SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — This Halloween, the San Diego County Clerk’s office transformed into a haunted chapel of love for its second annual Halloweddings. Costumed officiants, creepy vows, and spooky decorations set the scene for couples ready to say “I do” in true Halloween style.

For Angela Tran and Phillip Ona, Halloween has always been special. On Friday afternoon, it wasn’t just about candy and costumes, it was their anniversary, and they decided to make it extra memorable.

“We wanted a silly way to get legally married,” Angela said. “Our anniversary is around Halloween, and we had so much fun putting this together.”

Dozens of couples took part in the Halloween-themed ceremony, hosted by the County Clerk’s Office, exchanging vows like:

“Dear friends, we have been summoned here today for the hauntingly joyful wedding of Angela to her boo Phillip.”

County Clerk and Commissioner of Marriages Jordan Marks says events like Halloweddings are about making love less stressful and more memorable:

“People want a great time to celebrate. What better day than Halloween? Now couples get to do that for their entire lives every Halloween.”

No appointments. No long waits. Just walk in, get your marriage license, and tie the knot.

“Halloween is filled with some of the greatest love stories of all time,” Marks added. “Today, people get to pledge their undying love and say ‘I doo’ to their boo.”

For some couples, the theme got extra creative.

“We’re vampires. I don’t know if you bit me, we both have blood,” laughed Angela.

Beneath the darkness, the only thing truly immortal was their love.

A year ago, San Diego city auditors found that staff spent millions more on rental equipment for city departments than what councilmembers approved. But the auditors couldn’t find who OK’d the additional spending.  

Over the last month, councilmembers have demanded answers from city staff after an audit found that a contract with Herc Rentals increased by more than $6 million without approval from the City Council.  

“I had asked on the dais on Oct. 6 where the $6 million had come from that was taken from the general fund and increased unlawfully to the Herc rental contract,” Councilmember Marni von Wilpert said during an Oct. 20 City Council meeting. “I’m still waiting for an answer.”  

The city has a contract with Herc Rentals to rent trucks, forklifts and other equipment and services. This equipment is used by city workers across several departments responsible for park maintenance, public safety and more.  

For fiscal year 2020, councilmembers approved spending up to $14.3 million on rentals. The contract now allows spending up to $65.5 million.  

City law requires the City Council to review and approve certain changes to city contracts. The Council is required to approve new contracts over $3 million and all adjustments to contracts over $200,000. 

The city auditor found that didn’t happen in 2023. That year, staff adjusted the Herc Rentals contract in October by $4 million and then again in December by $2.7 million. Other adjustments made to the contract were approved by the Council.  

The city auditor’s team said departments didn’t know whether their contracts needed Council approval.  

In a statement, Ombretta Di Dio, spokesperson for purchasing and contracting, said the contract was adjusted “to pay outstanding invoices and allow departments access to rental equipment and vehicles to address operational needs, with the intent of obtaining retroactive approval.” 

She said rental equipment and vehicles supported critical operations to the city. When some city vehicles were out for repair or missing parts, they used Herc rentals to help in emergency situations like the 2024 floods.  

The city auditor gave Voice of San Diego the list of every transaction with Herc Rentals from 2019 to 2024. The transactions are from dozens of departments like public utilities, homelessness strategies and solutions, and transportation.  

Di Dio said departments have “flexibility within their approved budget to manage non-personnel costs… When overages occur in one area, they are typically offset by savings in another—ensuring that operations continue without disruption.” 

According to the 2024 audit, “when contract alterations are brought to Council late, it puts pressure on Council’s approval responsibility. As a result, Council’s ability to provide meaningful oversight may be reduced if there is not time to consider other vendors without disrupting critical services.”  

In other words, when contracts are brought late to the City Council it limits their role and authority to make sound decisions on the contracts. Think of it like making charges to a shared credit card. Each department is charging to the credit card, unaware of how much other departments are spending on it too. Then, Council has to deal with the bill. 

Say a department spent more than $50,000 on rental vehicles. They have a better chance of getting that approved by Council if they bring it late, because, well, they have already spent it and now they owe Herc.  

So, Council might feel pressure to approve the action to adjust the contract so they can ensure Herc gets paid. But they don’t know if the departments have that money budgeted, they just know they owe Herc.  

Councilmembers either vote no – and risk interrupting services – or vote yes and continue to meet the demands for rental equipment across departments.  

The Herc contract is an example of these pressures. The Council recently approved an additional eighth amendment to increase the amount in July. The Council voted to increase the contract with the condition that they want to see a specific audit on it. 

“I think one of the things I struggle with sometimes is who will bear the consequences if these contracts aren’t approved,” said Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera during the Council meeting on Oct. 6.  

“I think this is what puts us in a particularly difficult position as councilmembers… it is typically rank and file everyday employees who are doing the work.” 

It’s unclear why the city is spending so much with Herc. A spokesperson with the city said the transportation department received a mid-year adjustment in FY25 to account for increased needs so that other departments’ needs were not reduced.  

The city auditor is planning to do an individual audit on the Herc contract and any other vehicle contracts. 

“We will begin the audit in the near future,” said City Auditor Andy Hanau. 

