An Early Evening, But Not Without Some Drama

SHORT, BUT NOT SO SWEET
The Costa Mesa City Council meeting last night went about as anticipated, including some drama from an unexpected source... more on that a little later.

BILL BURKE HONORED
The meeting started right on time, although without councilwoman Sandra Genis, who was ill.  The very beginning of the meeting turned out to be the highlight as Costa Mesa Adventurer Bill Burke was recognized for his accomplishments including climbing Mt. Everest - twice!  The most recent time was last May, when he reached the peak again.  We're told the 72 year-old Burke has climbed every major peak in the world!

FASCINATING ADVENTURE
Burke spent a few minutes showing a slide show of his latest climb, providing us with great detail of the travails of that effort.  Mayor Jim Righeimer presented him with a plaque acknowledging his accomplishments.  I suggest you find some time to watch the video of that portion of the evening - you will be amazed, as was the small audience last night.

"GOD" WAS BENEVOLENT
Eleven people completed speaker cards for Public Comments, so Righeimer agreed to let all of them speak instead of the remaining one (1) being required to remain to the end of the meeting.  There was a small murmur of sarcastic cheers when he made that announcement.

GROUP HOMES
Ann Parker grilled Righeimer on the rehab homes issue, and wanted to know why the City had waited so long to put together an ordinance, citing the City of Orange ordinance.

FANNY SMOOCHING PLUS 60TH DEBACLE DEMANDS
Chuck Perry - a Riganista and candidate for the Costa Mesa Sanitary District Board - stepped up again to praise the council for their golf course improvements, the new development at Newport Boulevard and Industrial Way and the general street improvements.  Sue Lester demanded action on the 60th Anniversary debacle, indicating that if the District Attorney isn't going to do something The City should release the CMPD report.  She also opined that the medical marijuana petitions are being circulated and that councilman Gary Monahan should keep the pressure on the council to produce an ordinance to control it.  Jeffrey Hall invited all to the Project Independence event.

AND MORE...
Beth Refakes reported on the recent I-405 Toll Road Town Hall.  Robin Leffler complained that Righeimer's recent "Promises Made, Promises Kept" email blast was inaccurate and misleading.  Funny, whenever I think of that document I cannot help but think he meant promises he'd made to his developer buddies... Cindy Brenneman echoed Lester's comments on the 60th.  Teresa Drain renewed her demand for a forensic audit of the 60th and used a graphic to depict the cash flow of Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) dollars through the City.  Greg Thunnel used quotations from Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln to chide the council on issues of integrity.

"LA-DE-DA"...
Looking like death warmed-over, Costa Mesa's racist laureate, M.H. Millard, (n)ever the class act, stepped up and told us the City is on the right track and is now attracting the "right kind of people".  We presume he doesn't mean Latinos, since his body of work vilifies any race except white.  He referred to opposition voices as "hen-pecking blowhards", told us that "liberals tried to turn the Westside into a permanent ethnic ghetto" and that we should be careful not to elect the "wrong people".  He then made a curious - even for him - comment about some folks being "la-de-da", and that we don't want Costa Mesa to become Santa Ana, which he described as" a zoo every night".  I chuckled, since that city does, in fact, have a zoo.  Such a sad man and a tragic waste of an intellect - he's a Mensa member, don'tcha know?

FIREWORKS
Former city council candidate Karl Ahlf was the final speaker complained about illegal fireworks and he addressed the need for compassion for our veterans and cited some suicide statistics.  He also acknowledged the Mexican Independence Day - yesterday was that day.

MORE ON FIREWORKS, SECRET MEETING AND NEGOTIATIONS
During Council Member Comments Wendy Leece addressed the Fireworks issue and indicated that she would be studying a way to eliminate them.  She referred to a "median meeting" today in the Emergency Operations Center that nobody seemed to know anything about.  Earlier in the day I asked Director of Public Services, Ernesto Munoz, about the meeting and he had no knowledge of it.  Before the council meeting began he told me that there was, indeed, such a meeting at which the presentation made to the Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee recently would be duplicated.  It's unclear whether the meeting begins at 5:30 or 6:30 tonight.  It theoretically runs until 7:00 p.m.  Leece also complimented Mesa Water for the good work it does keeping us in drinking water and closed her comments by telling us that she, Sandy Genis and Gary Monahan would be meeting in a closed session to begin discussions about the Costa Mesa Police Association contract negotiations this Friday at 10:00 a.m.  Finally!

ECHOING THE RACIST!
Monahan, bless his distracted little heart, told us that because it was campaign season there was a lot of inaccurate information going around and parroted Millard's "la-de-da-de-da" blather.  You know he's in trouble when the best he can do is echo an incomprehensible inanity from a racist.  Good grief!

GAZSI - NOPE, WE WON'T RELEASE THE REPORT
Righeimer addressed the complaints about the 60th Anniversary investigation and asked Police Chief Tom Gazsi to step up and address it.  He asked Gazsi if we should release his - the CMPD's - report?  Gazsi told him that he was not inclined to release the contents of the report until there is a conclusion to the issue, and thought the District Attorney's office would feel the same way about their information.

CAMPAIGN MANTRA
Righeimer then tried to deflect earlier criticism of the city's financial situation, indicating that the way a municipality balances the budget is different than the way a business balances a budget, and launched into his campaign chant about previous councils "blowing through $35 million in reserves".  We're going to hear that at every opportunity for the next couple months, even though he knows it's inaccurate and misleading.  Previous councils used reserves for the reason they were accumulated - to bail us out of emergencies, like the economic downturn of the late 2000's.

