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:
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:
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:
The first name drawn was Kerry McCarthy. The second was Andrew Smith. Finally, with the final draw, Harold Weitzberg was chosen.
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.
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.
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
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Q9x8RSCHTSMEH9cmFwodi_svD9lPkyrv7enwklFCSR01h3rVgqt-_HZxlEYdWN4wPxntdjytftKINHIlS4qxtp5a_8bOKXq6Fa591m2eeobqiLrSI-6eOT783IWv6g6aSSPIdg/s1600/money+fight2.jpg)
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.
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 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
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzuCMvjo8EzypM-JtHvZXcOvHSeR0O0q61D7pfE8QiBGEz_pbYcsMJyIReOQsYVUuVJNF9uei_FIKz-zHMw5urL-rPY4raO3TQWP_ElIHD0Yh63pJTRpeesXmCCD611HF64ideOQ/s1600/burglarBreakIn.jpg)
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.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwMr3rh7oN_rKogy4grma_0TSgqii5I4gynawqaBCWzeI2_2yDzXcP4YqtIu-h4u5jQX1yaVWCC8PcHGRPckMjnRIP16vz2joiOQZj1H0rlBQjphv0ZgL4IL_J6-SFChKVZQmvww/s200/E.Feeney8:2:11-2.png)
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
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiibPtVTz2SDxfIWuLmWT8IiQDwztoW4HCPBQJrI2GmylPPyk4s2hpreamXBo8QBjTYk8dqHUBrV3yevLxzJMI4XBv0n32voBpkiJZORfU5eDt_M0Vv1PquXQfaYDt5T5px5mvEsw/s1600/RigAngry3-3%253A0%253A12.png)
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
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.
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 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)
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.
OUTSOURCING THE JAIL OPERATIONS
MEETINGS UNSUCCESSFUL
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.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXY8P_UbjEPahhvBRqQDnQgMVl84xwaH0RWM-Eby55sh_cu-t4fD-d4xN2nGxxQ_Bue2muBXx96dvxnY5WA23W4HgR3MQ4zR_pvXFzSoU4vIRGPZBuMHFZHwQLikHxGKIXpgArfw/s1600/judge+angry.jpg)
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.
Labels: Business License Fees, Charter Committee, Diane Hill, Gary Monahan, Jennifer Muir, Jim Righeimer, Peter Naghavi, Sandra Genis, Steve Mensinger, Wendy Leece
46 Comments:
Typical Piggy, blaming the motels for everything. These motels have been here long before the carpetbagger and when the owners wise up on their 4th amendment rights, they'll be here long after him.
When you have problem motels that house druggies and parolees, you dont hire a bunch of inexperienced housing inspectors into code enforcement to help, you hire more police or start a specialized unit or have your part time cops with no pension benefits to tackle the issue.
Every police officer can enforce and do the same thing as the housing inspectors from code enforcement can. Whats nice about having your part time cops or reserves handling the motels is that they dont require a PERS retirement. In addition, you get a professional police officer who knows the law, not a civilian amateur who used to work on cars and a former secretary.
Think about it, no pension, more experience and no benefits. Why dont we hire more reserves or utilize the retired cops who came back after retirement? For the price of 1 code enf housing inspector, you can have at least 2 to 3 real police officers tackling your problem motels. Actually, I think reserve police officers are paid less than code enforcement.
I'm glad to see someone is going to look into business license taxes. Piggy, there is a ton of money to be made here for you to either bring back our cops and get ABLE back. Or, of course, you can use the money to hire more unnecessary executives. I'm betting on the latter.
"THERE IS A GOD" exclaims Genis. Good to know God is alive and well. Proof: Weitzberg's name was drawn in the lottery and Genis then let us know that proves there still is a God. Good to know. May he bless us all.
Too bad Leece doesn't know why crime spiked. A five minute oration on how she would have stopped the spike had we only listened to her. We then could have been the second city to not see a spike, joining NB which also does not have ABLE anymore. Confused?
Didn't we just hire 10 more cops because that is what the Chief and City Manager requested? Where is this "understaffing" that I hear only on this blog. We are staffed to the levels requested by our Chief and City Manager. If you have a gripe with the lack of cops, talk to them. Our Council has staffed according to our experts requests.
