Meeting Conflicts Mark The Week Ahead

A BUSY, SHORT, WEEK AHEAD
It's going to be an interesting meeting next week in Costa Mesa.  After the City government takes the President's Day holiday off today, Monday, February 16th, Tuesday will make up for it.

COFFEE WITH A COP TUESDAY
First, there will be the most recent edition of Coffee With A Cop at the Starbucks, 1170 Baker Street, Costa Mesa from 8-10 a.m.  I've attended the others and it's a great time to stop by and meet members of the Costa Mesa Police Department and grab a cup of coffee.  See you there.

COUNCIL MEETING
Later that evening there will be the next edition of the Costa Mesa City Council meeting, which begins at the new start time of 5:45 p.m. in Council Chambers.  You can read the agenda HERE.  The open meeting will be preceded by a closed session beginning at 5:00 p.m. during which negotiations with the Costa Mesa Police Management Association and the Costa Mesa Police Association will be discussed.  It will be interesting to learn whether Mayor Steve Mensinger and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer absent themselves from the former - we know they MUST not be included in the latter.

NEW MARINE COMMAND STAFF
The agenda looks like a fairly short meeting.  There will be the introduction of the new Command Staff of the 1st Battalion/5th Marines during Presentations.

CONSENT CALENDAR PACKED - AGAIN!
There are seventeen (17) items on the Consent Calendar!  You can review them on the agenda.  Unless a member of the staff, council or the public pulls one for discussion, all will be decided on one vote.

WARRANT
Item #3 is Warrant 2530, HERE, and, as usual, it contains some entries of interest to most who follow municipal affairs:

• Jones & Mayer - $143,459.12 - A large list of legal charges.
• Steadfast Contracting, Inc - $16,639.34 - WiFi installation in Senior Center.
• Trendway Corporation - $37,805.04 - Work Stations and Office Chairs
• Western Transit Systems, Inc. - $46,580.82 - Senior Shuttle and Mobility
• Civil Source - $10,020.00 -  Staff Support Services, Nov. and Dec.
• Government Staffing Services, Inc. - $11,917.50 - Temp Services, Various
• Liebert Cassidy Whitmore - $2,789.15 - Legal Services
• Orange County Probation Department - $3,705.50 - Juvenile Court Work Program
• Randstad Technologies LP - $9,360.00 - Temp IT Support Staff, Dec.
• Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth - $13,959.74 - Legal Svcs, various
• FTOG Inc - $1,935.00 - Interim Buyer, 1/19 -/1/30/15
• Keyser Marston Associates, Inc - $5,575.40 - Homeless Consulting
• Liebert Cassidy Whitmore - $1,034.00 - Legal ACA Advice

We continue to rack up serious legal fees and costs for temporary services for months at a time in jobs previously occupied by full time employees.

HAULING SENIORS
Item #4, HERE, is a contract to perpetuate the existing transportation agreement with Western Transit to transport Seniors to and from various appointments. It involves the acceptance of a grant from Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian Community Benefit Program just over $106,000 and  a two-year contract with Western Transit not to exceed $213,419.70.

OUTSOURCING STREET SWEEPING
Item #7, HERE, is a nearly $700,000, 5-year contract with three (3) optional one-year renewals with CleanStreet, HERE, for street sweeping services throughout the city.  As a taxpayer, I kind of thought it might be important for the folks charged with spending our money to explain this contract instead of burying it in the Consent Calendar.

DISSOLVING THE FAIRGROUNDS AUTHORITY
Item #8, HERE,  is the dissolution of the Orange County Fairgrounds Authority.  Again, this item seems to be another curious choice to place on the Consent Calendar, where it is anticipated that no public discussion nor explanation of this action will occur.

SHIFTING MEETING HOURS
Item #15, HERE, is the modification of the Study Session Start Time from 4:30 to 5:00 as requested by Mayor Mensinger.  Again, this seems like an item worthy of discussion since folks actually do attend study sessions, as witnessed by the budget study session last week.  But, nope - this one is buried late in the Consent Calendar.

SUCCESSOR AGENCY BUDGET AND OBLIGATIONS
Items #16, HERE, and #17, HERE involve the Successor Agency budget and obligation payment schedule.  Again, the budget represents $125,000 of taxpayer dollars and the obligation payment schedule involves several million.  One would have hoped for even a little brief explanation, but no - these items are at the end of a loaded Consent Calendar.

AGAIN...
Following the Consent Calendar the council will recess and reconvene as the Orange County Fairgrounds Authority for the purpose of dissolving the authority.  The link to the staff report doesn't work, so we don't know much about it.

