Fullerton City Council Archives - Page 23 of 67 - Friends For Fullerton's Future

December 13, 2018December 13, 2018Ahmad Zahra

A New Council Member on Tuesday?

18Dec2018 Council Meeting

The agenda is online (HERE) for next Tuesday’s council meeting and the one major item of note, item #3, is the possible appointment of a council member to fill out the remainder of Jesus Silva’s abandoned at-large seat.

Item 3 States:

3. On December 4, 2018, Council Member Silva was sworn in as the District 3 City Council Member. This created a mid-term vacancy in Council Member Silva’s prior at-large City Council seat which expires in December 2020 and requires the City Council to consider the legally available alternatives for filling the vacancy.

Recommendation by the City Clerk’s Office:

Appoint a qualified individual to the fill the vacancy through the remainder of the term, either through direct appointment or following a process for applications and / or interviews and / or other steps as determined by City Council.
Direct Staff to prepare resolutions to call a special election to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term for consideration at the next City Council meeting.
Continue discussion to the January 15, 2019 City Council meeting.

This agenda item, according to City Manager Domer, was written intentionally vaguely so that council can do whatever they want on Tuesday. If they want to just appoint somebody on Tuesday, solidifying the premise that they’ve already been wheeling and dealing behind closed doors, then they can appoint whomever they want. If they want to take a different path, such as an election, they can direct staff to start that process as well.

This item will be somewhat fun to watch because of how it played out up to this point. It only matters because Silva beat Sebourn. As for the ability to appoint a crony to fill out Silva’s seat, that was passed 3-1-1 with 2 (R)s swinging into the Yes column on 16 October 2018 and again 3-1-1 with Fitzgerald ($R), Whitaker (R) and Silva (D) voting for this move on 06 November (election day) 2018.

Direct Appoint Council Vote

If another liberal (D) ends up on council after Tuesday, the (R)s in Fullerton will have nobody to blame but their own council majority. A council majority that this vote could cost them.

UPDATED: Corrected the 06 November vote. A previous version claimed it was 5-0 when it was the same 3-1-1 as the 16 Oct meeting.

December 12, 2018December 13, 2018Behind Closed Doors

Fullerton Might Just Hate Your Business

by Joshua6 Comments

Closed for Business

I often laugh when government hacks and bureaucrats claim that a city, body or agency is “open for business” or other such nonsense platitudes. The idea that we’re customers and not captives to their regulatory whims is patently ridiculous. But this idea of being open for business by virtue of stealing from you slightly less, or because you favor one entity over others never seems to fade.

By way of example I’ll offer the last Planning Commission meeting, as written about here, where city staff tried to make the case that because rules and regulations relating to Downtown Fullerton were too onerous and hard to enforce the city needs to do away with them and replace them with rules more favorable to bars pretending to be restaurants. All to be more agreeable with the needs and wishes of our Downtown denizens. Ted White, our Community Development Direct, made this laughable claim and a few others I’m going to be discussing at some length in future posts as I take it all apart. The more I’ve been thinking about this last meeting the one thing that strikes me as most irritating is that the city is only worried about Downtown rules being too onerous and problematic. There are countless parts of our Municipal code which are outdated, unenforced and unenforceable and yet Downtown seems to be the only area of constant focus for nigh onto forever.

The actual issue and thing people need to understand is that Mr. White and his cohorts, who only answer to the City Manager who himself only answers to Council who themselves are owned by special interests and moneyed business owners and don’t really care about we citizens, don’t really care if rules are too onerous or burdensome or just plain ridiculous. Let us turn the wayback machine on and look at the FilmLA sponsored claptrap that made it through the Economic Development Commission (with nary a soul bothering to read the ordinance before voting Aye) and then all the way through to being approved by our anti-business council.

FilmLABullshit

Do you see what I saw when I was on EDC and arguing to take this ordinance apart?

You need a permit to take even still photos ON YOUR OWN PROPERTY if they are “commercial” and nowhere does the city define “commercial”.

Doing some advertising? Photos for Yelp? Pictures on your website? Are you a fashion or beauty vlogger? Taking real estate photos?

Congrats. That might all be “commercial” because the city refused then and still refuses today to define the term commercial for the sake of the ordinance. I know because I asked them to define it and they wouldn’t. Ok, so you need a permit which isn’t too onerous I suppose to most people.