Actually, Pam C., those hires are just to try to stay up with retirements. The authorized staffing level is still more than 20% below what it should be. "Our Council" has ignored the experts for two years and crime is up, up, up. Do your homework before you yap here, please.
Lol Go Geoff! Shut your pie hole Pam and do your research before yapping your trap!
I get angry and shake my head every time I pass by ABLE helicopters on the campus street side of the airport.
Come on Piggy, do the right thing, put down your diet coke and get our helicopters back and hire us more cops to protect our streets. Youve won ok? Youve showed us what the wrath of piggy is capable of. Lets not punish our residents anymore.
Pam C... By the time those "10 cops" are through the process and on the street (assuming they pass probation, which a fairly high percentage don't) they'll have to hire another 20 to replace the ones who have left in the interim.
This hire does nothing to address the understaffed condition that has existed for some time now. It's going to get worse if this is all they in the next year or so.
In Riggy's world, cops, firemen, and teachers are all "union thugs."
His boy Mensy even had an altercation with a teacher.
We don't care if they put the Twelve Apostles on the charter committee- we're not giving these developers, or their masters in Newport Beach, any more power.
Stevie seemed quite subdued last night. I wonder what's up. It must be tough playing second fiddle to a ranting little putz.
For real fun, look at the chest-bumper's face when Weitzberg's name was drawn for the committee. How was that @#$% sandwich? Bahaha!
Think about it, diet coke and Wild Bill,
Way to stay on message!
http://www.fullertonsfuture.org/2012/the-cop-playbook-public-safety-has-nothing-to-do-with-it/
Tell me how ABLE being in the air a few hours each day, and ALWAYS over an Angels game for at least a few minutes, would do anything to deter the realignment related crime increase?
Pot Stirrer, not true. The 10 cops hired were again requested by the Chief. I checked the staff report when they were approved. "Piggy" has hired more cops than other dead-weight Councilmembers have. I hope he runs on that when he gets re-elected. If the Chief wants more cops, he should ask for them. You and the union-shills blogging on this page certainly don't know more than the Chief does. Let the experts pick staffing. By the way, if you look at the FBI crime stats you will see that our violent crime rates are still lower than they were back in 2006 when we peaked in officers. Someone explain to me why simply hirining 1,000 cops is going to make kids safer
We didn't get a magic sprinkling of crappy hotels within the last year so you can't blame them for an increase in crime. However, you can blame the increase in "non-violent" felons being released and fewer officers to police them.
This seems to be a sadly "perfect storm." The state released prisoners who found their way to city with a diminished police force. There are other cities with low-end residence hotels that did not experience our spike, so the weakened force has to be considered as a factor.
And Pam C: you and Geoff are both right. http://articles.dailypilot.com/2012-12-18/news/tn-dpt-1219-cmpd-hires-20121218_1_gazsi-new-officer-police-officers
Mary Ann,
That article you linked us to specifically states that Gazsi is trying to keep up with attrition - no gain in headcount, only backfilling current and anticipated vacancies due to retirement and other officers moving on. We are AT LEAST 10 officers short when we are at full current authorized strength.
Haters have trouble with math it would seem.
We motion to recommend the following Charter to City Council.
Call for the vote ...
Charter passes 10 to 3
Pam C,
Not everyone who is opposed to the current CM City Council majority is a " union shill", even if the Councildudes want us to believe that.
The majority who post here aren't, btw.
Hey, just because he had a receipt for 2 diet cokes, doesn't mean thats what he was drinkin'.
Nice to see so many from the Developer side and the TEA Party get seats on the Charter committee.
Should make for a nice well thought out balanced Charter that will really benefit the residents......can't wait.
@ Pam C-- "If the Chief wants more cops, he should ask for them", wow that's all it takes, the Fire Department has been short handed for years and the City Council wouldn't hire any new firefighters, all they would do is bash them in the press about working so much overtime.
So your saying that all the fire chief has to do is ask, oh that's right we don't have a fire chief right now. Great way to run/ruin a City.
Got this from the Daily Pilot quoting Piggy:
"The problem with government and with government employees, as good as they are, is they are pricing themselves out of the picture,"
So it's OK to hire "expensive" unnecessary city executives (with a PERS pension), as long as they go along with whatever Piggy wants...
