CITY GOVERNMENT: Is Carmel-by-the-Sea a ‘Well Managed,’ ‘Open and Transparent’ City Government? (Part IV)

QUESTION: Is Carmel-by-the-Sea a "Well Managed," "Open and Transparent" City Government?

ANSWER: No.  The city government of Carmel-by-the-Sea has a well-deserved reputation and record (e.g. Miller, Jane Kingsley v. City of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Flanders Foundation v. City of Carmel-by-the-Sea) of city officials not telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and suppressing and withholding crucial and germane information from consultants, courts and the public.  In this instance, City officials chose to waste taxpayer monies by contracting with legal consultant Liebert Cassidy Whitmore to ostensibly answer a public records act request when City officials should have employed the same procedure for check itemization that then Deputy City Clerk Molly Laughlin used based on Check Register Expense Accounts.  Sadly then, even with a new city administrator and new mayor, the culture at City Hall has not changed substantively from the previous administration for the better. And two employees involved in the Jane Miller et al. scandal, namely Assistant City Administrator/City Clerk Heidi Burch and City Attorney Don Freeman, are still employed by the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Finally, as a recent email to City Administrator Jason Stilwell concluded: Not that long ago you professed to not engage in “situational ethics.”  However, honoring my requests for check itemizations in the past but not recently (and without explanation) is an example of situational ethics.  Once you compromise your ethical principles you lose all credibility forever.