Homeless Help or Hindrance?

As of December, 2021, Santa Rosa City Councilmember Harrison Newton Jesse “Jack” Tibbetts, and Executive Director of St. Vincent de Paul Sonoma County, abruptly resigned from his council position. Given that he was reelected to a second term in November 2020, his term was expected to end in December 2024.

According to The Press Democrat, Mr. Tibbetts stated that his resignation was due to his inability to be a dedicated public servant and a dedicated father and husband concurrently. However, rumors have circulated within the community that the unexpected departure was due to conflicts of interests present regarding contracts between the City of Santa Rosa & St. Vincent de Paul Sonoma County.

A February 2022 article by Northern California Public Media, “Sonoma County’s chapter of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is firing back at the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, accusing two of the paper’s reporters of painting a misleading picture of a run-down motel slated for reconstruction into affordable housing.”

“Tibbetts is executive director of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul District Council of Sonoma County. Until December, he also held a seat on Santa Rosa’s city council. In a post on Tibbett’s Facebook page, he accused the newspaper of ‘dishonest, biased, and unethical’ practices in a story focused on living conditions at a defunct motel slated to permanently house 54 homeless families.”

As a reaction to the negative attention in the press, Mr. Tibbetts drafted a lengthy rebuttal on the SVdP Commons website.

“Friends,

I am embarrassed and disheartened to have to write this today, but as you can imagine, those of us at St. Vincent de Paul were outraged and hurt by the article our local newspaper, The Press Democrat, chose to run, despite megabytes of information and documented evidence sent to their journalists, Ethan Varian and Andrew Graham, to explain our position and directly dispel claims made by some of our residents at the Gold Coin Motel, which we purchased a few years ago to renovate and turn into permanent supportive housing.

We were disheartened because we chose to take the hard road by taking these tenants on. It was not planned for, financially or programmatically. We did it because we knew the alternative was much, much worse. Since then, we’ve spent hundreds of thousands of unplanned dollars to make the units better than they were before, we reduced rent, we gave people jobs who couldn’t afford to pay, and our staff cleared back rent by pairing tenants with the County’s rental assistance program. I share this not to be self-aggrandizing, but to share a side of the story the Press Democrat willingly chose not to share with you.

When we received notice from the city over ten days ago that they would be conducting inspections, we were not surprised. The city has done this roughly twice per year since we acquired the property. Just prior to our purchasing it, the motel had just been moved into red tagged status. We invested over $125,000 right away to bring it up to code so the tenants could stay, and we have spent over $400,000 to date to keep it in occupiable status. Following these efforts, the city deemed the units safe for occupancy and have done so five times since then. All this documentation and more was provided to the Press Democrat. For every claim that was made against us, we provided documented evidence that directly countered and debunked those claims.

When a newspaper, or any media outlet, launches an investigative piece, you would think these important details would make it into the article. However, in our case, they did not. Andrew and Ethan blatantly disregarded and omitted the information we provided them. Already, SVdP has formally requested two retractions, based on recorded evidence captured by Ethan and Andrew, which was changed after notifying Press Democrat management.

I knew that when we got hit with this inquiry from the Press Democrat it wasn’t going to be good for us, but I wholeheartedly believed that if I took the time to walk Ethan and Andrew through all our documentation of steps taken and issues addressed, they would be ethically bound to report those facts. What I read in the online edition of yesterday’s paper did anything but. It was dishonest, biased, and unethical journalism. Flat out.

But I am not just going to light a fire to watch things burn. I want anyone who is interested in this story, or doubts the efforts made by St. Vincent de Paul, to see for themselves. Below are explanations and links to just a snippet of the information provided to the Press Democrat to back up every single claim we made, as well as directly counter claims that were made against our staff. It’s all there for you to see, just as they’ve seen it. The only change is that I have redacted the names of the tenants for their privacy. There is more documentation, also. Should anyone wish to see it, I will eagerly provide it.

