In February the Capo School Board members voted unanimously to reduce their monthly stipends by half, from the historical amount of $750 to $375, due to the budgetary crisis. Although the crisis persists, Superintendent Carter will recommend on Monday that Trustees reinstate the $750 amount.
The Mission Viejo City Council, although outspending revenues by $12 million during last fiscal year, recently doubled the historical amount of their stipends from $500 to $1,000 and granted lifetime healthcare benefits, valued at $257,000, for current councilmembers who serve 12 years and reach age 50.
The CUSD Trustees will consider retaining a consultant to help maximize revenues from leasing District sites for placement of cellular telepone antennas.
Two companies offered proposals, Cityscape Consultants and ATS Communications. The staff recommendation is for the Board to select Cityscape. Factors included commission percentages, years and type of related experience, and potential conflicts of interest.
The two firms were among four which had also made proposals to the City of Mission Viejo a couple years ago. The City Council selected ATS over Cityscape in a highly controversial decision.
I am a former student of O’Neill. I was at O’Neill from kindergarten to 6th grade, and I loved every year, every teacher, every event, and every tiny grain of sand in the playground. I spent SEVEN years of my life at this wonderful school, and I would be irate and distraught if it closed down. Need I remind officials that O’Neill was the very 1st school here? Think of the history! I remember the big glass cabinets filled with trophies and awards from the years gone by. I, along with manyfriends, will not be the least bit happy if a closure takes place. Why close THIS school? The students are happy and intelligent, the teachers are wonderful, kind, and smart, and the location is perfect! Many people in the area, including myself, love the convenience of having a school practically across the street! I urge the board members to reconsider and keep O’Neill open. We have not been given a fair chance.
It seems our city council is placing their personal agenda items ahead of their moral and fiscal responsibility to the citizens of Mission Viejo. This is very demoralizing especially in these difficult economic times. It makes you wonder what needs to be done to get the attention of the city council so that they will represent the citizens who elected them in a totally responsible manner. I have remained passive for a long time but now realize with the council member’s pay increase, lifetime insurance package, rose parade float and recent deficit spending that we have all got to become more involved.
Santa arrived on a fire truck at Civic Center on Sunday, but his first workshop chats will begin this evening when children can huddle with Santa to disclose their gift wishes.
The Mission Viejo Activities Committee has provided a finely decked plaza for Santa in his new location at the Civic Center, between the Libary and City Hall [Photo by Vivian Frerichs]. Santa will visit children at the Workshop on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 6-8pm through December 21.
Last night protestors conducted a candlelight march from O’Neill Elementary School to a School Board meeting in the new gym at LaPaz Intermediate School. The event sought to prevent the closing of O’Neill next year.
On March 6 the Dispatch broke the story of possible school closings beginning with the 2009-2010 school year due to declining enrollment and budget restrictions. Five schools were being considered for closure at that time by the Facilities Advisory Committee. The list has been pared to two, O’Neill and La Tierra.
About 300 protesters, including parents, teachers, administrators, students and neighbors, attended the meeting. Many addressed the Board to express their concerns about the potential closing. Some protestors attacked the underlying rationale by the Facilities Advisory Committee as flawed. Others touted the high academic reputation of O’Neill compared to other schools. The Board was told that smaller schools like O’Neill, with about 460 students, provide a better learning environment for students than large schools like Foothill, which has 1600 students.
The Mission Viejo Heritage Committee has requested in a letter that the school remain open based on its historical significance as the City’s first elementary school.
Many attendees expressed disappointment because none of the Trustees responded to their questions. Next month the School District will make the final decision and announce the closings. [Photo by Vivian Frerichs]
The Dispatch won’t sue the Mayor and City Council in court on Brown Act allegations of illegal secrecy, lies and coverup. Instead, readers are invited to act as a jury of peers by using the Open Meetings Poll below.
On October 9 the Mission Viejo Dispatch delivered a formal letter to the City Clerk charging the Council violated open meeting laws known as the Brown Act. Under the Brown Act the City is provided an opportunity to avoid litigation by admitting alleged breaches and disclosing any improperly withheld information. The Council instead denied the charges in a statement read by Mayor Kelley at the November 17 Council meeting, thereby triggering the Dispatch’s right to initiate litigation.
