Never Too Old To Learn...

HOW TO BEGIN?...

I learned several things at the Costa Mesa City Council meeting last night.  Let me begin this post by simply listing some of them for you... (You can read Bradley Zint's coverage in the Daily Pilot HERE and watch the streaming video of the meeting HERE)

 GARY RUNS OUT OF GAS
I learned that "stayed-too-long-at-the-dance" council member Gary Monahan can still arrive at a council meeting with something to say - he told me that, by name, from the dais last night as he began his "council member comments" - but that he no longer has the stamina or interest to stick it out for an entire meeting.  He left early last night when he had to recuse himself from an item on the agenda and probably went back to his bar to pull beer taps for the crowd gathered to watch the MLB All Star game.  And, no, it wasn't the last item to be considered - there was still business to be conducted.

TOO LAZY TO DO THE HOMEWORK

I learned that Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger doesn't like it when other members of the council have more information on an issue than he does because those council members actually took the time to do their homework on the issue and he didn't.

PERFECTION STILL A GOAL
I learned that, while the city staff generally does a terrific job carrying out their tasks, they are not perfect and occasionally make a mistake.

POTENTIAL HOMELESSNESS A MOTIVATOR
I learned that the specter of losing one's home can motivate folks who would never otherwise even consider speaking up in public to present their concerns to the council, looking for relief.


D.U.M.B. WITH A CAPITAL "D"
I learned that, while we like to assume the developers trying to do projects in our city are really smart guys, that's not always the case.

A VINDICTIVE MAYOR
And I learned that Mayor Jim Righeimer is such a vindictive man that he may have slandered a former employee last night while defending his position on his latest effort to turn Costa Mesa into a Charter City.

HE HAD ME FUMING...
That last item got me so angry at Righeimer that it impaired my ability to post my summary of the meeting last night... so, here we are this morning, still angry but ready to rumble...  So let's get that last one out of the way first so we can focus on other things later.

ROBIN REMINDS US
Last night frequent speaker Robin Leffler used her three minutes to play a short video clip of Righeimer from council meeting at which the Charter Committee members were selected stating that their task was to determine IF the city needed a charter.  I provided the text of his statement in an earlier post.  This issue has been resolved to the satisfaction of the facilitators of the process and the committee is moving forward, but Leffler apparently felt it was necessary to remind us that we should not trust what Righeimer says from the dais.  In fact, she showed the clip twice - a nice touch, I thought.

DEFENDING HIMSELF HE MAKES A GAFFE

Then, during his Council Member Comments segment, Righeimer chose to defend the current process and when speculating about how it might be slowed down he included the following statement in his little riff:

"I remember last time, we had a city employee, a City Clerk, who for whatever reason decided not to file it with the county so it didn't get on the ballot, okay?   Now, in the end, you know, she wasn't criminally charged.  She didn't go to jail, she just resigned.  But it was put on by the council, the elected officials to say 'Do you want to vote on this or not?' and an employee just decided to not turn it in."

REALLY?

Well, that's a whole lot of revisionist history.  Practically up until the day she left her job with the City Folcik's action that prevented Jim Righeimer's Charter from being placed on the June Primary ballot was being actively defended in court by The City as "a clerical error".  Then they threw her under the bus...

SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA
A little later, when speaking about actions the council has taken, Righeimer said:
"If you don't like people on the council just vote them out.  We've all got other things to do."

Those seem like words to remember next fall.

ARRIVED LATE, LEFT EARLY

I was amused when Monahan, who was not in attendance when the council adjourned to the closed session at 5:00 p.m., came scampering into the chambers shortly after 6:00, just after the roll was called.  I was further amused when he made a big deal of telling me that he had something to say last night - he and I smiled at each other.  Then he began...

WORRIED ABOUT HIS BUSINESS?
He wondered about the status of yet another restaurant that is supposed to open at The Triangle (which he referred to as Triangle Square).  Since that would mean another competitor for the community booze dollar only a block away from his gin mill, I guess I understand his concern.

FIREWORKS AND NOT ENOUGH COPS
He agreed with others who complained about the fireworks over the long, long, long Independence Day celebration.  He thanked the CMPD and the CMFD for their efforts over that time.  (As an aside, HERE is an excellent "after action" report prepared by Captain Rob Sharpnack of the CMPD for that holiday).  He went on to talk about the difficulty working a fire works booth, and about the difficulty trying to police the evening's events.  He said, "There's only so many officers to go around".  Really?  No kidding!  He suggested that Costa Mesa "always has been a fireworks city" and that the only way to get rid of them is to ban them via the ballot box.

