Charter, Jail, Fire Pits, Choir & Saving Lives

AN UNEXPECTED GIFT

So, last night at the Costa Mesa City Council meeting was a mixed blessing.  We escaped early - 10:20 p.m. - but only did so because Mayor Jim Righeimer and his council decided to dodge some of the more pithy, controversial and time-consuming issues

BUSINESS LICENSE FEES TO BE STUDIED 
Except for the minutes of an earlier meeting, only one of the dozen items on the Consent Calendar was pulled for separate discussion - #11, which directed the City's Finance Advisory Committee to study the City's Business License Fee structure.  Wendy Leece pulled that one to explain why she did it.  It passed on a 5-0 vote.  The remainder of the Consent Calendar also passed without comment.  I was surprised that nobody pulled #12, the authorization of the extension of Management Partners contract and the assignment to perform an organizational and operations review audit of the Costa Mesa Senior Center.  So, look out, seniors, Tammy LeTourneau will be all over you in short order.

KICKING THE CAN

They "continued" to a future date Public Hearings #1 and #2, both involving Community Development Block Grant funds and New Business #1, the "live/work" development on Placentia Avenue.

BANNING RANCH TRAFFIC "TABLED"

Then, much to the surprise of recently-retired Economic and Development Director/Deputy CEO Peter Naghavi who had returned to make the staff presentation, the council decided to "table" the issue of the Banning Ranch Traffic Mitigation issue.  More than 30 people who obviously attended the meeting to address this issue seemed to be pleased and surprised as they wandered out of the auditorium following the announcement.

A CHANCE FOR AN EARLY NIGHT!

All of a sudden a meeting I expected would drag on until the wee hours of Wednesday morning looked like it had a chance to actually finish in the same day it began.  And that's just how it turned out.

ALL AMERICAN BOYS CHOIR

In the beginning Righeimer bestowed the Mayor's Award on the All American Boys Choir, which serenaded us with a couple songs.  The first, our national anthem, can be viewed HERE.  Note how long it took the audience to remember their etiquette and stand as the song was sung.


JUST LIKE ANY OTHER KIDS
By the way, in case you're wondering, those talented young men are just like any other group of young boys, as witnessed by this photo I took before they entered the council chambers.

HANDS ONLY CPR 
Then Diane Hill told us of her experience with her recently-departed husband, Paul and the reason she's actively pushing to have Costa Mesans learn Hands Only CPR.  An excellent video was played that demonstrated the life saving technique and Hill also had a table outside the council chambers to demonstrate the procedure.

OCTA REPORT ON I-405 CONNECTOR

Then Sarah King of the Orange County Transportation Authority told us about the work being done at the Orange County line on the I-405 Connector and gave us a link to use, HERE.

 
CRIME STATS
Several speakers during Public Comments addressed the recent FBI report on crime that showed Costa Mesa's numbers were up 15%, and took the council to task for its part in the rising crime level by eliminating A.B.L.E. and cutting the police department headcount.  Righeimer attempted to blame the "problem" motels around town and quoted some statistics about one of them to reinforce his opinion. 

BIA APPROVED

When the third Public Hearing was addressed - the Business Improvement Area (BIA) reauthorization, a recent long, long letter from Newport Beach resident Jim Mosher was discussed and Righeimer said to the staff, "I wouldn't spend a lot of time on it because Mr. Mosher burns up a lot of staff time."  Contract City Attorney Tom Duarte indicated he would respond to Mosher directly, point-by-point, and provide his response to the council.


FAMILIAR NAMES ON THE SENIOR CORP. BOARD
New Business #1, the appointment of three members to the Costa Mesa Senior Corporation Board of Directors took only a couple minutes to handle.  Incumbents Ernie Feeney and Kathleen Eric were re-appointed and Barbara Echan filled the third slot.


RIGHEIMER RANTS ABOUT FIRE PITS 
Righeimer took a long time to explain why he thought it was important for The City to pass his resolution rejecting the SCAQMD's proposed amendment of Rule 444 prohibiting open burning on beaches.  He probably could have accomplished it with many fewer words, but the issue passed, 5-0.


THE CHARTER COMMITTEE, FACILITATORS AND THE SCHEDULE

At 8:00 our attention turned to New Business #5, the selection of Charter Committee members, approval of facilitators and the schedule of meetings for the committee. Read the staff report HERE.  CEO Tom Hatch explained at great length why he selected Estancia High School Principal Kirk Bauermeister and Pastor Mike Decker as his choices to facilitate the deliberations of the Charter Committee.  Eleven members of the community spoke on the issue and were fairly equally split on whether there should or should not be a facilitator, and whether the men chosen were the correct picks.  Eventually they were affirmed and the meeting schedule - every 2nd and 4th Wednesday evening - were passed on a 5-0 vote.  Then the fun began.

