Supervisor Rudy Molera, chairman of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and representative for District 2, described efforts to rebuild a county bridge and to recover funds tied to a former treasurer during a podcast interview.

Molera said the board oversees county budgets and meets twice a month to make countywide decisions. He told hosts Samuel Acosta and Natalia Flores that rebuilding the bridge required coordinated funding over several years and that the county is pursuing civil remedies to recover money from the former treasurer.

Why it matters: The county is pursuing multiple paths to restore public assets and financial trust — a civil receiver is liquidating assets tied to the former treasurer and the board says it will add checks to prevent similar losses.

In the interview, Molera summarized the bridge project and how it was funded: “we had to fight claw and really over a 5, 6 year period, gather the funding through different sources and rebuild that bridge for the community.” He said those sources included state and federal dollars and funding “through the Corps of Engineers,” and that “Congressman Guijano helped us.”

On county finances, Molera said an elected treasurer “took, almost, dollars 39,000,000,” a theft the supervisor called a “major issue we’re still dealing with.” He said a civil lawsuit placed a receiver who “gathered all the money and assets that she had” and is selling them to return funds to the county.

Molera described steps the board and treasurer’s office are taking to prevent recurrence: the board plans quarterly audits of the treasurer’s office and, he said, the treasurer is “also putting in procedures so it doesn't happen in his office as well.” Those measures were presented as administrative controls rather than formal, enacted policy in the interview.

Molera also credited county staff and his colleagues — he named Supervisor Davis and Supervisor Fanning — for work to restore transparency and public trust. He said public confidence suffered after the financial problems and emphasized the need to rebuild a “positive … transparent environment.”

On intergovernmental collaboration, Molera said he has a working relationship with the mayor of Nogales and some city council members and that the county is exploring joint projects to combine resources and reduce costs.

Molera provided background about himself in the interview, saying he grew up in Nogales, graduated from Nogales High School and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona. He described prior experience as a counselor and coach as preparation for handling stressful decisions in office.

No votes or formal board actions were announced in the podcast interview. Molera described ongoing administrative and legal steps — civil litigation with a receiver and planned quarterly audits — but did not cite enacted ordinances or statutes during the conversation.

The comments came during a recorded campus podcast episode and were presented as the supervisor’s account of county activity rather than as a formal board statement or agenda item.