REALLY, GARY?
He talked about the lights at Harper School - Wendy Leece has appealed the Parks and Recreation Commission decision to deploy lights there for another year.  He defended the Parks and Recreation Commission decision and ranted on and on, including a segment where, in response to the suggestion that the fields at the Fairview Developmental Center be used more, he wondered why Fairview was a target - "because they are handicapped or because they are low income?"   By this time I realized that Monahan had forgotten that you're supposed to engage your brain before opening your mouth.  He closed his rant by observing that the street beside his restaurant - part of the GREAT EASTSIDE RE-PAVING that has been going on for months - cost him a ton of money.

EARLY BAIL OUT
He did not return to the meeting after he recused himself from the consideration of the 208 apartment unit project discussion - the project is within 500 feet of his gin mill, across the freeway.  So, he failed to participate in the discussion of the last item covered - the other General Plan Screening issue at the corner of 17th Street and Superior Avenue.

IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU, STEVE!
One of the low points was Mensinger attempting to criticize Leece, and later Genis, because they actually did their homework on the Code Enforcement issue.  He ranted about "not having all the information they had", so he wanted to not consider the item.  I, and others, wanted to stand up and shout, "Do your homework, dummy!", but we didn't.  Instead both Leece and Genis calmly explained just why they  choose to dig deeper into the issue.  As a result, at least a couple parties listed to have a lien placed on their property were removed from the list.  It's a good thing at least a couple council members think doing their homework is a good idea for the residents of the city.

IMPROVING THE SYSTEM
As a result of Genis' and Leece's action the Code Enforcement and Finance staffs will investigate ways to tighten up the system.  That's a good thing.

SURPRISED AND ANXIOUS RESIDENTS
During the presentation of New Business #2, the 208 apartments proposed near the intersection of Ford Road and Newport Boulevard, more than 20 people stood to express concern that the residents had NOT been told of this project, nor "noticed" for the meeting.  They only heard about it when one of the residents saw an article about it in the Daily Pilot and sounded the alarm.  They were, and probably still are, concerned about losing their homes in the Rolling Hills Mobile Home Park - the site of the project.  Twenty-five people spoke - actually, 24, but one guy spoke twice - and most had the same theme.  They said the ownership of the park had "promised them" that they would be able to live there until they died!  They had no idea the property was up for sale!  Many residents are infirm/elderly and don't have another move in them.  (If this sounds familiar, it should.  We heard the same thing about the recent closure of the Anchor Trailer Port earlier this year).

DEVELOPER SCREWS UP!
In the end, after an hour and three-quarters of discussion, it turned out that the developer didn't really have ALL the property tied up.  Seems he neglected to acquire the key piece of property - where Orange Coast Trailer Supply is located - that would be the main entrance!  The owner of that property, Larry Sutton, (shown here) stepped up and told the council that his property is NOT for sale - the crowd cheered.  So, the council voted, 4-0, to deny the General Plan change for this project.

WAKE UP CALL
Righeimer, however, gave a wake up call to the euphoric crowd when he reminded them that the property is "in play", and that it's likely that "something" will be happening to it soon.  Either the current developer will be back with a plan that actually works, or someone will buy it and put a commercial building on it - no council approval would be required for that use, or someone might buy the park and probably raise the rent.  None of those choices will be good for the current residents.

29 UNITS TURNS INTO 49
New Business #1, heard last and minus Monahan, was not as controversial, but interesting because that developer had worked hard and, at the last minute, acquired the property at the corner of 17th Street and Superior Avenue that made his project much more attractive - to some.  Unfortunately, the "noticed" item only had the original 29 units.  The modified plan now had 49!  He will be back with a new plan, including potential mitigation measures for traffic at one of the busiest intersections in Costa Mesa.  It will be interesting to see how this one goes, since it would add hundreds of trips each day to that site.

SUMMERTIME
The meeting, which could have ended at 8, finally drew to a close at 10:40 p.m.!  August 6th is the next meeting - the only one until after Labor Day since the council decided last time to cancel the August 20th meeting.

Brenda Green Hired As City Clerk

 (Brenda Green, shown swearing-in Sandra Genis earlier this year)

A GOOD MOVE
In a press release today the City of Costa Mesa announced that Interim City Clerk Brenda Green has been hired as City Clerk.  You can read the information HERE.

