Former Del Rey Oaks city manager found guilty of felony self-dealing

The former city manager of Del Rey Oaks has been found guilty of felony self-dealing.

Daniel Dawson was the city manager from 2009 until he resigned in 2017. The district attorney’s office said Dawson bought a vacant lot on Portola Road in 2015 that did not have water credits and on which nothing could be built. A previous owner of the lot tried and failed to have credits applied to the property, but when Dawson bought it, he started to look for ways to get water credits, which would increase the lot’s value.

Dawson used his authority as city manager to attempt to get the credits, which included drilling a well on a city-owned property that did not need one. In 2016, he contacted Maggiora Brothers Drilling to drill a well on property used as the Del Rey Oaks Garden Center. It did not need one, but once it had well water, Dawson planned to have its water credits returned to the city and applied to his lot on Portola Road. The project cost taxpayers $20,000.

In 2017, three weeks after resigning as city manager, Dawson filed applications with the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District to have the water credits transferred from the Garden Center to the city’s water allocation and an application for a water permit at his Portola Drive lot. Even though he had already resigned, Dawson used his City Hall address and city manager email address on the application.

He is facing three and a half years in prison. He is set to be sentenced in December.