In this day and age, it is no wonder why a recent Gallup poll found that more than 80% of Americans have a distrust of media. Only 16% said they had a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of trust in media. This article contributes to that problem.

From now on, I will use my professional and public position to hold the newspaper and its journalists to a higher standard. There is no hypocrisy more egregious than a journalist “holding people accountable” by willingly omitting the facts to elicit a very intentional response. Going forward, we will be joining the growing number of individuals and organizations that will not cooperate with the Press Democrat until there is a culture shift, nor will we share any information with them. A dishonest paper has not earned the privilege that is the responsibility of reporting the truth.

Below is a point-by-point rebuttal to the Press Democrat’s claims, with evidence to counter their narrative. If anyone has any questions for me or about the job we do at SVdP, I hope you will reach out.

-Jack

(Phone number redacted)

jtibbetts@redacted”

Within the rebuttal, Mr. Tibbetts issued the following statement: “Andrew has written things in previous articles that have been patently untrue. For example, in one article he wrote that I have taken financial contracts from the City of Santa Rosa for St. Vincent de Paul. Of course, I’ve never done such a thing. Doing so would violate Penal Code 1090 and land me in jail. SVdP partners with a separate jurisdiction on homeless shelters, and that is the County of Sonoma. It is a separate government entity, with separate funds.”

The Fair Political Practices Commission provides further guidance pertaining to Government Code Section 1090: Government Code Section 1090 prohibits an officer, employee, or agency from participating in making government contracts in which the official or employee within the agency has a financial interest. Section 1090 applies to virtually all state and local officers, employees, and multimember bodies, whether elected or appointed, at both the state and local level.

“Making” a contract includes final approval of the agreement, as well as involvement in preliminary discussion, planning, negation, and solicitation of bids.

A broad range of agreements are considered a contract under Section 1090. Generally, there is a contract when an offer is made and accepted and there is something of value bargained for and exchanged by each party. This includes written contracts, purchase of  goods or services, employment agreements, leases, development agreements, etc.

An official can have a “financial interest” in a contract in a variety of ways and it is not limited by the amount of the interest or how closely connected the official’s interest is to the contract.

Several exceptions to Section 1090’s general prohibition also exist and, when applicable, officials may be considered to have no financial interest or a “remote” financial interest, so that a contract, or the official’s participation in the contracting process, is not prohibited under Section 1090.

Violations of Section 1090 can result in the voiding of contracts, criminal, civil, and administrative penalties, as well as a ban on holding public office.

Although Mr. Tibbetts blatantly denied any contractual agreements between his nonprofit and the City of Santa Rosa, the Council minutes indicate otherwise. Even though Mr. Tibbetts recused himself on relevant agenda items, did he play a role in establishing the government contracts? If so, this would be considered a violation of Section 1090.

St. Vincent de Paul Sonoma County’s Treasurer Melissa Fanning presents a questionable past as a certified public accountant (CPA). As a CPA, Ms. Fanning appears to possess a nearly $125,000 federal tax lien in relation to a small business. Being that Ms. Fanning eludes to being a resident of Clearlake, CA, her ties to a Sonoma County based charitable organization are intriguing.

The Lake County Record-Bee published a 2018 article which discusses Ms. Fanning’s probation, implemented by The California Board of Accountancy. “Melissa Fanning, a certified public accountant in Clearlake, was disciplined by the California Board of Accountancy for multiple alleged negligent acts, each resulting in a violation of professional standards.

The board placed Fanning on three years’ probation, during which she will maintain an active license.

The action stems from Fanning’s work for the Lake County Community Action Agency, a nonprofit organization. She was retained by the agency”s board beginning in November 2005, according to CBA documents.

In 2010, Fanning reportedly began providing financial statements to the board. These statements “did not contain compilation reports with required elements,” the documents alleges. She also failed to issue draft statements in non-draft form and did not respond completely to inquiries made by the CBA, according to investigators.”