FIRST FIVE CHOICES

The council then launched into the selection process for 13 members of the Charter Committee.

  Read the list of 38 applicants HERE.  They followed what I viewed as a flawed process.  Each council member chose one person from the list of 38 applicants.  Their selections were as follows:

• Steve Mensinger chose Lee Ramos
• Sandra Genis chose Mary Ann O'Connell
• Gary Monahan chose Ron Amburgey
• Jim Righeimer chose William Fancher
• Wendy Leece chose Hank Panian

"NOMINATIONS"
Then the council used a "nomination" process to select the next five.  This, in my view, was the bogus part of this process.  Here's how it went:

• Monahan chose Brett Eckles and Steve Mensinger seconded it.  The vote was 4-1, with Leece voting no.
• Righeimer chose Tom Pollitt and Monahan seconded.  The vote was 4-1, with Leece voting no.
• Genis chose Harold Weitzberg and Leece seconded.  He was rejected on a 2-3 vote, with Righeimer, Mensinger and Monahan voting no.
• Mensinger chose Kevin Tobin who was confirmed on a 3-2 vote.  Leece and Genis voted no.
• Leece chose Corinne Stover and Genis seconded.  She was rejected on a 2-3 vote.
• Monahan chose Gene Hutchins, who was chosen on a 5-0 vote.
• Righeimer chose Tom Graham and Mensinger seconded.  He was chosen on a 4-1 vote, with Leece voting no.

NOMINEES FOR THE LOTTERY
The final three members were chosen by a "lottery".  Each council member chose a person remaining in the applicant pool and the names were written on slips of paper.  From those 5 individuals three were chosen by a draw of the Sergeant-at-arms.  The selection went this way:

• Mensinger nominated Kerry McCarthy
• Genis nominated Nina Flores
• Monahan nominated Andrew Smith
• Righeimer nominated Anna Reagan
• Leece nominated Harold Weitzberg

THE DRAW...
The first name drawn was Kerry McCarthy.  The second was Andrew Smith.  Finally, with the final draw, Harold Weitzberg was chosen.

(City Clerk Brenda Green takes a lottery slip from Sergeant-at-arms as Public Services Director Ernesto Munoz looks on)

YOUR CHARTER COMMITTEE IS...
So, the 13 folks who will spend the next six months, meeting at least twice a month, trying to coble together a charter that the voters might find acceptable on a ballot sometime next year will be: Ron Amburgey
Brett Eckles
William Fancher
Thomas H. Graham
Gene Hutchins
Kerry McCarthy
Mary Ann O'Connell
Henry S. Panian
Tom Pollitt
Lee A. Ramos
Andrew B. Smith
Kevin A. Tobin
Harold Weitzberg

They will be "facilitated" by Kirk Bauermeiser, Mike Decker and Kimberly Hall Barlow.

(Chief Tom Gazsi chats with facilitators Mike Decker and Kirk Bauermeister while committee member Lee Ramos speaks with Robin Leffler)
 

OUTSOURCING THE JAIL OPERATIONS

After a short break the meeting re-convened at 9:20 to discuss the privatization of the Costa Mesa Jail Operations.  CEO Hatch went through the relevant high points of the lengthy staff report, HERE,  He addressed several cities that already use G4S - the proposed contractor - the potential savings - over $600,000 annually and, in vague terms, the "transition" anticipated.

MEETINGS UNSUCCESSFUL

Hatch said the staff had met many times - at least seven - with members of the CMCEA and the OCEA to try to find common ground - unsuccessfully.

MUIR CLAIMS BAD FAITH NEGOTIATIONS

Among the four speakers addressing this during public comments was Jennifer Muir, representing the OCEA and the CMCEA.  She told us that the City was trying to sabotage efforts at conciliation - that The City had taken the "It's my way or the highway" approach to negotiation on this issue.  She mentioned an April 16th email to the City requesting a meeting that had gone unanswered.  Not surprisingly, the other speakers also had problems with this plan.

PASSES, 4-1
Eventually, after lengthy discussion by staff and council members, the item passed on a 4-1 vote, with Leece voting no.


BACK TO COURT?  NOT SURE... 
I asked members of the OCEA what their plans are now.  They said they'll wait and see for the moment, but I won't be surprised to see them back before Judge Luis Rodriguez sometime soon for a reconsideration of the Preliminary Injunction that was lifted earlier this year.

NEXT UP... THE BUDGET, AGAIN

So, at 10:20 we adjourned to the budget study session next Tuesday afternoon, June 11th.