Gut Punch, Then Hug For Fairgrounds Employees

FOLLOW-UP ON FAIRGROUNDS EMPLOYEE MEETINGS TODAY
This is a follow-up to my earlier post today on the meetings held with current employees of the Orange County Fairgrounds. My earlier post, based on news reports and skimpy interviews, was published before the first meeting had concluded and the second one commenced.

STATE OFFICIALS LOWERED THE BOOM
As stated earlier today, State personnel officials conducted a meeting at which the current employees of the Fairgrounds were given official notice that they would only have their jobs for 120 days and that they were eligible to seek other State employment. That was a real pre-Christmas gut punch for those 82 employees who have been whipsawed over the past couple years as the Fairgrounds Sale drama unfolded.

FIRST CHANCE FOR FMW TO MEET WITH EMPLOYEES
Following that meeting spokespersons for Facilities Management West also met with most of the group. According to Guy Lemmon, who was the primary spokesman for FMW at the meeting, this was the first time his organization has been permitted to speak with Fairgrounds employees, although they had tried to have such a meeting for many months. He was eager to meet with the employees personally and tell them, first-hand, of their plans.

LEMMON - "EVERY ONE OF THEM HAVE A JOB WITH US"
According to Lemmon, at the meeting with the employees he emphasized to them that everyone of them (except current CEO Steve Beazley) will have a job with FMW if they want it - assuming they're not a criminal. All they have to do is fill out an application - no interviews, no screening - the job is theirs for the taking. He also emphasized that their pay level will be what it was BEFORE the 4.60% cut they took earlier this year. Lemmon said he also told the employees that they would also have health insurance - not their current state plan, but some level of insurance that is compatible with their current coverage.

BECKY BAILEY-FINDLEY TO LEAD TRANSITION TEAM
In a press release issued simultaneously with the meeting FMW announced that former Fairgrounds CEO Becky Bailey-Findley will lead their transition team and will help select and train the permanent CEO. This should have been good news for the employees, since Bailey-Findley led them as CEO for several years.


WHIPLASH FOR FAIR EMPLOYEES
I have not spoken with anyone who attended that meeting except Lemmon, but I imagine his presentation to them - which lasted more than an hour, and longer for those who lingered to chat and give him hugs - softened the punch in the gut delivered coldly by the State representatives a couple hours earlier. On the one hand the State tells them they are out of a job in 120 days and then, in the other, Facilities Management West tells them they ALL can keep their jobs at a pay increase once FMW takes over. I suspect Christmas will be just a little better for most of those folks.

BEAZLEY NOT OFFERED A JOB
Back to Beazley... I spoke with him earlier today immediately following the first meeting. He indicated that he, indeed, was among those employees given the word about the potential loss of their jobs. He also indicated that he will be permitted to apply for his job with FMW but was not encouraged that he would be retained. I don't know what his plans are, but he indicated he's weighing all his options now.

SALE STALLED UNTIL 12/15/10 - AT LEAST
The sale of the Fairgrounds to Facilities Management West is stalled until a court hearing on December 15th, so we really don't know what the future holds from that standpoint. FMW will file the appropriate paperwork for that hearing later this week.

FMW COMMITMENT
During my conversation with Lemmon tonight, and in his earlier press release, he emphasized FMW's commitment to protecting the Fair and Centennial Farm and continuing the swap meet, equestrian center and the Pacific Amphitheater. I pressed him on the "swap meet" issue, since at no time did he refer to it as the "MarketPlace". Jeff Teller, operator of the Orange County MarketPlace, is one of the folks involved in the lawsuit that has stalled the sale of the Fairgrounds. Lemmon would only say that they are committed to having a swap meet at the site. He also emphasized to me their intention to make the whole Fairgrounds experience better for visitors, but declined to go into specifics.

PROPERTY TAX IMPACT
He also indicated that one factor of this sale that seems to have been completely overlooked by the media is the financial impact on our region. Although the dollars are not what the City of Costa Mesa would have received had the earlier deal gone through, the Fairgrounds in private hands now means very significant Property Tax dollars that were not realized while it was owned by the State.