A few years ago this writer successfully sued and convicted three previous Mission Viejo council members for violating the Brown Act. The City was ordered to pay legal expenses for both sides, costing taxpayers over $100,000. Perhaps a viable alternative remedy exists today, since Dispatch readers can act as jurors, avoiding the turmoil and expense of a lawsuit.
Both sides are presented in this article. First, the background is presented. Next, the charges are stated. Then the two-minute video of the Mayor’s denial is provided, followed by a Dispatch rebuttal.
BACKGROUND
Open government is paramount to the Dispatch, because citizens cannot exercise their right to monitor public officials if information is illegally withheld. In this case a Rose Parade Float subcommittee operated secretly after being formed by the Mayor and Council. The planning process included at least three secret meetings, preventing coverage by the Dispatch, Register, Saddleback Valley News, and other media.
The Rose Parade Committee represents a larger problem involving pervasive secrecy by the Council, however. The Dispatch believes at least one other Ad Hoc Committee is operating illegally and has expressed its concern to the City Attorney.
City Councils are given discretion to deal with limited subjects in closed sessions, such as real property negotiations, employee evaluations, and litigation strategy. The law also creates a very narrow discretion for secrecy on any other matter while assigned to an ad hoc committee COMPRISED EXCLUSIVELY of a sub-majority (two members) of the Council. The MV Council admits a Brown Act violation would occur if additional persons, including residents, were members of a secretly operating ad hoc committee.
Ad Hocs are highly controversial because of the potential abuse. Many observers feel the Mission Viejo City Council routinely abuses the Ad Hoc process by referring issues into these secret committees which otherwise would have to be discussed publicly. Although Ad Hoc Committees cannot take final decisions or actions, extensive plans and agreements are completely formulated for quick and summary approval by the Council.
The Rose Float Committee became a legal issue when four residents were added secretly to the committee. The Council admits the addition of four residents as members would require the Committee to operate openly under the Brown Act, including 72-hour notice of meetings, posted agendas, public meetings, and minutes of the meetings. It also admits at least four residents participated on the Committee and concedes open Brown Act protocols were not followed.
The issues before readers are:
Were the four residents members of the Committee?
Did Mayor Kelley and Councilman MacLean lie when they claimed, after the Brown Act charge, that residents were experts or consultants instead of members?
Was the use of the terms “experts” or ”consultants” a coverup to avoid the Open Meetings Law and prevent transparency?
CHARGES
After originally appointing herself and Councilman Lance MacLean to the Ad Hoc Rose Parade Float Committee, the Mayor thereafter appointed four residents as members of the Committee, without public disclosure. The appointments came to light when the Committee made its recommendations to the Council on September 2 and a resident testified in favor of the proposal.
At its televised, videotaped public meeting on that date, resident Robert Breton made a public comment to the Council. Breton is an attorney and former MV Mayor. In part he stated:
“I’m here to speak on behalf of this and ask for your support on behalf of the Committee that I jumped at the chance to join, in recommending approval of this [float] design.”
The following email exchange subsequently took place between the Dispatch and Mayor Kelley:
—– Original Message —–
From: Brad Morton Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 9:57 AM To: Trish Kelley Subject: Re: Items
Hi Trish,
I have been asked who was on the Ad Hoc Float committee. I understand you, Lance and Breton were, but can you advise me who else – and how the other members were solicited and chosen?
Three days later Mayor Kelley sent an email which included the following reply:
From: Trish Kelley Sent: Sunday, September 07, 2008 11:25 PM To: Brad Morton Subject: Re: Items
Hi Brad,
In addition to me, the Ad Hoc Committee is Lance, Bob Breton, Ziggy Wilczynski, John Ben, Helen Workun. Also various staff members are involved under the City Manager’s direction as needed. The members were chosen due to their past experience on Mission Viejo float involvement, or approached us with an interest in helping on the committee.
The Mayor and Council admit these communications. After receiving the formal letter from the Dispatch, the Council held two closed session meetings with its attorney and then denied a Brown Act violation. The Council claimed the residents were “experts” and “consultants,” not “members” of the Committee, as indicated by the previous comments by Breton and Kelley.
MAYOR KELLEY’S DENIAL STATEMENT
Following is the Mayor’s two-minute denial at the November 17 council meeting:
DISPATCH REBUTTAL
Committee members are regularly selected for their experience, so the Mayor’s assertion these citizens were acting as expert consultants is a red herring. At least two of these members addressed the council on September 3 in support of the Committee’s recommendations. They were not introduced as consultants as is customary when consultants appear before the Council, nor did they identify themselves as experts.
