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The City of Oceanside is conducting an internal investigation into recent allegations made against elected City Treasurer Victory Roy by a city employee.
The allegations surfaced in an email that Treasury Manager Steve Hodges sent to Roy and other city officials last month accusing Roy of several things including making investment decisions that lost the city money, illegally asking Hodges to donate to his 2020 campaign, viewing and downloading nudity on a public library computer and more.
“The cities (sic) portfolio under your ‘oversight’ was full of investments that put the city at risk and ending up costing the taxpayers millions,” Hodges said in the email.
City Manager Michael Gossman told Voice that, though the city is conducting an internal investigation into Hodges’ claims, the investigation doesn’t include investment dealings. Partly because the position doesn’t give an individual the unilateral ability to make investments, Gossman said.
The city treasurer is responsible for overseeing the management of the city’s $450 million investment fund. It is an elected position in Oceanside, but in other cities, like the city of San Diego, it is an appointed position.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the city reassured the public that its investment portfolio “remains healthy and all investments comply with the City’s Investment Policy and State law.”
Gossman said that, regarding the other allegations, the investigator will do interviews and review documentation to determine if there were any violations of standards of conduct, code of ethics, internal procedures, etc.
If the investigator does find any violations, city management would evaluate the city’s policies and practices to prevent something like this from happening in the future, Gossman said.
Voice confirmed through a public records request last week that Roy was caught viewing nudity on a computer at the Mission Branch Library in June 2021. He was given a warning and library staff has not observed any similar incidents since then, according to Gossman.
Roy and Hodges could not be reached for comment.
Roy was elected to the city treasurer seat for a partial term in 2018 and re-elected in 2020 after running unopposed. His term ends in 2024.
As far as the nudity, I was at Pride and kids were dancing with mostly naked men and women. We have a problem with credibility in this skewed nation!