Medical Marijuana Ordinance Study Session

THE LATEST CUT AT THIS ISSUE
The City of Costa Mesa just announced that a City Council Study Session will be held at 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 10th in City Council Chambers to discuss the most recent draft Medical Marijuana Ordinance.  You can read the agenda HERE, and the draft of the ordinance HERE.

VENUE CHANGED ANTICIPATING A CROWD
This is going to be VERY interesting.  The venue was moved from the conference room in anticipation of a larger crowd than Conference Room 1A could handle.  And, because it's in the chambers, there's always the possibility that it might be televised live and in living color - in this case, probably green.  See you there.

Special Study Session Thursday

SPECIAL STUDY SESSION THURSDAY
The agenda for the Costa Mesa City Council Special Study Session meeting that begins at 4:30 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall Thursday, May 17, 2012 is finally posted online.  Unfortunately, there are no staff reports available at this time, but we're promised at least one of them will be available in the morning.
AGENDA
On the agenda are the following items:

1 - Interim Fire Chief Tom Arnold's much-anticipated Fire Department Reorganization Plan

2 - Capital Improvement Budget Overview and Discussion

3 - City's Master Drainage Plan Update 

NO STAFF REPORTS AVAILABLE
There is no staff report for any of the items, but the new Preliminary budget (dated 5/15/12) is available on the city web site for review.  You can reach it HERE.  This budget replaces the nearly balanced document Tom Hatch and Bobby Young presented to the council a week ago.  This one, at Jim Righeimer's insistence, now carries a deficit of $13.1 million.  I've NEVER seen a responsible council ASK for a budget deficit before, much less DEMAND it.  The world has gone mad!

DURATION IS ANYONE'S GUESS
These meetings are typically scheduled for a couple hours, but after the last council meeting that dragged on until 3:00 a.m., there are no guarantees.  I suspect we'll see this meeting run until 7:00 p.m. or so.

Tuesday's Study Session A Bellwether Of The Future?

LONG STUDY SESSION ANTICIPATED TUESDAY
Tuesday, February 8th, the Costa Mesa City Council will hold a Study Session in Conference Room 1A at City Hall beginning at 4:30 p.m. Normally these meetings last an hour or so. This one promises to be much, much longer because of the nature and number of items to be discussed.

NO VOTES, ONLY DIRECTION GIVEN
As you may know, the council can take no votes on items discussed in a Study Session. They hear staff reports and discuss the issues on an informal basis. They also hear very limited public comments due to the normal time constraints. If any of the issues discussed on Tuesday are to be officially acted upon they must be agendized for an open City Council meeting - the next one is the 15th - at which time a public hearing will be held and full public participation is permitted.

SEVEN ITEMS ON THE AGENDA
There are seven (7) items on the agenda for Tuesday. They are, in order:

1 - Overview of the FY 2010-2011 Budget at Mid Year
2 - Consider the Dissolution of the Airborne Law Enforcement (ABLE) Program
3 - Consider the Elimination of Two Vacant Police Officer Positions
4 - Presentation of Future Rates and City's Unfunded Liability for CalPERS
5 - Discussion of Noticing Requirements for Outsourcing City Services or Layoffs
6 - Redevelopment Agency Update
7 - Employee of the Month

There are no staff reports available for Nos. 1, 4 and 7.

IT'S "MACHETE TIME"
As you look down that list you'll certainly realize the significance of each of them. In previous years this particular session would just be a discussion of the budget. Not this year - not with the new council. This year this session will amount to a "machete-sharpening" event, in which our impatient council members appear ready to begin thinning the city staff with something well-short of surgical precision.

