Vanguard

Weekly News Vol II

Week of June 3, 2007

City of Glendale, CA Edition

“Accountability”

Glendale’s Watchdog

HEADLINES

Lunchtime could become costly for City

BREAKING NEWS!

Fire vs. Police Debate See #2

The four stages of Vanguard "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." Mahatma Gandhi

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” – Thomas Jefferson

“Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.” Mark Twain

“An opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it.” Frazz

When WE are complacent THEY win!

Only when WE are vigilant are THEY accountable!

This just in: State Supreme Court was dismayed at the time it has taken the issue of public disclosure of identified public employee salaries under the Public Records Act to be heard by the Court. The Court, according to sources, is leaning toward disclosure. The case was heard Wednesday and the decision will be within 90 days. From CA Supreme Court file: “Petition for review after the Court of Appeal denied a petition for peremptory writ of mandate. This case includes the following issues: (1) Are the names and salaries of public employees who earn more than $100,000 per year exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Gov. Code, section 6250 et seq.) pursuant to Government Code section 6254, subdivision (c)?” Case #S134253

This just in: 2007/08 Proposed budgets for

GFD -- $54,000,000 for 243 employees

GPD -- $63,600,000 for 390 employees

This just in: Glendale turning into Bank Robbery Capitol as robbers hit Citibank at 700 N Brand on Friday.

City Government in action: Dr. Espiritu added pictures to his Oral Communications presentation about broken sidewalks and less than 48 hours later, the walks were repaired. Question to City Officials: Is it cheaper for the City to be sued on the issue of trips and falls due to broken sidewalks or to repair the sidewalks?

POLL Results: Aquatic Pool Facilities and Soccer Fields are more important that rebuilding two fire stations

____112_____Yes ____15_____No

City Responds to Perkins Building elevator issues: Elevator Permit:  There was a 2005 permit in that elevator that someone had removed and in doing so apparently exposed the 2003 permit.  The 2004 permit had also been taken.  The original permits are kept in the PW Facilities Services office and a copy is posted.  The City is diligent about maintaining our elevators and has a contract with an elevator vendor for maintenance, repair and upgrades to current safety standards.  The reason many of our City elevators carry out of date inspection certificates is because the State has a one-year delay in issuing the permits once the elevator has passed state inspection.  The inspection process for elevators is initiated by the State and not the elevator owner.

Out of Service Elevator in Perkins:  On April 10, 2007 the following information was given to employees in the Perkins Building. The Perkins East Elevator has been out of service since January, and we wanted you to have a quick update on the status of this repair. Unfortunately, this has turned out be a complex repair that involves the replacement of a major component part. According to a contractor’s proposal, the repair may take up to three months to make and cost nearly $80,000. Public Works is working with Glendale Water and Power in order to explore our options on how to return this one elevator to service as quickly as possible…Our elevator contractor has re-packed the seal at the top of the cylinder three times and each time it has failed. If the cylinder is not plumb (i.e. exactly straight up and down), this would cause the piston to put more pressure on one side of the cylinder than the other and eventually cause the cylinder to go “out of round”. If this happens, the seal is unable to hold the hydraulic fluid and it will continually leak. An out-of-round cylinder can be caused by a cylinder that was not installed perfectly plumb or an earthquake (perhaps the one in 1994?) can knock the cylinder out of plumb and start the process of abnormal wear on one side of the cylinder wall. The proposed repair is to replace the cylinder and piston.

Outdoor Grills : Karoun at 1240 S Glendale is requesting a Variance from the Zoning Administrator for outdoor grilling at a Public Hearing 9:30 June 6 in Room 105 at the MSB. Please attend this hearing.

City Manager Starbird indicated that he faithfully fulfilled his obligation of January 2006 to develop a plan to restore the reserves to 35% within 90 days. CM Yousefian confirmed this. Manager Starbird indicated that the methods used to re-establish the reserves are still in place today.

A Missing ‘W’ Makes A Difference: Dr. Espiritu caught the fact: there was a typo in a document on the consent calendar that had been drafted, submitted, reviewed and reviewed some more, that if taken as written would have reimbursed a contractor for providing side walks that would ‘ill comply’ with ADA standards. The high priced help may need some training in reading comprehension. City Attorney Howard acknowledged that a draft he prepared, reviewed and submitted also contained the wrong account number for money moving. If people are going to sign off on documents, they should read them and accept responsibility for the content.