BUT WAIT. THERE’S MORE. (more…)

December 7, 2018September 9, 2020Downtown Fullerton

Fullerton’s New, uh, um, Mayor, So to Speak

by Lonnie Machin18 Comments

Good luck, Fullerton. It’s going to be a long year, maybe the longest yet if you will, and this is what you have to look forward to during that time:

December 4, 2018December 4, 2018Ahmad Zahra

A New-ish Council This Way Comes

by Joshua4 Comments

Backroom-Deal

Tonight Doug Chaffee and Greg Sebourn leave the Fullerton City Council and Ahmad Zahra gets sworn in to be the first to represent District 5 on the dais. This wouldn’t be Fullerton if that’s all that was happening tonight – a simple transition of (some) power – but true to form our current Mayor (for a few more hours), Doug Chaffee, opted to ram a pet project down the council’s throat one last time. An unsolicited bid to turn the parking lot used for Train Days into a “boutique” hotel without the pesky bother of worrying about competition or opening a bid process. He wants this to happen now, NOW, NOW! because… reasons. It’s such a great idea that Chaffee doesn’t trust the council to pick it up without him which means he either thinks they’re too stupid to know a good thing when they see it or it’s not… wait for it… a good thing.

Ah the smell of cronyism.

While we’ll eventually get to say goodbye to a few members and add Ahmad which should be the only focus tonight, first we have to see if Jesus has been bought off and has changed his tune on competition. A tune that he sung only 2 weeks ago, mind you.

After that first crony, I mean agenda, item has been dealt with the council will move on to the actual (partial) transition of power.

For those not keeping track here’s what will happen tonight:

Jesus Silva moves from at-large to the District 3 representative. This will leave his at-large seat open until council decides to fill it or holds a special election.

Bruce Whitaker and Jennifer Fitzgerald will stay status quo.

After tonight we’ll also have a new Mayor (likely Silva) and a new Mayor Pro-Tem (likely Fitzgerald). As for the empty seat – don’t forget to comment on who you think will be the appointed council member in our Wheel of Replacement Candidates thread.

We doubt there will be any surprises tonight but we’ll keep you posted as always friends.

November 30, 2018Behind Closed Doors

Chaffee’s Last Crony Grasp on Council

by Joshua8 Comments

Just when I was preparing to see a new chapter of shenanigans in Fullerton coming from our new council, instead from the realm of ARE YOU F^&$&ING KIDDING ME comes Doug Chaffee trying to slap Fullerton with one more bit of cronyism before he leaves to play at the county level.

Less than two short weeks ago the council voted, 3-2 (Sebourn, Silva & Whitaker vs Fitzgerald & Chaffee) against an unsolicited bid for a hotel on the parking lot near the train station at Santa Fe and Ponoma. Cooler heads prevailed and a more open, transparent and honest process was suggested.

Now Chaffee, who per the City Manager agendized this item, wants to crush that transparency and openness in his last meeting this coming Tuesday. To make matters more unpalatable the council/staff arranged the agenda to swear in our new council member (Zahra) and say goodbye to the ones leaving (Sebourn & Chaffee) AFTER they vote again on this hotel nonsense. For the uninitiated there is a vendor who wants to build a hotel and Fitzgerald and Chaffee want to hand it off to them without opening a bid process to interested parties. It’s cronyism and backroom dealing 101.

Agenda-NewCouncilHotel

This is truly a slap in the face to both Ahmad Zahra and District 5 as this new development would be in their neighborhood and the first District 5 candidate will have no say on it because the agenda lets Zahra join council mere moments AFTER this hotel’s fate is already decided.

This coming back this quickly means one thing and one thing only – somebody got to Silva* as he’s the likely weak link on this issue.

For reference here’s what Silva said about the ENA at the last meeting at approximately the 3:30:12 mark:

“I think an RFP, or a bidding, would help the city I think, would help us get the best possible product. Competition drives, brings out the best in you. And I think having that can bring out the best in the current applicant and someone else.”

We’ll see if Silva still believes this on Tuesday or if all of the sudden competition is less important than craven cronyism. Even if it’s the case that Silva changed his mind, does he really think so little of fellow Democrat Ahmad Zahra that he’ll prevent him from voting on an issue that residents of District 5 have officially elected him to decide on?

