Riverside voters this Election Day will decide whether or not the city can amend its charter to create a new Office of the Inspector General with an appointed inspector general who will serve as a neutral party responsible for investigating fraud, waste and abuse.
“This officer will report findings annually and pinpoint areas for improvement within the city,” City Clerk Donesia Gause said in an email to The Riverside Record.
Gause said the idea of creating the office started back in 2018 with conversations during Charter Review Committee meetings. The city is required to establish the committee — composed of nine members, one for each ward, appointed by the mayor — every eight years.
“Over time, and after multiple discussions, the terms of the Charter Review Committee expired,” Gause said. “Subsequently, the city council established a new Charter Review Committee with several fresh members to further explore the topic of an inspector general and the mayor’s veto power.”
That newly formed committee met for a year and a half, in meetings that are open to the public, before making the recommendation in August 2022 to the council that the measure be placed on the ballot. At that meeting, the council voted 4-3 to have the measure placed on the March 2024 ballot with council members Clarissa Cervantes, Jim Perry and Gaby Plascencia voting against the motion.
The measure came back before the council in October 2023 after it was found that state election law required the measure to be moved to the November election since it would impact a city official’s salary and benefits, and was approved unanimously as part of the consent calendar.
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According to an impartial analysis by City Attorney Phaedra A. Norton, the inspector general would have broad oversight of the city and its various functions by providing investigations, audits, inspections and operational performance evaluations.
The person appointed to the role would serve at the pleasure of the mayor and city council, though neither would be allowed to interfere with the powers and duties of the office, and would provide final findings and recommendations to the city council at least once per year.
Arguments filed in support of the measure highlighted the size of the city’s population and budget and the need for more accountability and transparency that proponents said an inspector general would bring, while also calling out “powerful interests,” that oppose the measure.
Arguments filed against the measure said it would create an “expensive, untested, and unnecessary,” office in the city with “unclear and undefined” investigative powers that could cost more than $1 million in staffing and operation. Another argument called for the position to be elected rather than appointed.
Those who have not yet cast their vote have three options to do so. They can drop off their signed vote-by-mail ballot at a secure ballot drop box, vote in person at a vote center, or mail their signed vote-by-mail ballot through the United States Postal Service.
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