REHAB HOME ORDINANCE COMING
He told us there's a rehab home ordinance that will be coming to the Planning Commission at their next meeting, and he solicited the public's input.  And, he mentioned the I-405 Town Hall, and how CalTrans representatives seemed more willing to listen.  Funny, that doesn't track with any other report I've seen or heard about that meeting.  What does he know that he's not telling us?

ALWAYS HUMBLE
Steve Mensinger took credit for the infrastructure improvements mentioned by Perry earlier - big surprise!  He then launched into the usual tirade about the value and tradition of fireworks in the city.  He then complimented CEO Tom Hatch for the success of Camp Costa Mesa - the summer program for youth in the city.

CERT AND THE "BIG DIG"
During his comments Hatch spoke about the recent recognition of the Costa Mesa CERT program by FEMA.  He had Munoz give a brief update on the "Big Dig" - the water treatment project underway at Lions Park.  He also spoke of the recent criticism of monies paid to our new insurance broker.

Several items were pulled from the 16-item Consent Calendar for later discussion.

COIN
Public Hearing #1, the 2nd hearing on the contract between The City and the Costa Mesa City Employees Association (CMCEA) was conducted by negotiator Richard Kreisler - the $300 per hour lawyer from Liebert Cassidy Whitmore.  He spoke of the success of the COIN process, citing a nearly $1 million ongoing savings and a one-time savings of about that same amount due to the outsourcing of the Street Sweeping activities.  (Hatch told us they expected the contractor - Athens Services - to take over in October since the contract had already been negotiated.  Did we mention that they are big campaign contributors to Righeimer?

UNHAPPY PUBLIC
During public comments on this issue Jay Humphrey complained that this process, COIN, is used ONLY for labor negotiations, not other commercial contract activities.  Robin Leffler reminded the council of it's ham-handed handling of the layoffs a few years ago that caused Huy Pham to leap to his death and postulated that the punitive nature of this contract will hurt those employees who make the least the most - and it will hurt their families.

ENVIOUS
Monahan observed that the average compensation package for the employees under this contract is $105,000 - but neglected to mention how many employees fell well under that number.  One had the idea that he was a little envious of the pay of some city employees.  It was clear from the tone of his question that he didn't have ANY sympathy for them in this matter.

PRAISING MENSINGER
Righeimer observed that, with the Street Sweeping outsourcing, not a single employee was laid off.  He said that 80% of the budget is in salaries and benefits, so that's where COIN is focused.  He went on to praise Mensinger effusively for the COIN scheme - something he said will spread like wildfire now that there has been a negotiation completed using it.  He thanked the negotiators on both sides for their efforts.  The motion to approve it and the resolutions passed, 4-0.

NO COMMENT... YET
I tried to get a comment from CMCEA negotiator Don Drozd after the vote, but he referred me to his associate, Jennifer Muir later today.  I'm thinking they are not that happy with the results...

ANNEXATION FRUSTRATION
At 8:00 the council began the second hearing on the Santa Ana/Colleen annexation issue.  There was virtually no discussion before public comments were opened.  The first two speakers represented the ownership of the strange-shaped parcel of land that is going to be developed once annexation is complete.  Both cited relief that the "long haul" is over.

A "RIGGED" SYSTEM
Two residents spoke about this process with great passion.  To summarize their thoughts, both felt the council was "disinterested" in the plight of the property owners in this annexation island.  They felt - probably appropriately so - that this annexation was developer-driven - that the owner of the vacant land wanted the parcel to become part of Costa Mesa so more homes could be built on it.  The way this has played out, it certainly seems that way.  One of the speakers mentioned learning that the developers had been working with the City on this project for a couple years!  Later, as Righeimer attempted to rebut comments, both men yelled out from the audience, calling Righeimer a liar.  He cautioned them that they were disrupting the meeting - the code word for "if you don't shut up I'm going to have you removed from the auditorium". 

Both men left in a huff, shouting back over their shoulders.  Can't blame them.  This thing appears to have been rigged (pun intended) from the beginning.

WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A PECK ON THE CHEEK
Among the other speakers, Leffler suggested this was "annexation without representation" - an appropriate and clever turn of phrase.  Long time resident Mary Spadoni scolded the council for their shabby treatment of the newest Costa Mesa residents and suggested that the council's behavior will be remembered in future elections.  When the vote was taken it passed, 3-1 - Leece voted no.

LEGAL FEES AND CARE CONTRACT EXTENSION
The Consent Calendar items were discussed - Greg Thunnel pulled the Warrant to discuss the legal costs.  Item 11, the extension of the contract with CARE Ambulance, had been pulled so Righeimer stepped out of the auditorium because that firm had contributed more than the permitted $249 to him.  Fire Chief Dan Stefano explained why the extension was necessary - in a nutshell, the city is not quite ready to take over the transportation of injured in our new medic vans.  He explained that his preference is to take that over sooner than later, but the extension with CARE is essential right now and can be cancelled immediately whenever the city chooses to do so.  A lot of extraneous conversation about Fire Department staffing and deployment models sidetracked this issue briefly.  Eventually it passed, 3-0, after a half-dozen speakers expressed concern and impatience with the pace of the conversion to the Medic Van system and the revenue generation that will accompany it.

AN ANGRY RESIDENT CAPS THE NIGHT
At the very end of the meeting one woman who didn't identify herself and I didn't recognize her, stepped up to tell the council that she was very disappointed with the male majority on the council... that was it.

NEXT STOP - FEET TO THE FIRE
So, the short night ended just after 9:00 p.m., but it was not without it's magic moments.  It's going to be a very long campaign season...