An Evening of Disappointment and Dismay

WHERE TO BEGIN...?
I'm not quite sure how to begin this report from the Costa Mesa City Council meeting last night, but I guess I'll just state at the beginning that the relatively short meeting last night - we left at 11 - left me feeling more than a little disappointed and more than a little aghast at what I observed.  Let me take it from the top...

JOYCE SETTLEMENT
Labor negotiator Richard Kreisler reported that, during a closed session, the council approved a settlement with departed Public Affairs Manager Dan Joyce of $170,225 in exchange for him releasing all claims against the City.  You'll recall that he was placed on Administrative Leave in the wake of the now-infamous 60th Anniversary debacle.

CALLING OUT RIGHEIMER
Eleven people spoke during Public Comments (Cindy Black spoke but hadn't had her name called, so Mayor Jim Righeimer slammed the door on her comments as she read a list of his developer-oriented campaign contributors)  Among the "legal" speakers were: Greg Thunnel, who lectured the council on manners; James Bridges spoke against The Charter; Harold Weitzberg stepped up and addressed in uncharacteristic vague terms the issue covered in Barbara Venezia's recent column, HERE.  I was disappointed that he chose to address this issue before the City Council, although it was certainly his right.

AND MORE Teresa Drain once again told the council that there needs to be a forensic audit of the 60th Anniversary Celebration issue; Tamar Goldmann used the "Costa Mayberry" term to describe parking issues around the city;  J. Paul Wilson and Noel Perkins both expressed concern about the proliferation of sober living homes in the city and, specifically, new ones that are about to open in their Church Street neighborhood.  Robin Leffler attempted to rebut allegations made by Weitzberg, then read Tom Egan's recent letter from the Daily Pilot regarding The Charter.  Anna Vrska read a partial list of legal services and told the council her questions would become part of a Public Records Request and Joy Williams observed about the water crisis.

GENIS
During Councilmember comments Sandy Genis' thoughts included an observation that the City erred by deciding NOT to televise the Eastside Costa Mesa Neighbors Group's candidate forum on October 2nd, HERE.  She agreed with Vrska's thoughts on the legal costs - which have doubled in the past few years - and indicated that our contract with Jones and Mayer calls for an annual review of the performance of our contract legal organization, and suggested such an audit should be done before the election.

LEECE - FINALLY! CMPA NEGOTIATIONS TO BEGIN
Wendy Leece said that she, Genis and Gary Monahan would finally meet on September 19th to begin discussing the labor contract with the Costa Mesa Police Association.  She expressed concern about Fireworks and hopes to have available on the meeting scheduled for 9/16 a suggestion for the revision of the Fireworks policy.  She also addressed the Group Home issue and suggested that the City was dragging it's feet by not even considering the successful ordinance passed in Orange.  She also reminded us of the West Nile Virus problem - a mosquito-born disease that has killed two Orange County Residents.  She alerted us to the possible presence of the Asian Tiger Mosquito, too.  She also addressed the small turnout at the recent "Great Reach" General Plan meeting, and suggested that all the items intended to be covered at that meeting were not covered at all.  And, she mentioned a meeting on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 at 222 Hanover to discuss the planned enhancements to Orange Coast College.

MONAHAN ON WEITZBERG
Monahan observed that school is back in session, then complained about Venezia's article on Weitzberg, citing it as the most important thing and was "surprised that nobody had an apology for him."  That was aimed directly at Genis.

RIGHEIMER
Righeimer muttered about the 60th Celebration and Teresa Drain's comment about a forensic audit, suggesting there was a hole in the process.  He then defended the decision to not televise the Eastside forum, but reiterated that he'd pay half the cost to have it covered privately.  He alluded to the Ku Klux Klan and the Tea Party.  He acknowledged that more than half his campaign contributions come from developers and didn't see anything wrong with it.  He addressed the Group Home issue, citing Newport Beach's problems with them to the tune of $3.6 million in legal fees.  He said it is the biggest issue in the City today, citing the "concentration" of the homes.  Regarding the "legal fees" issue Vrska brought up he said, "If you want lower legal fees you just settle and write checks."  He then proceeded to tell us that a group home ordinance would generate "the mother of all legal fees", and that we would be attacked by a "multi-billion dollar industry which wants to keep the honey pot going."

