Update: Inside the Recall

On Mar. 9, Mission Viejo resident Dale Tyler was back at city hall on behalf of proponents, resubmitting the proposed petition to recall Councilman Lance MacLean. This is the second try at getting approval of the petition. City Clerk Karen Hamman has 10 days to approve the document or send it back again for corrections.

Proponents of the recall first submitted the petition for approval on Feb. 23. Hamman took nine days to reject it, stating in a Mar. 4 letter to Tyler that the use of bold type isn’t permitted. Punctuation and a typo were also on Hamman’s list of corrections.

On Mar. 9, OC Register reporter Lindsey Baguio posted an online update about Tyler’s resubmitting the petition. The article can be found at http://www.ocregister.com/articles/petition-maclean-recall-2329844-proposed-city

 In her report, Baguio included a sentence from MacLean’s rebuttal to the petition’s eight-point grounds for removing him from office. MacLean wrote, "Despite these unwarranted personal attacks, I have been a consistent advocate for residents in lowering taxes, safer neighborhoods, schools and parks."

The grounds for recall are:

• Violence when you were arrested by Police for assault and battery on a co-worker.
• Anger and incivility when you ordered a Mission Viejo councilwoman to “SHUT UP” in closed session.
• Hatred and disrespect when you called residents racists and elitists in a LA Times interview.
• Self-dealing when you voted to double your council salary during our current economic crisis.
• Greed and corrupt priorities when you voted to give yourself lifetime medical benefits at taxpayer expense after only 12 years of part-time council service.
  Financial mismanagement when you voted for budget items leading to $11.8 million in deficit spending.
• A tax increase when you authored and promoted Measure K, which was rejected by Mission Viejo voters.
• False promises when you voted to increase housing density leading to more traffic congestion.

Contrary to MacLean’s comment about “unwarranted personal attacks,” all eight points are based on public records. Five of the eight can be found in MacLean’s voting record, including his attempt to raise taxes with Measure K. Prior to his writing the ballot statement in favor of the tax, MacLean and Councilwoman Trish Kelley conversed on record during a council meeting about how they would spend money provided by Measure K. The remaining recall grounds are also based on public records, including MacLean’s angry remarks caught on tape during a closed-session council meeting. His words were also published by the LA Times when he called residents elitists and racists.

As for MacLean’s claim regarding safety, it’s interesting he should bring that up. He abruptly left his job in December 2007 when UCI said it would investigate his attack on a co-worker during a campus concert. UCI apparently deems its campus a safer place without MacLean.

Supporters of the recall will start gathering signatures as soon as Hamman approves the petition. If she takes the full 10 days, signature-gathering could begin March 19.

Float Sinks for 2010

During the Mar. 2 council meeting, City Manager Dennis Wilberg announced that the city had received an invitation to participate in the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade. He said he would decline the invitation unless the council wanted to pursue it. No council member responded.

Perhaps the burden of creating hype and soliciting positive testimonials grew too heavy for city staff and council majority members. The claim of “thousands” of volunteer float-builders became cloudy when a community member submitted a request for public records asking for names and city of residence. The answer came back with last names and city redacted. Only first names were provided. The staff was more responsive this time than it was a year ago to a similar request for names of “hundreds” of easel builders. At that time, city administrator Keith Rattay claimed the list of volunteers had been “thrown away” after public records revealed that a contractor had charged the city for building 100 percent of the easels.

With costs already at $400,000, invoices are still coming in for the float and related festivities. The city staff also ran up bills for “elegant” catered dinners and the rental of two RVs from a limo company, allegedly used for a weeklong tailgate party. The figure of $400,000 doesn’t include the city’s highest-paid staff members and other city employees who participated.

When the OC Register posted a story about Mission Viejo’s float on Jan. 7, it included a poll. Readers had three choices when answering the question, “What do you think Mission Viejo got from its investment in a Tournament of Roses float?” With more than 12,700 votes cast as of Mar. 14, Mission Viejo residents panned the float: a) Nothing, except the bills – 81%; b) A greater sense of community – 16%; c) An improved image and a higher profile – 3 %.

