Finance
San Bernardino finance director claims she was fired after raising concerns about costly project
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) — The former finance director of the city of San Bernardino is alleging she was threatened and fired by the current city manager, after raising concerns about the potential cost of a project to renovate the old city hall building.
Barbara Whitehorn made the allegations during the public comment portion of the city council meeting on May 15.
“I came back from vacation today, and I was fired today,” said Whitehorn, at times tearing up while making her statement. “I am no longer in the employ of the city of San Bernardino after being threatened today (by the city manager) of having information damaging to my career released into the public domain.
“Then after saying, ‘Please do so, Mr. city manager, because you’ll have to fire me before doing that, he said, ‘Oh, then I’ll just fire you without cause.’”
Whitehorn alleges that the costs to retrofit the old city hall building are spiraling out of control. The building has sat empty since late 2016 after being vacated over concerns that it could collapse during a big earthquake.
“It’s a project that has expanded from $80 million to about $120 million and that number is nowhere to be seen on this (public) agenda. This city does not have that money,” she said.
A presentation was made to the city council in January 2024 outlining the process by which city hall would be retrofitted. City manager Charles Montoya said the city is currently incurring increasing costs for leasing space in separate buildings to maintain city services.
“If we don’t do this now, sooner or later that building is just going to become a gigantic door stop,” said Montoya during the meeting.
He acknowledged when asked by city council members that there is no projected final cost for the project yet.
“The reason we’re doing it this way is speed, to get this thing done. Our lease in the city building is up in two years; we don’t want to sign another lease where we’re just throwing money out the window.”
Two days after her appearance before the council, the city released a statement in response to Whitehorn’s remarks.
The statement claimed Whitehorn was fired for reasons unrelated to the city hall project and disputed some of her other claims.
“However, contrary to Whitehorn’s claims, the renovation project has yet to be designed, and construction costs have yet to be determined,” read the statement, attributed to Public Information Officer Jeff Kraus. “Construction cost estimates and project financing options will be presented to the Council during future meetings.”
“The City of San Bernardino has confirmed that Whitehorn was an at-will employee and was terminated for cause involving financial issues that were unrelated to the City Hall project.”
The statement also said discussion of the city hall project was postponed from that night’s council agenda because there was not enough time to consider the matter and hear from the public.
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The World Bank is ditching its commitment to steer 45 percent of its spending toward projects with climate benefits, after facing pressure from the Trump administration.
The move, announced Monday following a meeting of the bank’s board of directors last week, marks a victory in President Donald Trump’s effort to purge climate policies from U.S. foreign policy. His administration has described the target as “distortionary” and “nonsensical.”
The bank preserved its broader Climate Change Action Plan — of which the 45 percent target was a key metric — just days before it was set to expire at the end of June. In addition to directing money toward climate projects, the plan provides technical support for helping countries reduce their greenhouse gas pollution and adapt to rising temperatures.
“We will retire the 45% climate co-benefits target,” the World Bank Group said in a statement, noting that it had “done significant work in answering client demand and needs.”
The bank’s work on climate “is and will remain firmly client driven, supporting them in delivering on their own ambitions as set out in their national plans and NDCs,” the statement added, referring to the nationally determined contributions countries submit under the Paris Agreement.
The decision to drop the climate finance target follows months of pressure from the Trump administration. People with knowledge of the negotiations said the U.S. was firm that the target must go despite other countries indicating their support for the bank’s climate goal. The U.S. has sway over the bank’s decisions as its largest shareholder.
Beyond the finance target, the Climate Change Action Plan also provides diagnostic reports on countries’ climate and development goals and aims to align lending with the Paris Agreement, which calls for preventing temperature rise from surpassing 2 degrees Celsius since the Industrial Revolution.
The bank said it would honor a board request to undertake an independent evaluation of the climate plan to determine if it’s helping countries grapple with rising temperatures. The decision effectively extends the plan beyond its expiration at the end of June.
The climate target was supported by many of the bank’s shareholders. It’s also been a prominent signal of the bank’s support for climate action at a time when the impacts of rising temperatures are accelerating.
“This is way, way away from where we should be for a responsible financial architecture,” said one official from a developed country who was directly involved in the negotiations and was granted anonymity to describe internal discussions.
The bank will continue to track and report on the amount of money going to projects with climate co-benefits. It exceeded its own target last year by directing 48 percent of its financing to climate-related projects.
Other climate targets embedded in agreements that govern different arms of the bank will remain, including one for the International Development Association, the bank’s fund for the poorest countries.
Multilateral development banks play a key role in global climate negotiations, where wealthy countries have committed to helping provide $300 billion a year for poorer countries by 2035. That no longer includes the United States, which has left the Paris Agreement and will exit the underlying United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change early next year.
“Targets send enormous signals about an institution’s direction of travel,” said Clemence Landers, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. “At the same time, it’s a sign of the times and the World Bank is doing its level best to not rankle its largest shareholder.”
She believes the bank will continue financing renewable energy projects in countries that want them, despite having dropped its climate target.
“I wouldn’t be shocked if the bank continued to have an extremely robust clean pipeline with or without this target,” said Landers.
The bank says retiring the 45 percent target is part of its shift from a focus on “inputs to outcomes.” It will continue to monitor and report net greenhouse gas emissions across its projects and countries’ ability to withstand climate risks.
“We will continue to report to the Board on progress, including on climate co-benefits, and to contribute to our related joint MDB efforts,” the statement said, referring to its role as a multilateral development bank. “We will explore and discuss ways to better structure our engagement on adaptation, nature and pollution.”
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