Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Will Fresno EOC Board Order Forensic Audit of Troubled Finances?
NANCY WEBSITE HEADSHOT 1
By Nancy Price, Multimedia Journalist
Published 1 day ago on
March 17, 2025

The Fresno EOC is scheduled to vote on a forensic audit contract. (GV Wire Composite)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission board of directors is scheduled to vote Monday evening on awarding a contract for a forensic audit to delve into the agency’s deficit spending and depletion of reserves in recent years.

Interim CEO Brian Angus had recommended that the audit focus on three areas — transportation, food services, and administration — with the biggest deficits. In the audit committee minutes, Angus said those programs are funded by fee-for-service, not grants.

But the audit committee voted unanimously last month on a motion by Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula to also include Head Start, the agency’s biggest program.

Arambula, who replaced his mother, Amy, on the commission board last fall after she raised concerns about its finances, had called for a forensic audit when he wrote a public letter to commissioners charging that the agency had been “hemorrhaging” money and draining its reserves.

The board is scheduled to vote on a $123,250 forensic audit contract with Wipfli, a Minneapolis-based accounting firm. The timeframe for completing the audit is 10 weeks, and auditors will review spending for 2023 and 2024.

Cost-cutting Under Way

At the January board meeting representatives from the transit and food services departments made budget presentations for 2025 that promised either net profits or no deficits for 2025. Jon Escobar, food services director, told the commissioners that this year’s contracts would have an “act of God” clause that would allow for price adjustments in the event of changing market conditions. “We’ve never had this in before,” he told the board.

Any revenue decreases will be reported on a monthly basis to the Finance Committee and will spark a corresponding drop in expenditures, Angus told the board.

“If revenues drop, you have to cut expenses, it’s that simple,” he said.

Angus, who had served as CEO until 2019, was rehired as interim CEO after the board voted not to renew the contract of then-CEO Emilia Reyes.

Since then, the agency has undertaken a number of cost-cutting moves, such as laying off staffers. The layoffs include Michelle Tutunjian, the chief operating officer who was named acting CEO late last year when the commission put Reyes on leave, and chief of staff Karina Perez.

The board meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. and will be held in Suite 310 at 1920 Mariposa St. in downtown Fresno.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Tesla Vehicles Defaced in Overnight Attack at California Dealership

DON'T MISS

Trump and Putin Agree to an Immediate Ceasefire for Energy and Infrastructure

DON'T MISS

Protests Planned All Over California to Oppose Medicaid, SNAP Funding Cuts

DON'T MISS

Newsom Tries ‘Burner Phone’ Strategy to Connect with Tech CEOs

DON'T MISS

Jesse Colin Young, Singer Who Urged Us to ‘Get Together,’ Dies at 83

DON'T MISS

Clovis Council Delays Vote on Islamic School Expansion

DON'T MISS

Tracy Morgan Says He’s OK, Food Poisoning Caused Incident at Knicks-Heat Game

DON'T MISS

Doncic Just Misses Triple-Double, Reaves Scores 30 Points, in Lakers’ Win Over Spurs

DON'T MISS

White House Says Trump, Putin Will Seek Limited Ceasefire on Energy, Infrastructure

DON'T MISS

Steve Kerr Committed to Finding Stephen Curry a Rest Day, Insists Superstar Guard Is Exhausted

UP NEXT

Trump and Putin Agree to an Immediate Ceasefire for Energy and Infrastructure

UP NEXT

Protests Planned All Over California to Oppose Medicaid, SNAP Funding Cuts

UP NEXT

Newsom Tries ‘Burner Phone’ Strategy to Connect with Tech CEOs

UP NEXT

Jesse Colin Young, Singer Who Urged Us to ‘Get Together,’ Dies at 83

UP NEXT

Clovis Council Delays Vote on Islamic School Expansion

UP NEXT

Tracy Morgan Says He’s OK, Food Poisoning Caused Incident at Knicks-Heat Game

UP NEXT

Doncic Just Misses Triple-Double, Reaves Scores 30 Points, in Lakers’ Win Over Spurs

UP NEXT

White House Says Trump, Putin Will Seek Limited Ceasefire on Energy, Infrastructure

UP NEXT

Steve Kerr Committed to Finding Stephen Curry a Rest Day, Insists Superstar Guard Is Exhausted

UP NEXT

‘They Didn’t Lift a Damn Finger’: California Crime Victim Fund Ordered to Change Practices

Nancy Price,
Multimedia Journalist
Nancy Price is a multimedia journalist for GV Wire. A longtime reporter and editor who has worked for newspapers in California, Florida, Alaska, Illinois and Kansas, Nancy joined GV Wire in July 2019. She previously worked as an assistant metro editor for 13 years at The Fresno Bee. Nancy earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Her hobbies include singing with the Fresno Master Chorale and volunteering with Fresno Filmworks. You can reach Nancy at 559-492-4087 or Send an Email

Newsom Tries ‘Burner Phone’ Strategy to Connect with Tech CEOs

2 hours ago

Jesse Colin Young, Singer Who Urged Us to ‘Get Together,’ Dies at 83

3 hours ago

Clovis Council Delays Vote on Islamic School Expansion

3 hours ago

Tracy Morgan Says He’s OK, Food Poisoning Caused Incident at Knicks-Heat Game

4 hours ago

Doncic Just Misses Triple-Double, Reaves Scores 30 Points, in Lakers’ Win Over Spurs

4 hours ago

White House Says Trump, Putin Will Seek Limited Ceasefire on Energy, Infrastructure

4 hours ago

Steve Kerr Committed to Finding Stephen Curry a Rest Day, Insists Superstar Guard Is Exhausted

4 hours ago

‘They Didn’t Lift a Damn Finger’: California Crime Victim Fund Ordered to Change Practices

4 hours ago

Costly Health Care Expansion Worsens California’s Chronic Budget Deficit

4 hours ago

Trump Ends Program Tracking Ukrainian Child Abductions

4 hours ago

Tesla Vehicles Defaced in Overnight Attack at California Dealership

Multiple Tesla vehicles were found vandalized at a dealership in Encinitas, California, early Monday morning, as reported by Fox 5 San Diego...

15 minutes ago

15 minutes ago

Tesla Vehicles Defaced in Overnight Attack at California Dealership

President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. (AP File)
1 hour ago

Trump and Putin Agree to an Immediate Ceasefire for Energy and Infrastructure

We Are California protests proposed federal budget cuts, urging lawmakers to protect Medicaid and SNAP for vulnerable populations. (Shutterstock)
1 hour ago

Protests Planned All Over California to Oppose Medicaid, SNAP Funding Cuts

2 hours ago

Newsom Tries ‘Burner Phone’ Strategy to Connect with Tech CEOs

3 hours ago

Jesse Colin Young, Singer Who Urged Us to ‘Get Together,’ Dies at 83

3 hours ago

Clovis Council Delays Vote on Islamic School Expansion

4 hours ago

Tracy Morgan Says He’s OK, Food Poisoning Caused Incident at Knicks-Heat Game

4 hours ago

Doncic Just Misses Triple-Double, Reaves Scores 30 Points, in Lakers’ Win Over Spurs

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend