Ceres Mayor Javier Lopez, now a candidate for Congress, has been criticized for expenses he incurred which were paid by taxpayers during his two-year tenure as president of the Stanislaus Council of Governments (StanCOG) Policy Board.
The criticism comes weeks after StanCOG executive director Rosa DeLeon Park was fired after the Stanislaus County Civil Grand Jury report about her excessive expenses paid for by taxpayers.
Last week the Modesto Bee reported that Lopez, while he chaired the board over two years, used rental cars almost a dozen times for more than 100 days, costing taxpayers $8,330.
StanCOG policy allows rental vehicles for staff or board members to attend meetings outside of Stanislaus County and state. Records show that Lopez rented a car from April 17 to May 17, 2024 for attending out-of-county meetings and logged 1,580 miles. He also rented a car paid for by StanCOG for 11 more days (May 17-28), for meetings in other counties. The Bee obtained records showing that Lopez rented a midsized luxury SUV for three weeks in February 2024 at a cost of $1,289.
Nick Dokoozlian, chairman of the Stanislaus County Taxpayer Association, said that while renting a car may be appropriate for a public official, it is “unacceptable” to keep it for weeks on end.
Lopez also was allowed to purchase a $2,800 Apple iPad Pro in March 2024. None of the other 15 members of the Policy Board were given computer equipment. Apparently Lopez retained the high-end iPad after he left the chairmanship, but StanCOG General Counsel Monica Streeter told the Bee that the Apple tablet will be returned to the agency.
Dokoozlian told the Bee: “Members of the Board of Supervisors don’t have iPads purchased for them. I have never heard of StanCOG or any agency buying equipment like that. There’s no reason to spend $2,800 on the newest iPad.”
Lopez issued a public statement following the publishing of the Bee article, saying the newspaper’s claims “do not accurately reflect my conduct or integrity as a public servant. I want to set the record straight.
“The iPad Pro referenced in the article is not my personal property. It was purchased by StanCOG strictly for official agency business so that I could review board materials, agendas, and conduct work while traveling on behalf of the organization as Chair of the Policy Board.
The device remains the property of StanCOG and is being returned, as expected.”
Lopez said: “Every rental car I used during my tenure as Chair was authorized and used exclusively for agency-related travel. These trips were necessary to represent our region in key transportation discussions at the state and federal level work that directly resulted in major investments for our local communities. All travel was conducted in compliance with agency policy.”
Lopez also said he did not engage in “personal spending on luxury hotels, first-class flights, and other extravagant expenses.”
Lopez also claimed that he didn’t receive “any email, call, or message requesting comment” from the Bee, contrary to the newspaper reporting that he didn’t return their phone calls. The mayor, who routinely does not return phone calls made by the Courier editor, also stated that he has “always been open and available to clarify the record and remain committed to transparency.”
StanCOG records indicate that Lopez was reimbursed $1,330 for a May 18-24, 2024 trip to Washington D.C. During those seven days his expenses were for meals, fuel and other sundry expenses. His expense form did not include hotel and airfare.
StanCOG is a council of city and county governments comprised of the cities of Ceres, Hughson, Modesto, Newman, Oakdale, Patterson, Riverbank, Turlock and Waterford, and the County of Stanislaus to address regional transportation issues. It was established as a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) in 1971.
It is the clearinghouse for all transportation funds to be disbursed to the nine cities and Stanislaus County. The agency is responsible for developing and updating a variety of transportation plans and addressing regional air quality.
This is not the first time that Lopez has been scrutinized for expenses for which he was reimbursed. In 2023 the Courier disclosed that Lopez spent $1,824.23 while attending a May 21-23 Las Vegas conference hosted by the International Council of Shopping Centers.
Park was fired after the Grand Jury revealed her pattern of extravagant spending at the taxpayer’s expense.
Using 2022 Transparent California data, the grand jury learned that Park was paid higher than executive directors of other Valley COGs. Her base salary is $246,553, coupled with $166,156 in benefits and $71,447 in other reimbursements, brought her total compensation package to $484,156. By comparison, the COG directors in Sacramento and San Joaquin counties were paid $345,957 and $399,194, respectively.
The grand jury found that Park rarely claimed to take a vacation and as management is allowed to request a cash conversion twice a year which would give her $27,864 every six months.
In scrutinizing records, the jury saw that Park stayed at Ritz-Carlton hotels on seven trips to Washington, D.C., one trip to Marina Del Rey, three trips to Chicago, one trip to Santa Barbara and once to Atlanta. Ritz-Carlton in D.C. charges about double the cost of hotels where conferences were held. For example, at a Washington D.C. conference in February 2024, hotel rates Hyatt Capitol Hill were $309 a night, compared to the Ritz-Carlton’s rate of $600. For the March 2024 WTS Symposium also in Washington D.C., Park stayed at the Ritz-Carlton D.C. at $600 a night while the conference at Marriott Capitol Hill was $289 a night.
The grand total for the 39 night stays came to $33,071, all paid for by taxpayers.
The panel raised questions about how a $614.58 flight to Seattle for Park’s husband was paid for. The Feb. 27, 2024 flight charge ended up on Park’s StanCOG credit card but StanCOG policy does not cover the costs of spouses who accompany an employee on JPA business. When questioned about the purchase, StanCOG’s Director of Administrative Services stated the husband’s flights were charged fraudulently and that StanCOG contacted with the credit card company. The charge was credited back to the card on Jan. 16, 2025 only after the grand jury began nosing around. But the bank reversed the provisional credit the following month, and the $614.58 was rebilled to the card. The grand jury was provided no evidence that Park reimbursed StanCOG for the charge.
In another instance, Park and her spouse charged the StanCOG credit card to fly to Las Vegas on August 12, 2022 aboard Southwest Airlines.
The jury discovered that Park, a Stockton resident, took an indirect flight from Sacramento to a conference in Monterey when driving would have been cheaper and faster. At the time taxpayers were already paying for her rental of a 2022 Mercedes-Benz GLC300.
On the same Monterey trip, Park and a StanCOG board member spent $790 at the Chart House restaurant and on another night, after shelling out $200 for “A Night at the Aquarium” reception-style dinner, the two went to the Sardine Factory for a $565 dinner. The total food bill for their three-day, two-night trip was more than $2,200. Additionally, the $1,290 hotel receipt is missing and the jury found no line entry for this receipt on the “Missing Receipts Form” for that month.
Apparently Park was in the habit of not producing receipts for which she had claims for reimbursement. “Going back five years, lists of missing receipts by the executive director were commonplace and remain an ongoing problem,” the grand jury noted.