I feel SO sorry for the employees of Costa Mesa. The INSTANT he can outsource you, you're done.
What are the employees doing to try and save their jobs?
Hey Political Piggy,
I agree with the mayor.
Have you seen the latest City Employee Compensation Report? If not, here it is: http://www.costamesaca.gov/index.aspx?page=692. Look at the last column and see the Total Compensation for each employee.
Ask yourself, are you are okay with about 50% of our employees getting $100K or more per year? Are you okay with all the Police Sergeants getting $200K or more per year? Are you okay with a secretary getting almost $100K/year? Many of these compensation numbers far exceed what is paid in the private sector. Don't get me wrong, this is not the employee's fault, I would not turn down such pay either however this can't continue forever.
Historically, most of our revenue went to employee's salaries and to service our debt and not much was left to do what a city is suppose to do. We are not alone, cities all over California have the same problem but if we cannot fix our financial challenges, bankruptcy could be next. Something nobody wants.
So It is time the Employee Unions stop fighting this Council at every opportunity. I would suggest they support outsourcing when it makes sense and support the next Charter.
How ironic, the employees are the biggest beneficiary of a sound fiscal policy yet they fight it every step of the way.
Riggy and Mensy, implementing marching orders from their bosses at Fashion Island, represent a minority of the population of Costa Mesa. The lopsided charter loss last November shows that more and more of the voters are wising up.
On the charter committee, it'll be interesting to see how educated people like O'Connell and Weitzberg interact with ideologues like Tea Party Pollit. Three facilitators were picked. Will Mensy be the "enforcer," ready to flash a fake badge to or chest-bump anyone who dares question what Jimbo submits?
Steve R.
Other than police and fire, Piggy had a say in many of the highly compensated employees on the list. If having high paid, pension earning employees a bad thing, then how does one explain the 5th floor? Another thing, Costa Mesa has never been on the verge of bankruptcy nor will it be in the future. That is the perpetual lie that Piggy keeps serving and obviously you are drinking.
so Muir says we cannot outsource some positions because we are a GENERAL LAW city. \
We need a charter then. this is not the employees money, it is the taxpayers money. We are not a city that exists to provide jobs but to provide services in the most efficient manner. Most things are best done "in house" but things like IT, printing, jail, etc. should be looked at for privatizing, especially if none of our fine city employees will be let go by the privatization. It has nothing to do with whether a school teacher saved a kid from a tornado in OK as someone keeps posting. That teacher was great. A private person would have done it also. Typical change the subject tactic. Don't talk facts, change subject. Don't talk results, pick on some little thing that isn't perfect. Attack opponents personally, etc. all in the playbook. now exposed.
Go Boyz, the war on you will lose.
I hear a lot of complaints about the salary ceiling , but I've never heard a salary number proposed that they think someone should live on.
Have any of you read the Housing Element in the General Plan?
It takes a minimum salary of $68,000 just to rent a basic apartment in this city. It takes over a $107,000 a year salary to purchase a house.
I remember when they kept complaining about " out of town " employees as a reason to hire friends with absolutely no municipal government experience into high paid salaried positions.
Colin McCarthy still complains about the renter/homeowner ratio, and then out of the other side of his mouth wants to fire our police mechanics and rely on some hourly jiffy lube guy.
You think property crime will go down paying people $40,000 a year in a city where it takes $70,000 to properly house clothe and feed yourself and your family?
Yet I keep hearing talking points about " bankruptcy" and fixing this city's finances, This Council majority has never shown any fiscal restraint or conservatism. 5th floor spending and frivolous expenditures on things like new office furniture, coffee bars, promotional items, parties, trips, and $1.3 million to re landscape by their homes take top priority over maintaining and providing a strong service work force.
Why are you always upset by the working stiff making a decent wage but you never mention the Mesa Water Director and his $311,000 salary as an instance of excessiveness ?
This City has been taken over by a Tea Party mentality , coupled with the spending habits of the billionaire Koch brothers.....and they won't stop until they are paying the workers Wal-Mart wages. Looks like Riggy learned a lot when he went to China.
Makes me sick.