WHAT ABOUT THE FAIR ITSELF?
Still pending are completion of negotiations with the current Fair Board about the personal and intellectual property involved with the Fair itself. It is FMW's hope to reach an agreement with the Fair Board on the operation of the Fair since the Fair itself is an activity owned by the Fair Board. The sale of the Fairgrounds as described in the current Request For Proposals - known as RFP II - is only for the real property, not the businesses at the site.


MERRY CHRISTMAS TO THE EMPLOYEES
So, the turmoil around the Orange County Fair and Event Center continues but at least the employees, who have been whipsawed for more than a year, can rest just a little easier knowing that they will have a job. Following the gut punch delivered by the State earlier today, it was nice for them to have it replaced by a kind hand on the shoulder. That's a nice early Christmas present for them all.

NOW WE SIT AND WAIT FOR DECEMBER 15TH...
The rest of us can only sit and wait for the results of the December 15th hearing to see which way the road will turn on the path to a sale. As always, I'll let you know more when I know more.



DEL MAR APPROVES RESOLUTION TO PURCHASE FAIRGROUNDS
In a kind of related story, tonight the Del Mar City Council approved a resolution to purchase the Del Mar Fairgrounds for $120 million, with $75 million up front in cash! Yikes! You can read all about it HERE and view a YouTube video produced by opponents below.

Bailey-Findley's Status Confirmed & Dodging Grenades

CONFUSION REIGNS
Following last night's meeting of the Joint Powers Authority - the Orange County Fairgrounds Authority - in a joint meeting with the City Council, which is really the same five people meeting with themselves, there was much confusion about the role of former Fairgrounds CEO Becky Bailey-Findley.

MONA SHADIA'S EARS PERKED UP
Daily Pilot reporter Mona Shadia picked up on Katrina Foley's comment that "she doesn't work for us any more" - which received no clarification at the time - and approached Bailey-Findley about it after the meeting. All the other parties had scampered off to a closed session in another venue, so they were not available for comment. Bailey-Findley told Shadia that she was confused, because she left on vacation a couple weeks earlier as an employee of the City and returned assuming she was still employed. Some clarifications here - she's been a consultant to the City during the negotiations of the purchase of the Fairgrounds, not an employee per se.

VOICE OF OC CHIMES IN
Norberto Santana, editor of the Voice of OC news source has posted a couple of stories since the meeting last night. The first, "More Twists and Turns Than the Tilt-a-Whirl", HERE, among other things, amplified the confusion by quoting Katrina Foley and acknowledging that nobody on the dais corrected the record. His second article, "Bill That Was Supposed To Save Fair Now Might Take It Away", can be found HERE.

ROEDER TAKES THE BLAME
My message to City Manager Allan Roeder late last night went unanswered until late this afternoon, following the issuance of a Press Release that clarified the issue of Bailey-Findley's employment. You can find that pdf. file by clicking HERE, then selecting the press release from the roster to the right of the page if it doesn't automatically open for you. I subsequently had a telephone conversation with him, during which he re-affirmed that he felt it was his fault that the confusion existed last night. He made that point clearly in the press release. He said he should have immediately clarified Bailey-Findley's status when the issue first came up at the meeting.

MONA SETS IT STRAIGHT
Also this afternoon Shadia wrote another article, following confirmation by Roeder, that nicely wraps up this issue. You can read her article HERE.

BECKY'S OUR GAL UNTIL HER JOB IS DONE
In a nutshell, Becky Bailey-Findley remains a contracted consultant to the City and will wrap her duties for the City in this matter before entering into any further conversations with representatives of Facilities Management West about potential future employment as their interim CEO should the sale of the Fairgrounds go through.

DUE DILIGENCE STILL PROBLEMATIC
I'm afraid I must join Foley in her apprehension about the City's ability to perform it's due diligence. The City, after all, is the actual purchaser of the property even though FMW will provide all the cash and be on the hook for all the financial risk. As Foley stated last night, if this deal fails for some unanticipated reason, if we have not done OUR due diligence we would be left at an extreme disadvantage.

SHADOW MANAGEMENT?
Discussions about a "shadow management" approach - "our" person shadowing the current management of the Fairgrounds to facilitate a smooth transition - took some discussion on the dais last night. In his article Santana mentions that the current Fairgrounds CEO Steve Beazley has not been forthcoming providing requested information and access to employees and the grounds because the State has not authorized it. This was all part of the original proposal to the State, which we are told had been accepted so we could perform the due diligence mentioned above.

