Beaumont City Hall, the office of a city consultant and two homes were raided by county and federal agents Wednesday as part of an investigation into the consulting firm’s relationship with the city.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office and the FBI confirmed search warrants were served Wednesday, April 22, at the four locations, said DA spokesman John Hall. He said no arrests had been made.

Warrants were served at the Beaumont Civic Center and at the Beaumont office of Urban Logic Consultants – a firm that has provided management services to the city for more than 20 years and at one time employed many of the city’s top managers.

UPDATE: Mayor upbeat in first council meeting since raids

Laura Eimiller, spokeswoman for the FBI in Los Angeles, confirmed that another of the search warrants was served at a home in the 78600 block of Sunrise Mountain View in Palm Desert. Records show that the home belongs to Beaumont City Manager Alan Kapanicas. A Temecula residence was also searched.

Beaumont released a statement late Wednesday stating that “according to investigators, the warrants were served in conjunction with an investigation into Urban Logic’s business relationship with the city.”

“The city is fully cooperating with the District Attorney’s investigation and will continue to update the public as information is made available by the DA’s Office,” the statement said.

Urban Logic Consultants was purchased in December 2012 by Kieran McKiernan, and his attorney said the investigation predates his client’s involvement.

“My client is not the target of the investigation, the company is,” Bill Nassar said Thursday morning. “The company is fully cooperating with the District Attorney’s Office and the task force.”

Nassar said they were alerted about the search warrants Wednesday morning.

“We have nothing to hide,” Nassar said. “We’re more than happy to cooperate.”

A message on Kapanicas’ cell phone said it was not accepting messages. The Kapanicas family, who lives in a gated community with a security guard, declined comment through the guard.

Visitors to the Civic Center on Wednesday were greeted with handwritten signs that read “City Hall Closed 4-22-15.” The doors were not locked and officers inside moved about calmly, a few carrying out boxes.

Technicians were examining something in a conference room, where a California flag was pulled across a window to obscure the view.

By noon, officers had left City Hall and the doors were locked.

At Urban Logic, an unmarked office in the Beaumont Industrial Park on West 4th Street, officers carried out more than 500 banker boxes, which were loaded onto a U-Haul truck. Two filing cabinets and some computers also were also visible. The boxes appeared to be filled mostly with paperwork.

Eimiller said the FBI is assisting in serving the search warrants, which she said stem from state investigations.

Contract with Urban Logic

Urban Logic Consultants was hired in 1993 to help with infrastructure and financial planning, according to a report prepared in 2013 for City Council members.

It employed many of the city’s top managers as contract employees, including the public works director, economic development director, planning director, finance manager and personnel director.

City leaders have long said the arrangement has saved Beaumont hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

Critics, however, have claimed the firm received a commission for developments approved by the council, which the city denied; and that its contract posed a conflict of interest because Urban Logic personnel advised the City Council.

Frequent critic Judy Bingham has been asking the City Council to look into the connection with Urban Logic for 10 years.

“I’m thrilled it’s over,” she said Wednesday afternoon.

Bingham created a website, beaumontgate.org, which purports to share the ills of the city.

Bingham, who speaks at almost every City Council meeting, often criticizing Kapanicas and Urban Logic, said she feels some vindication following the raids.

“It’s sad when you’re the only one and everybody thinks you’re crazy,” she said.

Libi Uremovic, another city critic, said she is glad the issue is finally coming to an end.

“Congrats to the state and feds for finally taking action, but it will be years and decades before the city recovers financially,” she wrote in an email.

In recent years, the council has scaled back Urban Logic’s role in city government.

In 2013, the council approved four-year contract with the firm to provide engineering services to the city. The contract called for Urban Logic Consultants employees to work for the city on per-hour basis.

The city was criticized for not seeking competitive bids. But the city attorney at the time, Joe Aklufi, said since the proposal was for an updated contract and not a new one, a bid process was not required.

Aklufi retired last year. His firm, Aklufi and Wysocki, has represented the city for 23 years.

David Wysocki then became city attorney, but on April 7, the City Council accepted Wysocki’s resignation, effective within one month.

Attempts to reach the law firm by phone Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Changes in Beaumont

In November, Beaumont voters changed the face of the City Council. Mark Orozco, Lloyd White and Mike Lara were voted in, replacing Brian DeForge, Roger Berg and David Castaldo.

Current and former City Council members reached Wednesday say they did not know about the raids before the news broke and have not been contacted by investigators.

Orozco – a teacher and businessman who served on the Beaumont school board for four years before trying unsuccessfully to win state and county offices – said he did not get any advance notice.

“I just know what you know,” he said when reached by telephone. “We found out when it broke. Otherwise, I have no comment.”

Lara is a Riverside County building official, and White is a business analyst and Web developer. White was a vocal critic of City Hall and the local school district in the years before he was elected to the council.

Phone messages for Lara, White, Mayor Brenda Knight and Councilmen Jeff Fox were not returned Wednesday.

The city has called a special Council meeting for Thursday, April 23, but the agenda only lists two closed session items, discussing anticipated litigation and considering the appointment of an interim city attorney.

DeForge said he has not been contacted by the FBI or the District Attorney’s Office.

Contracts between Urban Logic and Beaumont came before the council during the 15 years DeForge held office.

“I did vote on the contracts. I looked through them. I was comfortable with them,” he said.

DeForge declined to comment further on the situation, stating it would not be appropriate.

Berg, a construction manager who was on the council for 21 years, said he only learned about the situation at City Hall and Urban Logic when he saw an item on PE.com. He said he knows nothing else.

Castaldo said he learned about the raid when he was running an errand and saw a television truck, which followed to the Urban Logic office.

“I have no idea of anything that happened over there that would be illegal,” said Castaldo, who served one term and was defeated when he sought a second in November.

Staff writer David Danelski contributed to this story.