@Sam Grady,
I hate to burst your HATE bubble but most of the employees on the City Employee Compensation Report were NOT hired on this Council’s watch. Most have been on the job for at least a decade or more. Righeimer had nothing to do with it. Also, since when does a council hire anyone? Isn’t that the CEO’s job?
Sam, since you ignored the main point of my post I can only assume you condone these extravagant salaries. You are in complete denial. Ask yourself, how we can continue with these out-of-control pensions? Do you think the ~$230,000,000+ we owe will magically go away?
Sam, in your paranoid mind, you think tightening our fiscal belts is really just a punishment on our employees all masterminded by one evil man. Right? Well, I see it as someone trying to save our system and honor our commitments. I call that honorable. I think the word “ingrate” fits you perfectly.
So Sam, since you are so generous with our money, let’s raise your taxes to pay for them. After all, the city employee is now the new royalty we must honor them and we must have the “bestest” or else we are all doomed.
Give me a break Sam.
To the guy of many names (and I'm fairly certain it's a single individual) who per petulantly mentions "the Playbook"; are you telling me the GOP doesn't have a Playbook? If you are, you'd be lying. EVERY entity that plays in the political realm has a "Playbook." It's strategy. Strategy is required to win almost any contest. And in the end, politics is a contest. "Don't talk results, pick on some little thing that isn't perfect. Attack opponents personally..." Yup, seen it being done on both sides right here in Costa Mesa.
Your side publishes numbers that are manipulated to look as egregious as possible. They seize on any misstep by an employee and paint it to be the problem with all employees. Continue to throw out union at every opportunity because it resonates with some of their base. It's all strategy. Part of a Playbook. So get over the "Playbook" hang up. Understand that's politics. Your friends are politicians.
In case you still don't get it, google "GOP Playbook left behind in Florida hotel."
Costa Mesa extremists, led by Righeimer, following orders from Fashion Island, are instructed to refer to all union members nationwide as thugs.
As shown by daily heroic acts all over the U.S., by union teachers, union police officers, and union firefighters, these people are not thugs at all.
We know who the drunks, bullies, liars, and real thugs are in this town.
Charter Committee passes 10-3
Council tweaks, puts it on the ballot.
Does anyone think the 40% that did not fall for the union crap will now say, oh no, not this charter?
And in the mean time, the unions will be behaving badly making the case for the Charter
Despite Gericult and the anti growth left leaning union fronting grass roots organization.
The only thing that stops this is a union sympathizing employee that "forgets" to hit send.
Geoff, you are right and in a way, so was Pam C. The chief did, in fact, ask for more and got them and he was starting to shield the city against the losses we already had and the anticipated retirements.
As to Pam's allegations that this chief has hired more, well, that was just to replace all the ones that had been stripped out or who left in utter frustration.
I wanted to point out to her that this has been a game of semantics and it is our obligation as a citizen to attend or watch the meetings ourselves, read, be informed and not swayed by the twist in the words. Your research and links makes that very easy to do. Thanks.
uh, a Director at Mesa Water makes over 300K? wow.
heck the GM of the whole operation only makes 230K.
thanks for the info Gericault.
their website lies, it says Directors make less than 24K, they must hide the other 275K
Great reporting by you. You now have joined the ranks , in accuracy, of Reicher and Earl.
Congrats watchdog!
Can someone like Steve R give me the cost of everyone that Piggy hired on the 5th floor? Give me the highly inflated numbers to include everything.
Also, please share with everyone how much Piggy has spent on destroying our city. I'm talking about the unnecessary legal fees. A 1st semester law student could read that a general law city cannot outsource city jobs. How much has Piggy wasted?
Lets put add all those numbers together and share with everyone...
I agree with Gericault on the wage thing.
Also, I thank him for exposing to the public that a Mesa Water Director takes is over 300K! That is 50 per cent more than the GM at Mesa Water makes and the GM has a lot more responsibilities than a director. Mesa Water apparently lies on its website where it shows that Directors can make no more than 2070/mo. (which is roughly 24K/yr). They don't mention the Director that makes over 300K that Gericault found. The Register guy has dug up numbers way higher than water district reports out. Same with a guy in HB named John Earl who shows number double or triple what Mesa says it spends. These guys are digging for FACTS, pholks, don't believe Mesa Water. They have to make themselves look good. But Gericault, Register guy (Reicher I think), and Earl have no other motives at all than 100 per cent truth. I know some call them no growthers and against desal because people would get required water but that is NOT their motive for truth.