DODGING GRENADES
As mentioned by Foley last night, there are plenty of constituencies trying to get this deal killed. It's an interesting enigma, since almost all of them joined the City in it's early efforts last year to have the sale killed, but now many of them stand against the City in it's efforts to save the Fairgrounds. It certainly seems that there are plenty of people tossing grenades into this process. For example, Santana mentions a coalition of former Fair Board members, led by Orange County Democratic Party chief Frank Barbaro, who are using their considerable political influence to scuttle the deal. We have less than two weeks in which to convince the legislature to pass the bill necessary for this sale to be consummated and to finalize the ground lease with FMW. Otherwise, the legislature will not convene again until after the November election and this deal, for all practical purposes, is toast. Nobody knows what the new governor will do, if anything, about this mess.

ONE FORTNIGHT TO GO
So, for the next two weeks the lights will burn late into the night at City Hall as our negotiating team tries to salvage this deal and protect the Fairgrounds with the only deal left that will do that.

More Fairgrounds Drama & Council Meeting Wrap-up

PRESS RELEASE SHEDS NO LIGHT ON TRIP
As promised, City Manager Allan Roeder issued a press release late yesterday afternoon regarding the trip he took to Sacramento with Katrina Foley on Monday. Unfortunately, it didn't really tell us much.

FOLEY QUOTE
Foley is quoted as follows: “The meetings were helpful in better understanding some of the legislative challenges ahead and the process required for authorization of the legislation,” stated Council member Foley. “I am pleased with the support the City has received from the Assembly member as we move forward on this phase of our effort to keep the Fairgrounds under public ownership.”

Beyond that, we were told that Assemblyman Jose Solorio scheduled the meeting.. that's it.

BECKY BACK IN THE SADDLE?
Bigger news, however, came in an article in the Daily Pilot late last night online and in the print edition this morning. That article, HERE, announced that former Fairgrounds CEO and current consultant to Costa Mesa in the Fairgrounds negotiations, Becky Bailey-Findley, has been tapped by Facilities Management West as the interim leader of their Fairgrounds operations if their bid is successful. Findley, who has apparently spent virtually her entire adult life working in or around the Fairgrounds, agreed to accept that interim position until FMW finds a permanent leader. She is not interested in the permanent job.

DEFLATES FAIR BOARD'S SCHEME
This news has got to be making the Fair Board and current CEO Steve Beazley apoplectic! This news will certainly put a damper on their "revenue sharing" proposal announced Monday at the Board meeting. One of the big criticisms of the FMW pitch by the most vocal of critics has been their lack of experience in this kind of an operation. Findley resolves that issue right out of the gate.

GREAT NEWS FOR EMS USERS
At the City Council meeting Tuesday night they passed the Advanced Life Support Cost Recovery Program and, as a result, save the position of EMS Coordinator that was lost due to the recent budget cuts. Fire Chief Mike Morgan emphasized that under this program Costa Mesa residents will not be required to pay anything additional over what they are paying under our current EMS system. Here are the terms and conditions as presented by Chief Morgan last night:

1. Costa Mesa residents will not be required to pay any costs for EMS that are in addition to whatever they would be paying under the current EMS billing system (i.e., Costa Mesa residents will not be subject to any additional costs due to implementation of this program).

2. Costa Mesa residents will continue to be exempt from paying the $275 first responder charge (only non-residents are billed for this).

3. Care Ambulance Service, which performs all EMS billing for the City per contract, will be authorized to begin billing the private insurance companies, Medicare, or Medi-Cal, of all resident and non-resident patients, a $300 ALS transport charge.

4. Care Ambulance Services will waive all patient co-pay and deductible charges of Costa Mesa residents that are specific to the ALS Cost Recovery Program.

5. Care Ambulance Service will waive the $300 ALS transport charge for all Costa Mesa residents who do not have any form of medical insurance or coverage.

6. Residents will not have to do anything to obtain a waiver: All waivers will be automatically reflected in the billing statement mailed by Care Ambulance Service, which will be an amount reduced according to the amount waived.

ONLY BEVER VOTED "NO"
This is terrific news all around for Costa Mesa residents and provides a financial mechanism to assure that Costa Mesa continues to receive Emergency Medical Services of the highest level. The council approved this item, with only our municipal lamebrain, Eric Bever, voting NO.