DISABLING "ABLE"
Take #2, for example. Although, according to the staff report, HERE, Costa Mesa has had helicopters for more than forty years and has been operating the joint venture - Airborne Law Enforcement (ABLE) - with Newport Beach for more than fifteen of those. It also contracts with the City of Santa Ana to provide helicopter coverage for a fee. I think it is safe to say that most folks in local law enforcement view ABLE as a tremendous asset to the cities it serves. It is a "force multiplier" that has enhanced law enforcement operations since its inception. However, the benefits notwithstanding, the City Council Budget Working Group (Mayor Gary Monahan and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer) have decided that it must go and are recommending to the full council the dissolution of the program.

CUTTING ABLE HOBBLES POLICE EFFECTIVENESS
If the council decides to proceed with the dissolution of ABLE, and thereby lessening the effectiveness of three police agencies in the process, it will incur some significant costs. Among those are the lease on the hanger for which there is a $13,000 per month obligation with no early termination clause. This could cost over $190,000. There is also a contract with the Santa Ana Police Department, which requires a termination notice by March 1, 2011. Costa Mesa would transfer four officers from ABLE - one commander and 3 pilots - each of whom will have bumping rights that would likely result in the layoffs of 4 junior officers. The three mechanics that are part of ABLE are Newport Beach employees and their futures are unclear should ABLE be dissolved.

I WARNED YOU...
While one would hope such a very significant move would be the result of calm, reasoned consideration by our elected leaders, it sure seems like this is a done deal - without public comment. You will recall I warned you about this crew from the very beginning. This is just the beginning.

TWO OPEN POLICE OFFICER POSITIONS
Item #3 deals with the potential deletion of two (2) open Police Officer positions that have been kept open for four (4) months. IF the City Manager and Acting Police Chief Les Gogerty can agree on a restructuring of the department as a result of the permanent loss of those two positions and IF there is a satisfactory result in the statutorily-required "meet and confer" with the police bargaining unit, the abandonment of those positions would represent a savings in this fiscal year of around $200,000 according to the staff report, HERE. Of course, if they decide to outsource our police activities (see below) it won't make much difference, will it?

PROVIDING LEGAL NOTICE OF "OUTSOURCING" AND LAYOFFS
Let's talk about #5, the "noticing requirements" if the city decides to outsource services or in the case of layoffs. In her staff report, HERE, Contract City Attorney Kimberly Hall Barlow provides answers to three questions:

1 - Is the City required to give notice to each bargaining unit before issuing layoff notices to its members?
YES, and she cites the reasoning behind that answer.

2 - Is the City required to be specific as to the service/program being considered for contracting out? In other words, can the City Council issue a blanket notice to all employees of its intent to contract out all services to keep all options open?
NO, followed by a lengthy explanation.

3 - May the City withdraw its notice at any time over the 6 months' notice period?
YES, but... (see staff report)

WHAT ABOUT SERVICE TO THE RESIDENTS?
Dumping the "pension problem" by outsourcing services seems to be a ham-handed way to solve that problem. As yet unaddressed is how The City will assure quality services to the residents following any outsourcing efforts. I'm especially concerned about what will happen with public safety - Police and Fire - if those functions are outsourced. If the Orange County Sheriff's Department and the Orange County Fire Authority were to take over servicing Costa Mesa we lose any semblance of control. We would be subject to staffing decisions made by county officials with their priorities in mind, not ours.

REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY UPDATE
Item #6, the Redevelopment Agency Update, is being presented because old/new Governor Jerry Brown has been making big noises about folding up Redevelopment Agencies state-wide, and sucking up that cash into the state's coffers in an attempt to balance the budget.

The staff report, HERE, responds to three questions posed by the City Council:

1 - What is the Status of Governor Brown's Recent Proposal to Eliminate Redevelopment Agencies in California?

2 - What is the Status of the City of Costa Mesa Loan to the Costa Mesa Redevelopment Agency (RDA)?

3 - How Much Money is Unencumbered in the Redevelopment Agency's Budget for the Downtown Fund?

Please refer to the staff report for the detail in the responses. While there are specifics as to the numbers in items 2 and 3, number 1 is the great unknown.

