City Council Meeting June 19th
CLOSED SESSION: LITIGATION, CITY MANAGER SELECTION.UNION, PERSONNEL (real secret stuff)
Awards......pretty meaningless usually
CONSENT AGENDA or CONSENT CALENDAR
These are all issues that will be voted on with no public discussion. Wednesday night Council will have no fewer than 11 items on the Consent Agenda. That's a lot of business and money for the Council to decide on with absolutely no public discussion! You can be in the Chambers or watching on TV and you won't know what they just did! When Mayor Janney calls the Consent Calendar or Agenda they will vote Aye or Nay...and it's done!
Here's a brief preview of what they will decide with no public discussion:
2.1 RATIFY MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
2.2 APPROVE WARRANT REGISTER..(City Check Register) for $798,827.79 (For last two weeks !)
2.3 APPROVE A 3 MONTH EXTENSION OF INMATE LABOR WITH DONOVAN PRISON (Is Sports Park Maintenance in their contract?) (How does the Public Employees Union feel about Non-Union Labor being used?)
2.4 PARTNERSHIP WITH INDUSTRY SERVICE AGREEMENT (Like WHAT INDUSTRY?) (Service Agreement for What and for how much and why?) (Is Diane Rose involved with Partnership for Industry?)
2.5 ADJUSTING THE BUDGET?? Yea the books still aren't balanced right so someone's going to shuffle some more money around. Particularly distrubing is the term Safe Assets, which would make one believe that the City has other ASSETTS that are NOT SAFE?
2.6 APPROVING POSTION DISCRIPTION for an employee to oversee the City's Salary and Compensation Plan. How about not hiring another employee and have ADP do the payroll? The recent Grand Jury report indicated that the City's Employees were able to alter their time sheets after their supervisors had approved their hours. Also there was a lot of "estimating" how much time was spent. No wonder they love Gary Brown? He let City Employees pad and change their time cards with no oversight for 10 years. That's worth the money they pay him???ISN'T IT! Maybe the new City Manager they pick will be just as good??? NOT!
2.7 ALLOW THE CITY MANAGER TO MAKE A 5TH AMENDMENT TO THE ALREADY RESTRICTIVE TAXI ORDINANCES. (This one cracks me up....They're going to let the City Manger Take the 5th?) Just a play on words but how appropriate? If you ever need a cab and can't get one.....maybe it's because the bar is being placed too high? Somebody wants their palms greased!
2.8 RESOLUTION TO ACCEPT GRANT MONEY FOR A PROGRAM THAT DEALS WITH POLLUTION IN THE T.J. ESTUARY? See! There's money in that pollution! Will SWIA administrate the grant money for the city and skim off 10% for themselves....again?
2.9 ALLOW A JANITORIAL CONTRACT TO CONTINUE ON A MONTH TO MONTH BASIS. (Maybe instead of taking all those Fridays off with pay, the new City Manager should require City Employees to come in and clean offices, wash windows and toilets on alternate Fridays so they don't have to pay a janitorial contractor at all?) City Employees could show how greatful they are to have such good jobs and to give something back to the community.
2.10 EXECUTE AN M.O.U. (Memorandum Of Understanding) WITH THE BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB FOR MANAGEMENT OF THE YOUTH SOCCER FIELDS. (While perhaps not as controversial as the YMCA Sports Park Deal, it certainly does deserve discussion and perhaps an RFP or some competitive bidding too? The Boys and Girls Club is probably the appropriate group to manage the Soccer Fields, but, why can't it be discussed in public instead of just a blind decision on the Consent Agenda?) It reeks of sneaky government process. How can they vote on something without discussing it first? Unless they discuss it outside the public forum?
2.11 MORE SHELL GAME SHUFFLE THE MONEY AROUND. PERMISSION TO MOVE FUNDS FROM THE "SAFE EXCESS RESERVE FUNDS" to the 'GENERAL FUND STRATEGIC CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT RESERVE DEDICATED TO FUTURE REPLACEMENT OF THE PUBLIC SAFETY REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM. ( I thought this was done through Federal Grants and that the Sheriff's Department already had this issue resolved for themselves? How much money are we talking about and is it real money being moved or just hypothetical account balances being changed on spread sheets somewhere? Perhaps some explanation of what I.B needs to do to participate or comply with a regional communications system is required here. I'll bet there's a SANDAG GRANT for that too?
SO.......... THERE'S 11 MORE ITEMS THAT WILL BE VOTED ON WITH NO DISCUSSION !
Thank goodness they are so committed to transparency! ???
Like the Closed Session wasn't secret enough?.....ARE YOU MAD AS HELL YET?
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Then there are the 4 issues that they will actually discuss in public.
6.1 SEA LEVEL RISE GRANT : Although rising sea level could spell future disaster for Imperial Beach, Council will milk as much money out of it as posible. I don't see anyone building levees or sea walls yet?
