New report tallies $595,000 in vacation cashouts for executives at Stanislaus agency
Another civil grand jury report draws attention to financial abuses at the Stanislaus Council of Governments, this one alleging $595,000 in vacation payouts to the former executive director and two other top employees.
The June 10 report sheds more light on unauthorized vacation increases for former Executive Director Rosa De Leon Park, the director of administrative services and deputy director of planning, which were partly revealed in a blistering grand jury report a year ago.
The most recent report does not name the executive staff members who received the cash payouts, but Park was the executive director, Cindy Malekos was director of administrative services before leaving StanCOG in September and Elizabeth Hahn was deputy planning director. Hahn served as interim executive director after De Leon Park was placed on leave but retired a month after De Leon Park was fired in August 2025.
Efforts to reach the former executives were not successful.
According to the report, StanCOG employees with 12 years of service or more began receiving seven weeks of annual vacation in 2023 without approval by the Policy Board. De Leon Park, in her last year of employment in 2025, was accruing almost nine weeks of paid vacation.
The Policy Board adopted changes to vacation policy in 2021, but the written details were not included in the meeting agenda materials, so board members and the public could not raise questions about the expense, the report said. The 2021 revisions allowed employees to start receiving five weeks of vacation annually after 12 years of service instead of 21 years.
The grand jury investigation concluded that the vacation increase was used “as a cash machine.” The three top executives used only 8.4 days of vacation between January 2021 and September 2025, or less than one vacation day each per year, opting instead to cash out the unused vacation time.
The report charges that $595,000 in taxpayer funds were paid out for unused vacation over that period. The figure was provided to the grand jury by StanCOG.
In September 2025, the Policy Board voted to stop the vacation accruals and return to the 2021 policy. In April of this year, the board placed a cap on accrued vacation hours and now requires nonmanagement employees to use at least one week of vacation before any cash conversion of unused vacation allowance.
During the investigation, the grand jurors interviewed StanCOG employees who were knowledgeable in vacation policy, as well as Policy Board members. In addition, the grand jury reviewed employee policy handbooks, Policy Board meeting documents, payroll records, employment contracts and emails between StanCOG staff and the Stanislaus County Employees’ Retirement Association regarding vacation policy changes.
Scandal erupted a year ago
The StanCOG scandal erupted in June 2025 with an initial grand jury report alleging rampant and lavish spending on luxury rental cars, lodging and travel expenses and other purchases on government-issued credit cards. The findings, which led to De Leon Park’s termination in August, also included unauthorized vacation increases, but some questions remained.
Jennifer Shaw, an outside attorney representing StanCOG, said this month that an independent investigation commissioned by the agency found that De Leon Park changed the StanCOG vacation policy without board approval, serving to give more time to herself and other employees.
The June 10 grand jury report quantifies how much unused vacation was converted to cash. Results of the StanCOG investigation were given to the District Attorney’s Office, which is conducting a criminal investigation.
StanCOG’s official response to the 2025 grand jury report promised an independent probe into the allegations and an effort to recoup taxpayer funds that had been spent inappropriately. StanCOG has not released the independent investigation but said in a June 3 news release that it substantiated the 2025 grand jury findings.
The news release, issued two days after the Policy Board discussed the matter in closed session, does not mention a commitment to recoup taxpayer funds.
County Supervisor Mani Grewal, a Policy Board member, said Wednesday that the agency should try to recover every dollar. “That was done without proper approval,” he said. “Especially the vacation allocation was given to them without board approval. Those were taxpayer dollars used in a manner not approved by the board.”
The June 10 grand jury report recommends that the current executive director document leave and vacation accruals for employees and ensure that members of the agency’s small staff are cross-trained and that staff turnover is monitored.
StanCOG is a transportation planning agency and distributes government funding to the county and its cities, including about $40 million collected annually through the Measure L sales tax.