MORE MEMBERS TO THE SENIOR COMMISSION
Then the council will re-convene and deal with three (3) new business items.  Item #1, HERE, is the resolution to add two more bodies to the Costa Mesa Senior Commission.  It is unclear that, if the council passes this item, whether new members would be appointed immediately.  I guess we'll find out.

MISTER MENSINGER GOES TO WASHINGTON
New Business #2, HERE, is the return of the item yanked from a previous council meeting agenda which involves sending Mensinger and CEO Tom Hatch off to Washington, D.C. for the annual National League of Cities Congressional City Conference, March 7-11.  It will cost $2,500 from Hatch's slush, er, contingency fund.

OH, YES... LET'S RE-JOIN THE LEAGUE OF CITIES
New Business #3, HERE, is a request to reinstate the City's membership in the California League of Cities, with a dues payment and surcharge for ongoing legal costs totaling nearly $26,000, which would also be taken out of the slush, er, contingency fund.  This seems to be a matter of getting the cart back behind the horse - see #2.

SAME TIME, DIFFERENT ISSUE

But that's not all that's going on Tuesday night!  No sir, in a peculiar bit of scheduling, there is a community meeting at the site of the First Church of Christ, Scientist on Mesa Verde Drive where the developer invites neighbors in for a little chat about his plans to build thirteen (13) homes on that site.  This issue goes before the Planning Commission next Monday night, February 23, 2015.  The meeting begins at 6:30, so Mesa Verde neighbors interested in broader city issues as presented at the council meeting are going to have to deal with a serious conflict.  Here's an image of the letter about that meeting.  Click to enlarge it.

ORANGE COAST COLLEGE MASTER PLAN MEETING
Thursday, February 19, 2015, Orange Coast College will hold a meeting at the Student Center on campus, 2701 Fairview Road, to discuss it's $661 million expansion plan - Vision 2020.  This plan includes new buildings, a four-story parking garage, a retail-restaurant center and a 145-room hotel.  You can read the 143 page document HERE.  This is a HUGE undertaking within our community and will have a very significant impact on a large section of our city, particularly the neighborhoods nearby.

 WHEW!

  I guess that's enough for a short week... 

Council/OCFA Cross-Dressing Tonight

COSTUME CHANGES ANTICIPATED
Tonight's regularly scheduled Costa Mesa City Council meeting is going to be just a little different. Tonight the council and the Orange County Fairgrounds Authority (the Joint Powers Authority created to facilitate the acquisition of the Orange County Fair and Event Center) will slip back and forth into their respective robes - sometimes wearing both - as they try to deal with the complex issues that face this city. It may be kind of like the changing room of a fashion runway show!

ONE CLOSED SESSION, FOUR ITEMS
First, at 5:00 p.m., they will meet in closed session as both entities. Why, you ask? Well there are four items on the closed session agenda - two affect the council specifically and two affect the OCFA. There are two lawsuits, one affecting each of them, and two other matters. For the council, there is the labor negotiations (we assume Eric Bever will take a bathroom break, run out for a quick meal or just go sit in his car and pout while this is going on since he's already announced he's boycotting future negotiations). Then, for the OCFA, there is a "conference with Real Property Negotiators" for the Fairgrounds purchase/lease. It wouldn't surprise me if this one is to formally throw up their hands and give up on this process. Seems likely, since there are at least three (3) bidders for the Fairgrounds under the new RFP and it's obvious that the legislature is simply not going to pass the bill necessary to enable our sale to go forward. It's time to stop.

DISPLAY OUR "DIGITAL" DISDAIN
Maybe, just to make us feel better, we could craft a resolution condemning the Department of General Services for the unfair and obstructionist deadlines and rules they imposed upon the City during this process. To appropriately capture the spirit of the message we could send it on letterhead that includes an image of a hand with only the middle finger extended. No, I don't mean, "We're Number 1!"

BACK INTO COUNCIL COSTUME
Then, sometime after 6, the council will convene it's regular meeting and dispense with the public comments, council comments and the consent calendar.

COSTUME CHANGE AGAIN - GENIS, AGAIN
Then, once again, they will shift gears and convene as the OCFA to hear two Old Business items from former mayor Sandra Genis, who will appear as the President of the Orange County Fairgrounds Preservation Society to challenge the two resolutions previously passed by the OCFA.

