Jon Wintermayer was the facilities director in the Contra Costa County court system up until such time that Michael Paul went public with his allegations of fraud, waste and abuse involving AOC personnel and the unlicensed contractors. Shortly after Michael Paul went public with his allegations, Mr. Wintermayer was placed on administrative leave by Kiri Torre pending an investigation. After several months on administrative leave and an inconclusive investigation, the Contra Costa County courts released Mr. Wintermayer from his position.
And what was Mr. Wintermayer’s high crime for which he lost his job?
Mr. Wintermayer worked with Michael Paul of the AOC on a couple of court related OCCM projects and was working with him on the East Contra County Court project when he was “placed on administrative leave pending an investigation” Mr. Wintermayer’s boss Kiri Torre and Mr. Paul’s manager Michael Derr also happen to have and maintain a close working relationship.
The real reason they got rid of Mr. Wintermayer? While Mr. Paul and Mr. Wintermayer had not compared notes about the gross overcharging of “Team Jacobs” they had both been very vocal about the incompetence and overcharging to both court and OCCM management. Since then. they have shared and I have been privileged to review hundreds of damaging documents which I will be publishing online shortly as soon as I choose the publishing medium. Documents that will clearly indicate a criminal conspiracy between the AOC and “Team Jacobs”.
Mr. Wintermayer is a professional engineer and is legally allowed to run a government construction operation in the stead of a contractor. A couple of years ago, a few rooms needed to be converted to new temporary courtrooms. The Team Jacobs estimate for this work was $750.000.00 to convert each room. The Jon Wintermayer estimate for the same work was less than $115,000.00. The project manager for OCCM was a woman named Tiffany Martindale who has since left AOC employment, partly in disgust of unreportable fraud, waste and abuse. (a formal correction of the record- JCW) While her managers would tell her that “Team Jacobs” would be doing the conversion work, she took a chance on Mr. Wintermayer and Mr. Wintermayer delivered the project under his own projected budget. “Team Jacobs” and OCCM senior management wanted no part of this incursion into their territory and at first, tried to hire Jon away from the court. When he balked however, the AOC awarded the second court set build at their much higher price tag to their unlicensed contractor and the journey from there was straight down hill with OCCM removing him from a facilities mods oversight committee where he was both critical and vocal about the substandard overpriced work. When Kiri Torre was moved out to Contra Costa, she cleaned house and got rid of anyone critical of the AOC.
Christi McMahon was the IT person for the Southern Regional Office of the AOC. She was fired for blowing the whistle on key logging software being loaded on her computer, compromising the passwords of every AOC administrator and engineer that used that system.
These are likely two other actions against the AOC that are being put in the litigation breach. While certain entities may not comment on pending or impending litigation, I think the judiciary could take a more active role in ensuring that the AOC isn’t screwing the taxpayers and playing games with peoples lives. Most especially when they are simply trying to do the right thing by the branch.
Michael Paul
December 2, 2010
There’s a lot of truth and I believe some minor mistakes in this entry. For example, Jon and I only worked one project together.
Michael Paul
December 3, 2010
I stand corrected. I worked on two projects with Jon spanning a 3 year period.
AlwaysAmazed
December 3, 2010
Judicialcouncilwatcher: I know of a letter sent to all of the Contra Costa judges by a Court retiree citing mistreatment of other, now former, Court employees. It seems the administration headed by Kiri Torre takes some actions because they can get away with it, not because it’s the right thing to do. At some point, maybe the judiciary will “take a more active role in ensuring that the AOC isn’t screwing the taxpayers and playing games with peoples lives” but it doesn’t appear they’ve been receptive to such suggestions to date. Maybe the new Presiding Judge will be…
AlwaysAmazed
December 3, 2010
Correction: Your quote suggests the judiciary take steps to ensure the AOC isn’t playing games, but my comment refers to how the *Contra Costa* judiciary hasn’t been receptive and hopefully the new presiding judge will be. Smaller picture…same issues.
judicialcouncilwatcher
December 4, 2010
In some cases – and both Marin and Contra Costa come to mind – the AOC serves as “the ruling puppeteer”
Hopeful
February 15, 2011
Wow! I was shocked when I saw the termination notice for Christi McMahon. I didn’t know she was fired. I’ve worked with her and really liked her. If this is true, it’s very sad.
