Magical Minute: Heads Up City Attorney

Like scratching and itch that had been just out of reach, the new Deputy Mayor Lisa Shaffer seized on a future agenda request that felt perfectly timely satisfying to this person watching.  It is time to assess the legal contracts within the City of Encinitas.

Boy Howdy! This is well overdue. Let the bright lights of open government shine on all of the legal services and effectiveness of these very highly paid services in house and outside. Glenn Sabine, not shown on camera, was said to have looked livid with eyes flashing and he began rocking back in his chair.  This is quite a different look from the face devoid of feeling, his regular demeanor.

Related News Update: Calaware has an article on government attorney billings being public.

An appellate court has concluded that bills submitted to state or local public agencies by attorneys for legal work are open to public review and copying and are not exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act’s protection for “records pertaining to pending litigation,” reports Kenneth Ofgang for the Metropolitan News-Enterprise in Los Angeles. The decision of the California Court of Appeal to that effect in County of Los Angeles v. Superior Court (Anderson-Barker) upheld the lower court’s ruling on the “records pertaining” exemption. The county chose not to appeal the lower court’s ruling that the billings were not protected by the attorney-client privilege either.

What about the Rats?

The City Manager Gus Vina cancelled the City Council Meeting scheduled for this Wednesday*.  He made this decision last Wednesday despite protest.  The official response from city staff when people notified by email called to enquire was that there just wasn't anything on the agenda.  As Vice Malarky President Joe Biden said in last week's VP debate, "malarky."

We wrote about the rats, the neighbor's dilemma following the Sept. 17 meeting.

The staff was to follow up on the neighbors' concerns in the case of the rat infested hoarder house at 703 Passiflora Avenue.  What's the story code enforcement?  More importantly, what's the story Glenn Sabine? As stated by the public speaker,

The Code Enforcement Staff were praised for working 100's of hours, diligently. But, it has wasted thousands of taxpayers dollars. The City Attorney is charged with failing the people of this city while protecting the property rights and privacy of the hoarder above all else.

This neighborhood has suffered for 4 years without a solution.  It has been 5 weeks since the item was placed on the future agenda list.

Rats indeed.

And here's a thought, what about a meeting devoted to oral communications? Like the January style Goal Setting?  Maybe to address what community members feel about progress on named goals?

No, the excuse offered was a facile one - we don't trust it for a minute.  This is political.  Mayor Stocks is under fire and is feeling sick. Apparently the City Manager is on board or on notice.  We can only guess as usual.

* Corrected to read Wednesday rather than today.

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Dump Stocks ~ Fire Muir ~ Stop Forrester  

Rats! Attorney Glenn Sabine FAIL

For some of us this is our very worst nightmare, infestations of rats - along with mice infestations and a murder of crows in our neighborhood.  Since 2008 the people living in the same neighbor hood as the 703 Passiflora Avenue property belonging to a hoarder have had to cope with rats, stink and dead animals as well as the disgusting mess of garbage piled high. It's been their plague for four years.

Last night, Sept. 12, 2012, brought three of these neighbors to present their plight to the council.  Jonathan Hulsh, Thea Scott-Garner and Rudy Monica respectfully, patiently explained the details with photos.

The Code Enforcement Staff were praised for working 100's of hours, diligently.  But, it has wasted thousands of taxpayers dollars.  The City Attorney is charged with failing the people of this city while protecting the property rights and privacy of the hoarder above all else.

This was a really troubling account (IMHO). It is frightening to be invaded without power to stop the intrusion.

It stood in stark contrast to most of the evening's orchestrated booster rally with Rotary friends, developers, vendors, staff and survey consultant that could be considered a tax payer funded boon for the incumbents' campaigns.

Councilwoman Teresa Barth threw some cold water on the self-congratulatory delusion that council members were responsible for citizen satisfaction for Encinitas.

Earth Day

Last Wednesday, candidate for council Lisa Shaffer spoke about hearing the 14th Dalai Lama speak recently at UCSD.  I thought of the picture shown here. 

This further inspired me to think about our connection to animals in relation to Earth Day's celebration of all life on earth and our close connection to nature.

Another good one here.

  I found an animal (bird) image that made me think of Teresa Barth when she was sworn into office when re-elected in 2010 (and was passed over minutes later) to became a Mayor in Exile as she so often functions more like a mayor than the mayors and deputy mayors who have served since. This pairing prompted thoughts of wisdom and predator control.

Not all obvious pairings were as serene or uplifting, like the honey badger (viral video seen by more than 42,000,000 viewers). Mayor Jerome Stocks, City Attorney Glenn Sabine, ex- Fire Chief/now Councilmember Mark Muir, Deputy Mayor Kristin Gaspar, Jim Bond and Planner Patrick Murphy.

"Myths" Encinitas

Mondays may need to become Myths Encinitas feature day.  Today will kickoff a recent Myths Gaspar version.  Kristin Gaspar is quite the myth maker and she was to be central.  But, seriously, our mayor, Jerome Stocks lives and breathes myths and has years on the deputy mayor.  Jim Bond creates his version of history of his 20 years on the dais most every meeting.  At the last meeting Kristin turned on Teresa Barth and wailed,

"Teresa, that is why this council has supported you 100% of the time when it comes to agendizing issues."