Gericault, are you actually stating that EVERY city employee should make at least $70,000, preferably $107,000? Not total comp, but salary to be able to afford to live here? Do you think that everyone who does live here makes that much?
What planet do you live on, dude? MOST of the people paying the taxes to support public employees don't make NEARLY that much.
Look at the list of top employers in Costa Mesa and let me know how many on that list pay that much?
but sanitary district directors get 221 per meeting
water gets 207 per meeting. how did water make so much more?
stick it to Nordstrom!! Fisler used to be a regional manager there. Heck, boycott it because of that.
Plus, Gericault never shops there obviously. Who needs them? They have kept unions out of their stores for decades, even the restaurants in the stores. give em da boot!
Gericault, you crazy. My salary was 92 k when I bought my house in Costa Mesa a year ago.
Correction, 89k
Oh...and in response to the legal bills.....they stand at $2.13 MILLION. Just for THIS fiscal year, thats not including everything from the past years messes.
Now in the Sunshine of transparency that exists in our fair City , you won't find that number listed in the budget under "legal". It's buried in a Self Insurance fund.
So that number , just for legal costs is about three times what the city makes in business fee revenues, but only twice as much as the $1 million + they are spending on re-landscaping the median by Riggy/Mensy's homes.
Median income in Costa Mesa is $65k
.......James Rivera, sorry I didn't call you and find out about that first.....instead I read the Housing Element of the General Plan and quoted the statistics that were listed there.....crazy Huh?
I was typing that post today from memory and I mistakenly attributed Mesa's GM salary with that of Irvine Ranch.....Mesa only gets $278,424....although I'm not sure if this includes his car allowance.
From The WatchDog Article:
EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Readers who visit The Watchdog with any regularity already know that the most well-compensated executive in Water World is at the Irvine Ranch Water District ($331,720 a year, by the grand jury’s computations), followed by the Mesa Consolidated Water District ($278,424); Orange County Water District ($276,320); and the Santa Margarita Water District ($263,668).
And here I thought the Chairman no longer trolled here- no such luck! He's easy to spot, look for the words
" haters,playbook, obstructionist, anti-growth" and last but not least " whiners". Oh, the humanity!
This coming from the camp with the whiniest lawyer in town and two councildudes who posted photos of torn campaign signs on their Facebook page almost daily during the last election season.
The Top Three and 'No on V' group had the same thing happen to them- no whining, no posting of photos with inflammatory captions, they just denounced the vandalism and moved on.
And Chairman is accusing his opponents of being whiners?? Not to mention himself when he doesn't get his way.
He has set a new low in hypocrisy.
Gericault - median HOUSEHOLD income is $65,471, per capita is $33,800.
You need to stop fudging the facts, it is a very bad and consistent habit of yours.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0616532.html
Fudging the facts like how Pigslimer always says the city is so broke, yet he hires $300,000 executives to help his cause on the 5th floor?
So Gericault was "typing from memory" in his report on a "Directors" salary at mesa water?
Now he posts he was way off, and attributed the pay of someone from another city to mesa water! He still doesn't admit it was wrong to say "director" instead of "gm". this guy know just a little about a lot but not a lot about anything. very dangerous type of anarchist instigator. remember his quick union video of "half the employees going to be laid off" and his doubling of Hatch's car allowance figure in his constant attack on other people's incomes? He is ALWAYS wrong folks. He claims Dewane makes money at caldesal also. nope, no pay. don't believe him or his blogger buddy from HB, little badgeless johnny.
Gericault is right on. You didn't want to be "outed". Why don't you go try to sell some houses? I'm not seeing many Torelli signs up anymore.
JW:
"Gericault is right on. You didn't want to be "outed". Why don't you go try to sell some houses? I'm not seeing many Torelli signs up anymore."
Yep. Maybe Riggy and the Newport crew will pay some of Fisler's bills as inventory contracts even more. Don't we have a big job for Big Fis on the 5th Floor?
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