Another ‘W’ is good for the merchants: The W Aloft Hotel is not a full service hotel as it relies on the local restaurants and merchants to supply goods and services to their guests. W Hotels offers a sneak peek at its aloft hotel concept The Amidi Group continues to demonstrate its interest in creating a vibrant exciting downtown that is cooperative not competitive, one that is worthy of the Caruso Americana at Brand investment in the high end shopping center. One need only look at the success of the Grove to see the possibility in Glendale. One of the hotels offered by Komar, a contender for the property, is the Indigo, which as a full service hotel, is competitive with the downtown merchants that have already invested in Glendale. The property at 111 E Wilson is City owned as distinguished from the private property at 111 N Brand where the Le Meridien Hotel is proposed.

Vanguard spoke at the budget study session on the issue of huge amounts of tax dollars requested to be spent on rebuilding two fire stations for which the need has not been established. Chief Gray has done an excellent job of reducing the response time with the existing stations, yet he did not mention response time in his presentation. City Management relied on the public putting a high priority on fire stations in the Long Range Planning program of last year. Yet ‘fire stations’ were not included in the questions. Station 26 was included on the Downtown Specific Plan Advisory Group agenda for the last meeting because Management wanted it. The rebuild didn’t fly there either. City Management indicated that fire stations were community-gathering points, ‘NOT’. City Management told the public that no plans have been drafted; yet the budget presentation indicated that both stations would be 18,055 square feet. Station 26 is presently 6800 square feet and station 29 is 10,000 square feet. Chief Gray did acknowledge that medical responses were demanding the most attention yet have the fewest personnel assigned. Ten paramedics per day while there are 50 fire suppression people. Dropping one engine company (4 personnel) would staff two additional rescue ambulances to better benefit our aging population. Reducing 1 person from engines and trucks would free up 12 people per shift.

Old Technology can provide a more effective solution to recognize fires when they are just hot spots.

Vanguard spoke at the Redevelopment Agency about Dorn-Platz and the Glendale Career College. Once again it appears that the hang-up is Dorn-Platz. Vanguard questioned the hold up on the changing downtown, the new buildings and retail. Agency Chair Yousefian spoke to that. Barry Allen said, "We're trying to build a new city — we're trying to rebuild downtown and nothing's happening. People are looking forward to these changes — you've sold them on it — and now you're not delivering. Somehow or other, there's got to be something that's causing this body to lose its momentum when these decisions have been made." From the Robert S Hong article in the GNP.

Vanguard spoke: At the Council meeting

· Suggesting that the City Attorney return unused salary funds to the General Fund as an example to other departments holding excess money at the end of the year.

· Accolades to the Internal Auditor on the first Performance and Measurements report to the public.

· Council should set aside its allegiance to all special interest groups (unions, associations, developers, and individuals) to do what is best for the public.

HEADLINE NEWS

Lunchtime Breaks – How will they affect City?

Non-exempt employees must be given a 30-minute unpaid non-work lunch period after 4 hours work and a 10-minute break during each 4-hour work period. This could certainly rack up a lot of additional pay for the 24-hour non-exempt on duty fire department employees which include Battalion Chiefs as the City Management has chosen to make them non-exempt supervisors.

The Murphy v. Kenneth Cole Decision: Another Huge Victory For Employees

The “additional hour of pay” due to an employee under Labor Code § 226.7 is a wage, not a penalty. Murphy v. Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. (2007)

The decision resulted in the following comments:

· Because the hour of pay is a wage, and not a penalty, employees can avail themselves not only of the three-year statute of limitation, they can plead a claim for restitution for any hours of pay that were withheld up to four years prior, under an unfair competition theory. Cortez v. Purolator Air Filtration Prods. Co. (2000) 23 Cal.4th 163.

· Prevailing parties in meal and rest period cases can recover attorney's fees. Labor Code § 218.5.

· Prevailing employees can recover pre-judgment interest. Labor Code § 218.6.

· Employers can be held liable for waiting time penalties under Labor Code § 203 for employees who have not been paid for the additional hours of pay due to them as of the time their employment concludes.

· Employers could face sizeable punitive damage awards on top of the wages due for break violations, since the primary argument relied upon (i.e., in the Wal-Mart case) was that one could not recover punitive damages for failure to pay a penalty.