MENSINGER
Then it was Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger's turn.  He engaged CEO Tom Hatch in a discussion about fireworks, telling us that youth sports depends on the revenue from safe and sane fireworks.    He said, "I'm one of those guys that love kids.", implying, I guess, that if you don't support fireworks sales you hate kids.  He said, "We get saddled for everything outside the classroom."  Funny, I thought that was part of the whole "parenting" thing.    He told us he lives across the street from a Group Home, so he understands about them.  He also commented on Weitzberg's comment, stating that he was "horrified" by the article, stating that it was "the most despicable thing I've ever seen in 30 years in Costa Mesa."  He said that if the comment attributed to Genis in the article had come from Righeimer the Daily Pilot would be all over it for 6 weeks.  Then he looked down at Weitzberg in the audience and said, "Tonight we're all Weitzbergs".  What a vacuous, self-serving buffoon he is!

MICHAEL, CLAIRE AND JERRY
Next up was Hatch and he promptly introduced new Deputy City Clerk Michael Dunn, who comes to us from Glendale and will be the facilitator of the digitization of records.  Hatch also announced that Assistant Director of Development Services Claire Flynn has returned to duty after a long illness and that contractor Jerry Guarancino will be staying on and moving to the 5th floor to manage the Group Home part of the code enforcement organization.  Guess that plan to move all the code enforcement folks downstairs isn't going to happen.  Hard to let go of your own little enforcement group.  Hatch told us calls for service at motels are down, but didn't mention that the new ordinance that hammers motel owners if they call for service too many times might have something to do with it.

ONE DISBANDED, FOUR CREATED!
Hatch mentioned the Neighborhood Improvement Task Force and told it he had "blown it up" and replaced it with four individual groups involving 10 or more staffers each.  He said the Group Home issue is a high priority and that "the public needs to help them identify problem homes." and suggested using the smart phone app, Costa Mesa Connect.  He also gave a number to report Group Home issues - 714-754-5328.  He mentioned the outsourcing of the jail and, specifically, that all the G4S employees have been hired and most are trained.

LAME, LAME, LAME
Regarding the Eastside Forum, he gave a VERY lame excuse about why he didn't want to cover it.  He said that during the Mesa Verde Community, Inc., forum recently CMTV staffer Dane Bora was asked by moderator Darnell Wyrick to assess the appropriateness of a question submitted by an audience member and Bora responded that he didn't think it was an appropriate question.  That's an easy issue to solve - just tell the CMTV staff that their role is NOT to participate in the process, just capture it on television!  He used THAT as an example of why he didn't want to televise the Eastside forum!  It's clear that the decision to forego that forum came from elsewhere and he was just grasping at straws for a reason.  Shoot, all he had to say was we were not doing it on advice from lawyers.  Yet another disappointing experience.  Hatch also mentioned a public workshop at the Neighborhood Community Center regarding the future of Talbert Park, scheduled for September 10th from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.

PULLED AND PUSHED
Items 33,7 and 8 were pulled from the Consent Calendar for discussion at the end of the meeting.

DON'T BLINK!
Public Hearing #1 was the so-called TEFRA hearing on expansion financing for Whittier College of Law in The City.  It took less than two minutes - and no staff presentation - for the council to approve it, 5-0.

SANTA ANA/COLLEEN ANNEXATION
Not the case on Public Hearing #2, the second reading of the annexation of the Santa Ana/Colleen island of county land.  After a brief staff report - about a minute - Monahan stated that nobody was happy about his compromise of minimum 6,600 square foot lots - a deviation from the city standard of 6,000.  He said everybody was beating him up - residents and developers alike - so he was changing his vote to a 6,000 foot minimum.  We understood why shortly.

OVERWHELMING NEGATIVITY
Sixteen (16) people spoke to this issue, including 4 people representing the developer of a chunk of bare land in the middle of this area.  Those included two representatives and the architect plus former Costa Mesa Director of Economic and Development Services, including former Senior staffer, Peter Naghavi, who now consults with developers.  The first representative told us he needed the city standard of 6,000 square feet to make his 13-home project work.  When asked if ALL the lots would meet the 6,000 square foot standard he paused, then said "most".  Uh, huh....  NONE of the half-dozen residents of the area in question supported the smaller lot size choice.  Anna Vrska stepped up and told Righeimer he should get his head out of his developer-buddies' rear ends and look around at the people and hear what they're saying.

NO PROJECT - YET
Righeimer reminded us that there was going to be NO vote on a project last night - only on the annexation and the Property Tax agreement.

