Northwest side City Councilman Greg Brockhouse is blasting what he called a 'staged response'by Mayor Nirenberg to the scandals which have hit two city funded organizations in the past two weeks, and calling for Nirenberg and City Manager Sheryl Sculley to address what he called a 'crisis of trust at City Hall,' News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"We have a potential criminal case of embezzlement at Centro that warrants a 3rd party law enforcement investigation due to questionable relationships and/or perceived conflicts of interest between City leadership, a former City Attorney conducting internal Centro investigations and our City Manager," Brockhouse said.
The CEO of the city's Tricentennial Commission resigned last month, blasting 'negativity' by City officials, and amid questions about questionable bidding practices at the Commission. Earlier this week, the long time head of Centro San Antonio stepped down after officials revealed a 'fake audit' that covered up a major embezzlement.Both agencies are independent, but are funded by the City.
Brockhouse said Sculley needs a 'professional review of her job performance,' and he said there needs to be a City Council 'discussion on the oversight and leadership of our City Manager over multiple issues.' Through a spokesman, Sculley declined to comment.
Nirenberg Wednesday night warned of 'opportunists' who would use the scandals to 'convince the public that our government does not work for you,' and he laid out several proposals to increase accountability in the 250 separate agencies which receive city money.
But Brockhouse says the Mayor is simply trying to deflect blame, and he called for a 'third party investigation' into the embezzlement at Centro San Antonio, and said more attention needs to be given to Sculley's lack of oversight into the spending of taxpayer money.
"The City staff’s top leader should be held accountable with a performance review for numerous breakdowns in oversight and governance, both within the City infrastructure and with partners tasked with control over City tax dollars," he said.