GOOD JOB IN TOUGH CIRCUMSTANCES
This is a good move for the City.  Green has done a good job in the wake of the abrupt and controversial departure of popular former City Clerk Julie Folcik - a casualty of ham-handed management by members of the City Council and staff as they attempted to jam Jim Righeimer's Charter down the voters throats last spring.

CONGRATS AND KUDOS

Green came in and provided stability to that office and has worked efficiently during her tenure.  Congratulations to Brenda Green and kudos to Tom Hatch and his staff for making this selection.

Righeimer Calls Press Conference (Updated)*

 BREAKING NEWS!!!

The Orange County Register, in their story at the link below, has identified the man who called 911 in this case as a discredited former Riverside Police Officer named Chris Lanzillo and further identifies him as working for the law firm of Lackie, Dammeier & McGill, the firm that, until today, represented the Costa Mesa Police Officer's Association!  Go to the links below for both the Register and Daily Pilot updated stories.  The Daily Pilot has transcribed some of the taped conversations with Lanzillo and has new quotes from Righeimer.

*****

Here's a link to the KCAL 9 video clip shown Friday night that includes parts of the 911 call.  Click HERE.  Reporter Stacey Butler gets part of the story wrong.  The law firm was fired by the Costa Mesa Police Officer's Association Friday, not last week, as she states. 

***** 

Here's a link which contains an earlier KCAL 9 report which includes a video clip of Righeimer Tuesday night at the council meeting,  plus two radio clips from KNX1070.  Click HERE. 

***** 

20 MINUTES OF WHINING
According to reports from the scene, in a hastily-called press conference today in front of City Hall, Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer spent about 20 minutes ranting about union influence in Costa Mesa, accused former City Clerk Julie Folcik of intentionally failing to submit the documents to place his Charter on the June ballot and said that somebody was "paid to follow me around town and set me up for a DUI in front of my kids..."  You can read Joe Serna's account of this press conference HERE. *You can read the Orange County Register version of events HERE.

TELEVISION NEWS COVERAGE
Television news media was on-hand and will likely cover this press conference in news programs this afternoon and evening.  Channels 2, 4, 7 and 9 were present.  When I know more about their coverages I'll report anything that seems relevant.

IDENTITY OF THE CALLER KNOWN
It's my understanding that the CMPD knows the identity of the person who reported the alleged DUI behavior.  According to Serna's piece, "he is a white male in his 40s with blondish hair and a goatee" driving a Kia with Riverside dealership license frames.  An investigation is under way in this case.  So, we wait...

City Clerk Julie Folcik Resigns

VOLUNTARY RESIGNATION
It is with a heavy heart that I report to you today that my friend, Costa Mesa City Clerk Julie Folcik, tendered her voluntary resignation today, effective today - Friday the 13th.

CONSUMMATE PROFESSIONAL
At no time during the three months since CEO Tom Hatch placed her on paid administrative leave in the wake of the City having missed the filing deadline for Jim Righeimer's Charter did she ever discuss the circumstances of that event with me.  Through it all she maintained  professional composure and a positive attitude.

GRATEFUL FOR HER FRIENDS
In a private message to me this afternoon Julie expressed sadness for leaving the position she's held for more than a decade and that she's grateful to all her friends at City Hall for their kindness, support and encouragement during her tenure.  She's shown above with her former co-worker, Christine Cordon.

HER FUTURE IS OPEN...
She gave me no indication what her future plans might be.  I certainly want to wish her well.

Charter Appeal Denied!

FAST ACTION BY APPEALS COURT
In a bit of late breaking news this afternoon the 4th District Court of Appeals ruled that the petition for peremptory writ of mandate and request for immediate relief in the case of Folcik vs. Orange County Registrar of Voters is DENIED! You can read the docket Register of Actions on the issue HERE.

FRANCIS NEW CITY CLERK?
Of interest, as you will see, is that the City attempted to substitute Assistant CEO Rick Francis "in his official capacity as City Clerk of Costa Mesa" on the lawsuit. That's the first we've heard about this and find it interesting that, since Julie Folcik was the plaintiff, my understanding is that SHE must agree to that substitution. As of late this afternoon - well after this move - she did NOT even know about it.

A STAKE IN THE HEART?
So, it appears that Jim Righeimer's Charter WILL NOT be on the June Ballot. I cannot imagine anyone trying to appeal this further - to the State Supreme Court, for example. Communication Director Bill Lobdell was not available for comment tonight - his voice mail box was full. Gee, wonder why?