PANDERING TO DEVELOPERS?
Wendy Leece said this looked a little like a "Bait and Switch" deal, where the developer tells us one thing, then comes back with an entirely different project that would maximize that 6,000 square foot minimum lot size.  There ensued a long discussion about "spot-zoning", "site-specific zoning" and other methods of getting around the complications.  At one point Righeimer said, "The problem we have with the reading is that we have to let people know what we're doing."  There you go!  Eventually the Property Tax segment passed, 5-0 and the annexation - with the 6,000 foot lot minimum - passed 3-2, with Genis and Leece voting NO.  Afterwards I heard mumblings of lawsuits from the disgruntled about-to-be new Costa Mesans.  We took at 10 minute break.

KREISLER AND COIN
When we returned we heard Kreisler discuss the COIN process and then outlined the tentative agreement between The City and the Costa Mesa City Employee Association (CMCEA) - the so-called miscellaneous employees who answer the phones, type reports, fix the fleet, crunch numbers, review plans, issue permits, program systems, mop the floors, etc.  This was the group that included those two hundred who, within the first few weeks of Righeimer's tenure on the council, received layoff notices.  Huy Pham, who took his life by jumping off the City Hall roof, was one of those folks.

TOO ANGRY...
You can read the summary of Kreisler's report HERE.  I have, and I listened to his report.  In my opinion, the employees were disemboweled with this contract.  I get too angry when I write about no raises for the term of the contract, reduced vacation and sick leave plans, more costly benefits, etc., from a group that suffered long and hard through the economic downturn, but hung in there and continued to provide excellent service.  Only four residents spoke to this issue and none of them addressed the contract specifically.

DISGUSTING!
The MOST disgusting part of this segment was a comment Righeimer made following the presentation.  He looked out into the audience and addressed Association President Kelly Vucinic and the OCEA lawyer and negotiator Don Drozd and  told them that he accepts some responsibility for the past hard feelings - he used the word animous, but he was willing to consider it a "clean slate going forward".  Well, why wouldn't you, Mr. Mayor?!  You're getting what you want!  You've gutted the contract and demoralized the ENTIRE city staff.  A "clean slate" may ease your conscience, but it won't absolve you from the damage you've done to the city.  This was part of the "dismay" last night!  Mensinger was equally self-serving when he said, "Without sounding gratuitous, I also want to thank Kelly and Don."  Well, you schmuck, you ARE gratuitous!  And clueless, to boot! 

SECOND REQUIRED HEARING ON 9/16
This item will be heard by the council for the second mandatory time on September 16th, at which time the residents and other interested parties may, once again, address it and the council will likely vote on the issue.  At that time I expect we'll be hearing from employees and their representatives about how they feel about the contract.

CART BEFORE THE HORSE
Following that circus we then heard Steve Mensinger's scheme to fund an architect to do something about Fire Stations #1 and #2.  No question that both need attention - serious attention.  However, as Wendy Leece tried to tell them, this scheme puts the cart before the horse.  FIRST there should be a professional assessment of how many stations we need and where they best might be located.  THEN identify land that might be available and/or plan on how to use existing land for new facilities.  How can you expect an architect to plan something without knowing where it will go, for goodness sake.  However, logic escaped this process and the council voted, 5-0, to move forward with whatever this plan is.

THE WARRANT
Then the trailed Consent Calendar items were addressed.  Item #3, the Warrant, passed on a 5-0 vote.

WAIT, WHAT?!
 Item #7 was the increase in the salary ranges for Reserve Police Officers., including an increase in the starting pay to $35.64 per hour.  Captain Rob Sharpnack represented the CMPD in the discussion.  After some discussion about how many vacancies the CMPD has - 26 - and how many candidates we have - 7 currently in the Academy and 4 scheduled for December - out of the blue Monahan said something like, "We just outta bump it up to $38.00" and, quick as a wink, the council voted on it with that change!  A stunned Sharpnack said "we've got a conflict", but Righeimer just waved him off with some incomprehensible gibberish.  It turns out that Monahan's number creates a HUGE problem with the full-time Police Officer pay scale. I could not help but recall the words written by former Interim Police Chief Steve Staveley when he abruptly left a little over two years ago.  Referring to the council majority, he said, in part, "They are in my opinion incompetent, unskilled and unethical." You can read the post that includes the text of his farewell letter to the men and women of the CMPD HERE.

