Two Orange County supervisors Wednesday said they had no idea why Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector Shari Freidenrich alleged the county had made risky investments when the employees who were managing the finances worked for her office.
At Tuesday’s Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting, Freidenrich, who had her investment authority taken away from her by the board following a report of a hostile work environment in her office, criticized the county for making risky bets on securities.
The board voted Tuesday to reassign nine employees in Freidenrich’s office who make the investment recommendations to the chief executive officer. The treasurer accused the county’s investment policies that she said included securities on speculation interest rates would fall, but the rates went up.
“She’s misleading people, just lying,” Orange County Board Vice Chair Katrina Foley told City News Service.
Foley was especially irked that Freidenrich referred to former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert Citron, whose investment strategies plunged the county into bankruptcy in 1994.
“Maybe if the board did what we’re doing and took investment authority away from Citron and engaged in more oversight and monitoring maybe the bankruptcy never would have happened,” Foley said.
Freidenrich’s assertion the county was making high-risk investment is “just flat out dishonest and a lie,” Foley said.
“We have the same fiscal conservative, low-risk investment policy we’ve always had,” Foley said. “We’re relying on professional experts and consultants who manage our investments just like any business person would or any resident who has investments who rely on their investment experts to guide them.”
The county took away investment authority from Freidenrich because of complaints from employees of “micromanaging to the point where it was creating an environment that was nearly impossible to work in,” Foley said.
“Many of the complaints lodged against her would likely have resulted in the person being terminated from the county but we’re not allowed to do that,” because Freidenrich is an elected official, Foley said.
Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner said the county has not altered its investment policy at all.
“There’s been no change, no risk,” Wagner said.
The county board just approved a “purely administrative” move “to get employees doing the job into a proper place to continue doing that job.”
Wagner said Freidenrich’s complaints “had nothing to do with the issue that was in front of us… We changed no part of our investment policy. It’s the same professionals who were doing it under Shari are still doing it.”