SOBECA SENIOR HOUSING RE-HEARING
Next up was Wendy Leece's request for a re-hearing of the previously-approved plan for a low cost senior housing facility, Harper's Pointe, at 845 Baker Street in the SoBECA District and beside the Shark Club. The purpose of this agenda item was to determine if there was sufficient reason to schedule a re-hearing, not to conduct the re-hearing last night. In fact, that's basically what happened.

BUFFA THE DESTROYER
After much discussion the applicant trotted out it's big gun, former mayor Peter Buffa, who identified himself as the authorized agent for the developer, took the podium and methodically shredded Leece's arguments one by one. One can only admire his skill set when he's in action. I had to chuckle when Buffa, while rebutting the concern Leece had about the facility being "5 feet from the 73 Freeway", corrected the record. He told us that, in fact, the building was actually 50 feet from the roadway of the 73 Freeway! And he said it with a straight face! As I write this, across the street - roughly 50 feet from my window - a gardener is mowing my neighbor's lawn and I can barely hear myself think! Very smooth, Peter...

LEECE AND FOLEY DISSENTED
The council voted 3-2, with Leece and Foley dissenting, to deny the request for a re-hearing. So, now it looks like our city will get some more much-needed affordable senior housing. I know the owners of the Shark Club will wait with great trepidation for the first noise complaint by residents of that facility, and wonder just how the City will manage that issue. My suggestion would be to restrict residency in that facility to only folks with hearing impairments. It will cut down on the noise complaints.

ACTIVIST PLANNING COMMISSION SCHEMES
Next came two items generated by our activist Planning Commission dealing with Zoning Code Amendments and Code Enforcement activities. The Planning Commission, led by developers Jim Righeimer, Steve Mensinger and Colin McCarthy, seem determined to convert Costa Mesa into a pseudo-Irvine and choose to do so by creating a heavy-handed Code Enforcement organization - much like the operate in their own business lives.

SHOW ME YOUR PAPERS!
Based on the tone of the Planning Commission's suggestions, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they decided to do a Google Earth flyover of the city and methodically note those residences that MIGHT have ancillary units on their lots, then unleash the Code Enforcement folks to go pound on doors to determine compliance. Leece expressed concern that we might be having Code Enforcement go knock on doors of homes with approved granny units to determine if only age-appropriate residents lived there! Sounds like Nazi Germany to me! Show me your papers!

DON QUIXOTE AND SANCHO PANZA
One of their truly stupid ideas, proposed by Mensinger and his sidekick, Jim Fitzpatrick, was to have the Code Enforcement staff report directly to the City Manager's office - to Assistant City Manager Tom Hatch, specifically. This suggestion comes at a time when every member of the City Manager's office is struggling just to tread water due to staff reductions and the increased work demands due to the budget issues and the Fairgrounds Sale. Roeder reminded the council of the facts and, eventually, this idea was rejected. Not only would this scheme overload the City Manager's office, but it was a direct slap in the face of the Chief of Code Enforcement, Willa Bowens-Killeen, and the rest of Kimberly Brandt's staff. If Righeimer or Mensinger - or any elected or appointed official - has a problem with the competence of a staff member they need to take that directly to Allan Roeder - not make a huge issue of it in public. Talk about heavy-handed! It was absolutely clear from the comments he made that Roeder was NOT happy with the suggestion.

HOW HIGH, SIR?
We did learn something important during that little exercise, though. We got a glimpse of what life will be like if Mensinger gets appointed to Katrina Foley's seat should she successfully run for the School Board and resign her council seat in January. Mensinger, who is making quite a positive name for himself in the arena of youth athletics here in town, is used to having people immediately levitate when he says "jump!" He still has not learned that this won't work in city government. He still thinks that bullying is OK. The scary thing is, if Riggy and Wendy are elected in November it is almost a foregone conclusion that they, along with Bever and Monahan, would appoint Mensinger to Foley's slot. Why else would Mensinger have drafted Foley for the School Board? That would give a probable 10-year term on the council - the remaining two years on Foley's term plus the opportunity to run for two consecutive four-year terms as an incumbent. Sweet deal for him - not so sweet for us.