· Employers could face additional penalties under the Private Attorney Generals Act (PAGA) arising from a failure to pay meal and rest period pay.

CITY CLERK

Women’s Commission is three members short and is seeking qualified Glendale residents to serve. Applications are available from the City Clerk, 548 4000

Save the Date: June 6^th at 6:30 PM at the Police Facility for City Clerk ‘Ardy’ Kassakhian and the City Election Post Mortem. Get the answers to your election questions. Why was the ballot so cluttered with all those languages? Are you ready for an all mail ballot, how about a runoff? Election Reform – speak up ask questions!! Official flyer

Statements of Economic Interest are required to be filed annually by city officials. Last year Vanguard requested a list of officials that had not filed with the City Clerk. That list was not delivered and here we are 5 months into another year requesting the same information.

Boards and Commissions: The City Clerk needs to provide staff to facilitate Boards and Commissions, as there is little consistency. Not all post minutes on the web. Many do not link to reports being discussed on their agendas. All of the agendas are not ADA compliant. The amount of time given to speakers on Oral Communications and Agenda items differs. The present system is very dysfunctional. Once again the TPC cancelled its meeting as did the Women’s Commission for lack of a quorum.

Published independently by Vanguard – Our vision is to live in a City where all people, regardless of geography, background or economic status, can enjoy accountability, integrity, effectiveness and responsiveness from our elected officials and each of the city's departments

CONTENTS:

1) Commentary

2) Announcements - Letters- Calendar – Links

3) Public Records

4) Vanguard

1 Commentary

You may agree or disagree with the views below. Feel free to comment on them.

1- Internal Auditor should add the Sr. Investigator to their department and move to a location outside of the City Hall complex to avoid the Stockholm syndrome.

2- Council member Weaver should whip out his checkbook and make the City whole for providing free services to his friends.

3- City Council should demand accountability from City and Redevelopment Management. Why are the new projects still piles of dirt and not the beginning of a vibrant new downtown? Are we waiting to resolve the impact fees with special consideration to Disney and Caruso?

4- The property on Pennsylvania that is being traded to Gangi, at great expense to the City, has turned into a dump. Why has this been allowed?

5- Funds that should go to the Parks and Recreation for the use of the Civic Auditorium may have subsidized other departments. A case of micro-management by Management Services? Or a justification for bringing in a management company?

6- Building Department and Neighborhood Services need staff working on weekends when the illegal, without permit construction is happening. Change the work schedule to give us our quality of life from noisy power saws to construction refuse.

7- Council is not ready to call staff or Management on the lack of oversight such as the problems with the Adams Square Minipark plans. The problem must be somewhere. Not with the Managers because their union contributes to campaign coffers.

8- Reservoir at the golf course – Think outside of the box…could some of the City’s open space be used to construct a new, bigger and better reservoir? The land is available and the City owns it.

9- Every City employee cruising about the City should note blight, broken assets and other anomalies and turn them into a central location, like Neighborhood Services.

The Glendale Municipal Code, 2.83.070 on the improper use of city position or prospective position. “No official of the city…shall use his/her position, or the power or authority of his/her office or position, in any manner intended to induce or coerce any person to provide, directly or indirectly, anything of value which shall accrue to the private advantage, benefit or economic gain of the official, or of any other person. (Ord. 5219 (part), 1999)”

ACCOUNTABILITY is the issue!

Integrity starts with the individual

TAKE ACTION – GET INVOLVED – BE INFORMED

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 Announcements – Letters -- Calendar 

Letters and Calls.

ED – Letters published do not necessarily express the opinion of Vanguard, the publication, the organization or Barry Allen.

BREAKING NEWS

Fire vs. Police – A debate

[A former Fire Commissioner provided this commentary]

GFD on Patrol 24/7? An interesting suggestion but does not consider the time needed for training, study, and equipment and station maintenance. GPD on patrol serves as a deterrent to crime and promotes driver safety.  GFD on patrol would not likely have any of these fringe benefits and would consume a great deal of fuel due to the weight of the apparatus.  It also does not allow for rest time that preps a firefighter for the times when the demands of an emergency tap their strength.

