Righeimer's Charter And More Tuesday Night

CHARTER BACK ON THE AGENDA
As most readers here already know, the Costa Mesa City Council will hold the first of the required Public Hearings on Jim Righeimer's Charter at its meeting Tuesday, June 5th.  This will be only one of several important issues discussed, but likely THE MOST IMPORTANT of them all.  You can read the agenda HERE.

NO CLOSED SESSION TUESDAY
Based on the announcement of the meeting, there will be NO closed session Tuesday night (unless they change their collective minds), so the meeting will begin at 6:00 and end who-knows-when?  The last meeting ran until 3:00 a.m. the next day!

INTERESTING CHARGES ON THE WARRANTS
As always, the Consent Calendar provides some interesting information and this time is no exception.  There are three (3) Warrants for the council to consider.  Among the bits of information to be gleaned are the following charges:

• Liebert Cassidy Whitmore - $13,710.00 for Labor Negotiations. (I'm guessing this is for the services of Richard Kreisler)
• Newport Helicopter Service - $13,510.00 for the removal of equipment and preparation of helicopters for sale
• Woodruff Spradlin & Smart - $52.50 for charges regarding Benito Acosta vs. City.  (This just never goes away!)
• Management Partners - $6,200.00 for Interim Management Assistance
• City of Huntington Beach - $51,800.00 for Helicopter services for February and March
• CTS Language Link - $7553.60 for Special Election Notice Translation (I guess this is for that aborted special election they fouled up)
• Filarsky and Watt, LLP - $2260.75 for Legal Services from March 3rd through Appril 25th.
• Mobile Concepts Technology - $14,625.00 for Computer Tablets and Protection Agreements
• Thomas J. Brodermann, PhD - $2170.58 for what appears to be three training modules entitled Manage Stress in the Workplace (5/1/12); Importance of Humor (5/2/12) and Tactical Communication (5/3/12).  I'm sorry, but I just couldn't help but chuckle as I read those titles considering the circumstances in City Hall these days.  It's not clear if these were training sessions, books or cartoons, like that Goofy cartoon you see in traffic school.

SIX HUNDRED GRAND FOR GENERAL PLAN UPDATE?
Item #6 on the Consent Calendar is a charge of $664,705 from Hogle-Ireland in Pasadena for General Plan Update and Environmental Impact Report.  Yikes!  I hope somebody pulls this item for discussion so we can get a little more information about how we spent more than a half-million dollars on this project.  You can read about it HERE.

GENERAL ELECTION
Item #12 deals with the upcoming November 6, 2012 General Election.

BIA RE-AUTHORIZATION
Under Public Hearings, we have #1, the re-authorization of the additional 3% TOT for the Business Improvement Association.  The staff report is HERE.

BONDS?
Number 2 is for Bonds for the "Tower on 19th Street", currently known as Bethel Towers.  According to the staff report, HERE, these bonds will not exceed $37 million, which will be used to  finance the acquisition and rehabilitation of the building.  Theoretically, the facility will remain "affordable" housing.  I guess I'd like to hear more about this and I'm sure the seniors presently living there sure will.

  CHARTER
Number 3 is the now-infamous Jim Righeimer Charter.  I expect we may see a few people stand to address this one.  It's going to be interesting to see if anything has changed in their pitch for this ill-advised attempt to takeover Costa Mesa government by a few political opportunists.  You can read the staff report HERE, which also includes nine (9) links to other helpful pieces of information.

FINALLY, APPOINTMENTS!
Under Old Business we will FINALLY get to the appointments of volunteers to various city committees.  You will recall that this council apparently decided that the three dozen folks who applied for seats last fall were not adequate, so they pushed the process off until the spring.  Now we have a MUCH smaller contingent from which to select and they are just now getting around to it.  The staff report his HERE.

WHAT ABOUT FITZPATRICK'S SEAT? (so to speak)
It is of interest to note that there is NO item set for discussion of how to replace resigned commissioner Jim Fitzpatrick on the Planning Commission.  This item requires public awareness and transparency, even though those of us who watch this council in action have ABSOLUTELY no doubt that they've already figured out what they're going to do.  This is going to be VERY interesting because some of their favorite players - like Ethan Temianka and Jeff Mathews from the Parks and Recreation Commission - are already making noises like they will run for seats on one of the special district boards - the Sanitary District or the Mesa Consolidated Water District.  If so, they could find themselves in exactly the same position Fitzpatrick was in by holding a seat on the Planning Commission, too.  Regardless, Fitzpatrick's term expires January 31, 2015, so it is not likely, nor prudent, for the council to permit his seat to remain vacant all that time.  This is going to be very interesting.  This issue SHOULD have been on the agenda for THIS council meeting.

ANOTHER LONG ONE?  WILL BEVER SHOW UP?
All in all it looks like yet another interesting - and possibly long - council meeting.  We find ourselves wondering if Mayor Eric Bever will grace us with his presence for this one.  He's ducked a couple more meetings recently, so placing the crown on his head didn't guarantee he'd participate.  You will recall that he "didn't sign up for this"... one of his many infamous comments from the dais.