Cronyism, Decrease in Services, Alleged in Redlands

A specialist placed on administrative leave by Redlands has a beef with the city and on Thursday asked some folks to help him present his case to officials Tuesday.

Bob Platt was an IT specialist employed by Redlands but contends that he was placed on leave with full pay because of his outspoken criticism of the state of the city.

Platt spoke to a group of about 20 people gathered at the Redlands Christian Center. The attendees belong to a group they call Reform Redlands Now.

“My goal is for the city to be sustainable,” Platt said, adding that he recently attended the Redlands Sustainability Network Forum.

However, Platt's green approach for Redlands is a fiscal one.

Platt contends that economic decisions made by city officials are questionable, illustrated by the fact that the City Manager receives the second-highest city manager salary in the state but city services are inadequate.

He also wonders why the city budget doubled between 1999 and 2009 but city services decreased.

The discontinuation of bus service has led to congested traffic at Citrus Valley High School and the city's use of consultants has caused costs to skyrocket, other attendees said.

Platt said he plans to tell the City Council this and more next week. Since public speakers are only allowed three minutes each, Platt asked Thursday's attendees to donate time to him so that his 15-minute presentation could be heard in full.