Brian Probolsky, CEO of OCPA, alleges that “Posey and Kalmick conspired to create a common plan and scheme,” to fire him, place Kalmick on the OCPA board, and hire Posey to serve as Chief Business Officer—a position neither authorized nor created by the other Board members, according to a letter leaked to The Epoch Times on May 31.
The letter, signed by Probolsky’s attorney, Megan Lencek, was sent to OCPA General Counsel Ryan Baron, the Orange County District Attorney, the State Attorney General, and the state Fair Political Practices Commission Enforcement Division. Probolsky has sought whistleblower protection.
OCPA Board Member Susan Sonne allegedly told Chief Financial Officer Tiffany Law a few days ago in a phone call, “there will be a special meeting, there are votes to fire Brian [Probolsky], bring in management from Marin, and hire new [e]xecutives,” according to the letter.
Kalmick confirmed that OCPA received the letter on May 31 but declined to comment stating he is still waiting to hear back from OCPA counsel.
Probolsky also alleged a Brown Act violation occurred during a May 17 Huntington Beach City Council meeting when Posey resigned from his seat as the city’s representative on the OCPA board as he is terming out at the end of this year.
The city council appointed the city’s alternate representative, Kalmick, as his replacement, then installed Posey as the city’s alternate.
The Brown Act violation occurred, Probolsky alleges, when the city agendized the move as a “re-appointment” rather than a replacement.
“The City not only misled the public but also lacked the legal authority under the Brown Act ... as no re-appointment of a former board member occurred,” the letter reads.
A second Brown Act violation occurred, the letter states, in May 2022 when Kalmick called other board members on the OCPA asking them for support in removing “existing agency management, including CEO Brian Probolsky.”
Posey denied the allegations, saying “there is no position for ‘Chief Business Officer’ or whatever you want to call it.”
“That position doesn’t exist. I offered to help as a board member or an alternate to help with larger customers and help the business development directors with their approach,” he told The Epoch Times.
Probolsky also mentions in the letter that Posey allegedly attended an event recently, including Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner, who is also an OCPA board member but not part of the alleged conspiracy, adding that Posey “had an interest in working for OCPA as Chief Business Officer.”
But, Posey said that’s not what the meeting was about.
“I had a meeting on my front patio last week. I had about a dozen people over here, and the meeting was to talk about the candidates for the Huntington Beach City Council. And, we spoke at length about … strategy to get Republicans elected,” Posey said.
At the meeting, Wagner asked Posey why he had left the OCPA so abruptly, and why he hadn’t given him a “heads up,” Posey said.
Posey said he explained to Wagner that while he was “frustrated” with some of his colleagues on the board, that was not the reason he quit, and that he “should have called” Wagner before resigning.
“This should have been a benign non-controversial changing of the guard because I’m termed out,” he said.
Probolsky also alleges in the letter that Posey “abused his position” on the board by requesting that OCPA hire “two of his political associates.”
Posey also denied these claims.
“That’s not true, either,” he said.
Posey said he gave two names to former Chief Operating Officer (COO) Antonia Castro-Graham, who had resigned last December.
“When Toni Graham was the COO, she told me about this new program that she was going to initiate,” he said. “She asked me if I knew anybody, so I gave her two names,” Posey said.
He said Graham interviewed the two applicants, but then resigned amid controversy and allegations that Probolsky had bullied her at a board meeting.
“So, when Toni left, I asked Brian, what was he going to do about those two people, and he said, he already found two people. And I said, ‘Fine.’ That was it.”
Probolsky’s attorney, Lencek, did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