This is just dumb, unnecessary, and silly. One can’t help but wonder if this is really Doug Chaffee being that tone deaf or if it’s really retribution for Ahmad Zahra winning a seat his wife coveted in the first place.

Because, and let’s be honest, if Paulette Marshall Chaffee won this election, Doug wouldn’t be preventing her from voting on Tuesday.

cronyism-kills

*it’s possible that Whitaker or Sebourn were flipped but they had stronger arguments than Silva and are more ideologically opposed to cronyism.

November 26, 2018January 14, 2019Former Fullerton Councilmembers

Let’s Play WHEEL OF REPLACEMENT CANDIDATES!

by The Fish38 Comments

UPDATE 1/14/2019

This item is back on the agenda for tomorrow. You gotta spin it to win it!

With Jesús Silva big win in Fullerton’s District 3, Fullerton is abuzz with potential names for who the Council might pick as a replacement.

So, who’s it going to be? Here’s some gossip for you to discuss. Feel free to nominate your own darlings for consideration on the WHEEL . . . OF . . . CANDIDATES!

Updated 11/27 with reader suggestions

Free Play– Current Councilman (odds 1:1)

Greg Sebourn

Seems like the easiest option. Someone familiar with the current issues and has existing relationships with city staff and council, and isn’t eligible to run in District 1, 2, or 4 in 2020. Let the voters spin again in 2020.

Lose a Turn– Leave it Open (Odds 1.5:1)

If three votes can’t be found to put a warm body in a cold chair, Council could choose to leave the vacancy open. The vacancy could last through 2020 or until a Special Election gets called.

Bonus Round– Former Members of Council (odds 2:1)

Still can’t come up with an answer to the riddle? Bring back some former contestants for another crack at solving the puzzle.

Jan Flory, Fullerton City Council (twice)

Chris Norby, Assemblyman, Supervisor, Fullerton City Council

Shawn Nelson, Supervisor, Fullerton City Council

Leland Wilson, Fullerton City Council + Fox Theater Point Person

Pam Keller, Fullerton City Council, Ex-Fullerton Collaborative

Buy A Vowel– Current and Former Fullerton Officials (odds 3:1)

Get some help with those neighboring consonants from people who’ve helped reveal a simple phrase to Council before.

Chris Meyer (Former City Manager)

Joe Felz (Former City Manager)

Wolfgang Knabe (Retiring Fire Chief)

Pete Beard (not a former employee, but Fullerton’s current Metropolitan Water District Representative)

Paul Dudley (Former Dev Services Director)

Ed Royce (No way in hell, but hey, we’re listing everyone on the wheel)

Luxury Resort Vacation– A Bar Owner (Odds 7:1)

Relax and let all your troubles float away as you blissfully drift from lane to lane down Commonwealth Avenue…

Tony Florentine

Jeremy Popoff

Toss Up– Former Candidates (odds 9.5:1)

Just like an Olympian disqualified by a post race drug test, let the title go to the runner-up!

Paulette Marshal-Chaffee

Vicky Calhoun

Larry Bennett

Jane Rands

Jose Trinidad Castaneda III

Kitty Jaramillo

Joe Imbriano

Mystery Wedges– Other Notables(odds 10:1)

Marty Burbank (Infrastructure Review Commission)

Nick Dunlap (Chair, Planning Commission)

Christopher Gaarder (Vice-Chair, Planning Commission)

Patrick McNelly (Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Ad-Hoc Commissions)

Arnel Dino (Infrastructure and Water Ad-Hoc Commissions)

Rusty Kennedy

Tony Package

Gretchen Cox (Parks, Energy, and Water Ad-Hoc Commissions)

Erik Wehn (Parks Commission)

Kathleen Shanfield (Planning Commission)

Kevin Pendergraft (Planning Comission)

Ryan Cantor (Planning and Library Commissions)

BANKRUPT— Anyone Associated with FFFF (odds 100:1)

Sure would put is in a pickle. What would we live for? Criticize ourselves?

The inevitable self-loathing may morally bankrupt us, if it doesn’t destroy us first.

November 16, 2018November 16, 2018Behind Closed Doors

City Refuses to Learn from Mistakes

by Joshua3 Comments

On Tuesday our City Manager, Ken Domer, wants Council to award Acting Chief Dunn with an Interim Chief gig. With this new gig comes a new contract as the new council decides who to put in the role “permanently”. Like all things in government there are already some serious questions in how this is playing out legally. Let’s see if you can spot an obvious problem in the contract.

