Profile: Dan Forster Position: Chief of Staff for Mayor Cheryl Cox Salary: $123,748 a year. Also receives a $4,800 a year car allowance and a benefits package of about $50,000. Age: 58 Family: Married, two children Education: Bachelor's and master's degree in urban planning for University of Washington; master of public administration from Harvard. Experience: More than 25 years in public administration, land and resources, development projects, planning, and program design and implementation.

CHULA VISTA – Chula Vista Mayor Cheryl Cox's chief of staff is doing consulting work for his previous employer on city time – with the permission of the mayor.

Three councilmen said the practice in unacceptable, but Cox said she supports her chief of staff, Dan Forster, as he helps out the North Slope Borough, the government agency he once worked for in Alaska.

“I can tell you that Dan is a dedicated employee,” Cox said. “An hour or so a month helping out another governmental agency is part of Dan's track record.

“He's always there when I need him.”

Councilmen Steve Castaneda, Rudy Ramirez and John McCann said Forster should not be using city time and city equipment to carry out personal consulting work.

“Our budget is such that we're asking people to retire early, we're cutting budgets, and we're asking employees to hold off on their raises,” Castaneda said. “It just seems like he has a lot of time on his hands.”

Forster, who earns $124,000 a year at the city, said he felt an obligation to help his former employer find a replacement after he left in 2006. He also said he wanted to finish an oil and gas project he started there.

Forster said he traveled to Alaska on his own time for projects, but was in contact with officials on Chula Vista's time via e-mail and phone.

Chula Vista is the second largest city in the county and is facing a $5.5 million deficit this year and up to $20 million next year. Cox hired Forster from his job as deputy director of planning in North Slope Borough, in the arctic territory of northwest Alaska, because of his land-use background, she said.

Forster received written permission from Cox to do the consulting work for his former employer, but the city's Internet and e-mail policy prohibits employees from operating a business through the city's Internet link.

Forster said the time he spent consulting while at work was insignificant.

“During the month it was maybe an hour,” Forster said. “I counted the number of text lines (I wrote in e-mails) and it's 100 text lines over 18 months. It can't get more inconsequential than that.”

City e-mails show Forster was leading a recruiting effort for a new deputy director of planning for the North Slope Borough. He also played a significant role in setting up an oil and gas forum in Alaska, which he also attended.

Excerpts from city e-mails show that while he was in his Chula Vista office Forster:

 Received lengthy letters and reports from a North Slope Borough official for an oil and gas forum via e-mail at 10:41 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007.

 Tried accessing large reports from a document distribution server.

”I received the separate password, I will try on my home computer to see if it works, it might be the city's firewall that prevented the file from coming through,” Forster wrote at 2:47 p.m., Friday, Nov. 9, 2007.

 Worked on recruiting a replacement for his old post, including offering to drive to Las Vegas to attend a job fair. “Let's hope we can find someone earlier but in the event we can't this is an option, and is drivable from San Diego,” he said in an e-mail he sent at 10:35 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007.

Forster said of his actions: “It's to help out another public agency. It's a professional courtesy.”

He said he only received pay when asked to travel, which he said amounted to about $10,000 plus expenses. He did not provide documentation. Calls to North Slope Borough officials were not returned Thursday.

“It's kind of like if you have a rich uncle and he says, 'Come visit, I'll pay your way,' and I said 'OK,' ” Forster said.

Forster said he traveled to Alaska four times since 2007. State law does not require he disclose the amount he was paid because it was from a government agency.

He said he used his city-issued e-mail account for the consulting rather than a personal e-mail because it was one public agency helping out another. Castaneda said Forster's excuse is astonishing and flimsy.

“We should be devoting our time to the betterment of this city, not working for other public agencies that are not in this region, this state and barely in this hemisphere,” he said.

Ramirez said, “For him to be moonlighting on city time is probably not appropriate. This city needs everybody's full attention.”

Two years ago, when Cox was running for mayor, she objected to then-Mayor Steve Padilla's staffer doing non-city work on city time. The former city staffer was photographing Cox and her guests at a fundraiser. The incident led to a county grand jury investigation.

In September, City Manager David Garcia was fired over his personal Internet use while at work.

Castaneda said Forster's consulting work was brought to his attention earlier this year by then-City Attorney Ann Moore. She learned about his Alaska work when a citizen activist requested Forster's e-mails.

“She told me she was concerned about the fact that e-mails existed and that there were more than just a few of them,” Castaneda said. “I'd like to find out exactly what the scope of all this is, understand why this is permitted and if it legitimately is permitted, I want to start a process to unpermit it, immediately.”

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