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Meet West Valley Water Board Candidate Anthony “Butch” Araiza

02 Nov 2017 Leave a comment

Welcome to our individual interviews with Candidates running for local elections. All candidates were given the same questions and allowed the freedom to answer as they see fit. We did not alter any of the responses so you are hearing things directly from them.

In this interview we are introducing you to Butch Araiza. Mr. Araiza is a person who has basically lived his entire life in the Rialto area given back in so many ways and has worked his entire life at West Valley Water. There are a couple of candidates that have an extensive background in providing utility services to this region and Butch Araiza is one of those candidates, enjoy.

1) Tell us about yourself where did you grow up, go to school and work before?

I was born and raised in Rialto. I was in one of the first classes to go through Boyd Elementary, and then I went on to Rialto Middle School and Eisenhower High. I’ve taken courses at Valley College and Cal State San Bernardino, and while those were important in helping me learn the science behind water distribution, my real education came on the job. I started at West Valley Water District when I was 19 years old, thinking it would be a good summer job–I went on to work there for 52 years. I started out in irrigation, working to help get water to the citrus groves that used to cover the area, and I slowly worked my way up through just about every department in the district until I reached the level of Superintendent. As Superintendent I was responsible for all field operations for several years. After that I become Assistant General Manager for 10 years before becoming the General Manager. I served as General Manager for 20 years.

2) How does your past make you a good candidate for West Valley Water Board?

I have been involved in water for almost my entire life. I’ve served in the management of the District for over 35 years. I know water. And I also know this community because I’ve been involved in it my entire life too. I’ve been a member of Rialto Rotary for over 20 years, and have served as president of the club several times. I’ve been one of the organizers of the Rialto Run Whatcha Brung car show since it began. I was a member of the Rialto Planning Commissionfor 8 years, and served as Chairman for several of those. I spent over 20 years on the board of the Friends of the Rialto Police K-9s. And finally, I was a member of the Oversight Committees for the last two school bond measures for Rialto Unified School District. Almost all of that work was as a volunteer, because I care about this community.

3) Some of you are incumbents what have you learned since being elected or appointed that you didn’t know until you sat in the elected seat?

I am not an incumbent, but I have been involved with the water board for the last 20 years. The thing that has most surprised me about recent elections is the amount of partisanship that has become a part of it. In the past we’ve had people with different viewpoints on the water board, and there have been disagreements over policy, but I never once questioned that board members were making decisions based on the well being of the district. In the past four years that has changed. Certain board members have become far too involved in the hiring and firing practices of the district, and they have taken a direct hand in managing the district by directly overruling the day-to-day decisions of district management (the people who have experience in these issues, and who are paid to make those decisions). Additionally, I have seen board members do things like initiate baseless investigations just so that they could send out negative campaign literature claiming that other candidates are “under investigation.” And, of course, those investigations are dropped as soon as the campaign is over. I would encourage voters to research these issues carefully before believing anything they receive in the mail. And I hope, that if I am elected, I can help restore an ethical water board (I know that Linda Gonzalez and Robert Bourland also share this hope which is why I have endorsed them for the other open seats).

4) How important is transparency to you?

I believe transparency is extremely important to good governance. Many of the changes that have been made to the Board of Directors’ rules and procedures since I left management are troubling to me because I feel that they decrease transparency. I support an ethics code for the board and a return to the rules of order that existed prior to last four years.

5) Do you believe that partisan politics have a place within a water board seat?

No. A board seat is a non-partisan position meant to oversee the management of the Water District. The board is there to set overall policy for the district, approve budgets, and to make sure that the district manager is doing his or her job. Those are not partisan issues.

6) What is your impression of the communitiesfreedom of speech?

I believe that freedom of speech is the cornerstone of our democracy. Without a free discussion of the issues no consensus or compromise could be reached, and only those with the right “opinion” would be allowed to participate–a system like that is not sustainable and it’s not good for the people. On my Facebook page you can find my direct cell phone number. I put that there because I want the people in this community to be able to speak to me directly; to voice their concerns, criticisms, and even just to talk about the district. I welcome it all. Speech is very important to me.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ButchAraiza/

Cell Phone: (909) 644-2417

7) What are your thoughts on budget surpluses? Should they be a certain percentage of the overall budget or are they even important?

The district should not have extreme budget surpluses. Of course, in any given period of time there will be times when the district is able to get good deals or somehow decrease costs resulting in a short term budget surplus, and that’s good–it’s a sign of good management. But sustained budget surpluses are a sign that rates can be decreased. Now that is not to say that the district should not have savings. If a large natural disaster struck our community, without savings the district would have no efficient way to rebuild any infrastructure that is damaged and it would be difficult to restore service to the community without taking out expensive loans. Everyone needs a rainy day fund and the district is no different. That said, the district currently appears to be in a good financial situation and I feel confident in guaranteeing that I will not vote for any rate increases unless there is some catastrophic change in that.

