Jul
5
Council to consider ousting Commissioner Sheridan & also reversing Planning Commission @ 7 Tuesday
Filed Under 2010 Issues, City Council Meetings, Decency, Traffic
(Los Alamitos, 7/5/2010) This week the “5th of July” holiday resulted in the City Council’s meeting being pushed back to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, but it appears that the Council majority, fresh from their victory over ratepayers on the trash contract, is not taking any holiday from controversy this week.
There are several quite interesting items on Tuesday’s Council Agenda:
- Construction of a “50th Anniversary Courtyard” at Little Cottonwood Park (at no cost to the city)
- Possible reversal of the Planning Commission’s unanimous rejection of the Council’s request to rezone the large parcel at 4141 Katella and 10909 Portal Drive. (Commissionar Grose reclused herself, the remaining members in attendance voted unanimously, concurring with the staff recommendation over the Council’s suggestion.)
- Posting 15 mph speed limit signs on the Apartment Row alley between Katella & Green
- Followup on Council Member Zarkos’ suggestion that the Council boot Traffic Commission Chair Brad Sheridan, and have the City Attorney file a complaint with the State Bar about his public comments on the trash contract before the Council at their June 7 meeting.
Commissioner Brad Sheridan
Here’s the issue, taken from City Manager Jeff Stewart’s Staff report:
During the City Council meeting of June 21, 2010, Councilmember Zarkos requested the City Attorney draft correspondence to the State Bar related to Councilmember Zarkos’ concern that Mr. Sheridan’s actions at the regular City Council meeting of June 7, 2010 regarding the City Council’s future consideration of a refuse collection franchise agreement may be in conflict with the State Bar’s Code of Ethics.
Because the decision to authorize such correspondence is a policy consideration of the City Council, and because Mr. Sheridan’s actions may be inherently inconsistent with his status as a member of the Traffic Commission, it is appropriate that the City Council discuss and potentially take action regarding the correspondence and Mr. Sheridan’s status on the Commission.
Now if you’re scratching your head as to what Mr. Sheridan did that might be “inherently inconsistent with his status as a member of the Traffic Commission,” here’s what he said that Mr. Zarkos objected to:
June 7:
. . . While we are on the topic of payment at the moment, I want you to know that we, the residents of Los Alamitos, we will not let you request or certainly receive city funds or our taxpayer funds when you’re defending the actions against you by the district attorney for corruption and other items that relate to this decision. You still have time to change your mind. Let’s hope you make it the right decision. Thank you.
Mr. Sheridan said this during public comments, identifying himself only as a resident of Los Alamitos, not as Traffic Commissioner or Commission Chair, or as an attorney. It was part of his concerns about the Council going with the second highest trash bid.
June 21:
Here’s what Mr. Zarkos said two weeks later, during the discussion of an agenda item:
. . . Mr. Sheridan, you made some very serious comments at the last meeting, and those comments were taken to heart, and I believe that you said something along the lines that it’s not too late to review our decision and that, if we didn’t, potentially we would find ourselves in front of a grand jury. I believe those were the comments you made, maybe not the exact words but that was certainly the intent.
So in that spirit sir, knowing that you are a member of the California Bar and knowing that the comments that you made, we’ve asked the City Attorney on behalf of the Mayor, the Council and the city to submit a letter to the ethics committee of the California State Bar investigating the comments that you made relative to criminal prosecution.
So you know we’ll see what happens with that, but I don’t know. Hopefully its nothing, but I just want you to know that we took everything seriously.
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. . . What I do have a problem with is someone standing up and saying “either you do what we say or you will find yourself in a criminal prosecution.” That, to me, is tantamount to extortion, especially by an officer of the court. We’ve asked the city attorney to look into this. What happens, I don’t know, but you know that’s something that’s critical.
I’ve always found Mr. Sheridan to be competent, helpful, professional, and committed to our community. He’s served for six years on several city Commissions without receiving any remuneration, and he’s been elected repeatedly to Chair those Commissions. It’s a shame that disagreeing with the Council Majority will get you kicked off of your commission, but this will be the second Commission Chairman the current majority has fired in the past year.
Friends and supporters of Mr. Sheridan may want to address Mr. Zarkos’ charges during tomorrow’s 7 p.m. Council Meeting.
The 4141 Katella issue is also quite interesting, but I’m already over my time allotment. You can click here for the staff report from Community Development Director Steven Mendoza, or go to the agenda for links to all staff reports and attachments.
As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome, and are most effective when expressed diplomatically and in the “family friendly” language that’s appropriate for our little town.
Comments
6 Responses to “Council to consider ousting Commissioner Sheridan & also reversing Planning Commission @ 7 Tuesday”
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I agree with you Dave. Brad Sheridan has always been a good citizen in Los Alamitos he is an intelligent, thoughtful man.
The council is acting more like a monarchy than an elected council. The last time I checked Los Alamitos was still in the U.S.
Since when does a resident give up their right to their own opinion while serving on a commission. OH, that’s right ….it was since we got Edgar and Zarkos on the council. They did this to Art DeBolt when he spoke out as a resident.
It’s good to be King!!
Your great leader Obama just did the same thing to McKrystal, must be OK then, right? A knee-jerk reaction at the highest and lowest level ………….
Is Los Alamitos still in the USA or did MR Watermelon get us kicked out?
LMAO.
I wasn’t aware that there was a “Chain of military command” between the commissioners and the members of the City Council. In fact, I was under the distinct impression that commissions were independent entities NOT under the command of the City Council. I guess I got that impression from the joint meeting between the City Council and the Planning Commission when Poe, Stephens and Mejia said that they wanted independent thinking on the commissions not rubber stamps.
One final thought. “Your great leader Obama”? Ummm, last time I looked he was America’s leader. He has the titles President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. As President he is “the leader” of the Executive branch (OUR leader, not YOUR leader unless you are not American and are referring to an American).
“Great” is an opinion. While I don’t believe personally he is “great” as he seems to negotiate with himself rather than push progressive issues and so he comes in in the “middle” and gets pushed further to the right by the Legislative branches, I don’t think he is “great”. But, I do know he is a whole lot better than the other option, the guy who said that the fundamentals of the economy were sound as we were in a financial meltdown.
As anyone in the military will tell you (just go ask at the base), insubordination within the military chain of command is not acceptable and is a terminating offense. As the CIC he had no choice but to terminate McCrystal (and the staffers).
Now, can you explain how we all misunderstood what was said about not wanting rubber stamps and independent commissioners by a majority of the council members and how that aligns with their removal of commission chairs who have the audacity to be independent thinkers and who as citizens (not as chairmen of their commissions) spoke their minds at open forums in City Hall?
I believe I can take a stab at JM’s question.
Edgar and Poe said they didn’t want rubber stamps on the commissions, but the misunderstanding came when the commissioners didn’t realize that they speak out of both sides of their mouth.
This is making an example of someone so the other commissioners will think twice about having independent thoughts.
It is insulting to anyone who has served or anyone who is thinking about volunteering for a commission.
I hope some of you express your concerns tonight.
Equally disconcerting would be the Council taking a step backwards on the Katella property which was rezoned for retail. Hopefully they will follow the strong advice from staff and the Planning Commission.
I’ll be opening a “your reporting” post on tonight’s meeting, & strongly encourage anyone present or watching to report on what they see & what they think. Diplomatically, of course.