TRAILED PUBLIC COMMENTS
At the end we had a few more Public Comments folks.  Jay Humphrey suggested that the City should televise the Eastside forum, but maybe have a disclaimer at the beginning and end of the tape stating something like "This group does not represent the views of the city." or words to that effect.  He also addressed the bogus City Charter.

Cindy Black finished reading her list of Righeimer's developer/appointee campaign contributors.

Beth Refakes discussed the "dress donate/swap" for our adopted Marine battalion.

SEE YOU IN A COUPLE HOURS...

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know this was another long post.  Couldn't do it more briefly.  See you tonight at the Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee meeting at 6:00 p.m. at the Neighborhood Community Center.

Joyce Gone!

LOCAL MEDIA REPORTS JOYCE'S DEPARTURE
Late today both Bradley Zint in the Daily Pilot, HERE, and Scott Martindale in the Orange County Register, HERE, report that Costa Mesa Public Affairs Manager Dan Joyce is no longer employed by the city.

MAJOR FINANCIAL TROUBLES
As those who follow this story know, Joyce was a central figure in the now-notorious 60th Anniversary Celebration that resulted in more than $500,000 in expenses - well beyond what had been approved by the City Council.

PAID SINCE AUGUST
Joyce has been on paid administrative leave since last August.  According to the news reports, no further information on his termination is available, with officials citing personnel confidentiality.

WILL THE TRUTH NOW COME OUT, OR?
His departure brings up some interesting thoughts.  For example, now that he's gone will he tell the world what happened that caused him to be such a central figure in what was, at least, a circumvention of established policies?  Or, has he received a deal for his silence?

WHAT ABOUT THE DA?
And, even more important, what will District Attorney Tony Rackaukas - a political ally of certain Costa Mesa politicians -  do about this case?  It's my understanding that his office has had this case in its hands for several months with no apparent action taking place.  This, of course, looks very peculiar when compared to the hasty rush to judgment in the case of employee Steve White and the destroyed campaign signs.  That case - where the DA prosecuted him for destruction of about $5.00 worth of personal property - went to trial.  White was found not guilty.

WE DESERVE THE TRUTH!
So, the drama surrounding the 60th Anniversary continues to swirl.  The residents, tax payers and voters of this city deserve to know what happened and who was responsible.

60th Anniversary Meeting - The Boil Is Lanced... (Amended)**

COZY CONFINES
Last night more than a dozen members of the 60th Anniversary Celebration Committee, plus another thirty members of the public, were crammed into half of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for the long-delayed "after action" report about the event.  The agenda is HERE.

LONG DELAYED - PENT-UP ANGER
As I mentioned before, this meeting probably could have - and should have - been held last summer, shortly after the 3-day event that was the center piece of the celebration.  There were plenty of operational gaffes that would have been discussed and put behind the committee and the City Staff.  However, circumstances - the huge question mark about the management of the finances of the event - got in the way and this meeting was put off, and put off and put off.  And, as you might expect, concerns turned to anger and frustration and the whole thing began to fester like a boil.  Last night it was lanced.

SCHEAFER
Chairman Mike Scheafer kicked things off by welcoming all the participants and the interested residents, as well.  He set out the ground rules - no personal attacks and try to keep it as positive as possible - then thanked the committee for an outstanding job.  Then he handed the ball off to City Chief Executive Officer Tom Hatch for an overview.

HATCH
Hatch spent most of the next twenty minutes falling on his sword.  He apologized for the mistakes made during the event and indicated he was looking forward to hearing the observations of the public and volunteers who worked to make the event a success.

TRIED TO EXPLAIN...
He discussed the reports handed out last night, including the Executive Summary of the Financial audit of the event.  He said he was very disappointed in the way things went - that procedures were not followed that led to what he called "unbudgeted event growth".  I think that was a kind way of saying somebody spent city cash like a drunken sailor!  He spoke of the violation of purchasing policies and procedures and "shortfall" on cash controls.  He said, "I was not aware of the violation of procedures and unauthorized event growth."  He went on to say if he had been aware of them he would have stopped them.  OK...  He said he called for an immediate audit when he finally became aware of the problems.

REFORMS
Hatch went on to discuss "reforms" being put in place to stop the abuses we saw with this event.  He discussed:

• Heightened awareness within the Finance Department, which he has charged with being the place where such abuses will be stopped in the future.  He said that department will be the "Eyes and Ears" to control that kind of abuse.
• A new "buyer" position has been authorized and has been filled.  The sole responsibility of that buyer will be oversight of purchasing processes.
• Interviewing continues for a new Purchasing Supervisor, to oversee the buyer's activities.
• All analysts and Managers will receive increased purchasing training.
• The Purchasing Manual will be revised.