View the results: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mission-viejo-float-2275593-city-parade?orderby=TimeStampDescending&showRecommendedOnly=0&oncomments Page=3#slComments

Those tracking the Register’s Jan. 7 poll say that someone is still trying to make the outcome appear favorable for the float. Last week, a surge of votes came in for one category, “A greater sense of community.” The surge amounted to hundreds of votes, but the total is now high enough that percentages aren’t moving more than a few points. The category “Nothing, except the bills” was at 85% when most of the voting ended.

What Does ‘Arrest’ Mean?
Letter to the Editor

Councilman Lance MacLean claims he was not arrested at UCI. He argues he wasn’t fingerprinted, as if that somehow defines being arrested. Does the seriousness of his offense change if he says he was only detained while in handcuffs after it took four UCI policemen to get him under control?

While MacLean now argues about being arrested, he had to appear in court before a judge to testify to his misdeed. The judge assigned him to an anger management class that he had to attend.

The unfortunate victim of Mr. MacLean’s uncontrolled rage was a smaller man and also an employee of UCI. Doesn’t it seem drastic when it took four policemen to get Mr. MacLean’s hands off the smaller man’s neck? Is it any wonder that Mr. MacLean is no longer employed at UCI?

Is this the type of person who should serve on the Mission Viejo City Council? A former councilwoman thought his behavior was so threatening that she was afraid to participate in the council’s closed session meetings.

Who does this councilman represent? Not me!

Beverly Cruse
Mission Viejo

Cat Is Out of the Bag

During the Mar. 2 council meeting, a resident at the public microphone described seeing something unusual. The speaker, who said he lives near Montilla and Jeronimo, began by saying his neighborhood is experiencing an increase in stray cats and coyotes. He said he was troubled by his observation of a city employee who was driving an animal control vehicle. The worker was driving around on a January morning and stopping in city parks and neighborhoods to let cats out of cages. The resident said, on one occasion, the worker parked in a driveway, got out of the vehicle and shooed a cat out of a cage. The cat ran into the street, where it was nearly hit by a car.

After he followed the city employee who was distributing cats around the area, the resident said he called the animal shelter to report the license plate number and ask what was going on. He said the person who answered the phone didn’t want the number. She responded by saying the employee who was letting the animals out was “new” and had recently undergone two weeks of training. She said he had held a similar position in another city, but the implication of her remark wasn’t clear.

After two weeks of training, perhaps the employee very well understood that his job was to take animals that had been turned over to the city facility and let them out to fend for themselves. Could the trainee have been the victim of a two-week-long misunderstanding? Cats on the loose can be eaten by coyotes or run over by cars – a cruel ending for someone’s lost pet.

Following the resident’s comments, Mayor Frank Ury said, “We’ll get back to you on that.” Actually, Ury needs to get back to taxpayers who are funding the animal shelter and expecting to get what they paid for. What they’re getting instead is cruelty to animals at the hands of city employees.

CUSD Trustees Fire Carter

Capo school board members fired Supt. Woodrow Carter on Mar. 2 with a unanimous vote during the closed session. School board President Ellen Addonizio announced the decision at 11:35 p.m. Prior to the closed-session portion of the meeting, Carter spoke during public comments with approximately 100 people in the audience. He mixed pleas for keeping his job with jabs that trustees should “grow up” and “get a life.” His supporters applauded enthusiastically.

Contributors to this blog said the timing of the action was the only surprise. They shared the widespread belief that Carter would be fired. Trustees put him on paid leave in early January and launched an investigation, which culminated in 60 charges against him.

Carter has not revealed the charges, and the trustees are prevented from discussing personnel matters. Blog coverage and OC Weekly articles have indicated Carter performed poorly, broke laws and played up to the teachers union instead of responding to trustee directives. Particularly revealing was a Mar. 3 OC Weekly article, “In Your Facial,” describing Carter’s accepting gifts from an architectural firm. Following his getaway at a spa, Carter pushed for a lucrative contract for the business that paid for it. Ten days after the trip, Carter recommended that the firm, WLC Architects, should become the district’s facilities master planner. WLC then received contracts to design theaters at three district high schools.