SOLID WASTE ORDINANCE
Then they will jump back into their City Council garb and hold a public hearing on modifications to the city ordinance regarding solid waste haulers within the city. The first item under Public Hearings - the Triangle Square LED lights issue - has been withdrawn.

COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS
Under New Business they will appoint or re-appoint members to the Cultural Arts Committee, Historical Preservation Committee and the Redevelopment and Residential Rehabilitation (3R) Committee.

TURNING THE SCREWS ON GRAFFITI VANDALS
At the end of the meeting they will consider a very significant change to our current Graffiti ordinance - one that will tighten up enforcement and require restitution by the guilty parties or their parents. This was discussed in their Study Session a couple weeks ago.

EMPLOYEE DEMONSTRATIONS?
It is unknown whether there will be any sort of demonstration by employee bargaining units as been the case the past two meetings.

BARLOW REPORT ON RIGHEIMER/DUI CHECKPOINT?
Neither is it known whether City Attorney Kim Barlow will present the results of her investigation into the Righeimer/DUI checkpoint issue. The tapes made at the event were released to the public, but it is our understanding that several witnesses had to be interviewed and their testimony assessed. Time's a'wastin' on this one, Ms. Barlow. The election is less than one month away.

Good News and Bad News

RECYCLING, SCHOOL AND TRIANGLE SQUARE SIGNS PUSHED OUT
As anticipated, the Costa Mesa City Council pushed three items on it's agenda Tuesday night off into the future - October, to be exact. The Garcia Recycling issue was pushed off until October 19th. The issue of the school on Red Hill was pushed to the same date even though the appellant requested a date in January, 2011. The controversial LED signs at Triangle Square were shoved off until October 5th.

LATE START SETS THE TONE
The council arrived very late to the meeting, just before 7:00 p.m., having spent nearly two hours in closed session discussions about bargaining unit contracts and the lease agreement for the Fairgrounds.

PUBLIC SAFETY OUT IN STRENGTH
In a show of strength and unity, nearly 150 members of Costa Mesa public safety groups, predominantly law enforcement and their friends and families - including several small children - all wearing white t-shirts emblazoned with the phrase "I support public safety" packed the council chambers to overflowing. They sat or stood quietly as the meeting progressed, then departed following an impassioned presentation by their union president and a supporting short presentation by a representative of the fire association. Their absence left only a couple dozen people left in the auditorium. According to sources, four of the five bargaining units contracts expired September 1st and the agreements made last year to help with the budget dilemma died with those contract expirations.

FAIRGROUNDS LEASE FINALLY SIGNED...
The good news in a long night was the passage of the final version of the lease between the Orange County Fairgrounds Authority and the tenants, Facilities Management West, even though Katrina Foley attempted to get what she felt were important details resolved before taking a vote. Eventually, however, the council voted 4-1, with Foley voting no, to finally approve the deal.

...BUT IT MAY BE TOO LATE
However, the bad news came in the form of a press release late Tuesday afternoon by Assemblyman Jose Solorio and published in several media outlets, including the OC Weekly by Matt Coker, HERE, in which he tells us that Assemblyman Solorio, the city's main supporter in the Assembly, has decided to recommend to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to kill the sale completely. If that happens, after we finally got a signed deal, it will be tragic for our city and for the future of the Fairgrounds.

DGS ENTERTAINING OTHER OFFERS
As you know, the State Department of General Services placed the Fairgrounds back on the block last month and the proposals and deposits are due at the end of September. A successful bidder will be announced no later than the end of the year.



WAITING AND WORRYING...
We are left to simply wait and see about the fate of the Fairgrounds sale, hoping against hope that all the time and money spent on this process will not be in vain.

OCFA Approves Ground Lease

FIRST, THE PUNCH LINE - THEN THE JOKE
OK, I know I spoiled the suspense with the title of this one, but I didn't want you to have to hang around for 5 hours like I did last night for the punch line. Katrina Foley voted "No" in the 4-1 vote. Now for the details....


SURREAL AND DISJOINTED
I must say that this meeting - one in which the fate of the largest financial transaction in the history of the city, including it's incorporation back in the 1950's, would be decided - was a surreal, disjointed event. I'm sure there are many reasons for this - the pace of the process imposed by the State, the pressure applied by the announcement earlier in the day that the Fairgrounds was back on the block and the fact that the City is working with significantly smaller staff because of budget constraints - but it was such a contrast when compared to most other similar meetings that it stood out, and not in a positive way. If you watch the tape of the meeting you'd think everything went smoothly - you had to be there. I've stalled this report long enough that the streaming video is now available for viewing HERE. You can also watch the taped replay at 5:30 tonight on CMTV.

