Planning Commission Interviews PLUS The Selections

HERE WE GO AGAIN...
I hope y'all had a great weekend - what a glorious place we live in, right?  OK, back to business.

SPECIAL MEETINGS
Tuesday evening, January 31, 2017, the Costa Mesa City Council will continue with the process of interviewing candidates for the three commissions that are presently completely vacant.  This time it is the Planning Commission candidates that get the attention.  More on that in a minute.

CLOSED SESSION FOR LABOR NEGOTIATIONS AT 4:00 P.M.
Prior to the interviews the City Council will hold a closed session beginning at 4:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers for Public Comments on these items, then moving to Conference Room 5A to discuss labor negotiations with City Manager Tom Hatch.  There are four items on the agenda, HERE, that involve the Costa Mesa City Employee Association (CMDEA); the Costa Mesa Firefighters Association (CMFA); the Costa Mesa Division Managers Association (CMDMA) and the Unrepresented Executive employees.

PLANNING COMMISSION CANDIDATE INTERVIEWS AT 5:30
Following that Closed Session the City Council will move to Conference Room 1A, on the First Floor, to begin the Planning Commission candidates interviews.  This is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m., and Public Comments are permitted in this meeting ONLY on the issue at hand - the interview/process of selecting commissioners.  The agenda for that segment of the meeting may be found HERE, including the schedule of interviews.

CANDIDATE INTERVIEW SCHEDULE
Each candidate will be interviewed for eleven (11) minutes, just as the candidates for the Senior and Parks and Recreation Commissions were last Tuesday.  If they follow the same format as last week, Mayor Katrina Foley will greet each candidate - all the others will be asked to remain out of the room for fairness - then will ask a couple of pre-determined questions.  Following those questions the interrogation will rotate among the council members, one question at a time.  This takes a great deal of time discipline on the part of the council members.  The only exception to time provided that has been made in the past is that candidates being interviewed for two commissions is provided a couple more minutes.  Jeff Mathews gets 15 minutes. That interview schedule is presently as follows: (I noticed an aberration on the schedule - Susan Gonzales is provided with 15 minutes - so this schedule may be adjusted.

5:40 p.m.     Stephan H. Andranian
5:51 p.m.     Byron de Arakal
6:02 p.m.     Sarah Bortz
6:13 p.m.     Robert L. Dickson, Jr.
6:24 p.m.     Teresa Callo Drain
6:35 p.m.     Susan Gonzales
6:50 p.m.     Jeffrey Harlan
7:01 p.m.     Danial Hoffmann
7:12 p.m.     Jay Humphrey
7:23 p.m.     Isabell Mayer Kerins
7:34 p.m.     Jeff R. Mathews (interviewing for Parks and Recreation also)
7:49 p.m.     Jenna Tourje
8:00 p.m.     Dan Worthington
8:11 p.m.     Jonathan Zich
8:22 p.m.     Mark Buchanan (I'm not sure what will happen here, since he was already interviewed.)

OFF TO COUNCIL CHAMBERS FOR APPOINTMENTS
Upon completion of the interview process the City Council will reconvene in the City Council Chambers at approximately 8:30 for the Appointment Process.  As you can see by the agenda notes, this will include an opportunity for Public Comments, too.

READ THE PROCESS FOR YOURSELVES
Then the fun begins.  I'm not going to attempt to explain the process to you.  The agenda item goes on at great length - ten (10) steps for this process - in what certainly appears to be a process that reduces the politics of the appointment process.  I guess we'll see.  I suggest that you go through the exercise yourselves for each commission - try to guess who will nominate whom and run the tallies.  I have... Oh Boy!

RECORDING/TAPING
It is my understanding that the interview segment, as was the case last Tuesday, will be taped for later viewing - so those of you who did not attend can see how the candidates responded to the interrogations.  The Appointment Process is being held in Council Chambers and will be televised and streamed live so those of you only interested in the results can follow the process at home.

SHOULD BE AN ACTION-PACKED EVENING
I suspect that somewhere around 10:00 p.m. we will have three (3) fully staffed and sworn-in commissions and they will be ready to get down to work.  The Planning Commission will likely have a couple meetings in February.  The Parks and Recreation Commission should be able to meet in February, too.  The Senior Commission only meets every other month and their next scheduled meeting will be in March.

