El Dorado Hills General Manager Being Paid To Do Nothing

July 27, 2011 12:44 AM

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EL DORADO HILLS (CBS13) — Members of the board who hired the El Dorado Hills general manager have asked him to not work, and he says he has no idea why.

Taxpayer money is being used to pay for El Dorado Hills’ general manager John Skeel to do nothing. We tried to find out why, but the board is not offering answers. What we did find out, is that paying for a GM isn’t cheap.

“Since being put on leave, this is now a waste of money because being paid to do nothing is not serving anybody,” said Skeel.

John Skeel just started as general manager of the El Dorado Hills Community Services District in January. Five weeks ago, the board told him they want him out the door.

“They told me I was on leave and they’d come up with a story as to why I was gone, and that’s when I would hear from them,” said Skeel.

With a salary of more than $126,000 taxpayer dollars, it means they’ve already paid him more than $10,000 to stay home.

Neda: So five weeks later and you still don’t know why?

Skeel: No, and it’s really difficult. Employees are asking, the community’s asking me and I can’t say anything.

CBS13 started asking questions, but we got no answers over the phone so we went directly to the board who refused to comment.

The interim general manager only gave us her attorney’s phone number who said the leave of absence is a private personnel matter.

It’s not just Skeel’s salary that’s costing taxpayers. Getting him out here took time and money. He was the board’s pick after a five-month national search of over 70 applicants.

His recruitment, like his salary, cost a pretty penny. Board members flew to his place in Colorado and they flew Skeel and his wife into town and covered about $10,000 of his moving expenses. On top of his salary, Skeel also gets a $375 per month car allowance.

Skeel says he was hired to cut costs, but thinks some of his proposed cuts may have upset the board. In the end, it’s his job that may be cut, with him and taxpayers losing out in the process.

“I would like to get back to work so I’m actually earning my money,” said Skeel.

The board’s attorney says they are working with Skeel’s attorney to come up with some solution. In the meantime, tax dollars are still being spent while one of their highest-paid employees just waits.

El Dorado Hills General Manager Being Paid To Do Nothing

Well Said

Here’s the basics:

The HR Director should be relieved of her job. She hires on a disparate basis (the board is putting itself at serious risk here). Her record speaks for itself. She has a preference toward her religion. Additionally, she is not well liked for her terse attitude and course nature toward employees.

The Board oversteps its bounds by “micro managing” the operation, clearly not their prerogative.

Mr. Skeel’s professionalism is what attracted the board. Now they are protecting the HR manager for some unknown reason. They are clearly, intentionally misstating the nature of this discord. I for one don’t want to pay Mr. Skeel’s income for the rest of his working life while he lives elsewhere, working for someone else. And I don’t believe he wants that either. But if the Board pushes this the wrong way, I’ll guarantee you it is exactly what will happen.

This issue needs further scrutiny by this paper. We citizens of El Dorado Hills are again being held hostage by the capricious nature of this

Board’s cronyism and convoluted reasoning.

I urge as many residents as possible attend this meeting on August 23rd at 6:30 @ CSD on Harvard Way…just follow the throng…hope you get a parking spot close to the building. This is better than “Who Shot JR”.

And I know someone who ISN’T going to be reelected next time out!

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On 8/18/11 at 10:45 AM, BradRice wrote:
The CSDB’s legal council refuses to allow a deposition of the HR Director prior to the August 23rd meeting. What ARE they hiding?
Doug Masters

I attended CSD meeting on Aug 23rd to “See for myself”…What I saw was arrogance, indifference, incompetence and cronyism on the part of the CSD Board.

They want to run the district themselves and are micro-managing the new GM to the point of insane.

Unfortunately, this will result in a wave of lawsuits to DEFEND the CSD’s BOARD MEMBER’S EGOS instead of funding community projects like new parks and athletic fields for the families of EDH.

I say a RECALL of the entire CSD Board is in order.
Retaliation? You be the judge.

After attending the meeting I do think this is a clear case of retaliation. Not retaliation OF the HR manager but retaliation BY the HR manager. The meeting on Tuesday revealed that Mr. Skeel was asked to cut the budget by $100K. It appears as though when the HR manager got word of the proposal (just that a proposal) of her and Sandy being laid off for budgetary reasons, she or Sandy promptly took it to their friend on the Board. Timing is everything. Why was the Board meeting scheduled for early June moved to June 30th? Someone was trying to get their ducks in a row, put Mr. Skeel on leave , change the budget, and approve the budget the next week while Mr. Skeel was on leave and Sandy was sitting in as the interim GM.

I must say, I was expecting a scandal to be revealed about Mr. Skeel. That was not the case at all.