As mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Sue McCloud has created several ad hoc advisory committees on major and important issues without direction for their meetings to be open to the public.
HISTORY & BACKGROUND:
I. In early 2003, Mayor McCloud initiated the creation of the Sunset Theater Ad Hoc Management Committee and the Sunset Theater Ad Hoc Finance Committee. The mayor’s appointments to the Ad Hoc Management Committee included Jim Price, Alan Brenner, Walter McCarthy, Jim Sanders, and Shan Sayles. Advisors Joe Truskot and Willem Wijnbergen were also appointed. The mayor’s appointments to the Ad Hoc Finance Committee included Mike Cunningham, Dick Borda, Don Hilburn, Bill Scearce and City CPA Paul Wood.
Only later, at the Special Meeting of the City Council on 21 October 2003, was the public suddenly aware of the agenda item “CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION NO. 2003-128 RECOGNIZING THE "SUNSET CULTURAL CENTER" AS A NONPROFIT CORPORATION AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY ADMINISTRATOR TO NEGOTIATE A MANAGEMENT/LEASE AGREEMENT.”
Since at the formation of the ad hoc committees the mayor did not give direction for open meetings, the Ad Hoc Management Committee’s and the Ad Hoc Finance Committee’s closed meetings resulted in the public being unaware of the process by which the Sunset Cultural Center, Inc. (SCC) was installed as the non-profit organization to manage Sunset Center.
II. At the City Council meeting on 3 October 2006, the City Council unanimously voted “to reconstitute the Traffic Safety Commission as an ad hoc committee of the City Council.” The mayor-appointed ad hoc committee members were to consist of a member of the City Council, a member of the Planning Commission, a member of the public at-large nominated by the Mayor and ratified by the majority of the Council and the Public Safety Director. The Ad Hoc Traffic Committee would meet on an “as needed basis depending on the number of traffic and safety issues that are submitted for review.”
Since at the formation of the Ad Hoc Traffic Committee the mayor did not give direction for open meetings, the rationale for their recommendations to the City Council will not be known by Carmelites.
III. After the sudden and unexpected termination of the Economic Development Coordinator in late 2006, the City Council formed an ad hoc committee “to develop an economic development plan for the business area.” The mayor-appointed ad hoc committee included Tom Glidden (La Playa Hotel), Tod Strain (Macerich – Carmel Plaza), Jeff Burghardt (Anda Burghardt – City’s marketing consultant), Council Member Paula Hazdovac, the Community Services Director Christie Miller, City Clerk Heidi Burch, and the City Administrator. After their first meeting in January 2007, they renamed the committee the “Economic Revitalization (ER) Team." Between January 2007 and March 2007, the Ad Hoc “Team” met a total of four times.
Since the mayor did not give direction for open meetings, Carmelites are unaware of the reasoning and rationale used for many of their dubious “policy goals” and “objectives,” such as a “Fine dining concession at Del Mar Beach.” Moreover, there were no Carmel-by-the-Sea residents on the ad hoc committee to represent the residents’ point of view.
IV. At the City Council’s 6 February 2007 meeting, the City Council Members unanimously voted to “create an ad hoc committee of the Council to review the library study and encouraged the Mayor to find users of the library for the committee;" the ad hoc Library Committee included City Administrator Rich Guillen, City Clerk Heidi Burch, Acting Library Director Janet Cubbage, Library Foundation representatives Carol Nordahl (executive director) and William Tyler, Library Board member Fran Vardamis and David Evans, former Library Board member. Apparently, it was only due to the insistence of “two citizens” that the mayor acceded to their request and directed the ad hoc committee to conduct meetings open to the public. Thus, in this instance, the public is privy to the rationale employed for the ad hoc committee’s recommendations to the City Council.
SUMMARY:
In short, Mayor Sue McCloud’s over reliance on ad hoc advisory committees on major and important issues deprives citizens of the information we need to evaluate the wisdom of the ad hoc committees' recommendations and ultimately the decisions and actions of the City Council. Furthermore, the intent of the Ralph M. Brown Act is, as follows:
“...the Legislature has established a presumption in favor of public access. As the courts have stated, the purpose of the Brown Act is to facilitate public participation in local government decisions and to curb misuse of the democratic process by secret legislation by public bodies.”
2 comments:
As part of Mayor Sue McCloud's push for non-transparent government, the "ad hoc" committees, which are supposed to be advisory, have proven to be one of her best weapons. The legality of closed "ad hoc" committees, especially when they are actually replacing and acting as regular committees, is at best dubious but this will remain a gray area until challenged in the courts.
Creating "ad hoc" committees or turning existing committees into "ad hoc" committees not only furthers the mayors desire to micromanage (not very well) Carmel's government but also allows her to present her decisions as a fait accompli so the public doesn't get a chance to express the objections that McCloud must be concerned would have been aired if there'd been a chance. It also allows her to create unbalanced committees with most people being unaware that representatives of stakeholders have been excluded.
If nothing else, McCloud is deliberately undermining and violating the spirit of the Brown Act. Whether what she has been doing to subvert open government is technically legal or not has yet to be determined.
Ms. McCloud does not seem to be honorable or honest in her dealings with these committees.
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