Resident accuses city administrator of misusing funds, asks council to release private-investigator report

Julie Souchard used the meeting's oral communications period to press the council on what she called repeated fiscal abuses by City Administrator Arula and to ask that the investigator's report into her complaints be released to the public. Souchard said she obtained 2023 credit-card statements through a public-records request and described overlapping per diems and credit-card charges tied to travel. She asserted that a city employee had taken Arula's personal vehicle to a city car-wash 62 times between December 2022 and May 2024, yielding a cost to the city ranging "between $2,392 and $3,657 depending on the length of time spent at the car wash" and that the city paid roughly $3,478 for an electric vehicle charger Arula uses, plus $12,079 to install chargers at City Hall.

Souchard cited a private-investigator process: "The Placentia Council has also granted mister Arula an $800 monthly allowance for the use and maintenance of his personal vehicle on city business... the council took my concerns... so seriously that they hired a private investigator," she said. She said she was interviewed in June 2024, submitted a records request for the investigator's report on Sept. 23, and urged that the report be released so "stakeholders in the community" can review the basis for any council decisions. Souchard referenced penal law language in the transcript in arguing that misappropriation of public funds is a crime, quoting an abbreviated reference: "California penal code section 4 24 makes it a crime for a public officer or trustee of public funds to misappropriate funds for personal use." She asked the council to stop what she described as "Nordstrom lifestyle" charges on a municipal budget and called for zero tolerance.

The council did not take action on Souchard's demand during the meeting; staff previously notified Souchard that a private investigator had been engaged. The city's handling of her public-records requests and the private-investigator report were discussed in follow-up exchange but no additional public release was ordered at the meeting. Because Souchard's statements allege potential misconduct, they are treated here as accusations made in public comment and attributable to the speaker pending any formal findings or actions by the council.