6.2 Allow City Manager to purchase a New Fire Truck. Will there be an RFP or competitive bidding or will the City Manger just buy a marked up unit from some vendor that will kick back some contributions to favored insider candidates? Will the old one get donated or sold or traded or what? It still works and I'm sure that somewhere down in Baja they would be proud to own such a fine Fire Engine! For someone from the Midwest, North or East we would say it's great that it's never been driven in the snow and salt. Is it that bad it can't be repaired or upgraded? Did someone promise a New Fire Engine to somebody and not tell everyone else? This is very vague and requires public discussion and details.
6.3 Designate Delegate to League of California Cites. Perhaps belonging to such a lobbying organization is not in the best interests of people and puts Staff and Council into an 'US OR THEM" mentality? The League of California Cities has more influence over your Council and Staff than you voters do. I'd tell Council Members...YOU CAN'T GO...YOU CAN'T BELONG...WE WON'T PAY YOUR DUES. IF YOU GO...YOU'RE FIRED! That's how I feel about belonging to a corrupt organization that circumvents due process at the grass roots level. Too many politicians doing End Runs these days. Time for some meaningful changes to the way local government runs. They can start by making it local and not an extension of a Statewide Greed Lobby.
6.4 TIDELANDS ADVISORY BOARD APPOINTMENTS.............Must be time to Lobby the Coastal Commission for more height and density and less public access. Perhaps giving someone's father a position on that board might defuse some of the heat someone's son has been putting on City Council lately? If the Port controls the Tidelands through an M.O.U.....why does the City still need an advisory committee unless it's to influence the Coastal Commission into allowing taller and denser development and decreasing public access so Gated Communities will spring up on the Bayfront as planned?
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They may announce the new City Manager after Closed Session...but 95% of this meeting has already been hashed out and requires no public discussion...ACCORDING TO GARY BROWN.
Are you Mad as Hell Yet?
JUNE 5-2013 Council Meeting
The Biggest Problem now with Imperial Beach's City Council is that they have NO CREDIBILITY ! They got caught with shell-game , hankey-pankey musical-chairs with the money! They tried to keep it secret and authorized payment of public money to the City Attorney to Gag and Seal a Report from a sitting Grand Jury! O.M.G. !!! That has never happened in San Diego before and maybe not in the State Of California ever! It is an admission of wrong-doing but, they still deny it and attempt to continue making important community decisions? There comes a time when you have to take the car keys and the credit cards away....even if you love em! Tough Love folks! That's why this Imperial Beach City Council needs to be RECALLED and STAFF FIRED!. You don't need to wait for some other investigating agency to indict someone? They spent your money to try to keep a secret from you. They don't want you to know about the money, the debt, the loose play, the warrant register that doesn't match the checkbook. Their only defense is not based on the facts but, attacks against the character and mental well being of the whistle-blowers. They've got nothing but the time left you give them. The Citizens should be spending their tax money getting a restraining order against these people, until a new election can be held. A Public Referendum on the YMCA deal should be on the next ballot. Not a back-room deal now! IF YOU STILL HAVE CONFIDENCE IN ANY OF THESE JOKERS AT CITY HALL ??....You deserve to get screwed by them! Gary Brown, Greg Wade and the previous Council set David Garcias on a Code Enforcement and Condemnation rampage that has wreaked havoc on the established business community and two former busines owners actually committed suicide after getting the treatment! Look at the thriving heart of the business community? GUTTED! Look at your beach............UNDER PERMANENT CONSTRUCTION DURING ALL VACATION SEASONS UNTIL INSIDER DEVELOPER'S MONOPOLY IS COMPLETE and all grassroots business's are dead. They don't care about you any more...or your kids! It's up to the I.B. Citizens to TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR CITY AND YOUR TAX DOLLARS BACK! I'm sure that any citizen with standing could get a T.R.O. and a GAG order......to prevent them from taking any more official action on any issue that could cause irreparable harm to the Plaintiffs. Their reputation down at Superior Court isn't as good since this little problem "OUTING" the Grand Jury's Secret Investigation with a GAG ORDER. Talk about desperate legal manuevering ....and Brown, Wade, Janney and Council authorized them to pay for those services.! FORGET THAT? THESE FOLKS ARE OUT OF CHANCES! THEY RUN GOVERNMENT IN SECRET AND JUST PROVED IT! IF YOU WANT CHANGE....YOU NEED TO MAKE IT HAPPEN CITIZENS ! I can only cheer you on. Someday you will be able to face your kids and be proud of what you did together as a community! You challenged tyranny and WON ! Show your kids you care and that good always triumphs over evil....in the end! RIGHT over WRONG. MAKE IT SO ! MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU ! WARP SPEED !P.S. CITY COUNCIL WILL SPEND $1,398,193.79 WITH NO PUBLIC DISCUSSION TONIGHT AS AGENDA ITEM 2.2.
It is on the Warrant Register and the Mayor will ask for a vote on the Consent Callendar with no discussion and they will vote Aye or Nay.
You can be sitting right there and not know they are spending $1,398,193.79. How much money are we talking about over the Sports Park in comparison? The fact that this is always done with no discussion is very un-democratic. It's Secret Spending of Big Bucks! Are you Mad as Hell Yet?
