Oxnard committee accepts whistleblower activity report, approves minutes in 3-0 votes
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Summary
The Oxnard City Finance and Governance Committee voted 3-0 to receive and file a biannual whistleblower activity report and to approve minutes from its Dec. 10, 2024 meeting after a presentation on how reports are handled and the program’s costs.
The Oxnard City Finance and Governance Committee on Jan. 28 voted 3-0 to receive and file the city’s whistleblower activity report and separately approved the Dec. 10, 2024 meeting minutes.
The committee’s action followed a roughly 10-minute presentation by Annie Jensen, a project manager in the City Manager’s Office who said she manages day-to-day operations of the city’s whistleblower program under supervision in that office. Jensen described how reports are categorized and routed and said the city handles every report whether or not it is fiscal or city-related.
"Every report gets handled, even if it's not fiscal related or city related," Jensen said.
Jensen told the committee that incoming reports are first reviewed by the city’s internal auditor for merit and relevance; if the internal auditor deems a report meritorious, that auditor will address it. For non-meritorious or non-city matters, Jensen said the city refers the complainant to the appropriate outside agency or coordinates a department-level response and informs the whistleblower of the result.
Committee members asked about program costs. Eric Sondegard clarified the city’s external reporting portal contract: "Our subscription fees for that are approximately $6,000 a year," he said, describing a six-year agreement signed in 2022 with the portal vendor Centria that totals about $30,000. Jensen said she would follow up with the committee on the internal auditor’s contract cost with Vasquez and Associates.
Jensen also explained how complaints about senior officials are routed: reports concerning department heads generally go through the city manager’s office and the city attorney as appropriate; complaints about the city manager or city attorney themselves are handled through internal controls so they are routed to the other office and are not screened by the staff who report to the person under investigation. She said summaries of reports are provided to the City Council twice a year and that certain matters deemed to have merit and relevance could be presented to the council.
On a voice vote called by the clerk, Committee Member Star, Committee Member Rodriguez and Chair McArthur recorded votes in favor of both motions; the clerk announced the motions carried 3-0.
The committee did not receive any in-person or virtual public comment on the whistleblower agenda item during the meeting.