[yabba, yabba, yabba . . . ]

"The public has a right to know that a hundred percent of the time we have supported you in your agenda . . . your items agendized, 100% of the time."

That's horse pucky, a flat out lie myth - three times!. There are hundreds of examples in the years Barth has served where she receives 0% support.   The example below was chosen because it illustrates the lengths the council majority and their personal consigliere  Sabine will go to frustrate the simplest of requests, even if it would be a gesture of cooperation with the minority voices on the council, provide goodwill to the community and help mitigate the disastrously bad press (in this instance) nationwide regarding the Surfing Madonna.

I'm not going to write out the entire transcript, but I'm struck by the relentlessness of the attorney to make Teresa Barth jump through hoop after hoop.  The hypocricy of demanding adherence to a rigid council policy standard while letting Stocks violate it repeatedly.  Some highlights:

"That's why you folks play the game," said Sabine (?). . . . "Go through the findings" . . . Stocks interruptions . . . disregard of mayor Bond and meeting rules. And even at the end of the meeting, Teresa Barth cites reference to adding an agenda item from a book the attorney gave her. He responds with 2/3 majority means a 4/5 vote required . . . "

It seemed to go on and on . . .

For additional background to this particular meeting, the clip link here shows the public's speeches regarding the Surfing Madonna. They are two of the many last year around this time.

Correction: The clip made of Kristin Gaspar's non-agendized attack on Teresa Barth faded out before she'd finished her spittle flecked assault. The following is the closing of that tirade to frame herself as a victim(?). It doesn't really make much sense, but it is included to keep all the myths of this speech together.

"And, ah, I don’t know where else in life it works that you treat people that way and then you expect that when it come time for one person to cast that one vote, that my vote will drift your way. It just doesn’t happen in the real world and that’s why I’ve stated before that I’ve always felt like the ball was in your court when it comes to that vote and I treated everything with a fresh perspective. And I quite frankly I’m tired of carrying the burden of that victim role. Um . . . Because it’s not my burden to carry. Um . . . So, I wanted to clarify that and also on the two years, the intent behind that was to make certain that a councilman had served for at least two years before becoming mayor. It wasn’t to do anything else, other than that. It was the intent that we discussed it before was that if you had an election the highest vote getter could be someone new to the process. I was one of those people new to the process and it was to avoid that situation."

End.

2011 IN REVEIW: Judge's Disclosure Order Appealed

From the Coast New, June 9, 2011:

"After a two-hour closed session June 3, City Council voted to appeal a judge’s ruling that requires the city to disclose a draft report of road conditions that it previously refused to release to the public."

"The 4-1 vote, with Councilwoman Teresa Barth dissenting, came after half-a-dozen speakers urged the council to comply with the judge’s ruling and make the draft document public. Tony Kranz, a former City Council candidate, asked the council to make its deliberations public."

"[ . . . ] Barth further reasoned that a bright line rule on what the city could disclose to the public and when, would only come from the creation of a so-called “sunshine ordinance.”

"Transparency is the foundation of an ethical government,” she said. “Local policies that go beyond the minimum requirements of the Brown Act and the Public Records Act help to strengthen public trust and confidence in their government. That is why I support a sunshine ordinance for the city of Encinitas."

Cummins blasted the council’s decision to appeal.

“This all could have been avoided at multiple stages if the council had been willing to openly discuss this issue and follow the letter and spirit of the law,” he said.

“The closed session documentation shows what a mess they (the city) made. They can’t get out of their web of deceptions,” he said. “The draft (report) was dated December 2009, the final March 2010, and in summer 2010 denied the public access to the document saying it was still draft, and changed their story when they got to court,” he said. “They were simply trying to avoid releasing the report.”

“The California Constitution clearly states ‘The people have the right of access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business, and therefore…the writings of public officials and agencies shall be open to public scrutiny,’” Barth said.

In the comments there is this gem:

"I’d like to ask Encinitas residents, has it been worth it to have Glenn Sabine cost us $80,000 for the first lawsuit that he lost, or would everyone else have liked to have had them turn over the information to Kevin? To add insult to injury, they are going to take it to court a second time and lose again! Dan Dalager was in a minor league as compared to Sabine!"

2011 IN REVIEW: "Working the System" Award

Another North County Times editorial Roses and Raspberries for Jan. 31, 2011. This time for retiring City Manager Phil Cotton squeezing an additional $8,000 (to his city contracted pay of $198,723) out of City. The following is an excerpt.

"We’d be shocked if it wasn’t so predictable."

"Since “retiring,” Cotton has been hired back at $15,000 a month to serve as the interim city manager, and he’s still working all the angles. Apparently overtaxed by the demands of running the small beach town, Cotton took off several weeks in November and December, even though he was being paid for these weeks under his month-to-month contract."

Jerome Stocks and city attorney, Glenn Sabine: Cotton Club



As with so many things, legal theft.