IRVINE – A partner in the public relations firm that promoted Irvine’s Great Park paid the company overseeing the Great Park design to also oversee construction at his Laguna Beach home, the latest deposition in the Great Park audit reveals.

This came out when Anthony Taylor, special counsel to the city on the audit of the more than $200 million spent on the park, spoke last month with former Mayor Sukee Kang.

The 117-page transcript was released earlier this week.

Kang, an Irvine councilman from 2004 to 2008 and Irvine’s mayor from 2008 to 2012, brought two attorneys to the Feb. 18 deposition, which lasted for about three hours.

A portion of the deposition covered project management firm Gafcon Inc.’s relationship with Stu Mollrich, a partner in public relations firm Forde & Mollrich, a Great Park subcontractor that answered to the Great Park Design Studio, a collaboration between Gafcon and landscape architect Ken Smith.

Kang said he was unaware of the agreement between Mollrich and Gafcon to oversee work on at least one Laguna Beach property.

“…(At) any point in time, did Stu Mollrich tell you that Gafcon was doing work on his two homes in Laguna Beach starting in 2008?” Taylor said.

Kang: “No.”

Taylor “Does that surprise you?”

Kang: “Yes.”

During the meeting, Taylor said the Laguna Beach construction was underway at the same time as the Great Park design work.

In a statement given the day after Kang’s deposition, City Manager Sean Joyce said the city had relied on the Great Park Design Studio to “oversee work done by Forde & Mollrich,” a subconsultant of the Design Studio — and had relied on both the Great Park Design Studio and Forde & Mollrich to “fully disclose all potential conflicts of interest” before the City Council approved any contracts or change orders involving them.

But a statement from Gafcon portrayed the insinuations as merely the latest in the audit investigators’ effort to malign the company’s work on the park project.

“In 2008, Stu Mollrich decided to remodel his house. He hired Gafcon to be the project manager, as Gafcon has a strong reputation for managing the construction of large private homes,” the firm stated. The work, Gafcon said, did not present a conflict of interest.

“Gafcon billed and worked as it would with any other client. …The Gafcon team involved in this project did not participate on the Great Park project. The work complied with all appropriate requirements and restrictions,” the firm stated.

Joyce gave a statement the day after Kang’s deposition transcript became public and disavowed knowledge of Mollrich’s hiring of Gafcon.

Had he been informed, Joyce said he would have “fully investigated this matter (and) contacted the City Attorneys’ Office to determine what corrective action was necessary to ensure compliance with all relevant provisions of the Schematic Design Agreement before making any recommendations to the City Council to authorize further payments to the Design Studio and Forde & Mollrich.”

Joyce was hired in 2005 as Irvine’s city manager. He was previously deposed as part of the Great Park audit in July.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2221 or sdecrescenzo@ocregister.com