LATE, AS USUAL...
First off, the meeting started 20 minutes late - the Orange County Fairgrounds Authority (City Council) had much to discuss in closed session. So, by the time they actually got started at 5:50 there were around 150 people in the auditorium, all eager to hear how this milestone event was going to go.

CEQA REPORT APPROVED
After a short staff report and even shorter discussion they voted 5-0 to accept the CEQA report.

ROEDER REVIEWED TUESDAY'S SHOCKER
City Manager Allan Roeder provided a brief overview of the surprise decision Tuesday morning by the State Department of General Services to put the Fairgrounds back on the block. Nobody on the dais was happy about it. Foley felt it was another example of the State bullying the City and it's proposed tenant to wrap up their deal quickly. And, as it turned out, that's precisely what happened.

OOPS, NO SONGBOOK!
Let me say here that the pace of this process has been unacceptably rapid from the very beginning. Tonight may have been the perfect example of Ben Franklin's old saw, "haste makes waste". When the OCFA board began discussing the actual ground lease and City Attorney Kim Barlow started to refer folks to certain pages in the handouts it was discovered that nobody in the audience had the staff report! Because of the haste with which the documents had been changed during the day it seems no copies of the actual most current lease were provided.

80 MINUTES LATER...
So, ten minutes into the discussion, a "short break" was called so copies could be produced for the audience. That "short break" ended up being an hour! And then, when they reconvened, it was discovered that the copy that had been used to make copies for the audience was Gary Monahan's copy - and he had removed some pages to make comments on! So, another ten minute break was called so copies of the missing segment could be made. The discussion finally began again at 8:00! That things were in disarray doesn't even come close to describing the scene. It was like a scene from an old Laurel and Hardy movie! Remember the one where Stan and Oliver are trying to carry a piano up a long, steep staircase? Well, you've got the picture of how this went.

PUBLIC COMMENTS - A THINNING CROWD
By this time the crowd was thinning out - down to fewer than 60 people by this time. It was 8:55 before the first person had a chance to address the Board in public comments. I won't attempt to discuss every comment made - folks stood and spoke until 9:35. Once again, Orange Juice blogger Vern Nelson crooned a newer version of his "Derail the Sale" song. This time, though, Allan Mansoor didn't think it was very funny. However, resident Greg Ridge drew more than a few chuckles from what remained of the audience when he compared the City's situation to a guy with a gun to his head and a knife - to use Ridge's words - "down there". If you make one decision you get your head blown off and if you make the other you lose your "cojones"... Ridge's word, not mine. Ridge also alluded to "back room deals", turning and looking directly at Jim Righeimer as he said it. Riggy, however, was fully engrossed in his Blackberry, as he was virtually the entire meeting, and didn't notice.

GENIS - "IT'S NOT READY YET!"
Former mayor and President of the Orange County Fairgrounds Preservation Society, Sandra Genis - perhaps the only person in the audience who actually read through the entire lease - used her time to cover some details, like the little one in which we will be asked to sign a lease with an entity that doesn't officially exist. She ended by saying to the Board, "It's not ready yet". She was right.

SHOTGUN WEDDING?
Joy Williams ended the public comments with her observation that she wasn't sure whether this was a shotgun wedding or an arranged marriage, but observed that the bride - the Fairgrounds deal - was like a bride being walked down the aisle with a bag over her head - you didn't know what you were getting until it's too late. Her observation was right on the money!

LEMMON GRILLED
Guy Lemmon, spokesman for Facilities Management West, stood and was grilled by the Board - especially Mayor Mansoor - about their position on some controversial items in the lease. During this conversation, and those by other board members, it was determined that there were at least a couple issues about which each side had their heels dug in, including that of naming rights for the Fairgrounds.

BARLOW PRESENTS OPTIONS
Finally, shortly after ten o'clock, Barlow presented the options to the Board. After listening to those "options" again, they all basically boiled down to asking the Board to approve those elements of the lease they agreed with and giving staff direction on further negotiations for those they didn't like. She did reiterate that time was of the essence since they are obligated by the terms of their purchase agreement with the State to close escrow by the end of September - a very short 5+ weeks away.

FOLEY MOVED TO CONTINUE - NO SECOND WAS FOUND
Katrina Foley, opining that the legislation necessary to complete the sale was stalled in Sacramento and would likely be part of a budget bill, if ever, moved to continue this item until the first week in September so the differences could be resolved and we would have a fully-fleshed out lease to consider - no second was received.

