County official highly critical of PUSD planning director
In a letter recounting a Feb. 27 meeting over a financial matter with Poway Unified School District representatives, the county’s chief deputy treasurer describes the PUSD’s director of planning as “combative and confrontational.”
In her March 10 letter to PUSD board President Kimberly Beatty, Antoinette Chandler wrote that Sandra Burgoyne “questioned the purpose of the meeting and the professional qualifications of County staff before discussing the proposed financing. Throughout the meeting, Ms. Burgoyne continued to behave in a unprofessional matter toward our County staff.”
Chandler added that “In the future, we would greatly appreciate it if your staff would act in a civil and professionally courteous matter.”
The letter was written the same day as last week’s Board of Education meeting. Several board members referred to portions of the letter relating to Chandler’s recommendations regarding the proposed refunding (refinancing) of bonds used to construct schools and public improvements in Del Sur. Board members eventually approved the refunding on a 4-1 vote, with Charles Sellers in opposition.
Burgoyne attended the board meeting and spoke directly about her role in the Feb. 27 meeting. She told board members that she challenged county representatives on their knowledge of special tax revenue refunding bonds and concluded that their only experience was in general obligation bonds.
At no time during last week’s board meeting were Chandler’s written criticisms of Burgoyne’s alleged behavior mentioned.
A request on the morning of March 11 to the district by the Poway News Chieftain for a copy of Chandler’s letter resulted initially in only the second of two pages being transmitted. District spokeswoman Jessica Wakefield wrote at the time that “Page one has confidential employee info that needs to be redacted.” Several hours later she released the first page, with Bugoyne’s name blacked out five times. Wakefield wrote that the redacting was done by Daniel Shinoff, a district-retained attorney.
A full copy of the letter was obtained the following day by the News Chieftain without any objection from the treasurer’s office.
After reviewing the original and redacted versions of Chandler’s letter, the staff attorney for the California Newspaper Publisher’s Association concluded Tuesday that the district inappropriately removed Burgoyne’s name from the version provided the newspaper.
“Firstly, the district doesn’t appear to have asserted an exemption to the state’s Public Records Act,” staff attorney Nikki Moore said Tuesday. “Without that we have no idea what their intention was.” She then added, “I don’t understand how a name in the context on this letter could be redacted.”
Page 2 of Chandler’s letter contained two recommendations regarding the refunding of the bonds:
• The district’s financial advisor should negotiate a lower fee arrangement for the underwriter’s discount for the bond insurance. (Board members were told March 10 that this in fact had been done since the Feb. 27 meeting with the county.)
• The school board should consider conducting an “RPF process” (requests for proposals) for underwriting services “to ascertain the competitive landscape of banking services for its next financing.”