The Mayor asserts she and Lance MacLean did not deem the residents to have decision-making authority. This is another red herring because no ad hoc members, including Kelley and MacLean, have decision-making authority. These committees typically form their plans and recommendations by discussion and consensus, as indicated by the resident members who made public comments to the Council on September 2.
Finally, it seems clear on its face the residents were considered members based on the comment above by former Mayor Breton when he claimed to be speaking, “on behalf of the Committee that I jumped at the chance to join.” The member status appears confirmed in the email above by Mayor Trish Kelley when she states, “In addition to me, the Ad Hoc Committee is Lance, Bob Breton, Ziggy Wilczynski, John Ben, Helen Workun.” She then refers to the four residents when saying, “The members were chosen due to . . .”
After voting in the Open Meetings Poll below, click on “View Results” to see current opinion.
According to [roundabout consultant] Mr. Ritchie, the contract the city agreed to included two visits to Mission Viejo. Therefore, he would visit Mission Viejo at no additional charge to discuss his findings. The question therefore needs to be asked why staff has been sitting on the study, and a concerned suspicion rises that staff just might have an agenda that is not in the interest of our City’s public.
Our traffic director has proven by her comments and actions that she is not up to speed on the subject of modern roundabouts (she still confuses them with traditional traffic circles) and is therefore unqualified to provide adequate, fully informed and complete answers to the questions the public and the commission will surely have with regards to this study.
Councilmember Ledesma’s statements to this item on last night’s agenda were outright embarrassing. He was actually proud of and admitted to “being closed-minded”. What is he so afraid of? He completely ignored the facts that were presented to him in favor of the preconceived notion (aka prejudice) he had in his mind. It is appalling that a member of our Council would admit to not being inclined to discharge of his sworn duties properly and judging a race horse by his colors rather than by his speed. (excerpt: see full comment #10 under Schlicht Sworn In)
Yesterday Capistrano High School officials reported an alleged sexual relationship to the OC Sheriff’s Department. Teacher Aaron Westbrook was arrested and released on bond.
Westbrook was accused of having consensual sex with an unnamed underage female student at his home. The situation was reported to a teacher by a friend of the alleged victim.
Westbrook was also an assistant coach for girls’ volleyball.
Cheers to Cathy Schlicht for requesting release of the traffic study that was already completed. There is no reason to conduct studies if we don’t make them available to the public. Government is supposed to lead, even if it requires change from the way we do things. I would hope that I never would say that I’m close minded in my business to things that have even the remotest chance of being successful.
I also applaud Schlicht for trying to save Mission Viejo from the same failed system of the federal government. Our congressmen have more lifetime benefits than the unions that are driving the Automotive Bigs out of business. If Congress were a business they would have been out of business decades ago. Mission Viejo doesn’t need to follow that pattern of failure, let’s listen to Schlicht and throw out this idea of lifetime medical benefits.
Newly elected Cathy Schlicht was sworn in and took her seat on the City Council last night. She immediately challenged the sitting members about city finances, lifetime medical benefits for council members, and public disclosure of a traffic study.
Before the Council adopted the audited financial report for 2007-2008, Schlicht criticized the council’s past spending patterns which left the City with an $11.8 million deficit between revenues and expenditures last year. During the discussion City Treasurer Irwin Bornstein confirmed that MV’s discretionary non-allocated reserves have dwindled to about $5 million.
Schlicht also moved to eliminate the lifetime medical benefits which three councilmembers elected to bestow upon themselves recently. Trish Kelley, Lance MacLean and Frank Ury could potentially qualify for the benefit, which is valued at approximately $257,000 by an actuarial audit. Those three members defeated Schlicht’s motion, which had been seconded by JP Ledesma.
Schlicht promoted her agenda for government transparency by requesting public release of a traffic study commissioned a year ago. She complained Transportation Manager Shirley Land has failed to invite consultant Scott Ritchie to present a final study to the Planning Commission or City Council on the feasibility of roundabout intersections. After having Ritchie present an introduction to a subcommittee on the subject nearly eight months ago, Land has been sitting on the feasibilty studies for three Marguerite intersections at Trabuco, LaPaz, and Oso.
