Walter Clark Legal Group Files Action Against RivCo and County Executive Officer, Jeff Van Wagenen, for Illegal Expenditure, Waste of Taxpayer Funds in Department of Animal Services
RANCHC MIRAGE —A Complaint for Injunctive Relief was filed on Monday, Nov. 25 in Riverside County Superior Court against the County of Riverside and Jeff Van Wagenen, the County Executive Officer, for wasting taxpayer funds in Department of Animal Services.
The taxpayer suit arises out of Van Wagenen orchestrating the hiring of Erin Gettis as Director of Animal Services with no qualifications or experience (she had a degree in Architecture and experience in Parks and Rec), as a favor to her spouse who was Riverside County counsel, then removing her two weeks after an action for her mismanagement of Animal Services was filed by Walter Clark Legal Group and spinning it publicly as a “promotional opportunity” to an Executive Director position in Riverside University Health System (with no experience in healthcare management and patient care), and lastly hiring a fringe consultant, Kristen Hassen (who Van Wagenen touted as the only person in the animal services world who could provide this work), for $2.5 million to fix the mess he created by hiring Gettis in the first place…