S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman on today's show. A whistleblower was fired from Sandag after raising questions about the toll collection system. Now Sandag is paying millions. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. So a whistleblower within the Sandag Association of Governments , or Sandag , was awarded millions three months after she was fired. Her name is Lauren Wareham. She was a former finance official who raised questions about flaws in sandbags toll collection system. And now Sandag is being ordered to pay her attorney's more than $1.7 million. That brings the total cost of her termination to more than $4 million. Joining me with the latest is Jeff McDonald. He's an investigative reporter with the San Diego Union-Tribune. Jeff , welcome.
S2: A.J. , thanks for having me.
S1: Glad to have you here. Thanks for taking the time. Um , so bring me up to speed with the story up into this point.
S2: Uh , rehired , I should say , at a more senior level. And within months , she identified some weaknesses and lapses in accounting with the tolls that we all pay to use , uh , the toll road section of State Route 125 , the South Bay Expressway. It used to be called , uh , she brought those concerns up at a meeting with , uh , some colleagues and her supervisor. Uh , and that didn't go over well. And within days , she was , uh , reprimanded and then fired. This was all 20 , 23. So the lawsuit was filed , uh , a couple of months after her termination , and that went to , um , arbitration , and she won that case late last year , winning about $2.5 million for economic losses. Emotional stress. She had to relocate to get a similar job. Uh , so those were the factors that led to her damages award. Um , what we reported this weekend is the attorney fees , which also go to the victor. Uh , so the law firm that represented her was awarded $1.7 million in change in , uh , in legal fees that Sandag will have to pay. So that's the latest. It puts the cost of the wrongful termination at about 4.2 million. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Can you quickly remind me of what the flaws in the system were that she discovered ? Yes.
S2: The , um , equipment was not properly recording. Uh , both the fees that people were being charged , these are passholders and , uh , random one time users. Uh , as well as the fines that were being improperly assessed so that motorists were being charged for the the the price of using the tollway. They were also being fined wrongly , even though they had , uh , say , an easy pass. Uh , and then they were being assessed penalties that they weren't required or they shouldn't have been charged. Uh , this happened to , uh , roughly 45,000 different motorists. So a lot of people , uh , and uh , untold number of , uh , of , uh , you know , Miss Collections , uh , the auditors in charge of , uh , you know , keeping track of this knew about the problem. And we're aware of the problem for , for some years , um , and did not tell the board of directors , which turned out to be pretty problematic as well. Right.
S1: Right.
S2: Uh , and the , uh , organization says it is working to , uh , it has It has successfully addressed almost all of the concerns. Uh , this comes at a , uh , at a time when , you know , sandag this toll road , a lot of South County residents think it's unfair because they're being taxed twice , uh , since the organization paid for the expressway. Uh , but they're also having to pay to use it. It's the only toll road. Uh , well , there's a section of I-15 to the north. Um , but they want they want to see the tolls eliminated altogether. And that's something that Sandag is looking at , but not committed to as a body , uh , because they're reliant on the revenue to repay the bonds they issued to purchase the uh , ten mile section of roadway. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. All right , so people who were overcharged have been made whole at this point.
S2: Well , that's what Sandag would say. We're not talking about , you know , hundreds or thousands of dollars for each. We're talking about a handful of dollars for these people. Yeah. San Diego's position is this has all been remedied. And they have a new contractor. And things are things are accurate Now. Okay.
S1: Okay. All right. Well , I mean , now , you know , the Sandag executive committee is considering a new whistleblower protection policy as a result of all this.
S2: Uh , so , you know , you have to give sandag credit for , you know , creating a more specific policy directed right at whistleblowers. Uh , basically , the policy that's been put forward , uh , defines what a whistleblower is , says what protections they have if they come forward , how those , uh , how those concerns are supposed to be addressed. Uh , the one wrinkle in that , of course , is that a lot of these policies are already in place. Three years ago , when Miss Warren came forward and they were simply not exercised. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Do you think that more lawsuits could be coming as a result of of just the flaws in the system alone.
S2: Um , probably not for the damaged motorists. Uh , those those cases. There was a class action case that was brought. It went nowhere and got dismissed. Uh , so that's over. This was basically a retaliation , wrongful termination , uh , lawsuit from an individual. So , no , I don't think this problem is going to lead to new or additional litigation , but it does give another black eye to , uh , you know , a pretty important organization serving San Diego County that has a history of , uh , of problems. Yeah.
S1: Yeah.
S2: Uh , you know , we all want to do that as as people , uh , on the other hand , uh , the individual accountability for the people that , uh , that made the decisions that led to this wrongful termination. They haven't paid any personal cost. Whatever. I mean , they lost their jobs. Uh , they've all left , uh , since then , uh , since 2024 , for various reasons. But , uh , Sandag has a new round of , uh , executive leadership , including a new director and , uh , senior officials. So , you know , hopefully they'll do better. Going forward , I think we hope that of all of our representatives.
S1: All right. I've been speaking with Jeff McDonald. He's an investigative reporter with the watchdog team at the San Diego Union-Tribune. Jeff , thank you so much. I always appreciate you.
S2: Oh , thank you for having me. Have a great day.
S1: You , too. That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