"IMPATIENCE" MEANS TROUBLE
I fear the impatience of a majority on the City Council may drive us into significant legal entanglements as they rush to "do something" about the budget - and serve their own personal political agenda at the same time. As each day passes it's becoming clear to me that the impatient majority has already decided a very specific course of action - to resolve the "pension problem" by disposing of the employees who carry that obligation.

WHAT ABOUT TRANSPARENCY?
There are many facets of these issues that have NOT been thoroughly aired and made available for public comment. With four members of the council clearly operating in lock-step - and with the strong possibility of Brown Act violations as a result of their mismanagement of their "sub-committee" scheme - there is every likelihood that many of these major decisions are going to be a fait accompli before any resident has a chance to address them with the council. Personally, I'm not too happy with the idea of our municipal fiscal future being decided by the mayor and mayor pro tem and a bunch of their cronies over a few beers at the mayor's gin mill.

CALM DELIBERATION AND RESIDENT INVOLVEMENT
I urge the City Council to throttle-back their self-serving agenda a little and take the time required for reasoned discourse on these issues before charging off like the Sooners in the Oklahoma land rush. Effective management of our city demands resident involvement and mature, calm deliberation. They simply cannot run around like the Queen of Hearts, shouting "Off With Their Heads!" and properly serve the needs of the people who elected them.

Fairgrounds On The Block & Thugs Among Us

FAIRGROUNDS FOR SALE!
I had intended to give you my take on the joint City Council/Planning Commission Study Session yesterday, but first the BIG STORY is the potential sale of the Orange County Fair and Event Center.

QUICK DECISION TO SELL
The Fair Board, apparently feeling significant pressure from a pending budget scheme in Sacramento, met in an emergency session today at the Costa Mesa City Hall and voted to support the sale of the Fairgrounds - with the proviso that it be sold to a non-profit that would retain the property as a Fairgrounds in perpetuity. You can read Alan Blank's articles in the Daily Pilot HERE and HERE, and Jeff Overley and Ellyn Pak's article in the Orange County Register HERE.

REPRESENTATIVES, NOT THE BUDGET, ARE THE PROBLEM
This is a big deal.... and is a pathetic example of how hapless our state government has been in attempting to balance the budget year after year. The voters of this state need to understand that the problem isn't the budget - it's the boneheads they elected to lead this state. That's where the changes need to take place.

*****

Back to the Study Session, which ran 25% longer than anticipated.

THUGS IN CHARGE?
I came away from viewing the taped replay of that meeting today with the STRONG feeling that our city is very, very close to becoming an authoritarian enclave. For example, during the discussion of Code Enforcement priorities, it was suggested by Planning Commission Chairman Jim Righeimer that the city should consider "sweeps" - massed enforcement efforts in certain parts of our city - to solve his perception of difficulties. Of course, this comment is aimed squarely at the minority-occupied Westside.

CLUBBED INTO SUBMISSION
Another "Riggy gem" was his suggestion that an immediate $75.00 fine for any trash can left out beyond the permitted time. No warning - just slap a $75.00 administrative citation on the perpetrator. Both of these suggestions reek of heavy-handedness, which was reinforced by comments by Riggy's buddy, Steve Mensinger. When Councilwoman Katrina Foley expressed no interest in either suggestion Righeimer flippantly quipped back to her that she needed a vote - pointing our her minority position on the council.

TRYING TO RE-MAKE OUR CITY
It was clear to me that Righeimer and Mensinger would prefer to remake Costa Mesa in the mode of Irvine or Newport Beach. A couple times Mensinger compared Costa Mesa to Stanton - a city he described as "stopped in time".

MORE FOCUS NECESSARY
The upshot of the meeting was that a discussion of liquor stores, code enforcement and the overlay zone issues will be going back to the commission and/or the council based on the discussions tonight. The overlay discussion will be more tightly focused on the SoBECA zone and the Westside will be ignored for the time being. Code enforcement guidelines will be re-prioritized and new rules for liquor stores will be crafted.