Friday, November 20, 2015

Streaming Video Of Council Meeting Now Available

WATCH THE VIDEO
Earlier today the streaming video of the last Costa Mesa City Council meeting is available for viewing.  You can find the entire 4:23 minute meeting HERE.

WATCH THE JOUSTING
There are several very important items on the agenda and, in my opinion, none should be ignored or overlooked.  However, many folks in the community are anxious about the heated exchange that occurred between Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer and Councilwoman Katrina Foley - which also involved Mayor Steve Mensinger and City Attorney Thomas Duarte.

YOU'LL HAVE TO DO A LITTLE WORK
Unfortunately, the nifty "jump to" feature on this clip is fouled-up - which apparently happened during a botched transfer of data to Granicus which has delayed the presentation of this video until today.  So, to find that squabble, simply drag the round ball on the scroll bar over to 52:50, which is where Righeimer begins his segment of Council Member comments.

THE CONTRACT
He first speaks about the Veterans Day event at his children's school, then - at 54:00 - he begins to talk about the labor contract between the City and the men and women of the Costa Mesa Police Association - the group he and the mayor are suing - something he overtly mentions at the beginning.

ILLEGAL INFLUENCING
Because he and the mayor are involved in a lawsuit with the association they are specifically forbidden to participate in the negotiations.  However, in my opinion, he took advantage of his position on the dais to illegally provide a commentary designed to influence the negotiations by making his statements in front of the three other members of the council who CAN negotiate - Gary Monahan, Sandra Genis and Katrina Foley.

At 55:40 Foley interrupts Righeimer for the first of many times and Mensinger attempts to shut her up at about 55:55

At 56:45 Duarte, responding to a question, opines for the first of many times that Righeimer MUST keep his comments general in nature and must NOT influence the negotiation.

WEILDING THE GAVEL
This went on and on, back and forth, with Righeimer talking, Foley talking over him and Mensinger trying to get her to shut up.  Finally, at 59:05 he pounded his gavel and took a short break.

The break duration is deleted, so on the scroll bar they resume at 59:30, with Righeimer absent.  Mensinger makes his comments, then you see Righeimer walk behind him with a handful of papers.  Seems he made copies of the information available on the city web site and intended to read it.

PERSONAL PRIVILEGE
At 1:01:30 Foley requested a point of personal privilege to respond to the condescending comments Mensinger made following the break. 

At 1:03:15 Monahan attempted to clarify the issue - he had been laying low before that.  He shoved his chair as far back as he could to stay out of the line of fire, so to speak.

At 1:03:50 Righeimer took off again, reading from the papers he brought.  Foley again interrupted him, criticizing him for his tone and commentary. 

"SUE ME"
At 1:04:55, in response to Foley's observation that he was breaking the law, Righeimer said "Listen, I'm gonna speak and if you'd like to sue me at the courthouse, line up."

He goes on and on, reading from documents he brought with him, with Foley interrupting him.  He finished at 1:08:05.

"BLOWING UP NEGOTIATIONS"
At 1:08:08 Foley said the following: "Congratulations for influencing the process and possibly blowing up our negotiations.  Congratulations, Mayor Pro Tem Righeimer.  I hope you feel better about influencing the ability of us to retain and recruit police officers in The City of Costa Mesa when we're down!"

IT'S WORTH YOUR TIME
Take your time.  The few minutes of your time you invest will be worthwhile.  And, of course, I encourage each of you to watch the entire video because the three major issues on the agenda - the Costa Mesa Motor Inn; the Group Home Ordinance and the New Library proposal certainly deserve your attention.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Where's My Coffee? said...

I'm convinced Rig the Pig is attempting to blow up the negotiations completely. That is his goal. It won't work. What will work is that he will get himself sued. And...we will be paying for it. He did break the law. He should be dismissed from his position completely. When you get right down to it, what has he really done for this community? I can't think of one thing except line his pocket, and sadly, there is those that support that effort.

One of the biggest chuckles was Chuck Perry, who sounded like bad commercial. And the guy that he just happened to meet, who said the big ship is turning...oh Jesus. Completely scripted, and it sounded like Mensinger wrote it. What a phony and laughable comment.

I did notice that once again, Rig said that negotiations were ongoing and I believe he mentioned with the CMFD as well. That is a lie. He will not sit down at the table with the fire department whatsoever. Its approaching 2 years.

Loved the woman (Annie?) calling Rig out on his relationship with Scott Baugh. Rig doesn't work for Baugh but does share an office with him. They take vacations together also, such as the trip to Israel with that hate group. Baugh had a large part in the 60th Anniversary Party. We know money ended up in Baugh's hands, but no one can determine how much. Scary individuals.

11/20/2015 06:30:00 PM  
Anonymous Eleanor Egan said...

Katrina Foley did us all a favor by preventing what would have been yet another (and this time illegal) Righeimer rant. She spoke up timely and effectively despite the Mayor's feckless lack of control.

11/22/2015 02:33:00 PM  

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