Claudia Abarca, director of purchasing and contracting, said they implemented eight recommendations of the 13 made by the city auditor in the last year. One of these recommendations includes updating the Council approval threshold and clarifying alterations for goods and services contracts.  

Still, councilmembers are frustrated and looking for answers.  

“Do you realize we had a budget fight this past year for over $4.5 million in which the mayor vetoed it and we overrode the veto?” said Councilmember Von Wilpert during the Council Meeting on Oct. 6.  

“Somebody had to use a city computer and make that adjustment unlawfully. It’s against the municipal code to do that, so who did that?” 

Councilmember Raul Campillo also chimed in to ask if the city disciplined the employees who made the illegal adjustments. Abarca said they did.  

“I’m really hopeful that’s what happened here, because this wasn’t a few dollars over,” said Councilmember Campillo. “This was several million dollars over.” 

Abarca said that city departments were behind on payments and in a deficit of what they owed Herc. She said her staff was directed to make the unauthorized adjustments when they ran it up the chain of command.  

“I don’t know that it went to the mayor himself, I know I did bring this up to the DCOO (deputy chief operating officer) and we’ve been working on this contract for quite some time,” said Abarca. “We’ve done several refinements on how we are monitoring and actually managing the spend for each department to ensure we don’t get to this place again.”  

Abarca added they have not altered any contracts above $200,000 without it coming forward to the City Council since 2023. 

It’s still unclear who is directly responsible for the contract changes, and where each department pulled money from their budget to pay Herc. 

Sept. 28 was the 483rd anniversary of the arrival of the Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo aboard the San Salvador at what we now call San Diego Bay. The San Salvador was the first European sailing vessel to reach the California coast.

Cabrillo National Monument was established in 1913 by President Woodrow Wilson. The Cabrillo/Spanish connection was prevalent in the original plans for Cabrillo National Monument, which were formulated in 1913.

Twenty years later, a fabricated shift began that asserted Cabrillo was Portuguese. The first reference to Cabrillo being Portuguese, as it relates to the Cabrillo National Monument, occurred in 1934. The first mention of the name João Rodrigues Cabrilho — note the different spelling of the final name — did not appear until 1935 and has never been verified as authentic. 

The iconic statue at Cabrillo National Monument was commissioned by the Portuguese Secretariat of National Propaganda in 1939. Two bronze plaques displayed at the monument referring to Cabrillo as a Portuguese navigator were gifted by the Portuguese Navy in 1957 and 1988. The addition of the statue and plaques was not approved by Congress nor the director of the National Park Service, as required by federal statute.

In 2015, renowned Canadian historian and expert on 16th century Central America, Wendy Kramer, Ph.D., while conducting archival research, discovered several thousand pages of manuscripts with legal documents written by official scribes. Numerous documents were signed by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo stating that he was a native of the Spanish village of Palma de Micer Gilio, now known as Palma del Río, Córdoba, Spain. Kramer was researching information about Guatemala in the 1520s and 1530s. Her findings were published in 2016 in The Journal of San Diego History.

Kramer’s paper — “Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Citizen of Guatemala and Native of Palma del Rio: New Sources from the Sixteenth Century” — was peer reviewed by several historians including Carla Rahn Phillips, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, and Harry Kelsey, the former chief curator of history at the National History Museum of Los Angeles County and research scholar at the Huntington Library. 

Robert Munson, former Cabrillo National Monument historian, verified and agreed with the historians’ peer review. Local historians Iris Engstrand and Molly McLain, then co-editors of “The Journal of San Diego History,” agreed with Kramer’s conclusion.

An April 25, 2018, letter from Cabrillo National Monument Superintendent Andrea Compton to the House of Spain acknowledged and accepted Kramer’s finding that Cabrillo was born in current-day Palma del Río, Córdoba, Spain.

Despite overwhelming evidence and scholarly acceptance, the Cabrillo National Monument refuses to affirm that Cabrillo was of Spanish birth. In fact, after Kramer’s findings, the Cabrillo National Monument inexplicably changed the birthplace of Cabrillo on its website from Spain to “the Iberian Peninsula.” 

Why does the National Park Service promote the inaccurate history that Cabrillo may have been born in Portugal? Even Portugal did not recognize Cabrillo as a native on the famous Monument of the Discoveries (Padrão dos Descobrimentos) in Lisbon.

Why does the National Park Service refuse to update the information it disseminates to the public on its website, wayside exhibit and brochures? Why does it reference the name João Rodrigues Cabrilho when that person does not exist in the history of California? This name is a fake created by the government of Portugal and the Portuguese in California. Read the history of California.

The House of Spain in San Diego’s YouTube channel shows a short video about the Cabrillo National Monument history. 

Where is any similar historical research and peer review acceptance of the Portuguese claims?  Answer: There is none.

Latin American history experts with whom I have consulted unanimously agree Cabrillo was Spanish. They unanimously agree there is no reliable evidence supporting the position that Cabrillo was Portuguese.

The National Park Service needs to be honest in telling the story of Cabrillo. Give all visitors the objective truth. 

Benayas is president of House of Spain in San Diego and lives in San Diego.