BACK TO WEEKLY STREET SWEEPING
Finally, the council agreed to reinstate our previous method of managing our street sweeping program. They voted to accept the staff proposal, which will involve hiring two new street sweeping drivers - three had recently retired due to the sweetened retirement pot - and re-hire two laid-off part-time civilian Police Department employees to patrol and write tickets on cars not moved on street-sweeping day. Apparently, when sweeping the streets on a weekly basis, parking fines generate over $600,000 annually! Yikes! The staff report clearly demonstrated the wisdom of returning to a weekly schedule and justified the staff increases mentioned.

PAY ATTENTION OR PAY THE PRICE
So goes life here in our little slice of heaven. If the recent events in the City of Bell tell us anything at all, it is that if the residents of a city do not pay attention to what their leaders are doing they deserve what they get. In our case, we could likely get a developer-oriented dictatorship as a result of the November election. It's time to start paying attention.

Special Council Meeting Provides Some Light

SHEDDING SOME LIGHT...
The special council meeting held by the Costa Mesa City Council yesterday provided some light on the process of putting together an acceptable offer for the Orange County Fair and Events Center (OCFEC) by the deadline - described to us by City Manager Allan Roeder as next Wednesday, April 21st, not the 19th as earlier indicated.

VIEW THE STREAMING VIDEO
The streaming video of the short - 27 minute - council meeting is up and available for viewing, HERE. I suggest you take a look at it to see Roeder deliver an excellent PowerPoint presentation to the council, which included a chronology of the path taken in the drama that has been the Fairgrounds Sale from the announcement by the Governor nearly a year ago to the current date.

"NOT SIMPLY A REAL ESTATE DEAL"
Roeder emphasized at the beginning that this is "not simply a real estate deal".

PRINCIPLES SUPPORTING NEGOTIATIONS
He outlined the principles supporting the current negotiations, which includes the following:

*The city seeks public ownership of the OCFEC site.

*The City seeks to preserve the OC Fair, the event center activities and the community programs currently operating at the OCFEC.

*It is the direction of the City that an open and transparent governance plan be created for the future operation of the OCFEC.

*The City intends to purchase the OCFEC without utilizing Costa Mesa public funds or putting Costa Mesa taxpayers at risk. This means the City will be seeking financing through a consortium of interested entities for the purchase of the property.

*Should the purchase be accomplished, the City wants to ensure a smooth transition for existing state employees who work at a OCFEC and the protection and conveyance of assets that support operations and preserve the history of OCFEC.

*The City is firm that future operation of the site is to be consistent with the City's General Plan Designation and the proposed initiative for the property and subject to environmental review and City approval.

*The City supports a plan of use of the OCFEC that protects the current economic, social and cultural benefit to the community yet supports expansion of these activities within the constraints of the City's General Plan.

NEGOTIATION DETAILS
*City granted 30 days exclusive negotiations

*Submittal due to Governor by April 21, 2010

*Proposal will include the following:

1 - Terms, including price, financing and date for conveyance of property.

2 - Conditions the City believes must be met prior to any opening of escrow. these include, but are not limited to, required due diligence, business plans, governance structure, financing, transition plan, etc.

3 - Identification of required actions prior to conveyance of the property, including legislative action as it pertains to the Annual Fair, 32nd District Agricultural Association, existing contracts & agreements, etc.

4 - Request Governor's support for lifting current restrictions on prospective event scheduling so the Fairgrounds can continue to operate effectively.

WITHOUT COMMENT, OFF TO CLOSED SESSION
Following that presentation, and without a single comment except for Gary Monahan's expression of gratitude to the staff for their hard work, they immediately adjourned to the closed session and did not subsequently "report out" the results of that meeting, with the City Attorney citing the fact that they will have yet another opportunity for a closed session on the 20th, before the 21st due date.

ROEDER'S PRIVATE LETTER
One interesting tidbit that was not discussed during the council meeting was reported - again - by Norberto Santana, Jr. in the Voice of OC this morning. In his article, HERE, discussing the meeting he mentions that Roeder has "recently sent out a private letter to potential bidders advising them of the real ground rules and goals: the city's interest is in 'potentially developing a public/private partnership to acquire and operate the Orange County Fair and Event Center', read the April 7 letter." The letter was somehow obtained by Santana. You can read the remainder of the text quoted by Santana in his article.

