(2/10/2011, Los Alamitos) At Monday’s Council meeting Council Member Kusumoto read the following letter he sent to our Mayor:
February 6, 2012
City of Los Alamitos
3191 Katella Ave
Los Alamitos CA 90720
Attention: Mayor Troy EdgarMayor Edgar;
I have a matter of grave importance regarding clear violations of the Ralph M. Brown Act:
1. On December 19, 2011, in these chambers from the dais, you disclosed a confidential discussion that occurred in closed session where a question was asked of me by the Council Majority, and I provided a response.
2. Although it was not a verbatim quote, you provide a very accurate summary of the confidential, closed-session conversation.
3. On January 17, 2012 in these chambers from the dais, you stated that Council Member Poe participated in the Closed Session on Monday, December 5, 2011 while she was out of the State, and that this meeting was properly noticed. I note for the record that this Closed Session lasted from 8:48 pm until 11:40 pm. Unless the City Clerk can provide the posted Agenda where it was stated that Council Member Poe would be participating in Closed Session via teleconference, I assert that Council Member Poe’s participation violates provisions in the Ralph M. Brown Act where participation via teleconference must be properly noticed in the local jurisdiction as well as the remote site where Council Member Poe called from.
4. Since we are Brown Act purists nowadays, I demand that these matters be analyzed by the City Attorney and this matter is agendized for our next meeting on Tuesday, February 21st. There is a line that the Council Majority established, and to ignore these violations of the Ralph M. Brown Act would allow the line to continue to move in the wrong direction.
5. To echo and agree with the paraphrased words of Council Member Poe: we owe this to ourselves and the community, because to look the other way would make us as guilty as if we committed the offense.
Respectfully Submitted
Council Member Kusumoto
As always, your perspective and thoughts, diplomatically stated, are welcome.
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Mr. Kusumoto: You are accurate, and you are being consistent with current City mores. I applaud you for taking the best and most direct course of action toward a more effective and community centered Council. I realize that your comments may not sit well with some, but they are necessary to support a refocus of Council energy and direction.
Seems like the majority of Edgar, Poe, and Stevens just stepped into their own brown act…
Jody put forward some at the meeting
JM put forward some on the blog
Warren put forward some in the letter
At this point I don’t think any of them look at any dates prior to December 2011. And all of the Brown Act violations appear to be against Marilyn, Ken and Troy.
You can’t put a broken egg back together, and it appears that the majority is going to be left making an omelet in which they are the main ingredient. Unless, of course there is one set of rules for members of the minority, and another set of rules for the majority. Are Marilyn, Ken and Troy above the law?
Sadly, it appears that this is the thought process of our current council majority members:
The council majority has every right to break the rules and nobody is allowed to call them out on it but, if the minority breaks the rules, they are to be crucified.
How greater hypocrites can they be!!?? But then again, we are dealing with out of touch, self serving politicians who are sworn to serve those who paid to put them into office. It appears to be yet another sad diatribe commited against the voters here in Los Al.