Tiffany Martindale
February 16, 2011
I have spent the past few years reveling in the fact that I no longer have to be exposed to the idiocy of the organization that my former colleagues continue to endure. Now my name is tied to the latest rant about the goings on at the AOC and I’m shocked.
Certainly, those who keep this website active have bones to pick and some of them seem valid. However, it is utterly irresponsible and unprofessional to fabricate stories about the subjects in your articles. It dissolves your credibility, especially to those who might be sympathetic to your cause but know the truth about the stories you report.
I did not leave the AOC “partly in disgust of unreportable fraud, waste and abuse”. In fact, because I was naively hopeful that the trend of people jumping ship from the Design and Construction Unit would catch the attention of those in HR and the Director’s office, I was extremely blunt in my exit interview about why I left. The patronizing, power-hungry pettiness of the management staff in the D&C Unit was more than I, and many others, could handle. It was for my personal convictions to be treated with respect that I eventually moved on from the organization. What should have been a job with multiple rewards was a drudge of an existence in an environment that sucked the life out of the quality people subjected to it.
As for Mr. Jon Wintermeyer, it is with great frustration that I learn of his eventual dismissal. The Contra Costa County Court had no stronger advocate for quality facilities management. I respect him very much and enjoyed working with him. It is no surprise, however, that bureaucrats can not appreciate efficiency and efficacy in project execution.
In the future, I would recommend you get your facts straight. In addition, I would exercise caution and professionalism when you are espousing “knowledge” about an incident from years gone by. My time spent in the D&C unit at OCCM is not a period in my career that I look upon fondly and I do not appreciate reliving it through the eyes of a cloaked complainer who is scraping a story together out of falsehoods.
judicialcouncilwatcher
February 16, 2011
I generally try to confirm my information with at least one other individual. Your objection appears to be related only to the reason you left. If I have my facts wrong, it was either my interpretation of what was said or what was being represented. In either case, my apologies.
Note: Letters to the editor posted in-thread such as this or ones that challenge my information are welcome. When I am wrong or have bad information, I’ll be the first one to step up to the plate with an apology and to correct the record. Looking back at the first comment of the thread, I guess I was warned of inaccuracies and didn’t follow up on them. Guilty as charged.
Tiffany Martindale
February 16, 2011
Thank you for addressing this. My objection is certainly related to the stated reason for my leaving because that specific point was presented as a given and it is, in fact, not true. It is uncommon that something gained from a conversation second hand should be taken as a statement of fact.
Regarding the specific point of the article that relates to my involvement with Mr. Wintermeyer, I do remember that he was adamant that he could do the remodeling in-house rather than using OCCM vendors, and he could. In my recollection, Jacobs Engineering was one vendor that FMU used to do some of the OCCM facility modification projects. They were one of three vendors used throughout the state. I’ve tried to forget the Design and Construction Unit management debacle. I’m saddened that the very integrity I hoped to find in that office is what is causing good people to lose their jobs. I’m thrilled to be so far removed as to have nothing more to add.
Michael Paul
February 17, 2011
I read your post. I did mention in the first reply that there were some inaccuracies but I am posting to acknowledge OCCM sucking the life blood out of people. Let me convey a telling example…
We were at a meeting down in the San Benito Courts and a certain project manager of the AOC named Rona Rothenberg stepped in to a discussion about integrated computer networks, which comprise of much of the AOC standards that I wrote for Information Services that is used branchwide. This senior manager told the court that integrated networks are not a good idea and not what we’re doing on the San Benito courthouse. I asked for clarification on the instruction she just gave the architect. “So, you’re asking the designer to design 7 different physical computer networks instead of one integrated network?” Ms. Rothenberg’s reply “Yes, seven different physical networks instead of one” This was in front of most of the court admins, judges, IT people.