A BIT OF MIXED NEWS
Thanks to the several readers who sent me the information about the decision. This is certainly a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that this bogus charter will be at least delayed a few months. The bad news, of course, is with the naming of Francis as City Clerk, that Julie Folcik will lose her job because of this mistake. That's a shame. Even more of a shame is how she has been treated by The City in this matter. The way she was treated by the lawyers theoretically representing HER is unconscionable - and maybe illegal. I suspect Folcik will seek her own legal counsel in this matter.

Haste, And Assumptions, Make Waste

MEA CULPA, SORT OF
Housekeeping time. In my last post I suggested that the City of Costa Mesa had released email correspondence between City Clerk Julie Folcik and the Registrar of Voters office in Santa Ana regarding deadlines on the submission of Charter information to make the June ballot. Joe Serna's article in the Daily Pilot last Friday HERE, and Sean Greene's article in the Orange County Register HERE, spoke of the exchange and I - and many others too, I come to find out - assumed that the City had released that information. Turns out it was the Registrar's office that released the information. I spoke with Communication Director Bill Lobdell this afternoon who confirmed that The City had NOT provided the information reported by Serna and Greene. He told me they planned to, but the Registrar beat them to it. So, apologies - kind of - to The City for my assumption that they had released the information. I'm still concerned that they WOULD have done so, but the Registrar's office did it first.

ANOTHER VOTE, AND MORE...
In my haste to publish information about the upcoming City Council meeting tomorrow I overlooked - again that darn "haste" bites me - an item of extreme importance. I mentioned that the mid-year budget review, previously presented by Finance and Information Technology Director Bobby Young on March 20th, was being presented AGAIN on Tuesday. I gave you the link to it, HERE. I assumed the staff report was "old news", and that the reason for the re-presentation was to - hopefully - get three council members to vote to authorize transfer of funds from the General Fund to the Self Insurance Fund so litigation bills could be paid. Well, that part is true, but there's more...

COUNCIL TO CONSIDER NEW TAXES
At the council meeting on March 20th CEO Tom Hatch was asked by Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer - during his meltdown - to bring back every kind of tax and funding source possible for the council to consider. Well, Young has prepared a long list, which is shown as Attachment #9, HERE, of current and possible future funding sources that the City might consider. Some of them are issues that require a vote of the people. Please take a few minutes and review that list... it will make your stomach curdle. And, it made me chuckle, since the city council pretends to be fiscal conservatives but have actually asked the staff to present them with new TAXES to consider. Here's a list of the 14 areas that the council will consider to either increase the amount or create new taxes:

• General Obligation Bonds
• Sales Tax
• Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT)
• Business License Tax
• Solid Waste Franchises Fee - Non Residential
• Solid Waste Franchises Fee - Residential
• Green Fees at Golf Course
• Emergency Medical Services - Resident Paramedic Fee
• Fire Prevention - Apartment Inspection Fee
• Fire Prevention - Business Inspection Fee
• Fire Prevention - Annual Permit Fee
• Animal License Fee
• Citywide User Fees
• Civil Citations

UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS
Of course, new funding sources are necessary IF the council expects the staff to present them a budget that covers the costs added in their wish list - the 5 Year Forecast, HERE - that was completed by simply pulling numbers from the air without ANY kind of careful deliberation or even discussion. This should be very interesting. It's that kind of petulant disregard for the needs of the city - and placing personal political priorities ahead of the welfare of our town - from which recall efforts spring...

OK, Back To Business...

THE SAME OLD CRAP IS WAITING
You know the only real problem about taking a nice, short mini-vacation? It's when you return and find that what you wandered away from a few days ago has only gotten worse in your absence. No matter how much fun you have when you're gone, no matter how much joy and love you share with your soul-mate as you celebrate her birthday, when you get back the same old steaming pile of manure you left behind is still there and it's only gotten more pungent. Welcome back to me...

RUSH TO JUDGMENT
I returned to find that not only is City Clerk Julie Folcik still on administrative leave, but that the City has apparently decided to handle personnel matters in the public press. Yep, contrary to every accepted personnel practice of which I'm aware - keeping in mind that I'm an old Personnel guy myself - they've decided to paint her as an incompetent at best and, perhaps, as some kind of a conspirator at worst and are doing so by providing correspondence to the local media. And, they've done so with lightning speed - much faster than their own policies prescribe. Every time in the past when they've rushed something it's returned to bite them on their posteriors... I'm thinking that may happen this time, too.

