You DON'T Want Black Beans With That

Uh-oh, our very own SLOTown Chipotle restaurant's hit the news.  Colin Rigley ran an excellent story in yesterday's New Times that's an eye-roller  (  www.newtimesslo.com) 

According to Janeka Samuels, who was a manager at our very own Chipotle, her boss, Ben DeBilzan, the regional manager of Chipotle's Central Coast locations, made totally inappropriate racist remarks, among other actions that can best be described as  reeeeely, reeeeely BAD management practices. (Accusations by other workers of working without breaks, working off clock, failure to pay overtime, failure to provide breaks and meal periods, failure to pay wages in a timely manner, etc. etc. etc.) . 

The upshot is that Ms. Samuels was fired and has now filed two lawsuits, one of them a class action suit. No surprise there.  But here's where the eye-rolling comes in.  There's this: "Chipotle Denver-based attorney Charles Cavanaugh entered a general denial in response to the claims in Samuels' lawsuit.  Among the company's defenses, Cavanaugh wrote that Samuels failed to exhaust Chipotle's internal complaint-resoution procedures and failed to exhaust applicable administrative remedies.  He didn't respond to a call for comment."

". . . failed to exhaust . . ."

Eye roll time.  Really, Chipotle?  In this day and age? Has "corporate" STILL not learned that  it's not the complaints/accusations themselves that get you in the end, but the silence and stonewalling and ignoring of the complaints that will end up costing your company a bundle.  And finding yourself on the sharp pointed end of a lawsuit is the worst, most costly way of finding out you've got a management problem.

And in this case, Chipotle's now got The Shredder on  the warpath, calling for a boycott and reprinting manager Ben DeBilzan's blog postings that, at best, could be called highly questionable, at worst, comments that surely will come to haunt him in a court of law.  A blog, need I point out, that should have been monitored by "corporate" as a matter of general prudent policy since DiBilzan was Chipotle's Central Coast's regional  representative and his public persona should have been of ongoing interest to the company.

But, no.  Chipotle thought they could wait until "complaint resolution procedures" were "exhausted."  Bad move.

So now it's lawsuit city, bad publicity city, eye-rolling city and the only thing Chipotle will "exhaust" is its bank account paying to clean up this mess.  As Colin Rigley notes in closing his excellent piece, "With an openly gay CEO, adoration from financial investors who compare Chipotle to Apple's level of perfectionism, and a reputation for environmental stewardship, [Janeka] Samuels said her experiences at the San Luis Obispo Chipotle locations seemed to contradict the company's public image.

'That's why I'm so surprised, and so shocked," she said.  'That's why it hurt me so much.'" 

MWH Back In The News Again?

In my email box. Read it and weep. Or Tune into Dave’s show today. Whatever. It’s dejavu time, all over again, with the County firmly putting it’s fingers in its ears and singing, La-la-la-la-la.

MWH in the news in New Orleans:
(Montgomery Watson Harza) Remember the warning to SLO co. Board of Sups--Is it worth the risk?
“It is an unbelievable story, however it is the same exact pattern of abuse by MWH on Ca. central coast as well as other communities----committing acts of fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, negligence, and/or incompetence in the practice of professional engineering. (see links below)
As a retired wastewater systems manager in charge of large capital project, I have dealt with MWH first hand. I know this pattern of abuse close up. The findings in the Inspector General reports concerning contracting procurement closely mirror the contract issues for Los Osos, Ca. In fact reports containing original documents confirm illegal backdated contracts, and specious payments.” [Gail McPherson]

I will be addressing this Tuesday on the Dave Congalton Show---Radio KVEC 920 AM Click here at 5:00 PM PST to listen live to the Broadcast. http://920kvec.com/pages/1375370.php
Caller-line:
805-543-8830

Toll-free Caller-line:
800-549-KVEC (5832)

e-mail: dave@920kvec.com


Recovery oversight contract allowed overbilling, poor performance, inspector general says
By Michelle Krupa, The Times-Picayune
March 10, 2010, 8:03PM
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/03/recovery_oversight_contract_al.html


Report blasts firm overseeing Katrina recovery
Posted: Mar 11, 2010 4:46 PM PST Updated: Mar 12, 2010 2:04 AM PST
By CAIN BURDEAU
Associated Press Writer http://www.kcoy.com/Global/story.asp?s=12127237&clienttype=printable
Los Osos Project falis the smell test in New Orleans:
http://calcoastnews.com/2010/03/firm-angling-for-los-osos-project-fails-the-smell-test-in-new-orleans/


MWH? WTF?
Despite lawsuits and bad blood, Montgomery Watson may yet land Los Osos sewer contract
BY COLIN RIGLEY, New Times SLO
http://www.newtimesslo.com/news/2541/mwh-wtf/
Past President of the Los Osos Community Services District filed a formal complaint with the Board of Supervisors, the Public Works Director and County Counsel in April 2009. She provided public testimony regarding her concerns at each public meeting between March 28 and continued through July 2009. She provided the County Board and Attorney with approximately 350 pages of supplemental documentation describing the current violation of design build code, the flawed contract procurement process and potential conflict of interest .
A webpage (sky drive) for public access of all materials that were submitted was created.
Access to the formal complaint and supplemental documentation can be found here:
http://cid-4552988ff6bd052f.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Supporting%20Documents%20-%20LOWTP%20Formal%20Complaint%20-%20Contract%20Procurement%20Process%20-2009


Lisa Schicker 805 234-1228

And While We’re At It

Over at http://www.sewerwatch.blogspot.com/, Ron’s having way too much fun. Prop 84? Park at Tri-W? Really?

New Times Commentary

Lisa Schicker has a Commentary in this week’s New Times at:
http://www.newtimesslo.com/commentary/3471/sewer-project-would-dispossess-many-los-osos-homeowners/

Gee, I wonder if The Shredder will find it poo-poo-pee-dooo funny?