Ok, I’ll give you a hint (emphasis added):

SECTION 12 – CONFIDENTIALITY AND NON-DISPARAGEMENT

Except as otherwise required by law, in the event the City terminates Employee with or without cause, City and Employee agree that no member of the City Council, the city management staff, nor Employee shall make any written, oral, or electronic statement to any member of the public, the press, or any City employee concerning Employee’s termination except in the form of a joint press release or statement, which is mutually agreeable to City and Employee. The joint press release or statement shall not contain any text or information that is disparaging to either City or Employee. Either City or Employee may verbally repeat the substance of the joint press release or statement in response to any inquiry.

What’s the problem, you ask?

Your right to know how the most senior members of Fullerton’s government behave is being voted away, again, by our City Council on Tuesday. Watch it pass 5-0. Bureaucracy Commandment #3: Protect thyself and thy brethren. I’m actually a little surprised this contract wasn’t buried in the Consent Calendar in the hopes nobody would even notice.

Take a look at Fullerton’s track record. Our previous city manager and 2 of our last 3 Police Chiefs resigned in disgrace — City Manager Felz hit a tree allegedly driving drunk, Chief Sellers went on medical leave in the midst of the Kelly Thomas scandal and most recently Chief Hendricks left after allegedly battering an EMT.

With contracts like this one, you have no right to know about any of it. That of course means you have no right to pressure City Council to do anything about it, either.

See the sickness?

When Hendricks resigned the city lied by omission and gave you nothing but a puff piece about how awesome he was for Fullerton. When I called the City’s Public Information Officer I was told, laughably, that Hendrick’s alleged battery for which he went on admin leave was unrelated to his resignation.

This contract is written so poorly that Dunn could shoot somebody in the face and BY CONTRACT nobody from the council or city could tell the public, media or other city employees why he was fired.

More to come on this outstanding contract at a later date. In the mean time, remember, your right to know stops where an employee’s paycheck begins.

November 14, 2018Fullerton City Council

To Do #1: Council Vacancy Appointment

by Fullerton Bagman33 Comments

Editor’s Note: We, like you, are a little tired of last minute complex topics tossed into an agenda dripping with staff’s obfuscation and drowned in legalese. We’ve recruited a former policy aide to provide FFFF readers with some perspective on current and emerging issues to be placed before the Fullerton City Council over the course of the next year. Our retired insider published a list of 100 topics for discussion yesterday.

This is the first post in a series to talk about policy impacting our budget and our lives. Say what you’d like about FFFF’s motives, but if we don’t break this stuff down to talk about it, who will?

With that, here’s The Fullerton Bagman with Council’s first item to resolve next year.

Hello Fullertonians:

I’ve been involved in government for a long time. Sometimes it’s a great experience, sometimes it’s not. For those of you familiar with this blog’s coverage of The Seven Walls of Government, this is what we’ll be confronting directly.

I don’t expect anyone in Fullerton to actually scale all seven walls and affect change, but I will equip you with a bare minimum necessary to side-step staff reports and speak to the issue at hand. Council may still ignore you, but at least you won’t be dependent upon drinking from their tainted well to quench the crushing thirst of ignorance.

Going forward, I and other members of the FFFF staff will provide you with a standardized one or two page summary of a critical issue facing Fullerton, free of bureaucratic interference and gobbledygook.

Issue #1: Council Vacancy Appointment

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

As a result of Jesus Silva winning election as District 3’s elected representative, he must vacate his current at-large elected seat. This results in four elected officials on a body with five seats.

All decisions require a majority vote (2 of 3, 3 of 4, or 3 of 5) of Council, with some votes requiring three votes specifically. With an empty seat on Council, some issues may not get resolved because of a 2-2 split or a 2-1 split in the case of a recusal for items requiring three votes.

In the case of a split, by law, the Council’s official action is to take no action.

(more…)

November 13, 2018Fullerton City Council

Council’s 2019 To-Do List

by Fullerton Bagman9 Comments

The transition to District elections is proceeding smoothly.

Well, the election is over. Silva won, Sebourn lost. Zahra won in District 5. The circle of political life turns once more as light falls on a new day in Fullerton.

Now that all the sign waiving, sign stealing, and empty-promise making is done, let’s take a look at the problems these poor fellows signed up to solve.