ABOUT THAT SENIOR COMMISSION...
As a side note, I suggested that we don't really need a Senior Commission - the City staff does a great job of running that operation.  We certainly don't need seven (7) commissioners.  The previous iteration of the commission had seen very significant turnover and only two of them - Gary Parkin and Lee Ramos (both short term commissioners) - applied this time around.  If the City Council decides to contemplate disbanding that commission they could delay the appointments for that commission and schedule a discussion at their next meeting in February.  If they decide to reduce the number from seven (7) to five (5) they could do the same thing - delay appointments, agendize the issue and still have time to appoint commissioners for their March meeting.  There is NO RUSH.

WILL RIGHEIMER SHOW UP AND WILL MANSOOR STICK AROUND?
I wonder if Jim Righeimer will boycott this meeting as he did the one last Tuesday?  If he does show up, he will certainly test the schedule, since he seems unable to not say every word in his head. I also wonder if Allan Mansoor will bail out early as he did last Tuesday.  Both of those situations were very disrespectful to the process, and to those of you who voted for them.  They may not like this process, but it's part of the job they were elected to do.  If they don't like it they should resign... sounds good to me.

JOIN ME FOR AN EVENING OF FUN...
So, join me in the cheap seats in Conference Room 1A for the interrogations of these highly qualified individuals - the Planning Commission applicants are excellent.  And/or, watch the results beginning around 8:30 Tuesday night.  It should be VERY interesting...

Employee Contracts, City Hall Expansion And More

BUSY MEETING NEXT WEEK
The Costa Mesa City Council will meet Tuesday, March 17, 2015 at its regularly-scheduled meeting beginning at 5:45 in City Council Chambers - preceded by a short Closed Session in Conference Room 5A.  The agenda for the meeting may be read HERE.

SPENDING YOUR MONEY
There's a lot of interesting stuff happening at this meeting, but I'll begin with a little summary of the Consent Calendar, and, more specifically, Item #3, Warrant 2532, HERE.  I will list some of the items we have already spend money on - things that catch my eye or are otherwise of interest.
FTOG, Inc - $2,205.00 - Interim Buyer, 2/2-2/13/15
G4S Secure Solutions, Inc - $60,779.40 - Jail Services, 12/29/14 - 1/26/15
Jones & Mayer - $156,143.96 - Legal Services (45 line items)
City of Mission Viejo - $6,240.00 - IT Staffing Svcs, January, 2015
Jones Day - $11,756.25 - Legal Services, CMCEA, Nov. 2014
Liebert Cassidy Whitmore - $11,738.81 - Legal, various Negot. etc.
National Data & Surveying Services - $5,370.00 - Data Collection Services
Orange County Conservation Corps - $2,016.00 - Tumbleweed Removal, etc.
Scientia Consulting Group, Inc. - $12,706.50 - IT Consultant, Dec and January
State of California Dept. of Justice - $11,901.00 - Fingerprint apps
City of Huntington Beach - $18,200.00 - Helicopter Svcs, 1/15
Lilly Planning Group - $26,050.00 - Planning Consultant Services 1/15
Enterprise Counsel Group - $1,259.15 - Legal, Succ. Agncy, Nov & Dec.
FTOG Inc - $2,160.00 - Interim Buyer, 2/16-2/27/15
Government Staffing Services, Inc. - $8,185.50 - Temp svcs, various
Keyser Marston Assoc. - $7,670.00 - Consulting Svcs
Leibert Cassidy Whitmore - $9,492.50 - Legal, Personnel Matter
Scientia Consulting Group, Inc. - $6,385.50 - IT Consultant, 1/25-2/7/15
Westminster Press, Inc. - $2,230.00 - I405 Mailer/Printing

THE BUCKS JUST KEEP ON FLOWING OUT
So, on THIS Warrant we paid one outfit more than $4,400 for an Interim Buyer; more than $190,000 for legal services; more than $25,000 for IT consulting and more than $60,000 to run the jail.  Thought you should know.