TOO MUCH TRUST
Again, he apologized for all the missteps.  It was very painful to hear him speak because one had the impression that, while the proverbial "buck" stopped with him, there had been forces beyond his control that may have contributed to the situation.  Certainly, he trusted certain people too much.

PUBLIC COMMENTS
At 6:30 the Public Comments segment began, with each speaker being given 2 minutes to address any issue involving the 60th Anniversary celebration.  Fourteen (14) people stood to address the committee and staff.  The comments were wide-ranging.  I'll not try to provide a word-for-word transcript, but will give you a taste of what was said.

VOLUNTEER ABUSE
Several speakers were very angry about the way volunteers were treated.  They spoke from personal experience, having volunteered at the event.  They described the treatment as "terrible" and wanted to name names, but honored the request by Scheafer and Hatch to not do that - almost.  Complaints ranged from verbal abuse to inconsiderate behavior regarding assignments, break venues, providing water, etc.

PROMOTIONS 
Harold Weitzberg, an unofficial committee member who worked tirelessly, and said he thought the event was terrific, acknowledged that his experience was not the same as others who spoke, but understood their frustration.  He also acknowledged that Sue Lester and Cindy Brenneman had done an outstanding job of trying to promote the event.

BOGUS APPROVALS
Flo Martin questioned the process by which SUN Group was selected to provide talent for the event, citing a lack of a formal Request for Proposals, and spoke of the numerous check authorizations NOT signed by Chair Scheafer, but "for" him by Dan Joyce and Christine Cordon.

NO-BID CONTRACTS
Jay Humphrey compared what happened in this instance to what could very well happen under a Charter with insufficient controls on no-bid contracts.  He compared it to the City of Bell.  He said what happened in this instance "speaks to the culture of the people who made the decisions and what they thought they could get away with."

CONFERENCE AND VISITORS BUREAU
Reggie Mundekis suggested that the Conference and Visitors Bureau had become a de facto "slush fund" for pet projects by certain council members and suggested a mechanism be created to "wall off" the CVB from other city activities.  She also wondered if the proper paperwork was submitted for whatever free tickets and other coupons that may have been distributed during the event.

A LONG LIST...
Beth Refakes, a conscientious regular at most city meetings for years and long-time resident, presented a laundry list of what she perceived to be faults of the process/execution of the celebration.  Her criticisms ranged from relying too much on social media for publicity to no bottled water and/or cooling stations for volunteers.  She wondered whether we actually got a good return on our investment, with more than a half million dollars being spent on entertainment for 16 thousand people.

UNLIKELY ONE PERSON RESPONSIBLE
Robin Leffler also addressed the "signature" issue, calling them "forged".  She also speculated that it was unlikely that such misdeeds happened because of only one person - that the decisions were not likely made in a vacuum.

FISCAL SHORTFALL?
Anna Vrska briefly mentioned that her lengthy analysis of the files resulted in what she thought was a $10,000 shortfall in revenue and offered to go over her findings with staff to resolve it.

TERRIBLE MANAGEMENT CONTROLS
Charles Mooney said the 60th celebration was a "great event", but that the management controls were terrible.

DEMANDS A FORENSIC AUDIT
A frustrated and very angry Theresa Drain called for a forensic audit of the entire 60th celebration process.

AD HOC COMMITTEE?
Weitzberg chimed in at the end, suggesting that an ad hoc group be formed to help push the resolution of pending issues along.  Hatch said he would discuss it with the City Council, since it was they who formed the committee.

COMMITTEE COMMENTS
The meeting then turned to the comments by committee members, to use as much time as they chose to discuss what they thought was good or bad about the event, and how things could be improved.

OOTEN ON SUSTAINABILITY
First up was Bob Ooten, a Director of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District and Chairman of the "Sustainability" Sub-committee.  He told us his group produced a pamphlet that could be used forever for such events and that they spend "Zero" of their $3,500 budget.  He said it had been difficult to get together with other sub-committees.

ACCENT THE POSITIVE
Kim Pederson, Vice-Chair of the Parks and Recreation Commission, thanked all the volunteers and staff, and the public for coming and speaking out.  He hoped that the negatives wouldn't drown out all the positives from the event.

