Morning Report: Mystery Over Multi-Million Dollar Contract Increases Haunts City Hall
EM - News Moderator 
City of San Diego officials quietly spent millions of dollars more on a rental contract than the City Council approved years ago.
Now, our Mariana Martínez Barba reports, City Councilmembers are demanding answers.
They want to know who signed off on contract changes with Herc Rentals, which supplies equipment such as trucks and forklifts, that mysteriously increased the contract with the Florida-based company.
City auditors uncovered the unexplained contract increases last year. They found that city staff had increased the contract by $6.7 million in 2023 – and couldn’t get to the bottom of who approved the increased spending. Those adjustments happened despite city policies requiring City Council approval for contract adjustments over $200,000 and new contracts over $3 million.
South County Report: Imperial Beach Launches Non-Sewage PR Push
In recent years, most of the buzz about Imperial Beach has been about smelly sewage and beach closures.
In his latest South County Report, our Jim Hinch writes about a growing movement to promote other aspects of the beach community, including its local businesses and visitor-friendly infrastructure projects in various states of completion.
The shift coincides with new City Council and Chamber of Commerce leadership that are pledging to be business-friendly. Indeed, the Chamber recently hosted a walking tour of the city’s two main business corridors that drew about 260 people.
Read the South County Report here.
Progress Report: San Diego Unified Mulls How to Grade Student Wellness
How do you define and measure student wellness? San Diego Unified School District is on a mission to figure out.
After all, it’s the district’s top priority in its latest three-year, state-mandated Local Control Accountability spending plan.
In his latest Progress Report, our Jakob McWhinney took a dive into how the district settled on wellness as its top priority, the main pillars it’s decided undergird wellness and what it’s considering as it decides how to measure them.
Read the Progress Report here.
In Other News
- The water war via Voice op-ed continues. In this latest chapter, Water Authority board member Jim Madaffer argues in the wake of a tight Tuesday City Council vote to approve water rates over the next two years that water independence is “desirable – but not at any price.”
- Instead of nonprofit organizations, the city is now responsible for how to use parking meter revenue made in downtown, Uptown, Mid-City and Pacific Beach. Officials said that this change will streamline repairs for infrastructure like streetlights and potholes. (ABC 10 News)
- Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that will reserve land for Chula Vista University and establish a task force to guide its creation. Although it doesn’t have a physical campus yet, the university will begin hybrid instruction next year, featuring programs with San Diego State University, California State University San Marcos, University of California, San Diego and Southwestern College. (CalMatters)
- Food banks and nonprofits including Jewish Family Service are preparing to serve many more San Diegans – and in many cases, already are – as the federal shutdown continues and roughly 400,000 San Diegans prepare to go without November CalFresh benefits. 2-1-1 San Diego rounded up details on food resources. (NBC 7, CBS 8)
- Some San Diego city officials want to rely more on civilian staff to reduce police overtime but police argue the savings wouldn’t be significant. (Union-Tribune)
- A year after the Montezuma Fire, a proposal to increase housing in the College Area was approved by the City planning commission. Residents are concerned that this plan will increase density and population, without consideration of the neighborhood’s access to essential services like fire stations. (CBS 8)
- A brand new memorial built to honor a San Diego police officer at Clairemont park was vandalized and officials are asking for community help to find the person responsible. Damages made to the memorial sign and other areas of the park are estimated to be worth around $100,000. (NBC 7)
The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt and Jenna Ramiscal. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña.
The post Morning Report: Mystery Over Multi-Million Dollar Contract Increases Haunts City Hall appeared first on Voice of San Diego.
