NEWS

From the County of San Bernardino

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 25, 2000

For more information, contact

County Public Information Officer David Wert

(909) 387-4082

dwert@cao.co.san-bernardino.ca.us

County will sue Norcal and seven others

Action looming against several other potential defendants

The Board of Supervisors today announced the county will sue Norcal Waste Systems Inc. and seven former county officials and contractors during the next 30 days to recover millions of dollars owed to the county’s citizens.

The Board named former county administrative officer James Hlawek, former CAO and Norcal consultant Harry Mays, former Norcal/San Bernardino Inc. Vice President Kenneth James Walsh, former county Treasurer-Tax Collector Thomas F. O’Donnell, former county investment officer Sol Levin, and former county consultants Richard Tisdale and Ronald Canham as defendants in the planned civil action.

The Board also directed county attorneys to draft similar legal action against a significant number of other people and companies who have so far declined to cooperate with the county’s investigation into its past business dealings.

They will be given an opportunity to respond to information gathered in the probe before the lawsuits are filed. Legal action against these unnamed potential defendants would also commence during the coming month in San Bernardino Superior Court.

The Board also directed its attorneys to prepare and release to the public within 30 days a report containing the factual allegations that support the litigation.

“The county’s investigation has covered a lot of new ground. We are acting swiftly because we want to be able to tell our citizens that we have recovered their money and cleansed their county of tainted deals and corrupt people,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Jon D. Mikels.

-MORE-

County Sues

Page 2

The suits will seek to recover at the very least the financial impact of the defendants’ actions on the county.

Hlawek, Mays, Walsh, O’Donnell, Levin, Tisdale and Canham have each pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges. Canham was sentenced earlier this month and ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution to the county. The other six await sentencing.

Board members agreed the county is owed damages by Norcal as well.

“The facts admitted in the guilty plea of Harry Mays tend to show that the entire 1995 contract with Norcal was tainted by bribery,” said County Counsel Alan K. Marks.

“We’re still determining how much our citizens are owed. But the county intends to ask for the maximum amount allowed by the law,” Chairman Mikels said.

-30-