LOST SUPPORT AS TEAM RAN OUT OF GAS
Charlene Ashendorf, Chair of the Scarecrow event, was disappointed that the promotion team seemed to simply run out of gas by the time her event came around in October.  She praised Chairman Scheafer, saying that he never let them down.  She said she and her volunteers spent thousands of hours creating the scarecrows, and that they spent only $4,000 of their $10,000 budget.

NOT ENOUGH LOCAL TALENT/RESTAURANTS
Rob Dickson, Vice Chair of the Planning Commission, was the Chairman of the Kickoff event, expressed disappointment that so much money was spent on big name bands and not on local talent.  He suggested that the "taste of" event should have exclusively Costa Mesa eateries.  He indicated that the Kick Off event evolved into something where only two people had any control - he didn't name names.  He indicated that, even though he was Chairman of the event, he had no authority to act on issues, and that future such events should have clear lines of authority.  He praised the volunteers for their hard work and Hatch for his candor.

GREAT VOLUNTEERS
Lynell Brooks was the Chair of the Volunteers and praised them all.  She said there were lots of very talented people with good leadership skills, but those talents were not fully utilized.  She also said there was not enough time to properly put this kind of event together.  She also bemoaned that it became a regional event, not a Costa Mesa event.

NOT ENOUGH TIME
Cecily Renteria is an employee of the Recreation Department and was appointed by Hatch to the committee.  She observed that there seemed to not be enough time, too.

LEECE
Councilwoman Wendy Leece observed that the event got too big.  She also observed that many of the volunteers were not "Costa Mesa" volunteers, but were from the Orange County Marathon.  She also expressed concern about the "taste of" choices, indicating that the contract provided for the inclusion of outside Costa Mesa vendors.  She also expressed concern about the beer pulls cash distribution.

HULL
Howard Hull told us he was in charge of the beer pull cash distribution.  Previously, there had been concern about how the cash was handled.  He also said he, personally, contacted many Costa Mesa restaurants about participating but all he got were "no's" for an answer.  During the criticism by some committee members and members of the public that was clearly directed squarely at him I observed him making notes and smirking.

AN UNHAPPY CAMPER
Cindy Brenneman, first finished reading Theresa Drain's comments, mentioning lack of proper radios, water, shade, etc.  Then, as herself, she praised several committee members for their outstanding work and mentioned that Howard Hull had been the one who abused some of the volunteers and failed to provide water for them.  She also observed that this committee worked for months on what was supposed to be a year-long event and barely got an acknowledgment while the Charter Committee got expensive plaques and a party to celebrate their accomplishment.  She cited the need for more checks and balances in financial matters.

LESTER - LOTS OF ISSUES
Sue Lester then launched into what turned out to be at least 20 minutes of positive and negative observations.  She praised staffers Mike Brumbaugh, Bob Knapp and Dan Baker for service above and beyond the call of duty.  She thought that the community had a great time.  She wondered what happened to the "permanent piece of art" that was supposed to be part of the celebration - to the tune of $50,000 $10,000. (10% of expenditures, originally estimated at $125,000, not the more than $500,000 actually spent.  See Sue Lester comment, below).  There's no sign of it, or a plan for it.  She talked about the Sustainability committee doing a great job, and how great the Car Show was.

GREAT VOLUNTEERS
She talked about the great volunteer turnout, and what a great job the coordinators did, except when they were usurped by Hull.  She also mentioned that some committee members failed to fulfill their tasks during the event.

EPIC FAIL!
She wondered where all the money went, and described the event as an "Epic Fail" from a financial standpoint.  She expressed concern that the VIP areas should not be in the middle of things - it divided folks.

FBI AND DA INTERVIEWS!
She observed that, because of this event, she'd been interviewed by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Orange County District Attorney!  She found it amusing that she, a former operator of a Medical Marijuana dispensary, had never been interviewed by either body before, but now had been because she chose to volunteer for a community party.  She demanded that The City request the District Attorney tell us if there will be prosecutions, or will they just drop the case.  She felt all the volunteers need to know.  She also asked if the committee will be able to make a presentation to the City Council.

"YES", DO IT AGAIN...
Vice Chair Melinda Lowery then spoke about her role.  She suggested that, in answer to one of the survey questions, "Yes", we should do this kind of event again.  She was very sorry volunteers had been treated so badly.

