The Buzz

During the Feb. 2 council meeting, the wheelchair tennis tournament (referred to as ITF – International Tennis Federation) was discussed. The event took place at the city-owned Marguerite Tennis Center in November 2013. In attempting to spin the cost overruns and other problems, City Manager Dennis Wilberg highlighted how city employees “volunteered.” For example, the city’s CFO Cheryl Dyas, who makes more than $200,000 annually, gave participants (players and their followers) rides around town, including trips to the mall. Apparently, Wilberg thinks a $200,000 city chauffeur is a good thing. Since the city’s top employees are on salary and they receive comp time for extra hours, does everyone understand they are not “volunteering”? A news reporter learned from city hall that quite a few city employees got time off from work during the week after the tournament.

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At the Feb. 2 meeting, council members had the opportunity to question Wilberg for running up expenses without their approval. Taxpayers should ask about the city paying approximately $100,000 after the staff said the costs to the city would be zero. Wilberg involved upper management employees in soliciting in-kind donations for a for-profit group and transactions that appear to be gifts of public funds. Instead of holding Wilberg accountable, the council approved (voting 4-1, Councilwoman Cathy Schlicht dissenting) Wilberg’s request to host another tournament in 2014. Contrary to the city’s acknowledgment of low attendance, a city employee stated into the public record that 3,500 people attended. With $9,825 in ticket sales and tickets costing a minimum of $8.00 per event or $15 per day, can someone do the math? Also, how many tickets were purchased with taxpayer dollars by the city?

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During the meeting, Councilman Frank Ury reacted to a resident who said during public comments that the city’s function isn’t event planning. Ury responded that 25 percent of the city staff should be involved in events. Does he realize the annual cost would be more than $3.5 million (using 2012 figures) for employees, not counting the expense of the events? Ury bragged that Mission Viejo’s city government offers events every day of the year. He additionally ridiculed his own home town (population 400), where community events center around church and school. Watch Ury on the 30-second video, http://missionviejocommonsense.com/1/post/2014/02/mission-viejo-council-member-frank-ury-staff-should-run-non-essential-events.html

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Post from Larry Gilbert on Sat., Feb. 8: “I just attended the ‘Orange County Free Speech Clinic’ held at C Russell Cook Park in San Juan Capistrano where I interacted with several of the 150 in attendance. The picnic event was organized by the ‘whip-wielding mistress of ceremonies’ Villa Park council member Deborah Pauly. Deb had lined up some great speakers who spent three solid hours informing the attendees on the need to stand our ground when it comes to protecting our freedom and Constitutional rights. One of my photos is of San Juan councilman Dr. Roy L. Burns alongside the editors/producers of the Community Common Sense News (CCS). They are Kim Lefner and Kim Mc Carthy. As we discover every local city has its issues. In San Juan there is a Recall effort to replace Councilman Sam Allevato. A large issue is overbilling on water rates where a court has found the city guilty. A recent issue is the city filing an "ANTI-SLAPP" Motion against CCS editors who recently won a temporary ruling permitting our placing the newspaper on city property. Without going over the entire lineup of speakers, Gina Louden (author, WND and FOX News contributor, and mother of five) was the Keynote speaker wrapping up this powerful event. I did take a photo of Deb with her whip and boots as this event was targeted by people whom she is shaking up with her fervor of speaking out in her effort to motivate those voters sitting on the sidelines.”

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The Mission Viejo Chapter of ACT! for America will hold its monthly meeting on Wed., Feb. 12. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. The meeting starts promptly at 7:30 p.m. and ends at 9:30 p.m.

Guest speaker will be Emad Samir, Egyptologist and Biblical scholar. His topic will be “Making Sense of the Revolutions in Egypt -- the Truth Behind the Headlines.”

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Be sure to like Mission Viejo Common Sense on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/missionviejocommonsense and forward this link to others. MVCS was created in conjunction with the expansion of the Community Common Sense newspaper into Mission Viejo in August 2013.