THE TEAM IS WORKING HARD
I know the team - Roeder, Becky Bailey-Findley plus Katrina Foley and Monahan and many other staff members - will be working long and hard to meet the deadline for submission of their offer to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on the 21st. No mention of the content of Jim Righeimer's "leaked" voice mail message was made during the open session. I'd bet a lot, however, that it got lots of discussion in the closed session.

HUMMING THE JEOPARDY! THEME....
So, now we just wait until some time after the 21st, when we find out if the Governor and his crew feel that the proposal being presented by our city is acceptable and, if so, how the process will move forward now.

Costa Mesa Negotiates For Fairgrounds

Yikes!! I take my sweet wife on a little birthday vacation trip out of town for a week and look what's waiting for me when we return!

"EXCLUSIVELY NEGOTIATE"
According to a press release from the City of Costa Mesa this afternoon, in the wake of the rejection of all offers for the Orange County Fair and Events Center last month, the City is moving forward independently and apparently stuck an agreement with the State to "exclusively negotiate for the purchase of the Fairgrounds." According to the press release, the city council "authorized this move in an effort to preserve the Fairgrounds and retain public ownership of the fair, insuring into the future that the property continues to operate as a fairground." This plan was mentioned in an article in the Daily Pilot yesterday, since revised this afternoon, HERE, and Councilwoman Katrina Foley apparently mentioned it last night on KOCE.

BECKY BAILEY-FINDLEY - PROJECT MANAGER
To make this process work the City has retained Becky Bailey-Findley, CEO of the Fairgrounds from 1994 - 2008, to act as Project Manager for the purchase of the Fairgrounds. In my view, this is a great move on the part of Costa Mesa. Ms. Bailey-Findley was an excellent leader during her tour at the Fairgrounds, understands just how much it means to Costa Mesa and the broader Orange County community. According to the press release, "Her charge will be to create a plan that preserves the heritage and relationship of the Fair with the community while bringing all elements of the fair business together to achieve the self-supporting goals of Costa Mesa."

WILL HEAD A SMALL TEAM
I spent some time on the telephone with Ms. Bailey-Findley this afternoon to get her take on this assignment. As it stand right now, she will have a month to put together the proposal for the purchase of the Fairgrounds. She will work with a team comprised mainly of city staffers but it might also include some outside folks if special expertise is required.

MANY VARIABLES REMAIN
As you might expect, there are still many variables in this process. In a perfect world everything would remain essentially the same following the acquisition of the Fairgrounds by the City - the Fair would continue, the Orange County Marketplace would continue and the other 150 plus activities and events would be retained and augmented... in a perfect world. The future of the employees of the Fairgrounds remains unclear if this sale goes through, for example.

CITY GOING IT ALONE - OR NOT
It's unclear at this time whether the city will go it alone or will partner-up with the County, as it did for the initial bid, or with other interested entities - the Coast Community College District, for example.

WHENCE THE FAIR BOARD?
Among the many unknowns remains the future of the Fair Board. If the State no longer owns the land, what responsibility will the Fair Board have to operate a Fair on the site? Will the Fair Board be dissolved? Will it remain a fully-constituted State entity and move the Fair elsewhere? Do I hear "Great Park"?

STATE LEGISLATION REQUIRED?
One very interesting comment from the press release really caught my eye. Near the end it stated, "It is expected that successful negotiations between the City and State will require State legislation." Well, now, we all remember how well that kind of stuff goes, don't we? Remember AB1590 - the bill proposed by Jose Solorio and Van Tran to quash the sale? That ended badly.

MANSOOR EMPHASIZES LOCAL CONTROL
According to the press release, lame-duck mayor Allan Mansoor said, "Our plan to submit a comprehensive proposal to the Governor demonstrates our commitment to preserve the Orange County Fair & Event Center as a community asset for all of Southern California and we hope that the Governor will agree that local control is the best for California."


WITH FINGERS CROSSED...
I'm looking forward to seeing just how this process goes and am keeping my fingers crossed that Ms. Bailey-Findley and her team can put together an agreement that meets the State's requirements and provides a way for the Orange County Fair and Events Center to be perpetuated in it's current format - only better.

NOT AN APRIL FOOL'S DAY JOKE!
I did a big double-take when I looked at the calendar today after hearing about this story and hoped like heck that this wasn't just some whopper of an April's Fool joke! I guess we'll find out soon enough.