Riverside Council Pushes Vote On Inspector General Role To November

The Riverside City Council voted 4-3 this week to delay the creation of the Office of the Inspector General until next month after Councilmember Steven Robillard, who headed the subcommittee tasked with establishing the parameters of the office, requested an extension.

“It’s just little keyword changes that we would like to do,” Robillard said at the October 21 meeting. “When you are doing little keyword changes, it’s very difficult to do that from the dais as we kind of talk in general terms and we need to be very specific.”

As part of the proposed ordinance, the city council would need to approve the inspector general’s request to obtain outside legal counsel. However, Robillard said he was unsure of the language when he first saw the completed ordinance and asked that consideration be pushed to the November 18 meeting to give the team more time to review changes.

Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes, who said she was prepared to discuss the ordinance, supported pushing the discussion over the role’s approval to next month, though she requested that it be placed on the agenda for the evening portion of the meeting to make it more accessible for residents to attend. 

Councilmember Jim Perry said he recognized Robillard’s attempt to finalize the position’s creation without facing further obstacles, with Councilmember Steve Hemenway stating he felt the current wording did not reflect the voters’ intent.

“The next step is getting things set to where we start doing interviews or this position is floated for people to apply to,” Perry said. “I don’t think it’s going to slow down that process.”

However, Councilmembers Philip Falcone, Sean Mill and Chuck Conder criticized the delay. 

Both Mill and Falcone said they had heard complaints from residents about the time it has taken for the city to create the role. Falcone added that concerns about the ordinance’s language could have been addressed during the meeting, stating that pushing the item to next month would reflect negatively on the council. 

Mill also pushed back against Cervantes’ preference to have the discussion agendized for the evening portion of the council meeting. 

“I get it, they can’t come down and stand at the podium and give their points of view,” Mill said. “[But] I think the only way we are restricting the voices of the public is by not moving forward with the inspector general process that was before us today.”

Last year, voters overwhelmingly supported the creation of the office after the city took the question to the residents. The inspector general would serve as a neutral party responsible for investigating fraud, waste and abuse.

Cervantes, Robillard, Perry and Hemenway voted in support of the motion to postpone, while  Falcone, Conder and Mill voted against. The council is expected to consider the ordinance at the November 18 meeting.