[A Vanguard advisor submitted this response]

Firefighters on patrol would be in a two-person patrol rig, a 3/4 or one-ton truck that gets reasonable gas mileage compared to the truck and engines they use now. Also, the fire patrol rigs would have many collateral assignments like cutting back on vegetation that obscures traffic signs, clear debris from roadways, anti-truancy patrol, more public safety eyes and ears, remove graffiti, etc. Regarding exhaustion, cops have to expend enormous amounts of physical energy when they go into foot pursuit or have to physically contain a mentally ill person or criminal suspect who is resisting.  Firefighters now go to public parks every day and vigorously run for up to an hour at a time. When they are finished they are extremely exhausted. At that point they would not be able to handle a physically trying call. Firefighters in GFD average about one hour per shift on calls and 98% of them are not physically demanding. Firefighters don’t even cut the grass let alone do equipment or station maintenance,

· According to the California First Amendment Coalition (CFAC), The Brown Act prohibits action by secret ballot.  Gov. Code § 54953(c) ("[n]o legislative body shall take action by secret ballot, whether preliminary or final").  Although the Brown Act authorizes a closed session to discuss the appointment of a public employee, the legislative body must publicly report any action taken in closed session at the public meeting during which the closed session was held, and must report the vote or abstention of every member present.  Gov. Code § 54957.1. 

LINKS

Salary info available click here and click on the Glendale Administrative Services Salary Schedules, as of 3-26-2007 link.

Click here for Vanguard Archives by Hal Weber CPRAR 03-29-07, Provide Fire Department Injury Census for 2006 OSHA Reports.

CALENDAR

June 5, 2007 City Council

Click on the underlined to view the agenda

City Council - Housing Authority -- Redevelopment Agency

Monday, June 4

Glendale Water & Power Commission – 4:00 pm, City Council Chambers, City Hall, 613 E. Broadway, Glendale. 548-2107

Tuesday, June 5

Budget Study Session – 9:00 am, City Council Chambers, City Hall, 613 E. Broadway, Glendale. 548-4844

General Fund Overview and LRFP and CIP

Glendale Housing Authority -- 2:30 pm, City Council Chambers, City Hall, 613 E. Broadway, Glendale. 548-2060

Approval of Housing Programs and Proposed Budget

Glendale Redevelopment Agency -- 2:30 pm, City Council Chambers, City Hall, 613 E. Broadway, Glendale. 548-2005

Alex Theater Report & GRA/EDP Budget

Joint Meeting – Glendale City Council/Glendale Housing Authority – 2:30 pm, City Council Chambers, 548-4844

Joint Meeting – Glendale City Council/Glendale Redevelopment Agency – 2:30 pm, City Council Chambers, 584-4844

Discussion on Properties at 111 N Brand and 111 E Wilson

Glendale City Council -- 6:00 pm, City Council Chambers, City Hall, 613 E. Broadway, Glendale. 548-4844

5c More money for MV Transportation, the Beeline operator

8a $5000 for CV fireworks (Where is GFD on this due to the fire danger?)

8b Redo Scholl Cyn Ball Fields

8c $87,000 more to remodel Management Services Offices

9 Hearing on update to Noise element of the General Plan

Wednesday, June 6

Glendale Zoning Administrator's Hearing -- 9:30 am, MSB Room 105, 633 E. Broadway, Glendale. 548-2140

Parks, Recreation & Community Services Commission – 3:30 pm, City Council Chambers, 548-2000

Community Meeting Glendale Elections – 6:30 pm, Police Community Room, 131 N. Isabel Street, Glendale. 548-2090

Thursday, June 7

Glendale Design Review Board #1 - 1:00 pm, MSB, Room 105,633 E. Broadway, Glendale. 548-2140

Behind the Badge – “Teen Drinking and Driving” – 7:00 pm – Airs live on GTV6 Call in number – 548-3344

Friday, June 8

2007 Student Talent Showcase – 8:00 pm, Alex Theatre, Glendale. 247-0466.

Schedule for budget study sessions: Sessions are on Tuesdays:

At 9AM June 12 Internal Service Funds June 19 Follow-up items

At 6 PM June 19 Public Hearing June 26 Budget Adoption

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Public Records

The Open Government (???) in Glendale California web site now has a number of Vanguard's California Public Records Act Requests and the City of Glendale’s Responses.  To view these new documents, go to: CPRA

City of Tracy attempts to thwart request for records. From CFAC: Tracy case tests the power of government officials to avoid disclosure of their emails on public business.  As agent of the city of Tracy, the council member’s composing and sending the email is imputed to Tracy, even if she believes or wishes otherwise. Tracy, in other words, is deemed to have “prepared, owned . . . [and] used” the email to the same extent as the council member--which means the email is a public record belonging to Tracy.

