“We’re trying to move forward with all deliberate speed.”
(Mayor Sue McCloud, On the replacement for City Councilman Erik Bethel, Special City Council Meeting, 29 November 2006)
Finding 7: Over-control of this process by mayors is not in the public interest.
(2005 Monterey County Civil Grand Jury Report on Open Government)
COMMENTS:
In Carmel-by-the-Sea, “with all deliberate speed” is a fraudulent rationale used by Mayor McCloud to justify her unilateral, covert actions. Furthermore, McCloud’s unilateral, covert actions indicate her failure to understand the meaning of the Grand Jury Finding cited above.
Examples of Mayor McCloud’s unilateral, covert actions abound, including:
• Unilateral decision to create a non profit organization to manage the Sunset Center without public consensus for Sunset Cultural Center (SCC, Inc.)
• Dissolution of the Community & Cultural Commission and the Community Safety & Traffic Commission; Disbanding of the Carmel Art Board.
• Eviction of the Caretaker at Flanders Mansion.
• Eviction of the tenants and closure of the Scout House under the guise of not having the financial resources to make the structure compliant with ADA requirements.
• Removal of the Bump-Out at the Post Office on 5th Av.
• Letter to 300 owners of “historic properties” on the City’s Inventory of Historic Resources regarding the city’s imminent action to record historic status information on their respective deeds.
• Removal of 43 “historic resources” as a group from the City’s Inventory of Historic Resources; the action was later rescinded only because the California Coastal Commission Staff articulated to the city that the removal was a violation of the City's Local Coastal Program.
• Acceptance of the $40,000 Donation from the Carmel Fire Belles against the legal advice of the City Attorney, resulting in a 3-2 non-unanimous vote.
• Contract with another consultant to complete the city’s art inventory without consultation with the Carmel Art Board.
• Contract with Ralph Andersen & Associates for a “Library Operations Study” instead of working with Library Director Margaret Pelikan.
• Asphalt pavement in lieu of a replacement tree for a removed tree at 5th Av. & Lincoln St., S.W. corner; replacement tree policy per Local Coastal Program.
• Unilateral installation and operation of approximately 50 lights in the median blocks between Monte Verde St. & Junipero Av. on Ocean Av., despite the City Administrator and Mayor stating publicly that the “lights” would be on a City Council agenda prior to their installation.
“...McCloud announced she and Hazdovac had already made a choice and were ready to name their nominee.”
“McCloud argued for immediate appointment of the nominee – whom she did not name – so the person could participate in the December 5 meeting.”(CITY SEEKS APPLICANTS TO FILL COUNCIL SEAT, Mary Brownfield, The Carmel Pine Cone, December 1, 2006.)
COMMENTS:
Mayor McCloud’s nominee is Planning Commissioner Ken Talmage, according to an insider source.
According to The Carmel Pine Cone, four individuals submitted their “names” for consideration: Olof Dahlstrand, Maggie Hardy, Steve Dallas, Ken Talmage.
“The mayor reported eight people inquired and three people submitted applications, though Hazdovac said she thought only one person had.”(CITY SEEKS APPLICANTS TO FILL COUNCIL SEAT, Mary Brownfield, The Carmel Pine Cone, December 1, 2006.)
COMMENTS:
If City Councilwoman and Mayor Pro-Tem Paula Hazdovac thought “only one person had” applied, then obviously the mayor and the mayor pro-tem did not interview all three applicants. Ergo, Mayor McCloud unilaterally and solely selected one nominee.
FINAL COMMENTS:
The following is very telling:
“As soon as the council unanimously agreed on appointment rather than election, McCloud announced she and Hazdovac had already made a choice and were ready to name their nominee."
(CITY SEEKS APPLICANTS TO FILL COUNCIL SEAT, Mary Brownfield, The Carmel Pine Cone, December 1, 2006.)
Once Mayor McCloud got the City Council to unanimously agree on appointment rather than an election, she then announced that she had a preferred nominee. Her announcement of a preferred nominee irreparably tainted and prejudiced the appointment process. And since the City Council has agreed to an appointment, an election, the only fair, impartial option, has been precluded.
QUESTION: With the vote for Erik Bethel’s replacement on Tuesday, 19 December 2006 at the Special City Council meeting, will Mayor McCloud’s preferred nominee, Planner Commissioner Ken Talmage, be selected anyway?
OTHER COMMENTS DURING THE PUBLIC HEARING
“The information coming out of city hall has been inconsistent in terms of the process…” I have received “conflicting information regarding applying for the appointment.” “I feel very uncomfortable with how this is going forward.”
