(Los Alamitos,2/21/2012) Tonight’s 6:30 p.m. Los Alamitos City Council meeting starts with a closed session on the Trash litigation, but I’m guessing the goal is to move into public session around 7:00 p.m. There’s also a 5:00 p.m. meeting focused on the mid year budget review. Both of tonight’s City Council meetings will be televised on LosAl TV 3
The agendas (linked below) have several interesting items which have generated a fair amount of discussion here already (see links below).
So set your DVR for LosAl TV 3 from 5 – 6:30 and from 7 – 11 or so, and/or show up in person, & let us know what you see, hear, & think!
That’s because this is the place for the Community (that means you!) to report on what takes place in our always-interesting City Council.
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Click here for 100 pages of 7 p.m. regular meeting agenda, followed by staff reports and attachments. (Code of conduct begins on page 85)“
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FYI: City Council meetings are rebroadcast the next morning at 7, and the following night at 7. They are also rebroadcast on Friday and Saturday mornings at 7, and the following Monday morning at 7. We will put up links once the meetings are online.
This is where YOU report what you saw and your perspective or insights. As always, please try to be diplomatic, use relatively family friendly language, and please briefly describe what you are commenting on before making your comment. Not everyone has TV3. (We will put up the link once it’s online).
Related posts:
- Your reporting and comments on tonight’s Los Alamitos City Council meetings, 5/2/2011
- Your reporting and comments on tonight’s Los Alamitos City Council meetings, 3/7/2011
- Your reporting, observations, and comments on tonight’s 2 City Council meetings
- Your reporting & comments on Tuesday’s 2 City Council meetings & Wednesday’s News Enterprise
With nine claims of Brown Act violations from me (including two from last nights meeting), three additional from Warren, and four additional from Gerri (including one that mirrored Warrens to a “T”) in a war of escalation in reporting Brown Act violations the majority determined that they may have made an error in judgement by not following Gerri’s suggestion that they slap Warren (privately) on the wrist for their perceived violations of the Brown Act.
Between now and the next meeting the majority has indicated that they will do everything in their power to end the Brown Act Violation War they precipitated by their actions. Even Mayor Pro Tem Poe expressed contriteness for her fiery rhetoric and actions.
So, the city is in a wait-and-see mode to see if the majorities rhetoric is followed up with equivocal actions. I suspect that the appropriate actions by council would be two-fold. First they would drop everything going forward on Warren, and I would hope that they would do something as simple as making an official proclamation clearing Warren of any wrongdoing (they made a big issue out of muddying his name, they have a responsibility to make a big issue of clearing it no mater how much crow they eat in doing so).
One more thing that the Patch did not mention is the fact that after the 6:30 pm closed session the city attorney gave some reportable action: They addressed the Brown Act violations brought up at a previous meeting. On Dec 5 & 8 Poe was out of state. Edgar and Stephens went into open/closed session without a quorum. At the closed session on Dec 8 they voted without a quorum to appeal the trash lawsuit and try to settle.
The city attorney last night said they “cured” it by voting again with a quorum.
She didn’t admit guilt of a Brown Act violation, but just to be on the safe side they did it again. Well, guess what city attorney, as the mayor stated, “it’s binary, it is or it isn’t.”
Once again either the city attorney is giving bad advice or she is giving correct advice and Poe, Edgar and Stephens are ignoring it.
What ever the case, the inmates are running the asylum.
BTW Poe, Edgar and Stephens that was just the tip of the iceberg for Brown act / ethics violations! You may make up with your peers, but that still doesn’t mean the residents who you are supposed to be representing are going to go away.
If ANY city government in OC is just making it as they go along I thing the DA would want to know about it. If the city attorney isn’t sure let the DA educate her.
On Regulation 2.6 (“Code of Conduct,” including 3 votes to agendize any item):
Warren started and without comment made a motion to accept the recommendation of the City Manager. Gerri seconded the motion. Troy opened the floor to comments. There was one comment from the floor against it.
