Letter to the Tattler: Shirley Enomoto

Recently received from Shirley Enomoto (references are made to the Tattler story of May 9th and earlier stories about how the School Board is refusing to audit Turner Construction for irregularities residents, students and teachers have noted in the recently finished Emeryville Center of 'Community' Life):

I [recently] received the video from Ken Bukowski of the May 10 School Board meeting.  Since my name came up, I want to respond.

Paid expenses for Measure J began April 7,  2010, before voters approved Measure J in November 2010.  The Measure J Citizens Oversight Committee (COC) was formed in March 2011.  During the five months I was a member, the committee did not see any reports of paid invoices.  It was at the June 2011 meeting, held at the Emeryville Senior Center, where a "facilitator" was paid (with Measure  J bond revenue) to acquaint COC members with each another that I decided to quit the committee.  We were forced to sit at round tables with assigned seating,  as if we were in kindergarten.  I had  asked then EUSD Superintendent John Sugiyama (and incoming Superintendent Debbra Lindo seated beside him) what exactly the protocol was for COC members to see paid invoices and what were our responsibilities.   Mr. Sugiyama replied, "I don't know."  This was the night I decided to quit, after mulling it over for three months.  If you check the minutes of the COC meetings, the responsibilities of the COC were discussed for almost a year after the committee was formed.  If you were to ask the original 17 members if they saw each and every penny spent, I'm sure they would tell you "no."

The first report was a manually typed spreadsheet.  No explanations were offered and no account numbers were assigned for each expense.

The monthly reports I did receive, I entered in my personal quickbooks software program.

After leaving the committee, I requested that minutes, agendas, and the monthly report of paid invoices be sent to me.  I had to request this each and every month.  Either my request was not received or the person responsible for the distribution was not there, or the person responsible "forgot."

I strongly feel a financial audit is in order:  specifically to make sure that paid expenses were legitimate Measure J expenses.  The ballot measure states "no administrative salaries will be paid."  Project Director Roy Miller,  Community Involvement Director Hayin Kim, and her assistant, were all paid from bond revenue.  All three have since quit their positions.  Vehicles were purchased.  Almost $200,000 was paid for I-pads, five years before the Emeryville Center of Community Life (ECCL) had opened.  They are probably obsolete now, if the school district still has them. Brian Donahue stated at the May 10 meeting that they went missing.  Where were they stored?  Was anyone arrested for theft?

Shirley Enomoto
Former member of the Measure J Citizens Oversight Committee

Shirley Enomoto lived in Emeryville for 20 years (she recently moved away) and was a "trouble maker" she says, to City Hall for as many years.  A long time member of Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (RULE) and volunteer for the schools, Ms Enomoto also long rallied for fair treatment for senior citizens in our town.