(Maria Murray, Café owner and Chamber of Commerce Board member, Public Comment, Special City Council Meeting, 29 November 2006)
“Former Carmel Residents Association President Sherry Shollenbarger said an open process would engender goodwill between citizens and city hall.”
(CITY SEEKS APPLICANTS TO FILL COUNCIL SEAT, Mary Brownfield, The Carmel Pine Cone, December 1, 2006.)
Sherry Shollenbarger actually said the following;
“Sherry Shollenbarger. I just want to say too, that the more open, the more process is followed, is just an alleviator of bad feeling. And this behind closed doors sensation is not a good feeling in the community. One business week for applications, made known to the public, you can set your timetable, it’s already apparent you have 30 days to do something in. I just heartily appeal that you choose this path so that we feel it’s been out in the open and due process has been followed for us as residents.”
(Sherry Shollenbarger, Former Carmel Residents Association President, Public Comment, Special City Council Meeting, 29 November 2006)
NOTE: At the Special City Council Meeting, 29 November 2006, the City Council decided to notify the public of the vacancy and accept applications from members of the public until Thursday, 14 Decmber 2006. Another Special City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 19 December 2006, to name the mayor's and mayor pro-tem's recommendation and vote on the recommended nominee.
2 comments:
It is clear that Mayor McCloud and the other members of the City Council continue to completely ignore the comments about Carmel's governance in the 2005 Grand Jury Report, mild as those comments were considering the arrogance and illegality of the Council actions that prompted the Grand Jury's decision to look at the way Carmel is run. Whatever actually prompts the Mayor and other City Councillors to govern the way that they do, it looks as if they believe they know better what's best for Carmel than the residents and business owners do.
Mayor McCloud, with the compliance of Mayor pro-tem Hazdovac, obviously thought her frequently rubber stamp City Council would unanimously endorse anyone she wanted appointed to the vacant Council seat. Congratulations should be offered to those Council members, who were unwilling, in this instance, to be bulldozed into rubber stamping her candidate for appointment-a candidate she obviously expects to be able to control. Whether this would actually be the case with Ken Talmage or not, Olaf Dahlstrand and Maggie Hardy have given a great deal to Carmel over the years and have proven their competence again and again. To try to ignore them, not give them a fair hearing and to ramrod her personal choice for City Council is par for the course for Mayor McCloud. It is just one more example of why Carmel needs a more competent, honest and moral person, whether left, right, Republican or Democrat directing the governance of our city.
It is widely, but certainly not universally, believed that Mayor McCloud has managed to get handpicked people elected and appointed to the City Council who are not strong enough to disagree publically with her on significant issues, to challenge her when she violates city ordinances or state laws or even to get items on the City Council agenda when MaCloud doesn't want them there. Eric Bethel, who has just left the Council and Mike Cunningham, who is still on the Council, have both said publically that they have never been able to get anything on the agenda since they were elected.
From the first time she ran for Mayor, McCloud has claimed Carmel's finances were in poor condition. She has used this excuse to pare the maintainence of public facilities, streets equipment etc. and to fire city employees, including every department head, plus the Assistant City Administrator, except for the Police Chief, who was hand picked by McCloud. The fact is that the city's finances have never been in bad shape. When McCloud first ran for Mayor and claimed Carmel had a deficit, it actually had a sizable surplus, which her City Council then squandered in ways that never benefited Carmel. The city also has a surplus now. Beyond this, Carmel has had huge reserves that were raised prior to McCloud being elected Mayor-reserves that McCloud and the City Council won't spend. Most cities hope to have reserves of 15-20 percent of annual revenues. Many cities never achieve that. Carmel reportedly has reserves well in excess of 100%. Reserves that apparently are growing. Various people and organizations have tried to get the City Council to develop new sources of revenue since it is unwilling to utilize the city's reserves to any great extent. The Council has consistently refused to look at any realistic potential sources. Instead, apparantly to try to give the appearance that it is doing something, it has only considered possible sources that would yield relatively small amounts and potential income sources that were so broadly opposed that they had to be dropped.
It looks as if Mayor McCloud uses claims of limited resouces to keep the city staff small enough for her to personally control without having to delegate any of her assumed authority to professional managers. The result is a very dispirited and less than optimally efficent city staff, as staff members admit privately but fear to admit publically (they have seen staff members fired for being honest) In the meantime, the city continues to lose some of its best employees as it deteriorates across the board.
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