A 2011 article from The Lake County Record-Bee further discusses financial issues regarding the Lake County Community Action Agency Board of Directors. “Employees present for the meeting expressed a breakdown in communication and response to inquiries from the agency”s accountant, Melissa Fanning, CPA. One employee said while her paycheck reflects deductions for child support payments, those payments were not made and she now faces legal and financial consequences, including payments due on interest incurred for delinquent child support. Another employee said she has worked hard to clear her credit and now finds herself in financial crisis because of similar accounting deficiencies.

Board member Joyce Overton indicated that bills have not been getting paid either. “There are checks that Georgina (Lehne, executive director) has signed that have not been sent to the vendors,” she said. Overton said that notices were recently received informing the agency that a phone line will be shut off as well as the electricity at the main office in Clearlake. She said clients at the TLC House were consistently being forced to pay utilities at the facility as well.”

Yelp reviews from the public in reference to Ms. Fanning’s CPA firm incite further inquiries as to if she was the ideal choice for the position as treasurer to a charity holding millions of dollars in funding.

While serving as a Santa Rosa City Councilmember, Mr. Tibbett simultaneously served as Chair to the Renewal Enterprise District (RED). According to their website, “The Renewal Enterprise District (RED) is a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) formed by County of Sonoma (County) and City of Santa Rosa (City) to implement a shared vision and agenda for regional housing development. The RED works across jurisdictions to market and attract developers, blend private financing and public funds, leverage state and federal grant funds, and facilitate creation of housing that meets established public policy goals for increased density, access to transit, protection of open space and community separators; improved energy efficiency, climate resilience, and affordability; and to advance and ensure equitable access to housing.”

The Renewal Enterprise District’s (RED) startup costs were funded through a $1,000,000 grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. This was curious because the Hewlett Foundation’s President Larry Kramer played a major role in the bailout of Sam Bankman-Freid, FTX. Mr. Kramer was quoted by CNBC: “Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried have been close friends of my wife and I since the mid-1990s,” Kramer told CNBC’s Eamon Javers. “During the past two years, while my family faced a harrowing battle with cancer, they have been the truest of friends — bringing food, providing moral support, and frequently stepping in at moment’s notice to help. In turn, we have sought to support them as they face their own crisis.” Kramer said he was acting “in my personal capacity” and has “no business dealings or interest in this matter other than to help our loyal and steadfast friends.”

After commencing, the district established a housing fund as a regional solution for disaster resiliency. A 2020 article from North Bay Business Journal stated: “During the first week of October, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors committed to loan the RED housing fund $10 million of its PG&E settlement funds on the condition that the city of Santa Rosa matches the county’s commitment. The Santa Rosa City Council plans to meet to discuss the allocation of its settlement dollars. Following its deliberations, should the city also commit to loan the RED housing fund $10 million, the combined total would be $20 million.”

It was strange that millions of dollars were planned for allocation by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to the RED housing fund in 2020. The fund did not legally incorporate with the Secretary of State or IRS until July, 2021. Therefore, the fund could not legally accept a charitable donation of any amount prior to this date. Regardless, the County of Sonoma Board of Supervisors proceeded to approve the disbursement at the May 11, 2021 Board Meeting.

To recap, did Mr. Tibbett’s simultaneous positions as Chair of RED, Councilmember to the City of Santa Rosa and Executive Director of St. Vincent de Paul Sonoma County indicate a conflict of interest? Does the history of St. Vincent de Paul Sonoma County’s Treasurer Fanning present possible malfeasance? Do the County of Sonoma Board of Supervisors hold ulterior motives regarding taxpayer allocations to RED? Is the funding designated for the unhoused being distributed accordingly or rather lining the pockets of our elected officials and friends?

Perhaps, we should refer to the infamous words of President Joe Biden?

“Corruption is a cancer: a cancer that eats away at a citizen’s faith in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity; already-tight national budgets, crowding out important national investments. It wastes the talent of entire generations. It scares away investments and jobs.” -Joe Biden