WHAT THE HECK?!
When you combine these actions with those earlier in the month when Folcik - represented by Jones Day as the plaintiff in the "missed deadline" lawsuit against Neal Kelley, Orange County Registrar of Voters - was first portrayed as a harried, loyal worker who just made a "clerical error", then later painted as some kind of villain who, in the words of CEO Tom Hatch, had committed a "significant professional failure" and was escorted out of the building, you'll get some idea why many of us are wondering just what the heck is going on at City Hall.

FOLCIK - A GREAT EMPLOYEE
Prior to this event I doubt if you could find a single person who would have described Folcik as anything but a cheerful, diligent, intelligent, industrious, organized and loyal city employee. She and the staff she supervised always seemed to do their very best to fulfill requests and/or demands made of them. They worked early and late, sometimes into the wee hours of the morning when the City Council failed to get their work done on time. (She's shown here with new Acting Deputy City Clerk Christine Cordon)

TELL US WHAT WE DON'T KNOW...
People keep saying that there's more to this situation than we know. OK, if that's the case, tell us. What we do know is that late in the afternoon of March 9th - the date that the resolutions necessary to place Jim Righeimer's Charter on the ballot and to request the consolidation with the state-wide primary were due at the Registrar of Voters office - Contract City Attorney Tom Duarte was scampering around getting his "impartial analysis" finished and the folks who wrote the arguments for and against the Charter were also at City Hall trying to beat the deadline, too. In fact, some of those documents were date stamped at 5:00 p.m. - the close of the business day. We don't know if Duarte, in his role as City Attorney, was overseeing the preparation and submission of the necessary documents or not. We do know that he was there, though.

WATCH NINE MINUTES OF FRUSTRATION
We do know that the City Council had a special council meeting on Tuesday, March 27th at which Jones Day was officially hired to work on the Charter litigation - two weeks after they began. And we also know, because they "reported out" of the closed session, that the City is going to appeal Judge Miller's ruling on the Charter. You can watch the entire nine (9) minutes of the open session - during which our part-time, part-time Mayor Eric Bever slammed the door on Wendy Leece as she tried to present her reasons for not supporting the hiring of Jones Day - and the "report out" segment HERE. The very next day Folcik was escorted out of the building.

JONES DAY BILLS - $505,398.75 AND COUNTING
Speaking of Jones Day, at the council meeting next Tuesday, April 3, 2012, there will be a Warrant, #2413, HERE, which shows that we paid that law firm $114,697.75 in January. Added to the previous total of $390,701.00 and you'll see that they have devoured more than a half million dollars so far. And that doesn't count the February CMCEA bills, which should be huge, nor any of the time spend on the Charter issue.

WILL THE CITY STIFF JONES DAY?
You will also recall that Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer threw a hissy fit and refused to vote to shift funds from the General Fund to the Self Insurance Fund - the pot from which litigation bills are paid - at the last regular council meeting on March 20th. That means that, potentially, Finance and Information Technology Director Bobby Young wouldn't be able to pay Jones Day's bills. What sweet irony! However, Tuesday that same issue will be presented to the council again, HERE. We wonder if Righeimer will, once again, cut off his nose to spite his face. Hopefully former mayor Gary Monahan will decide to grace us with his presence this time around so that authorization has a chance of passing. We know that Righeimer had problems in his business life in the past in which he took nine years to pay off some creditors. Funny habit, isn't it?

WE HAVE LIFT OFF!
And, as an aside, with the Warrants being presented Tuesday, our legal fees for this fiscal year continue to rise like a rocket to the moon - now exceeding $1.3 million. The non-litigation costs alone exceed a half million! It seems our "fiscal conservative" councilmen are that in name only.


HOUSING AUTHORITY MAKES RULES
You can read the agenda for Tuesday's meeting HERE. In addition to a do-over of the mid-year budget review, the Costa Mesa Housing Authority - constituted when the Redevelopment Agency was folded up in February - will meet to adopt amendments to the bylaws. It's about time! They're going to cover some pretty basic stuff - like officers, compensation, etc.

SACRIFICIAL LAMB
I suspect, though, that the scheduled meeting will be the least interesting thing that happens next week. I suspect we may hear about that "investigation" Hatch mentioned and it will come as no surprise if Julie Folcik is fired - a sacrificial lamb on the alter of Jim Righeimer's ego. That will not only be a shame, but it may also be a crime.

NO APRIL FOOL'S DAY JOKE HERE
And, by the way... much as I would have liked to, I just couldn't come up with an April Fool's Day entry. I kept hoping that when I woke up today this whole mess would have been one huge joke - but it's not...