Tuesday’s presentation by Doña Ana County Treasurer Jim Schoonover to the commission about the county’s investments felt more like a Congressional impeachment hearing.
Schoonover and the county’s contract investment advisor, former State Rep. Robert Burpo, answered tough questions from the commission for almost two hours about how the county’s money is invested and how Schoonover hired Burpo.
Commissioners expressed three concerns:
● Though income from interest on investments has increased since Schoonover took office in 2005, a few mistakes have been made that resulted in less being made than was possible.
● Commissioners expressed varying degrees of concern about how Burpo was hired, with one saying there was at least the appearance that he was improperly pre-selected for the job.
● Many locally owned banks have been cut out of the county’s investments because Schoonover has begun requiring them to secure the money at a rate of 102 percent, making it impractical and in some cases impossible for banks with smaller amounts of capital.
Tuesday’s questioning wasn’t about politics, though some will characterize it that way. Though Schoonover and Burpo are both Republicans, the toughest questions came from Commissioners Bill McCamley, a Democrat, and Paul Curry, a Republican.
Neither said they believed there was any impropriety on the part of the treasurer or Burpo.
But Commissioner Oscar Vasquez-Butler, a Democrat, wasn’t so certain. He pointed out that the county’s internal audit advisory committee, of which he and Curry are members, had a report from the internal auditor which suggested that the request for proposals issued during the search for an investment advisor might have been altered to ensure that Burpo was hired.
Republican Commissioner Kent Evans, a close friend of Schoonover, missed the meeting.
Schoonover said he tried to follow the procurement code in hiring Burpo and said his hiring was not predetermined. He admitted some investment mistakes were made – such as twice sending money to Burpo on a Friday afternoons, though there wasn’t time to invest it before the end of the day so it could earn interest over the weekend.
And Schoonover defended the decision to require a higher capital guarantee from banks, saying there are many banks ready to take the county’s money with total security. The county’s security requirement used to be 50 percent, instead of the current 102 percent.
“We didn’t do anything under the table. We were totally above board,” Schoonover said.
Here are the details of Burpo’s hiring:
A few months ago an RFP was issued. It was later changed by Schoonover to raise the requirement to seven years of governmental investment experience, though the state only requires five. Burpo, according to his application, had seven years of experience, but he told the commission Tuesday he actually has much more government investment experience. Burpo’s application was then evaluated by a committee that included Schoonover and two of his employees. Burpo, the only qualified applicant, was hired.
The county normally includes employees from other county departments on search committees, and normally reposts RFPs when there is only one applicant, to try to secure additional applicants and better deals for the county.
But Schoonover doesn’t follow county procedures in many instances. He has created a kingdom separate from the county, though he is part of the county. When he was recently on vacation for two weeks, county staffers who requested documents from his office were told by the deputy treasurer that only Schoonover could release them.
That’s skirting the edge of a violation of the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act.
There’s a long history between Schoonover and Manager Brian Haines that has resulted in this complete lack of communication or cooperation. That’s why commissioners had to call Tuesday’s bizarre and unusual public hearing to get answers out of Schoonover that would normally be acquired through informal conversations.
Schoonover used to work for Haines. While he worked under Haines, Schoonover was instrumental in initiating the 2004 special audit of the county that found widespread problems. Schoonover has always seen Haines as part of the problem and has been among those pushing for his firing, even though the state auditor and most commissioners credit Haines with making changes that have cleaned up county government.
On the flip side, the county’s attorney, John Caldwell, who works for Haines, accused Schoonover of a felony crime earlier this year in the purchase, with public money, of pencils that looked like his campaign material. The internal audit committee has been looking at Schoonover since and has also investigated allegations that he improperly used county equipment and staffers to record minutes of Elk’s Lodge meetings.
Let me say this: Both Haines and Schoonover work hard and have the best interest of the county’s residents at heart. But neither has made the effort necessary to break down the wall that currently stands between them.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Curry said that has to end.
“We do need better communication between you and the manager,” he told Schoonover after the treasurer said he didn’t know how the county wanted to invest its health-care money. “Mr. Haines knows that, and I would ask you to have an open line of communication with him.”
Both Schoonover and Haines said they would make an effort.
Tuesday’s hearing revealed the immense problems the breakdown has created. Schoonover wasn’t aware of simple directions from the commission, like how the health care money is to be spent, that would help him make better investment decisions. And Haines has had a hard time getting any information from the treasurer’s office on how investments are being handled.
This has to end. These two men need to resolve their differences, now.
Opening the lines of communication would reveal many problems as miscommunication instead of evil deeds. It would also mean both offices could draw on the resources of the other, and fewer mistakes would be made.
Until then, the situation remains a mess.