Public Works Chief Defends Policy

Saying he doubts local prosecutors will ever bring charges against a county contractor accused of illegal dumping, the county’s top public works official said Monday the department is likely to continue doing business with Tom A. Staben and praised his work on a recent storm repair job.

Public Works Director Art Goulet said he believes the county code enforcement department’s investigation into the alleged dumping of dirt, tires, old cars and various appliances into a Somis stream bed is unlikely to draw the district attorney’s attention.

“The D.A. has got higher priorities, and he’s got other things to prosecute,” Goulet said. “Do you really think that this is going to rise to the level where the D.A. is going to prosecute? That’s unfortunate, but that’s the way the system works.”

Prosecutors took offense at the suggestion they take illegal dumping cases lightly.

Gregory Brose, supervising attorney for the district attorney’s Consumer and Environmental Protection Division, said his office has four attorneys focused on alleged environmental lawbreakers.

One code enforcement prosecutor works specifically on county code violations, he said.

Moreover, he said, the district attorney’s office encourages law enforcement and regulatory agencies to pass along cases whenever there is evidence for proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

“We file lots of cases in that area and encourage our people to do so,” Brose said.

Despite issuing three violation notices to Staben over the last five years, county officials have never taken the contractor to court.

In that time, Staben has been awarded more than $2.3 million in contracts to repair roads and clear storm debris.

Today the county Board of Supervisors expects to hear from environmentalists who are angry that the county continues to work with Staben, who is now under investigation by at least five federal, state and local agencies.

Staben could not be reached for comment Monday.

Supervisors Frank Schillo and John K. Flynn said it is time for the county to reexamine how it awards contracts.

Both also chided Goulet for prejudging what the district attorney would do in Staben’s case.

“I think public works needs to reexamine their policies or we’re going to have to reexamine the policies for public works,” Flynn said. “Art Goulet needs to remember he’s an engineer, not a lawyer.”

Schillo added, “If the D.A. decides or declines to do it, that’s one thing, but I don’t think it should be decided before it gets to the D.A. We can’t decide who we think is worthy of prosecution.”

Supervisors Susan Lacey, Kathy Long and Judy Mikels did not return phone calls to The Times on Monday.

In addition to county code enforcement officers citing Staben for illegal dumping at his Somis farm, the Army Corps of Engineers this spring twice issued Clean Water Act violation notices over work Staben has done in the Ventura River.

Twice in April, the Army Corps cited Staben and the agency that hired him for digging or grading in the stream bed of the Ventura River, potentially harming the habitat of the endangered steelhead trout.

Army Corps records show the federal agency threatened Staben and the Ojai Valley Sanitation District with $75,000 in daily civil and criminal fines for grading 15 acres of steelhead habitat as Staben worked to repair a levee that protects a sewage line.

The Army Corps threatened the same fines against the county and Staben after the county authorized the contractor to dig 35,000 cubic yards of silt from the river as part of a $994,000 county contract to repair storm damage on Santa Ana Road.

In both cases, the Army Corps is requiring the agencies to spend tens of thousands of dollars to restore the habitat.

The county, however, is considering rehiring Staben to do the required repair work, since he and his crews are still at the Santa Ana Road site completing the road work.

“Who knows?” Goulet said. “It may well be Staben. The staff was leaning toward doing it because he was on site, and it would be cheaper for him to do it, because he wouldn’t have to demobilize.”

But environmentalists said they are tired of seeing taxpayer dollars inadvertently being used to harm the environment, and the county doing little about it.

“It’s an interesting point that so many agencies, both state and federal, find much of the work that Mr. Staben has done in violation of the law, and that public works sees no harm whatsoever,” said Russ Baggerly, secretary for the Ventura County Environmental Coalition.

“There seems to be a breakdown in either communication or credibility here,” Baggerly said. “The idea that Art Goulet can’t see anything wrong when virtually every other regulatory agency has said something is wrong speaks volumes.”

Meanwhile, John Buse, staff attorney for the Environmental Defense Center in Ventura, said his organization is considering sending a letter to the Ventura County grand jury requesting an investigation.

“If the county is unwilling to move and make this a high priority for the district attorney, then I think they need to hear from an independent body like the grand jury that it is a high priority for the people of the county,” Buse said.

Calling Goulet’s comments “unacceptable,” Buse said center officials also will address the Board of Supervisors today.

The center contends that county officials’ claim that they are required to award contracts to the lowest bidder is inconsistent with the law.

“It sends the wrong message to law-abiding contractors that they are unlikely to receive a county contract unless they cut corners,” Buse said. “We really believe they do have some discretion to reject bad actors, and the hope is that [county supervisors] recognize that discretion and commit to carrying it out.”