OC Weekly published a follow-up article on Mar. 11, http://www.ocweekly.com/2009-03-12/news/capistrano-unified-school-district-woodrow-carter/ The article includes details of spa getaways and subsequent contracts with WLC, along with Carter’s failure to report gifts as required by law.

When some CUSD parents made public comments during recent meetings about Carter’s stormy job history and current issues in which he demonstrated poor judgment, they were shouted down by union members. Even some parents were looped in to supporting Carter, although they were unable to articulate any example of his leadership or benefit to the district. OC Register reporter Scott Martindale’s articles often looked more like reprints of CUSD press releases than investigative reporting.

As Carter’s response to being fired for material breach of contract, he indicated that he would sue the district.

A CUSD parent who has closely followed Carter’s history commended board members for having patience to gather information after putting him on leave. She said, “There’s more to come on Carter.

The Buzz

Information on last week’s blog about a city employee got a rise out of readers. Public Services Director Keith Rattay seems to be at the center of every storm. With his background in landscape architecture, how did he instead of the city manager become the person in charge of everything? Rattay served as director of public services before he got his arms around nearly every city department and project. When costs go out of control and projects go off track (which is the norm), Rattay generally has a hand in it. If costs exceed the city manager’s approval limit, he divides them into payments, spreading the amount over a period of months. He bypasses council members, often keeping them in the dark on what they’re approving in the city’s check register.

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According to reader feedback, the project manager of the community center expansion that ran three times over budget happens to be a personal friend of Rattay. The city’s endless orders for banners and flags also enrich a friend of Rattay’s, who has an exclusive contract without the inconvenience of having to submit competitive bids. Rattay has authority over animal services, city facilities and infrastructure, emergency preparedness and “providing volunteer opportunities for community groups.” Regarding Rattay’s prowess at preparing for emergencies, a reader emailed: “Mission Viejo is about as well prepared for an earthquake as it is for the coming financial disaster. Why are they pretending the city is prepared for any kind of disaster?”

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After two community members learned that the city contracted with a design firm for signage along Oso Trail, they decided to see what was purchased. One of them emailed, “New signs are not up, but we’re curious to see if they’ll make reference to the city staff’s hallucination that Mission Viejo has a downtown. We checked out the community center, which was completely dead for the afternoon. Unless the city staff draws people in with free meals, the building is empty. No one was inside, and no one was outside. I’d like to know the daily cost of keeping that building fully staffed. We now pay for special security guards to make sure no one steals the outdoor furniture that isn’t used. What century is this? We could have paid for security cameras 10 times over.”

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Participate in an online poll, http://www.thecapistranodispatch.com/ about the firing of CUSD Supt. Woodrow Carter. Poll question: Do you agree with CUSD trustees' decision to fire Superintendent A. Woodrow Carter? Percentages as of Mar. 14: a) Yes, it’s about time – 57%; b) No! He was good for the district – 34%; c) It’s just going to lead to a lawsuit – 6%; d) It didn’t matter to me – 3%.

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The Capo Dispatch’s article about Carter’s March 2 speech makes reference to but does not specify the 60 complaints the trustees listed against him: http://thecapistranodispatch.com/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=904&cntnt01dateformat=%25B%20%25d%2C%20%25Y&cntnt01returnid=15 Carter indicated that officials found emails on his computer that led to some of the complaints. He said in his speech that it’s not against policy to use district computers for personal email. Now that Carter is hinting at a lawsuit, CUSD probably doesn’t mind at all if he wrote a few self-incriminating emails on a district-owned computer.

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Friends of the Foothills sent out a message on why the TCA should create real traffic solutions for Orange County instead of lamenting about its failed proposal to extend the toll road through a state park:

• We cannot sacrifice a state park for any reason; we must look at other alternatives to solve our traffic problems
• We have other solutions; we must fix the 5 first!
• Our state parks are not warehouses for future development; they must be preserved for future generations to enjoy.
• The State of California needs to work with the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) and the TCA to develop solutions to our traffic problems without sacrificing sensitive lands.
• The California Coastal Commission and the Secretary of Commerce both ruled that the Foothill-South Toll Road is illegal; it is time for the TCA to move on and work with the community on a real solution to Orange County's traffic problems.