But even if the email could be withheld lawfully under the Public Records Act, it has to be turned over under Article I, § 3(b) of the California Constitution. Article I, § 3(b), better known as Prop 59 (enacted in 2004), creates a new constitutional right to the “writings of public officials.”  The right is independent of the Public Records Act or any other law. The right would exist even if the Legislature, in a paroxysm of secrecy, repealed all open-government statutes.

The analysis under Article I, § 3(b) is simple. Are the contested emails “writings”? The answer is clearly yes. Are council members “public officials”? Yes again. The emails therefore must be disclosed.  How they were created and transmitted over the internet--the ownership of the computer and email account--are appropriately irrelevant under Article I, § 3(b).

The Tracy City Council has been clever in its attempt to immunize email from open-government mandates. But one wonders whether the residents of Tracy will share their representatives’ enthusiasm for cutting off public access to all the council members’ most important written communications.

Miss Asia Pageant: Vanguard awaits the results of a CPRA request as to whether Public Works or Parks and Recreation have been approached for goods, services or sponsorship by the Miss Asia producer or members of the City Council for the June 30^th event.

Open Government Guide Published by The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

There are no limitations on access to public records based on the purpose for which the record is being requested, if the record is otherwise subject to disclosure. Cal. Gov't Code § 6257.5. A member of the public need not state the purpose for requesting records. See, e.g., CBS Broad. Inc. v. Superior Court, 91 Cal. App. 4th 892, 909, 110 Cal. Rptr. 2d 889 (2001); City of San Jose v. Superior Court, 74 Cal. App. 4th 1008, 1018, 88 Cal. Rptr. 2d 552 (1999); State Bd. of Equalization v. Superior Court, 10 Cal. App. 4th 1177, 1191, 13 Cal. Rptr. 2d 342 (1992). What is material is the public interest in disclosure, not the private interest of a requesting party. State Bd. of Equalization, 10 Cal. App. 4th at 1191.

We wish to thank all those that have come forth with information

about accountability issues in the City. They shall remain anonymous.

_{4 Vanguard}

In order to keep pace with the continuing and expanding demands on the Vanguard staff,

Your immediate financial support is needed

Please make checks payable to Vanguard & mail to Post Office Box 11202, Glendale CA 91226

Vanguard is changing its name to better reflect our successes and protecting them. The new name means “seeking accountability while protecting the accomplishments of achieving the goal of holding government accountable.”

Upcoming Programs:

Legal Counsel Representing the Public

What it means: The City Attorney does not represent the public, only the interests of the City, its management and elected officials. Someone must represent the public when it challenges government, someone to represent the common man when appearing before various legislative bodies (Title II), preparing and filing legal documents on behalf of the public. Vanguard will work toward that end.

Voter Education

What it means: Many groups work diligently to register voters. The purpose of this program is to help the voter become more aware of the issues. The program will work closely with new voters, those in the schools and those just becoming citizens.

Community Forums

What it means: There are important issues that need to be discussed and debated by the public. Vanguard will be hosting these forums and you are invited.

Forums include:

· Effective Public Speaking and Accent Reduction

· Public Safety

· Downtown Development

· First Amendment, The Brown Act & The California Public Records Act

· The View and Mansionization Ordinance

· The Vision for Glendale

· Periodic Town Hall meetings to give the public an opportunity to vent

Accountability Awards Banquet

Each year Vanguard will select the public official that has promoted ‘Accountability’ in local government and host a banquet to honor that person as a method to further accountability as a way if life in public service.

Outreach and information dissemination via Vanguard Weekly News -- Website -- Weekly Radio Program (coming soon) -- Group Telephone Calls – Après Council Pizza. All activities will be supported by ads in local and foreign language media.

Vanguard encourages your input and needs your ongoing support!

Send your tax-deductible contribution today!

Vanguard

Emailto:ba@fieldworks.net or call 818 243 1502

Please make checks payable to Vanguard & mail to Post Office Box 11202, Glendale CA 91226

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