As commenters have noted, the
county was sued today (again). This time the issue is misuse of government funds ... permit fees specifically. In short, the suit alleges that the County has violated state law by misusing the monies collected for building permits by using them to subsidize general government. For example, building permit fees have been used to pay part of
Sam Gibboney's salary even though she has not been directly involved in reviewing or approving building plans. The suit alleges that the misuse and diversion of funds has amounted to as much as $1.2 million over the past three years (statute of limitations).
Reportedly, this same general issue has been brought up repeatedly by the Building Advisory Council to no avail. It also was the impetus for the recent whistleblower claim by Building Official John Geniuch.
CD&P seems to be generating a lot of lawsuits for the County these days. In addition to this lawsuit, there is the OPMA lawsuit and the Friends/CSA lawsuit regarding the CAO ... all related in one way or another to alleged CD&P mismanagement, overreach, and bungling (and not counting ongoing as-applied lawsuits related to specific parcels/permits).
Three current lawsuits ... and counting ...