We’ve listed 100 discussion items in 27 different categories that likely need to be addressed in the next year. Feel free to add your own.

Here’s hoping Fullerton voters elected people who are intelligent, responsible, and accountable.

Council Vacancy Appointment/Special Election
Major Organizational Change at the Police Department
- Hiring a New Police Chief
- Hiring Two New Police Captains
Police Department Reputation and Morale Management
- ex-Sargent Corbett Criminal Trial (on duty)
- ex-Chief Hendricks Criminal Trial (not on duty)
- Captain Oliveras Criminal Trial (not on duty)
- ex-officers Cicinelli and Wolfe Civil Trial (on duty)
- Open and Anticipated Civil Trials
  - False Arrest and Defamation (Laguna Cops)
  - False Arrest and Civil Rights (Wildstar Arrest)
  - The Other Ones (there are more, just don’t have links for you)
- Citizen Oversight of Police Department
Infrastructure Management
- Roads and Bridges, $100,000,000 shortfall
- Water Lines
- Impact of HSR and Transportation Center
Water Rate Hike
Hunt Library Sale/Long Range Plan
Property Rezoning/Higher Density Development
- Developer Fee Reorganization
- Form Based Code (Downtown Core and Corridors-Lite)
- Kimberly Clark Sale/Re-purpose
New Permanent Fire Chief
Labor Negotiations
Lawsuits Not Related to The Police Department
- City Liability
  - Traffic Accidents (this is most of them)
  - Public Injury (parks, sidewalks, etc.)
  - Employment/Discrimination (we’ve only heard rumors)
- Land Use/Consent Decree/Compliance
Downtown Gameplan
- Paid Parking
- Business Improvement District (BID)
- Conditional Use Permit (CUP) / Administrative Restaurant Use Permit (ARUP) revisions
- Code Enforcement
West Coyote Hills
City Attorney Rebid
City Wide Overnight Parking
FJC Football Stadium
CSUF “Collegetown” Expansion
Homelessness
- Fullerton Shelter
- Anti-Camping Code Enforcement
- Church-Run-Shelter Code Revisions
- County-Wide Permanent Supportive Housing Project
The Budget
- Sales Tax
- Parcel Tax
- Utility Tax
- Outsourcing
  - Police
    - Jail
    - Patrol
    - Dispatch
    - Other Services (Parking, etc.)
  - Fire
    - North County JPA
    - County Fire
    - Paramedic/Ambulance Contract
  - Library
    - County
    - Private
  - Parks
    - Public-Private Partnership
    - Sale/Joint Use Agreements (i.e. School District)
  - Public Works
  - Water Utility
    - Sale to Private Ownership
    - Contract for management
- CALPERS Participation
- Long Term Staffing Plan
Brea Dam Lease
Street Cars
- Harbor to Disneyland
- Transportation Center to CSUF
Marijuana
- Illegal Dispensary Closures
- Continuing Code Enforcement
- Municipal Code Revisions to Allow Use
Water and Drought Management
- OCWD Participation
  - North Basin Plume
  - Poseidon
  - Additional aquifer extraction/recharge
- MWD Participation
  - Twin Tunnels Participation
  - Long Term Water Rate Purchases
  - Colorado River Curtailment
Hillcrest Park Phase 2 and 3
Address Chronic Leak Culture
Property Sales/Use
- Basque Yard
- Others
- Redevelopment Wrap Up
Fox Theater Parking Structure
- Periphery Property Sale/Use
- Parking Structure Building and Funding
Mills Act

October 30, 2018October 30, 2018Bad Cops

Wolfe and Cicinelli Haunt Thursday Council Agenda

by The Fish29 Comments

We told you this was coming.

Former Fullerton Police Officers Jay Cicinelli and Joseph Wolfe want their jobs back. More importantly, these two want back pay stemming from their original termination date. On Thursday, the Fullerton City Council will decide if you deserve to have these two upstanding examples of law and order patrolling your streets, and of course if you do deserve the pleasure of Jay and Joe’s company, you’ll be required to pay for wrongfully terminating their ability to roam the city with a badge, a gun, and of course a taser. . . which in a pinch can be used to “smash the face to hell” of any of Fullerton’s malcontent-ed dirty rabble.

So, do you? Let’s review what it is exactly you deserve in Fullerton.

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