NEGOTIATORS
Also on the Consent Calendar - Item #13 of 14, HERE, is the appointment of City Negotiators for the Meet and Confer process with the Costa Mesa City Employees Association (CMCEA) for the process that begins in June.  The staff recommends that Assistant CEO Tamara Letourneau and Lawyer Laura Kalty be appointed.  It will be interesting to see just how much more blood they can squeeze from the turnip - the contract the CMCEA approved took them back to the dark ages.  Just FYI.

DING!  ROUND TWO!
Public Hearing #1, HERE, is the second public hearing on the side letter with the Costa Mesa Police Management Association (CMPMA).  You will recall at the first reading two weeks ago Gary Monahan violated the Brown Act by letting the cat out of the bag regarding the CMPOA negotiations, which caused a shouting match between Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer and Councilwoman Katrina Foley and a heated discussion (kindest way to put it) between Foley and contract City Attorney Tom Duarte during a hastily-called break.  I suspect this will go smoothly this time.  As a sidebar, in the wake of Monahan's gaffe, the CMPOA has released details of the negotiations of their contract.

APPEALING GANAHL MOVE
Public Hearing #2, HERE,  is the appeal of the Planning Commission approval of the application by Ganahl Lumber to move their operations to a site adjacent to their current store on Bristol Street.  The appellants are Joseph E. Miller (shown here) and Alison Miller and their complaint is listed in the staff report.  This presentation took a couple hours before the Planning Commission.  I have NO idea how long this appeal take, but it could be even longer!  Ugh!

A SURVEY IS BURIED IN THERE SOMEWHERE
New Business #1, HERE, is the Professional Services Agreement with RJM Design Group for the update of the Open Space Master Plan of Parks and Recreation.  It is of interest that this item also includes a request from staff for direction from the City Council as to the activities of the Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee, which is scheduled to hear the final items on their task list on April 1st and make recommendations to the Parks and Recreation Commission shortly thereafter.  The way I read the staff report, it looks like they want to put the committee on hiatus until this project is completed.  That makes NO sense to me.  This group was tasked more than 20 months ago to do what they've been doing... assessing the existing uses of Fairview Park in a calm, methodical manner and have almost completed that assignment.  There was NO requirement for a community-wide survey - which will be included with the consultants task - so the two, while related, are not intertwined.  The FPCAC should be permitted to complete it's task, write it's recommendations to the Parks and Recreation Commission, who can then choose to do something with it, or wait until the consultant's task is finished, then blend the results.

USING CITY HALL SPACE BETTER
The final item on the agenda, New Business #2, HERE, is the request for authorization for the construction of a community room and outdoor meeting space and remodel of the employee lounge in City Hall.  This project, which asks for over $1 million to complete ( the $992,000 ratchet's up to $1.2 million) would convert the old  almost 1700 square foot print shop adjacent to Conference Room 1A into a community room, complete with full audio-visual and broadcast capabilities.  Right now 1A can record meetings, but cannot broadcast from there.  It would also enhance the existing "lounge" - that cramped, dated break room nearby.  It also includes plans for an outdoor meeting area - a patio where grass now exists - with seating for meetings and/or lunch spaces for employees.

NEED MORE FLEXIBILITY
I'm told that the new "community room" will not be divisible, like rooms at the Neighborhood Community Center.  That's too bad, since that feature makes the NCC much more usable for smaller groups.  With 1675 square feet to work with, having flexibility in the configuration of this new facility would make it much more usable - particularly since plans for the NCC/Library project will shut down that facility for months - probably a year - during which groups will be scrambling for meeting space.

3 MILLION BUCKS, GIVE OR TAKE!
When the dust settles, so to speak, the three projects PLUS the previously-approved upgrade of the City Council Chambers and the current audio-visual/broadcast infrastructure (for $1.6 million) would come to right at $3 million!  That's OK, though... all these improvements are necessary and long, long, long overdue. Our award-winning team of Dane Bora and Brad Long have been pulling rabbits out of the hat for far too long with the crappy infrastructure.

OK!
In my view, this project should be approved.  They plan to fund the three projects with 2014/2015 salary savings of $1,202,000 - which very likely comes directly from the Police Department budgeted numbers, since we've been unable to fill slots as fast as the current budget anticipated. 

