City Council acts on Town Center report
The City Council has taken six sensible steps based on interim City Manager Bill Kelly’s report on the 2003-06 Town Center redevelopment controversy, including a unanimous vote to refer three possible open-meeting law violations to the state Attorney General.
Although Kelly recommended submitting the possible Brown Act abuse by a past council for review, he noted that except for a potential violation involving council signatures on a 2005 letter to residents “it is assumed all other closed sessions were legal.”
But Kelly also noted a prior council’s “not reporting decisions or directions in public sessions in a timely fashion caused serious public perception problems” in his report examining issues related to the failed Old Town master-planned project.
Opposition to the project, involving eminent domain use and higher density Town Center zoning, partly led to the election of five council members: John Anderson and Jan Horton in 2006, Hank Wedaa in 2007 and Nancy Rikel and Mark Schwing in 2008.
Council also voted 4-1 for an independent review of relationships among attorneys involved in a Measure B court case in 2005-06.
Measure B, which requires a public vote on major changes to city planning documents, passed by 299 votes in 2006 after a judge denied a lawsuit filed by an attorney for City Clerk Kathie Mendoza to keep the citizens’ initiative off the ballot.
The suit pitted the clerk’s attorney against the council’s attorney and an attorney for three “interested party” citizens. The city paid $151,662 to the clerk’s and council’s attorneys, who argued opposing sides of the issue.
Kelly reported Mendoza “followed the direction” of former City Manager Tamara Letourneau, who “followed the direction” of a past council, and neither Mendoza nor Letourneau “acted outside of [their] professional roles or responsibilities.”
Council also voted 4-1 to place a letter in Mendoza’s personnel file indicating she was directed by Letourneau to file the lawsuit. Letourneau was dismissed on a 5-0 council vote in 2008, four months after receiving a substantial salary increase on a 3-2 vote.
Unanimous council actions also call for guidelines on handling initiative and referendum petitions and policies incorporating reforms Kelly recommended relating to negotiations with developers and providing periodic public updates on significant projects.
But council split 3-2 in favor of Kelly expanding his report with up to 10 more interviews and looking into a former Town Center developer’s charge past city officials required his firm to fund a petition suppression campaign to obtain a negotiating agreement extension.
Although Kelly recommended submitting the possible Brown Act abuse by a past council for review, he noted that except for a potential violation involving council signatures on a 2005 letter to residents “it is assumed all other closed sessions were legal.”
But Kelly also noted a prior council’s “not reporting decisions or directions in public sessions in a timely fashion caused serious public perception problems” in his report examining issues related to the failed Old Town master-planned project.
Opposition to the project, involving eminent domain use and higher density Town Center zoning, partly led to the election of five council members: John Anderson and Jan Horton in 2006, Hank Wedaa in 2007 and Nancy Rikel and Mark Schwing in 2008.
Council also voted 4-1 for an independent review of relationships among attorneys involved in a Measure B court case in 2005-06.
Measure B, which requires a public vote on major changes to city planning documents, passed by 299 votes in 2006 after a judge denied a lawsuit filed by an attorney for City Clerk Kathie Mendoza to keep the citizens’ initiative off the ballot.
The suit pitted the clerk’s attorney against the council’s attorney and an attorney for three “interested party” citizens. The city paid $151,662 to the clerk’s and council’s attorneys, who argued opposing sides of the issue.
Kelly reported Mendoza “followed the direction” of former City Manager Tamara Letourneau, who “followed the direction” of a past council, and neither Mendoza nor Letourneau “acted outside of [their] professional roles or responsibilities.”
Council also voted 4-1 to place a letter in Mendoza’s personnel file indicating she was directed by Letourneau to file the lawsuit. Letourneau was dismissed on a 5-0 council vote in 2008, four months after receiving a substantial salary increase on a 3-2 vote.
Unanimous council actions also call for guidelines on handling initiative and referendum petitions and policies incorporating reforms Kelly recommended relating to negotiations with developers and providing periodic public updates on significant projects.
But council split 3-2 in favor of Kelly expanding his report with up to 10 more interviews and looking into a former Town Center developer’s charge past city officials required his firm to fund a petition suppression campaign to obtain a negotiating agreement extension.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 AM
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