan because he had refused to allow then-Councilman C.L. (Clay) Bryant to install campaign signs there.

Hickey said he found no evidence that Bryant triggered the inspection. He said Barrigan’s apparent solicitation of business for Dewald was “contrary to the city policy, (which was) to suggest that property owners obtain three bids where demolition is required.”

But Hickey said investigators could find no evidence that Barrigan received money for his assistance, and, therefore, no criminal conduct could be found.

Shoo and Barrigan are still employed by the city, but Barrigan is on leave and has filed for workers’ compensation. Fee resigned under pressure as fire chief last July after reaching an unusual agreement with the city that promised him employment through October, 1991, at $89,932 a year as fire safety officer, a job without any duties.