MONAHAN MOVES TO APPROVE, WITH MODIFICATIONS
Gary Monahan moved to approve the lease with several modifications - those that had been discussed at length earlier - including those where the City and the tenant were at odds. The staff and negotiating team would continue to work with the tenant to resolve those issues. That motion passed 4-1, with Foley voting NO. By the time the vote was taken at 10:30 only 45 people remained in the auditorium.

STRESS WAS EVIDENT ALL NIGHT
A couple observations - First, this meeting demonstrated the stress under which both sides have been working for months. Apparently emails with revisions to the deal had been flying non-stop in recent days, including as late as midnight Monday! It's tough to make good decisions at that pace.

I'M NOT HAPPY
Second, I'm not happy with the way this turned out. I think Foley had the right idea. There is no way a separate bill necessary for this deal to be completed can be passed now. The only chance there is for it to get passed and signed is if it's attached to a budget bill. The term "snowballs chance in hell" comes to mind. This issue should have been continued for a couple weeks so ALL the issues in conflict could be resolved. Actually, I don't think there is any chance this deal is going to pass - the State is going to stall the legislation until it's too late - and we will have expended all this time, energy and money to no avail. And now we wait to see if further negotiations on what amount to deal breaking issues will produce a final agreement. I'm not optimistic.

COSTA MESA TEAM DESERVES KUDOS
Don't get me wrong, here. I think the city staff has done an admirable job with skill, professionalism and tireless sacrifice of their personal lives during this process. They simply have been asked to do the impossible without the resources and time necessary to do the job they want to do. Allan Roeder, Kim Barlow and the other members of the bargaining team and the staffers who have supported them these many, many months deserve kudos for their efforts. Thanks to them all...

LONG PHAM TO BE A "WRITE-IN" CANDIDATE
I did note tonight that Long Pham, Mansoor's opponent in the June Primary election, was in the house. I introduced myself to him and he told me he's mounting a write-in campaign for the November election. I'm not sure who he will steal votes from - his fellow-Republican Mansoor or the Vietnamese Democrat Phu Nguyen. At least those of you who won't vote for a Democrat for any reason will have an option to Mansoor now.

La Femme Wonkita Analyzes Ground Lease

HOT TIME IN THE OLD TOWN...
It's going to be hot, hot, hot in Costa Mesa today - and probably even hotter in the Council Chambers starting at 5:30 p.m. When the Orange County Fairgrounds Authority (the City Council in a fancy dress) deliberates the Ground Lease necessary to consummate the sale of the Fairgrounds it's likely that there will be more heat than light generated by the proceedings.

LA FEMME WONKITA STRIKES AGAIN
Today former mayor Sandra Genis, writing as La Femme Wonkita, has thrown more fuel on the fire by publishing yet another incendiary essay on the Orange Juice Blog. You can read it HERE. Thanks to reader Gericault for the heads-up on this one.

GENIS ANALYSIS
Genis has reviewed the Draft document made available late last week, and that has been updated at least once since then yesterday, and presents to us for our consideration her take on the problems with the Ground Lease and the entire deal. Hit that link above and take a couple minutes to review her conclusions.


NOT ENOUGH TIME
I agree with Genis that this deal is being jammed down our municipal throat with woefully insufficient time to do a proper job of analyzing it. Naturally, that leaves us hanging, with only two real options: (1) Sign the agreement and hope it works out for the next half century or, (2) Walk away from the whole thing and trust that a new governor will have second thoughts about selling the Fairgrounds.

LEGISLATION PENDING
And, after all this turmoil and rancor, there is still the probability that the State Legislature will fail to pass the bills necessary to complete this deal.

FMW IS OPPORTUNISTIC
As I've said before, Facilities Management West - led by Ken Fait - has been portrayed as the bad guy here, but are they? Seems to me that they are slick operators who see the chance to snatch up a good business opportunity and are moving forward to do so. If they are better negotiators than we are, who's fault is that? If we've failed to put enough horsepower behind this effort - which is what many critics have implied - is that FMW's fault? Hardly!

INSUFFICIENT GRAY MATTER
This evening our City Council will be forced to work well beyond their skill sets, trying to make sense of the document they must approve. We know that at least a couple of them lack the education, background and - quite honestly - the brain power to fully grasp this deal. I'm worried about how tonight will turn out.

HERE'S A HINT - WE'RE MOUGLI...
So, while crossing my fingers until they turn blue, I leave you with this little video clip that seems to me to represent our situation. See you at City Hall at 5:30...