Former San Bernardino County HR Director Brought in 3 Former Esri Colleagues

8/7/2017 Former San Bernardino County HR director brought in 3 former Esri colleagues San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com) Former San Bernardino County HR director brought in 3 former Esri colleagues By Joe Nelson, The Sun Friday, August 4, 2017 During her brief stint as San Bernardino County’s human resources director, Cindi Peterson Tompkins hired three of her former colleagues from Esri in Redlands for top management positions at salaries topping $100,000. Tompkins resigned Monday, July 31. The county would not say whether she provided a reason for her resignation or submitted a resignation letter, saying the information was confidential. She received a salary of $197,850. Tompkins’ management style and hiring practices prompted more than half a dozen employee complaints to the Board of Supervisors during her nine months as HR director, top county officials said. Since beginning her job on Oct. 31, 2016, Tompkins hired Esri’s former senior manager of global operations and enablement, Joey Kolasinsky, as her division chief. Her annual salary and benefits is $186,341, county spokesman David Wert said in an email. Tompkins also hired Kathryn Hagerman, a former manager of sales enablement and operations at Esri, and Jesse Theodore, Esri’s former marketing content manager, for section manager positions with annual salary and benefits totaling $168,593 and $168,403, respectively, Wert said in an email. “An employee’s specific job duties are defined by the appointing authority, and the appointing authority has discretion to determine whether an employee or applicant has the experience, skills and/or potential to perform those specific duties,” Wert said. The recruitments for all three positions, Wert said, were open to all county employees and the public, and three people were ultimately interviewed for the position eventually given to Kolasinsky. Fourteen people, including two county employees, applied for the positions eventually given to Hagerman and Theodore, three of whom made it to the interview stage, Wert said. Kolasinsky, Hagerman and Theodore were hired under a process called “dual filling,” which allows a department to put two people into the same position, providing it has the funding, until new positions open up or can be created, Wert said. As director of human resources, Tompkins was in charge of providing services to the county’s 22,000 employees and managing a staff of 143 and a budget of $18 million. Prior to working for the county, Tompkins worked for 13 years at Esri, a geographic information systems software developer, as its director of administrative services and chief ethics, privacy and compliance officer. http://www.sbsun.com/government-and-politics/20170804/former-san-bernardino-county-hr-director-brought-in-3-former-esri-colleagues&template=prin… 1/2 8/7/2017 Former San Bernardino County HR director brought in 3 former Esri colleagues Her abrupt departure from the county made her the third HR director in a row over the last 13 years to resign under a cloud of suspicion or scandal. Andrew Lamberto served as HR director for 10 years — from 2005 until November 2015 after it went public he was convicted of a misdemeanor in Orange County for soliciting a prostitute and subsequently resigned. Lamberto had reported his transgression to former county Chief Executive Officer Greg Devereaux, who handled the matter internally and disciplined Lamberto. But Devereaux came under fire for not reporting Lamberto’s conviction to the Board of Supervisors, and was forced to make a public apology to the board. Elizabeth Sanchez preceded Lamberto, but only lasted six months, from July through December of 2004. She was forced to resign after then-County Administrative Officer Mark Uffer learned she was involved romantically with Jim Erwin, who was president of the Sheriff’s Employees’ Benefit Association at the time. A year earlier, Sanchez had negotiated a $27 million contract with the association. “The lack of principled leadership of the human resources division is a problem that weakens the trust between employee organizations and the county,” said Lolita Harper, spokeswoman for the county’s Sheriff’s Employees’ Benefit Association, or SEBA, the union representing sheriff’s deputies. “It is hard to trust high- level representatives from a department in which leaders are consistently mired by scandal. Although it is unreasonable to paint all human resources employees with a broad brush, it is fair to infer a leader’s ethics — or lack thereof — are enforced at various levels of the department in the form of mandates or preferred practices.” The union has locked horns with county many times over the years during labor negotiations. It took 18 months of hard bargaining before the union finally ratified two labor contracts with the county last August. County labor relations chief Bob Windle, who was at the bargaining table with SEBA during those heated negotiations, is