 TWO STAGES...
And, this project should be done in two stages.  The first - this project, which results in a new meeting room and enhanced Conference Room 1A plus the new "lounge" and outside space, can be accomplished without disturbing meetings and other activities in the council chambers.  Once it is finished and operational, the large council chambers project can be tackled, with meetings shifted to the new meeting room temporarily instead of having to locate facilities elsewhere around town for City Council, Planning Commission and Parks and Recreation Commission meetings .

GUESSIN' 11 P.M....
The end of the meeting will include overflow public commenters and items pulled from the Consent Calendar... I'm thinking we're out of there before 11 p.m.

Foley Challenges Mensinger/Righeimer Participation

POLICE ASSOCIATIONS NEGOTIATIONS INVOLVED
Last Tuesday afternoon there was a Special Closed Session of the Costa Mesa City Council in which negotiations of the contracts for the Costa Mesa Police Management Association (CMPMA) and the Costa Mesa Police Officers Association (CMPOA) were to be discussed. 

NORMALLY A BRIEF BEGINNING
Under normal circumstances the council would meet briefly in Council Chambers, take role, the item would be "read into the record" and they would then adjourn to the conference room in the 5th floor bunker, er, Executive Offices.  That usually takes just about as long as it took you to read this far.

NOT LAST WEEK!
Last Tuesday, though, that process took 19 minutes and resulted in a piece of video that you really MUST watch.  You can view it HERE.

FOLEY - MAYOR AND PRO TEM ARE "CONFLICTED"
Both Mayor Steve Mensinger and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer were late for the meeting.  Councilman Gary Monahan - wearing a sun visor advertising his pub, apparently to protect him from the glare of the hot lights - was in charge as they began the process.  Councilwoman Katrina Foley - a lawyer - took exception to the mayor and mayor pro tem being permitted to participate in the negotiations for the CMPMA because the terms of that contract are identical to that of the CMPOA and members of the CMPMA had been members of the CMPOA, and the mayor and mayor pro tem are prohibited from negotiating on that one because of their civil suit against the men and women of the CMPD.

ATTORNEY LETTER
Sandra Genis referred to a letter from a law firm, apparently representing one of the associations, in which they asked for Mensinger and Righeimer to be barred from participating in the CMPMA negotiation discussions.

DUARTE SAYS NO...
City Attorney Tom Duarte told the council he had considered the issue and he and his staff had determined that both men are NOT conflicted out of the CMPMA negotiations.

WATCH PATIENTLY
I'm not going to paraphrase the video.  The quality of the video is quite bad - the video is halting and, in the beginning, the audio is not very good, either.  Stick with it and just listen to the dialogue.  At one point, once Righeimer and Mensinger finally showed up, you'll hear Righeimer call the president of the CMPOA a liar - stating flat out that he lied to the Grand Jury.  I found that curious, since Grand Jury testimony is supposed to be confidential.

IT'S WORTH THE TIME
Viewing this video, with all it's technical deficiencies, will be a worthwhile expenditure of your time.  It demonstrates the contentiousness of the relationship between the top two elected officials in the city and the men and women hired to protect and serve us.  It also demonstrates the value of Katrina Foley on the dais.  She and Genis will form a team to be reckoned-with in the months to come, even though they certainly will not agree on every issue.  Both are well-educated, high-achievers in their chosen professions and clearly the two smartest people on the dais.  The seating arrangement has them at opposite ends of the dais, so I suspect watching them in action will sometimes be akin to watching a fast-paced tennis match.  It certainly will be worth the price of admission.

City's "Offer" Released By The CMCEA

EMPLOYEES "SUCKER-PUNCHED" BY CITY OFFER
The Costa Mesa City Employees Association (CMCEA) released the contents of the contract presented by The City at a meeting Tuesday.  To call it a sucker punch would be putting it mildly.  You can read about it HERE.



