S.D. Oversight Monitor: We're on Track

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published March 6, 2007 at 1:31 PM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

The city of San Diego's Independent Monitor has issued his first report to city council. Stanley Keller did his best to reassure council members he would not send the city multi-million-dollar bills l

The city of San Diego's Independent Monitor has issued his first report to city council. Stanley Keller did his best to reassure council members he would not send the city multi-million-dollar bills like their previous consultants, Kroll Inc. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more. The city has paid out more than $30 million already to consultants hired to help them get out of the legal and financial pension deficit mess. Stanley Keller is the latest. The previous consultants recommended the city hire a monitor to report back to the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

Keller told council that -- by pure coincidence -- his first month's legal and financial expenses are exactly what was budgeted.

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Keller : It just happened to hit right on line, so I can say with confidence we're on track. So while I didn't put this in writing, my goal and hope is that -- indeed the total cost will come in below what's been budgeted.

The mayor has budgeted $4 million for the Independent Monitor over three years. Keller is overseeing the oversight systems, under the city's financial reforms. Alison St John, KPBS news.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.