now acting as the county interim HR director until Tompkins’ permanent replacement is appointed. “While we would miss matching wits with him at the negotiation table, we feel Windle would be a suitable candidate for the (Human Resources Director) position,” Harper said on behalf of SEBA. Further complicating matters in the human resources department was the death of benefits division chief Lori Goldman on June 30. Windle is also acting as head of that division as well until a replacement can be found, Wert said. Teamsters Local 1932 General Manager Randy Korgan said in a telephone interview Friday employees feared speaking out and that he could not comment on the matter. He did say the union has had issues with human resources in the past, and continual leadership changes bring instability, different philosophies and delays in resolving issues with unions. “When those chairs are constantly being moved around, how do you get the issues resolved?” Korgan said. Wert, however, said the human resources department has no role in union matters, other than to provide informational support to the office of County Labor Relations the County Administrative Office, which handles all union-related matters. URL: http://www.sbsun.com/government-and-politics/20170804/former-san-bernardino-county-hr-director-brought-in-3-former-esri-colleagues © 2017 San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com) http://www.sbsun.com/government-and-politics/20170804/former-san-bernardino-county-hr-director-brought-in-3-former-esri-colleagues&template=prin… 2/2 8/7/2017 40 arrested, 6 hospitalized at Hard Summer Music Festival in Devore San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com) 40 arrested, 6 hospitalized at Hard Summer Music Festival in Devore By Ali Tadayon, The Press-Enterprise Sunday, August 6, 2017 DEVORE >> Day two of the Hard Summer Musical Festival is under way at the Glen Helen Amphitheater with at least 30,000 attendees and growing, according to a Sunday afternoon tweet by San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Lt. Doug Wolfe. During the first day of the 10th annual Hard Summer Music Festival on Saturday, 40 people were arrested — most because of drugs or alcohol — and six people were hospitalized, authorities said. Wolfe’s tweet Sunday noted more arrests for narcotic sales, trespass and public intoxication. • Related: These photos show you what Hard Summer 2017 is like California’s Department of Alcohol Beverage Control made 23 of the arrests for drug and alcohol violations, according to a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department news release. The Sheriff’s Department made the other 17 for “charges ranging from public intoxication, outstanding warrants and possession and sales of narcotics,” the news release said. The six festivalgoers taken to hospitals were treated for drug use, dehydration and injury, said Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Cindy Bachman via email. By Sunday afternoon, all but one had been released, she said. The two-day festival at the Glen Helen Amphitheater in Devore features electronic and hip-hop artists; Sunday’s headliner is rapper Snoop Dogg. More than 40,000 people attended the festival Saturday, sheriff’s officials said. The festival has been held at various locations throughout Southern California over the past few years, and was approved to be held this year at Glen Helen. The festival came under public scrutiny last year, when three people -- including one Chino Hills woman -- died of drug overdoses. That year, the event was held in Fontana. URL: http://www.sbsun.com/arts-and-entertainment/20170806/40-arrested-6-hospitalized-at-hard-summer-music-festival-in-devore © 2017 San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com) http://www.sbsun.com/article/20170806/NEWS/170809615&template=printart 1/1 8/7/2017 A year later, officials continue probing Bluecut Fire A year later, ocials continue probing Bluecut Fire By Paola Baker Staff Writer Posted Aug 5, 2017 at 1:32 PM Updated Aug 5, 2017 at 2:12 PM The Pilot Fire erupted a year ago Monday, burning through over 8,000 acres before its full containment. Then, just hours after its containment, the Bluecut Fire, which would engulf over 36,000 acres, began to burn in the West Cajon Valley. It wasn’t long after the Pilot Fire started that rumors on its cause started swirling. The California Highway Patrol, for some time, rolled the wildfire into an earlier incident logged as a “car fire.” Officials at the time couldn’t confirm that the incidents were connected. Then, a photo surfaced online that claimed the blaze may have been caused by a burning off-highway vehicle. The photo appeared to show the charred frame of a vehicle with a fire engine in the background. Fire officials declined to comment on the photo. However, roughly six months after the blaze, San Bernardino National Forest Services officials finally determined the large blaze was, in fact, caused by a vehicle fire.

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