Schlicht requested a presentation by Ritchie to a joint meeting of the Planning Commission and City Council to save costs and expedite consideration of the report. A motion by Mayor Kelley was approved limiting the future presentation to the Planning Commission, signaling resistance by the Council majority. Ledesma stated, “I am not open-minded [on roundabouts].” MacLean and Ury chimed in opposing the roundabout concept for MV, even though Schlicht was only requesting public disclosure of the expert’s report.
The interest in modern roundabouts (not ‘traffic circles’) was summarized in a public comment last night by resident Simon Hartigan:
I would like to just list the major advantages of modern roundabouts when compared to traffic light intersections:
Safety: According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety as well as other studies, modern roundabouts compared to traffic signals and stop controlled intersections have reduced all accidents by 40%, injury accidents by 80% and fatal accidents by 90%. These facts alone are the #1 reason why we should be considering roundabouts at all of our intersections.
In addition to public safety, the capacity and efficiency of our roadway increases up to 50% with modern roundabouts. To quote the Arizona Department of Transportation, “In MOST situations, a modern roundabout can handler higher traffic volumes with less delay than traffic signals.”
Money: In addition to saving money by reducing traffic accidents and public travel time, Modern roundabouts don’t need wider roads or expensive synchronized traffic light systems, which require costly annual maintenance of up to 20,000 per year. Our 2 lane roads are not causing the back-up, it’s our intersections being controlled by traffic signals! If we built roundabouts we would not need to widen the entire road , our maintenance costs would be extremely low, and we would save additional thousands of dollars to the public in reduced injury accidents, travel time, energy consumption, and cost of fuel. In 2007, UPS reduced the company’s gas consumption by 3.8 million gallons of fuel (over 10 Million Dollars in one year) by simply changing their routes to require right turns only (no left turns). Our bridge on La Paz would not need to be widened nor traffic lights modified for widening if we can install roundabouts. Between this and the related systems and power usage to run them, we would likely save millions & millions of taxpayer dollars.
Businesses: Roundabouts are preferred when there are driveways near an intersection. Speeds are low coming into and out of the roundabout. Drivers are encouraged to enter or exit a driveway to frequent adjacent businesses . On the other hand, traffic lights (especially with high-speed synchronization) encourage drivers to pass businesses or cause blocking of driveways with a line of cars stopped for red lights. For this very reason, businesses have been known to demand the installation of a modern roundabouts instead of traffic lights.
Aesthetics: Roundabouts require less pavement to move the same amount of cars through our city. Roundabouts preserve green space, improve the character of our community, and provide opportunities for Mission Viejo to create a better environment for the public. One of my favorite ideas after speaking with Bette Lindsay of the Heritage Committee is planting a Live Oak (our city tree) at the center of a future roundabout right here in front of city hall at La Paz and Marguerite. Roundabouts would cleanse our city of the red-yellow-green light pollution and metal poles traffic lights require.
Many studies have been done and all evidence points to roundabouts as the preferred intersection control device. I urge everyone here tonight and the City to please consider modern roundabouts for our community for improved safety, capacity, aesthetics, business, and lower costs to the public wherever feasible.
Last night Frank Ury was selected by the Council as its Mayor for 2009 after John Paul Ledesma declined a nomination by Cathy Schlicht. Outgoing Mayor Kelley nominated Lance MacLean, who has been mentioned as a potential recall target, as Mayor Pro Tem. MacLean was elected 3-2, with Schlicht and Ledesma objecting.
Cathy Schlicht also voted ‘no’ on the choice of Frank Ury as Mayor. She had been one of Ury’s strongest supporters when he first ran for council in 2004, but became one of his strongest critics when his actions significantly diverged from his campaign promises.
Culture and Leisure are almost 50% of total expenditures when we have roads and other infrastuture that looks like third world countries [Re Deficit]. Need to get back to basics in running this city before it loses it’s “California Dream status.”
Trabuco made it to the final four in the Southwest Division by beating Western last night, 28-21.
The Mustangs let Western catch them at 21-21, but Donnie Simonson rushed for the go ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. Western pushed the football toward the goal line, but failed to tie the game when time ran out.
Trabuco will meet the high-scoring offense of LaHabra next week. The victor will meet the winner of Tustin v. Canyon for the Divison championship.
Lakewood advanced to the semi-finals of the Pac-5 playoffs last night by defeating Mission Viejo 28-7. The Diablos, averaging around 40 points this season, never got their game into synch on Lakewood’s field. Mission had little to show for over 200 yards passing, after suffering two interceptions and a fumble.