It returned to the Council. The motion and a second was on the floor. Troy did not call the question, but asked that it be motioned again. It was motioned again by Warren, but Gerri wanted to address the citizen comments.
She did so, but did not second the motion on the floor or make a sustitute motion for the vote herself. This allowed discussion among the council and then, what would have been a 3-2 vote to pass the Regulation 2.6 suddenly became a decision to table after it was pointed out that the City already has a Municipal Code that covers agendas and that “O” would be in violation to the intent of the LAMC.
If this raises it’s ugly head again, one would hope that “O” is left off as well as the punitive list of enforcements for violation.
[edited for typographical errors: 2.44PM 2012/02/22]
Council Member Stephens: “(We have) spent a year or more of not doing the business of the city. . . . Let’s start running the city the way we’re supposed to do.”
I’m trying to remember who the mayor was last year. Hmmmmmm, why, I think it was ………….. Mayor Stevens!
So Stevens is now admiting that there was no city business done under his leadership?
Darn, I was beginning to hope that Troy would win the election to the Assembly and finally grace the City of Los Alamitos with his absence. The thought of Troy as a congressman made me sick, but Troy as a member of the California Assembly? He might learn to be more humble?
OH Scarecrow I will miss you most of all
There are two schools of thought as to what is going on at the city council meetings. You have two groups who have different points of view.
I am going to just throw this out for anyone who would cares to respond.
At the last three meetings the majority has pounded on Kusumoto for what? Nothing ! If they had something they would have used it by now.
In the middle of all of this nothing that they have been pounding him with, Kusumoto did attend to several items of city business. The former Mayor Stephens seems to think that in the last year or so no business has been taken care of (not a ringing enforcement for himself to be mayor or council member again)
I would like to point out one of the items taken care of recently. The appointments to boards and commissions:
Troy Edgar has been on the OC sanitation district for a couple of years now. It is a very coveted position. He is the vice-chair and is looking forward to becoming the chair in June.
Now, because he can no longer vote for himself for this position his majority status will no longer help him get the position.
Kusumoto broke the 2-2 tie for the betterment of the city. Do you think that Edgar would have done that for Kusumoto? The city did not have to be represented on that board. It would not have been the end of the world. I would have NOT given it to him, good thing I’m not on the council.
Kusumoto looked beyond his own predicament for the betterment of the city. And I do think city business is being taken care of.
Troy?..Rebate..? Yeah right, I won’t hold my breath waiting for my rebate. The biggest rebate he could give back to Los Al is to dump our current Disposal Company and sign a contract that cuts their trash fees.
The businesses (who are probably the biggest benefactors of this proposed rebate plan) are paying triple what they would of if the majority had accepted the lowest bid!
Maybe the trashman had pulled a large number of permits and qualifies for these rebates…wouldn’t suprise me, there is always a benefactor to Troy’s Proposals.
Maybe someday those proposals will benefit the Los Al resident and not his supporters looking for political paybacks.
Read the article. “Awash in 7.4 Mil surplus”.
Kind of makes you wonder about the city deficit Edgar claims to have eliminated. How can you have a deficit in your operating budget and at the same time grow your surplus. Surplus mean revenues are exceeding expenditures.
Was the defiicit problem a ficitious one created by Edgar and Stewart that would miraculously disapear when Edgar was Mayor?
$7.4 Million Surplus and we could not afford $15,000 for fireworks? Kenny Brandyberry generously donated the $15,000 to “save” the fireworks believing Edgar and Poe were telling the truth. The first rebate needs to go to Mr. Brandyberry with an apology from tweedle Dee and tweedle dum.
Remember at the same time they were crying “poverty” for the fireworks that we all enjoy, they also gave the Chamber of Commerce $6,000 so that the Chamber could afford to run an ad in the News-Enterprise endorsing them.
If nothing else said “abuse of office” it was giving the Chamber our tax dollars in exchange for a political endorsement.
Warren Kusumoto must be fully exonerated before any “cease fire” can begin.
This is great being able to go right to the item. Thank you Larry. So much time had to be involved to do this.
So much better than waiting to watch it on the few times it is shown on LATV.