Cubreporter (Cubreporter)
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Username: Cubreporter
Post Number: 76
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 - 3:14 am: | |
Copyright 2007 The Orange County Register | December 17, 2007
Agran keeping tight lid on Great Park CEO hunt
Great Park Chairman Larry Agran searches for a new CEO under a veil of secrecy. An Orange County Register editorial
The Orange County Great Park is a $1.1-billion public asset, yet Irvine Councilman Larry Agran, chairman of the Great Park Corp. Board of Directors, continues to treat it like his own personal playground. The latest example comes as the board searches for a new chief executive officer for the corporation.
Under Chairman Agran's direction, only a small committee has been allowed access to any resumes or other information regarding the job search, and eyebrows have been raised after a top candidate to fill the current opening was found to have ties to Mr. Agran.The latest two candidates ultimately declined the job, which has been vacant since June, after Marty Bryant resigned for what he attributed to health reasons.
It was later revealed that Mr. Bryant pleaded guilty to embezzling $22,000 in building fees from the city of San Juan Capistrano in 1989. Irvine officials named him CEO without doing a criminal background search; so, one would think that the new search would be handled with more transparency. Instead, the new process is mired in secrecy. Two Great Park board members – Irvine City Council members Christina Shea and Steven Choi – question whether a national search has really taken place after they have been repeatedly denied access to information.
Councilwoman Shea told us the process is "totally rigged" to ensure the selection of a CEO allied with Mr. Agran. "He will not let us see this information because it wasn't a legitimate search," she added.Ms. Shea was told by the board's lawyers that providing such information would require a vote of the full board.
Yet according to California statute, she said, all corporations must allow every director "the absolute right at any reasonable time to inspect and copy all books, records and documents." Clearly, the legal issue needs to be hashed out, but the current park board is violating the spirit of open and accountable governance.
Mr. Agran argues that resumes from candidates cannot be shared outside the committee because, as he told the Los Angeles Times, the candidates "in almost every case would not want their current employers to know they were looking for work at the Great Park."
In response, Ms.Shea argues that the "applicants submitted the resumes to the Great Park and knew the final review of their applications would be viewed by all directors if they were chosen." This dispute is the latest in a long-running series of similar episodes. In 2005, former Irvine Co. executive Dick Sim resigned from the Great Park board after complaining that Mr. Agran was eliminating checks and balances, operating in secrecy and ignoring good business practices to ensure his complete control of the park.
If Mr. Agran wants to prove otherwise, he can start by allowing a free-flowing debate within the Great Park board over the next person to lead it. |