SCHEAFER'S THOUGHTS
Chairman Scheafer suggested the next such party be in 15-20 years... and chuckled.  He was concerned about the short time frame available to produce the party and the use of outside, expensive entertainment instead of local talent.  He observed that the committee meetings had been very enthusiastic and full of excitement and focus.

MY THOUGHTS
Some observations of my own... As several speakers said, the "Kick Off" event seemed to take all the energy from what was supposed to be a year-long series of celebratory events, particularly when rumors of fiscal improprieties began to surface.  Several lovely events - art contests, the scarecrow event, received very little publicity.  Also, I agree with Sue Lester.  The DA should let us know what's going on.  If it requires Hatch to make an official inquiry, then it should be done, and done soon.

DISAPPOINTED IN HATCH
I was disappointed in Hatch.  Clearly, there were serious management foul-ups in this event.  He apparently trusted the wrong people.  And, again, as Robin Leffler observed, it's highly unlikely the things that were messed up occurred in a vacuum.

WHY?
There were many lessons to be learned from this debacle.  Among the questions that were never answered a year ago is "Why?"  Why have a 60th celebration in the first place?  The second question is, "How did this go so badly?"  I have it on good authority that some of the things that happened were done intentionally.  Proper controls WERE in place - they were just ignored and the gatekeepers in charge of insuring compliance with proper controls and policies were simply bypassed.  I found myself wanting to talk with now-departed former Finance and Information Technology Director, Bobby Young about what happened.  He's the straightest arrow I know, so I cannot imagine him tolerating such procedural violations without direction to do so.  We may never know, but we're certainly entitled to know.

ALMOST OVER...
So, this thing is almost over.  The DA's actions - if any - are still pending.  Dan Joyce remains on paid leave.  This whole event has a been a very unhealthy situation for the city.  Too many questions remain unanswered.  Until this situation is resolved I fear this infection will return...



**OPINION WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE

The Mouth From Mesa North, resurfacing after being mostly invisible at meetings over the past couple months, was skulking around the back of the crowd last night.  He arrived late and was relegated to the cheap seats.  Then, about half-way through the meeting, armed with only that snippet of information, he left.  This morning he posted HIS version of events, armed only with his own bias and a teeny piece of the information presented last night, HERE.  Sorry, you'll have to wade through the manure about black on white crime to find the relevant piece.  His complaint about the computers is interesting.  If he had just asked he would have known that those computers he's tucked in behind were in place for the CAD/RMS training on the new program launched earlier this week by the CMPD.  That's why the meeting was crammed into only half the room at the EOC.  This poor sap has become virtually irrelevant in the discussion of important issues in our city - a caricature of himself, with his "Breaking Bad" countenance.  What a waste of what was probably at one time a prodigious intellect.

A Date We MUST NOT FORGET...

A SAD REMEMBRANCE
1096 days ago, on March 17, 2011, a young maintenance worker with the City of Costa Mesa, Huy Pham, threw himself to his death off the roof of City Hall, apparently despondent over the fact that he would be among more than 200 City employees given layoff notices that day.  That tragic event was the thunder clap following the lightning strike - the announcement of the layoffs - that marked the beginning of a storm that has lasted three years... and it's not over yet.

WE MUST REMEMBER
I've written about that day and the events that followed over the next few weeks.  I've marked it each year so those of us who live in this city will not forget what happened.  We cannot forget who has been responsible for the decline of this city as we approach an election season that provides us with an opportunity to resolve the problem.


MY WORDS, IF YOU WISH TO RE-READ THEM
I'm not going to re-write those thousands of words that have appeared here talking about those events, but I am going to provide you with links to them if you choose to revisit any of them.  Just click on the titles below.
3/17/11 - Suicide at City Hall
3/18/11 - Press Conference Pending On Thursday's Tragedy
3/18/11 - Costa Mesa Issues Press Release About Huy Pham
3/18/11 - Monahan's Prepared Statement Released
3/18/11 - The Worst Press Conference In History (video - 10 minutes)
3/19/11 - Of Loving, Lameness and Losers
3/20/11 - CMCEA Statement & Memorial Gathering
3/21/11 - Two "Healing" Events Scheduled Today
3/21/11 - Today The Healing Began - Or Did It?  
4/5/11 -   Tonight's Council Meeting Could Get Rowdy
4/6/11 -   "The People" Spoke - Did The Council Listen?
3/16/12 - Huy Pham Remembered
3/16/12 - A Sad Day And The Aftermath
3/17/12 - To The Employees Of The City Of Costa Mesa
3/17/13 - A Sad Day Of Rememberance