Michael Paul
February 18, 2011
okay, since I’m more inclined to humiliate the bastards than to sue them… let me continue on. Other than asking the designer if this would add about two million dollars onto the costs of the San Benito project and getting acknowledgement in the meeting that yes, it would cost about two million dollars more, I bit my lip and left the meeting. I don’t participate in clusterfucks and she already had made her mind up. I then sent Ms. Rothenberg an email pointing out something to the effect that if integrated networks don’t work, maybe she might wish to trade in her IP telephone, her computer, her crackberry and the videoconferencing suite next to her office for an etch-a-sketch.
Funny, I never got a reply back but the next discussion was about the one network going in….
Michael Paul
February 18, 2011
I am on a roll about OCCM sucking the life out of people. Next up: Clifford Ham
Clifford Ham is the principal architect for the Office of Court Construction and management. I was blessed to work with him on the 4th district court of appeals in Santa Ana, where I attended one design review meeting that had no information technology details in the plans whatsoever. Just space. We were advised in the only meeting of its kind, where engineers get together and review what is on paper and typically comment on it and get deficiencies corrected in the planning process, that this was not a design meeting. This was a presentation. There were never any previous or subsequent design meetings for Santa Ana. No AOC engineer had the review and comment on the plans while they went through the entire design stage. This was all the product of outside contractors with no plan checking allowed.
A couple of weeks before the courthouse is to be opened, I notice I have no electricity going to the racks in the server room and the racks are put together wrong. I ask Mr. Ham about the electricity that goes to the computer racks and the inter-rack wiring that is supposed to be in place so I can get the server room operational for the 4th district court of appeals. He tells me that he refuses to issue a change order on the project to fix any of the issues I broght up. I then write the clerk of 4D3and illustrate their moving challenge. It is a bit difficult to move a server room into a room without electricity. Mr. Ham is adamant about not issuing any more change orders claiming he is way over budget. It is three weeks from the date of completion.
So what does Clifford Ham do just two weeks from completion? Goes on a european vacation for a couple of weeks, leaving the whole project in the hands of the work inspector for OCCM. I got my change orders….. because I went to the top of OCCM with my management and the clerk of the court to get them.
When I see the long beach courthouse is a clifford ham project and know that no one in engineering signed of on anything on either the 4d3 project the long beach project, I see the makings of a clusterfuck similar to 4D3 and if anyone has any doubts about that, contact 4D3 yourself.
Jon Wintermeyer
February 22, 2011
It was interesting to hear from Tiffany again and I want to point out that she went to bat for me and my capabilities to her superiors and the AOC Legal Council, when they told her they had already made the decision that Court could not perform. I received my first AOC MOU only because of her efforts. She took my resume and asked them to review it and show her how many AOC professionals in the D&C unit at that time had the same level of qualifications. They could not and I was reconized as a qualified professional capable of performing on my court’s behalf. When my remodel project at the Family Law Center was completed for a temporary Courtroom in the former Orientations rooms on the first floor, the AOC staff came out to review the project and take pictures. In the folllowing years there were numerous other CA Court visitors with their AOC staff and hired professional consultants that came to CC Court to review this building and look at this courtroom and the many other remodels and worker improvements I made in the building. We created a pass out of floor plans and documentation for the visitors,because when they asked for copies of the original drawings the number of changes we made were too confusing to most court staff. The last remodel project I finished was in September of 2009 using another AOC MOU and funding from the ERS unit to create a more secure and safer Lobby and workstation area for the CC Court Records Unit. I was given this project because the AOC FMU with Team Jacobs and their multiple layers of pricing was considered excessive by ERS Management and because they had done many projects with me in the past and knew I was would bring in a quality project at a better price.