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Mostly Cloudy Former employee sues O’side sanitation district
Suit claims three commissioners, board attorney conspired against comptroller’s report
Former Oceanside Sanitation worker Joe Samoles has filed a lawsuit against Sanitation District 7, hoping to reclaim funds paid to former supervisors.
“There’s too many people there making money,” Samoles said. “And the right guys aren’t.”
The lawsuit — a class action taxpayer complaint — alleges that the board has failed to recover money it paid former sanitation supervisors Michael Scarlata and his son, Charles, and seeks to reclaim it. The complaint also alleges that Commissioners Joe Cibellis, Tom Lanning and Florence Mensch voted against measures to recover the funds, and to bring in outside counsel, because of business and political relationships they have with the Scarlatas.
“This is a taxpayer action that seeks to stop the payment [and] recoup the money,” said Austin Graff, Samoles’s attorney. “Not only from the Scarlatas, but also from the board members who have colluded together to stop the recoupment …”
Earlier this year, a state comptroller’s audit revealed that the Scarlatas collected $800,000 in retirement benefits in addition to their salaries. Michael received $391,000 in deferred payments from 1998 to 2013, after retiring in 1998 with a $75,000 annual pension. His son received $421,353 in payments in 2012 and 2013, after he retired. Michael has remained a consultant to the board under a five-year contract, earning $62,000 a year as well as health benefits.
The suit seeks to bring those funds back to the Sanitation District in order to lower taxes.
In July, the board approved a resolution, by a 3-2 vote, to suspend Michael Scarlata and review his contract as well as the comptroller’s audit. (The comptroller’s office said it would not get involved in the lawsuit.) The resolution ordered him to stop attending sanitation board meetings and interacting with board members or sanitation employees. But Scarlata has continued to attend meetings as a member of the public, which he is allowed to do. A September proposal to hire outside legal counsel to review his contract failed in a 3-2 vote.