A PUBLIC RELATIONS NIGHTMARE
In the immediate aftermath of that tragedy we saw a completely botched press conference when then-mayor Gary Monahan failed to answer questions about his decision to remain at his pub to pull beer taps on what he had described as "the biggest day of my life.  The city hired a public relations manager (Bill Lobdell) to keep it from sinking further into the quicksand.  We saw more than 100 residents circumscribe City Hall in a soft drizzle to pray for the future of The City and hundreds more gather for a Memorial Service for Huy Pham.

SHINY OBJECTS
Later we saw The City hire a party planner (Dan Joyce) to create feel-good events to distract residents from what was really going on in The City.  The disastrous 60th Anniversary Celebration fiasco demonstrated just how well that scheme went.  More than a half-million of our tax dollars spent with little or no accountability.  If these guys ran a business this way it would end up bankrupt and they'd get fired.  We certainly don't hope for the former, but there's still time for the latter.

THINGS ARE WORSE FOR EMPLOYEES
After Huy Pham leaped to his death that sad afternoon things have not gotten better for the employees of the City of Costa Mesa.  The current City Council majority has created such a toxic work environment that many of those who could leave have done so.  The ranks of senior staffers have been decimated, taking with them decades of experience and institutional knowledge.  Many others have also opted to leave for greener pastures or simply retire earlier than anticipated.  The impact of those actions are felt throughout The City, but most acutely by the Police Department, where Chief Tom Gazsi and his command staff attempt to hold things together using smoke and mirrors.

TOO MANY SERIOUS MISSTEPS TO LIST
And things have not gotten better for the residents, either.  The list of missteps taken by this current council majority is much too voluminous to list here, but it would certainly start with the botched handling of the above-mentioned layoffs.  That gaffe resulted in a lawsuit that is still percolating.  Their attempts to "run the city like a business" has had disastrous results, many of which ended up with legal action.  And, you must include in that legal quagmire the boneheaded lawsuit filed by Mayor Jim Righeimer and Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger against the men and women of the Costa Mesa Police Department.  The City spends millions of dollars each year on legal fees - a rate that is unprecedented in its 60 year history.

JAMMING A CHARTER DOWN OUR THROATS
We have seen a Charter personally cobbled together by Righeimer to tighten his iron grip on local government and perpetuate his personal political future resoundingly defeated at the polls, only to have him arrogantly ignore the clear will of the electorate by insisting The City present ANOTHER Charter to the voters this November.  He and his council majority cohorts stacked the Charter Committee with a majority of like-minded individuals who spent 10 months hammering out a document that, as written, doesn't accomplish anything that cannot be done by a General Law City - only without the safeguards provided by our current form of government to preclude abuse by those in power.  Think the City of Bell fiasco.

IGNORING RESIDENTS
Righeimer and his cronies have ignored the pleas of residents at General Plan meetings -  where the road map for the next three decades of The City were to be formulated -  to reduce their plans for higher density throughout The City and have now codified a Small Lot Ordinance that will grease the skids for their developer buddies to saturate our city with more and more dense developments, resulting in more traffic and placing greater demands on our infrastructure and services.

WE'VE SEEN BAD BEHAVIOR
In recent months we've seen a systematic attempt to stifle criticism of the current council majority by bifurcating the Public Comments segment of council meetings to discourage speakers and deny them their right to address grievances.  We've seen residents treated rudely -  chided and vilified from the dais by members of the majority when opposing views were put forward.  The list goes on and on.

EMPIRE BUILDING
Although all other departments in the city have seen dramatic staff cuts we've seen an empire built on the 5th Floor of City Hall, where the number of people reporting to Tom Hatch, Chief Executive Officer, has more than doubled, including a special Code Enforcement organization.

A SMALL REMEMBRANCE 

This afternoon, at 4:30 p.m., a small cadre of residents plan to gather at the employee entrance on the East side of City Hall - the site where Huy Pham lost his life three years ago - to hold a small remembrance service.  I hope you will join me there to pay your respects to that young man and to contemplate the future of our city.

ONCE AGAIN...
And, to the employees of The City of Costa Mesa who have stuck it out during this three years of turmoil and chaos, once again I ask the amazing Amanda Marshall to help me tell you how I feel.