A lawsuit filed Friday accuses the San Diego Association of Governments of incorrectly charging tens of thousands of drivers in connection with the South Bay Expressway, a tolled stretch of State Route 125 in Southern San Diego County.
In the lawsuit, Lauren Warrem, the former director of accounting at SANDAG who was fired on Nov. 7, claims she was wrongfully terminated and retaliated against, and that SANDAG charged the wrong accounts on the 10-mile stretch of the highway.
SR-125 stretches from Santee in the north to Otay Mesa, nearly to the U.S.-Mexico border. The portion that runs through Chula Vista is a toll road. Warrem claimed that as many as 45,000 people were incorrectly charged while using the expressway.
On Tuesday, El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells called on SANDAG to conduct an independent investigation into the alleged incorrect charging.
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"Regrettably, it has become apparent that both the SANDAG Board and the public have experienced a decline in confidence in the agency due to a perceived lack of transparency from SANDAG management," Wells wrote in a letter to Nora Vargas, chairwoman of the SANDAG board, and Ikhrata. "To help restore confidence, I call for an independent investigation from an outside entity. The primary objective of this investigation is to comprehensively understand and disclose the root cause(s) of the challenges facing the toll operations."
Wells asked Vargas to place the matter on the agenda for SANDAG's Dec. 8 Board of Directors meeting, and to call on the board to hire an outside organization to determine if there has been financial discrepancies related to the South Bay Expressway, and if so, who knew about them and when.
SANDAG confirmed to NBC 7 Tuesday that agency chairwoman County Supervisor Nora Vargas had already called for an investigation.
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"We are not able to comment on personnel matters or possible litigation. SANDAG management has kept the Board updated on this matter and as a result of those conversations, the Chairwoman had already asked for this item to be brought to the Board on December 8th," a SANDAG spokesperson said.
Wells serves as a member of the board, which features at least one representative from every municipality in the county and two from the city of San Diego and the County Board of Supervisors.
Ikhrata, who took over as head of the regional transportation planning agency in 2018, submitted his notice of resignation in July. His last day will be Dec. 29.