AGREEMENT GUTTED LIKE A FLOUNDER

In a nutshell, The City basically gutted the existing agreement with the employees.  The low points of the proposal are as follows:

• Two year contract.
• An immediate 5 percent pay cut for existing employees, and a 10 percent reduction in pay scale for newly-hired employees.
• An additional 5 percent pay cut for top-step employees who do not receive an “outstanding” performance evaluation.
• Increase retirement contributions immediately by more than 5 percent the first year, and more for the second year.
• Employees pay all future health care cost increases.
• Eliminate salary benchmarking with other public sector agencies. The City’s proposal purports to adopt a private sector approach, but admits that no comprehensive surveys of comparable private sector compensation exist.
• Eliminate requirement that employees be given any advanced notice if they are going to be laid off, as well as any hire-back rights.

 SPITTING IN THEIR FACES

As you read that list, keep in mind that the employees have not had a pay increase for several years and have participated in furlough days to help The City through the rough patch.  Not only does this proposal NOT recognize the contributions and cooperation of the employees over the past 5-6 years of economic hardship, but it spits in their faces.


NOW ADVERSARIES, NOT PARTNERS

Clearly, The City has chosen to abandon the long-standing collaborative approach experienced in past years.  The City leadership has chosen to take an adversarial approach, which will very likely result in a failed negotiation and the imposition of "impasse" in the process.

WE'LL SEE
The next meeting is scheduled for September 10th, at which time the CMCEA will respond to the proposal.  I'm not encouraged...

Planning, Grants, Labor Negotiations and Party Planning

A FULL WEEK...
It's going to be an interesting week at City Hall in Costa Mesa next week.

PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING ON MONDAY
First, the Planning Commission will hold its meeting on Monday at 6:00 in council chambers.  They have a pretty heavy agenda, HERE - always a good sign that the economy may, in fact, be coming around after way, way too many years in the tank.

CONSENT CALENDAR
The Consent Calendar has two items: the Code Enforcement update, HERE, and the Development Phasing and Performance Monitoring Program for the 2011 year, HERE.  There's a good chance neither will be pulled for discussion, so the staff reports might be helpful to you.  The Code Enforcement report will tell which of your neighbors have let their lawns get too long, have too many weeds in their yards and how many junk cars they're storing.

PUBLIC HEARINGS
There are five (5) Public Hearings that will take up the bulk of the evening.  The are:

 1 - A conditional use permit to move a Tattoo parlor at 2204 Newport Blvd. HERE.

2 - The two-year review of the development agreement with Roy K. Sakioka and Sons, HERE.

3 - The conversion of a 3-unit parcel at 1992 Anaheim Avenue, HERE.

4 - Design review to construct a 14-unit, two-story detached single-family residential development at 2157-2159 Tustin Avenue, HERE.

5 - Design review to construct five two-story residential units at 2573 Elden Avenue, HERE.

It will be interesting to see how Chairman Jim Fitzpatrick directs his new commission through these issues.

COUNCIL MEETINGS ON TUESDAY
Tuesday brings a couple unusual City Council meetings.

CDBG FUNDS
First, at 4:30, there will be a special study session in Council Chambers to discuss the distribution of Community Development Block Grant funds.  You can read the agenda HERE and the specific agenda report HERE.

CLOSED SESSION - LABOR NEGOTIATIONS
Second, scheduled at 5:00, but will realistically immediately follow the study session, there is a special closed session at which the council will discuss labor negotiations, HERE.  It's unlikely they will have anything to "report out", but one never knows.  This is the first pass at negotiations using Steve Mensinger's COIN scheme, so we're in uncharted territory.  We'll just have to rock along and see what happens.

60TH ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE
Thursday afternoon, at 5:30, the 60th Anniversary Committee will meet again to keep things moving toward the launch event the last weekend of June.

Council Calls Special Meeting Tomorrow

 LABOR NEGOTIATIONS CLOSED SESSION

The Costa Mesa City Council called a Special Meeting of the council tomorrow, Wednesday, July 25th, in City Council Chambers at City Hall at 4:30 p.m. to discuss labor negotiations. This will be a Closed Session, so the council will slip out of the chambers once the roll is taken and the item is read and deliberate in a private venue.

 HOW LONG?
There's no way of telling how long that meeting will go, nor will we know if there will be anything for the contract City Attorney, Tom Duarte, to "report out".  I'll report if there's anything TO report.

POSSIBLE SCHEDULE CONFLICT
We do know that the Parks and Recreation Commission holds its meeting at 6:00 p.m. tomorrow in the council chambers.