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West Valley Water Board Race Nasty As Ever

29 Oct 2017 Leave a comment

It seems as though nothing has changed when it comes to providing clean drinking water to 11 cities in 2 counties.

You may remember a few years ago when we covered corruption and misuse of funds on the West Valley Water District Board of Directors. Then Councilman Shawn O’Connell a resident of the water district called out blatant areas where funds were being misused, board members were being bullies and political lines were being drawn in the sand. It became so bad that groups that previously supported Councilman O’Connell threatened to pull their support of him if he didn’t stop his questions of board member Clifford Young.

Now Clifford Young is running for re-election and he is looking to buy residents votes, spreading lies about other candidates and turing on those who once supported him.

One Candidate and the former General Manager of West Valley Water posted this on his social media page earlier this week:

I’d like to respond to some of the attacks that have come out recently against Linda Gonzalez and myself. They are lies, plain and simple.

I’m proud of my 35 years of management of the district. During my time as manager we built two water treatment plants. We kept the water supply safe, despite the discovery of perchlorate pollution. Rates may have gone up in 2013 but that was because we refused to raise rates at all during the economic recession following 2009, and despite the rate increases our district’s water rates are lower than both Rialto and Fontana’s water rates. If the district had been mismanaged for 35 years, we wouldn’t be able to say any of that.

Regarding the claims made about Linda Gonzalez, I’ll just say this. I can provide anyone with records of Freedom of Information Act requests made to the district which show that in the last three years Linda Gonzalez has been paid $34,000 for her work on the board. In that same time Clifford Young was paid $97,000 for carrying out the same job. He did this by going to as many “business” lunches and trips as possible and by gaming the system to get extra perks.

So who is really trying to take all the money they can from the district? Butch Arizia.

Mr. Arizia is right he did an excellent job as the General Manager for West Valley Water. Not only did the Water District not steal millions from rate payers like Rialto Water did to clean up Perchlorate from the ground water. Rialto Water charged the residents Millions to clean up the water then spent over 50 million (Tax Money)on attorneys to sue the people responsible then settled for pennies on the dollar. Mr. Arizia also kept West Vally water from making a monumental mistake that would have done extreme damage to West Valley Water. When the Rialto City Council was forced to remove American Water as the preferred company to handle the selling off of a utility the council went to West Valley and more importantly Butch Arizia to see if West Valley wanted to step in. Butch Arizia took one look at the contract and knew it was a poorly put together plan that made delivering on the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) impossible. He was right because Rialto Water customers still have water that is hard to drink, skyrocketing water rates and none of the Capital Projects completed and many are way behind schedule over 5 years later.

Another former General Manager from West Valley Water who worked under the regime of Clifford Young left and when we bumped into him he was beyond happy to be out of West Valley Water and out from under certain people’s thumbs.

One of our favorite stories we wrote on Clifford Young was when new board members were sworn in and Clifford Young took this opportunity to change the rules of open meetings making it harder for the public to address their elected officials. Another one we enjoyed was when Clifford Young ripped into water employees.

Some people are claiming that Clifford Young is buying votes with his latest campaign ad (see below).

If purchasing your vote isn’t bad remember Clifford Young is the person most responsible for giving support to Rafael Trujillio the Councilman from Rialto that worked behind the scenes to turn Rialto into a sanctuary city putting millions of dollars in Federal grants in jeopardy.

https://youtu.be/ThTGaB_rHQc

Cities that west valley water works in are:

CITY OF BLOOMINGTON, CITY OF COLTON, CITY OF FONTANA, CITY OF GRAND TERRACE, CITY OF HIGHGROVE, CITY OF JURUPA VALLEY, CITY OF MUSCOY, CITY OF RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CITY OF RIALTO, CITY OF RIVERSIDE & CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO

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Over $71 Thousand Donated to Fontana School Board Candidate

02 Oct 2017 51 Comments

A collection of campaign contributions have come in for Fontana School Board member Mars Serna. Over $71 Thousand in campaign contributions have come in for a special election against one other person community advocate Kareem Gongora.

Now we all know that elections need money and normally the people giving money want something in return. So what do the people donating to Mars Serna’s campaign want? Well let’s look at who is donating:

Burrtec Waste Industries $20,000
Phil Cothran $4,579.38
Clifford Young Sr. $1,000
Constance Young $5,000
Academics in Art Charter $40,000
South Highland Management $500

Now what would a trash provider get out of donating to a small school board seat? Maybe a sweet deal on a contract? Even bigger than that is the $40 thousand dollars coming from a Charter School in Orange County believe us when we tell you this money does not come without massive strings attached.

This election is a special election that once the election is over and the winner is sworn in they will have less than a year until their seat is up for re-election. The real story here is a power grab by Warehouse Warren (aka Fontana Mayor Aquenetta Warren) she has two votes that will do her bidding on the School Board and since her third puppet is now on Fontana City Council she needs another one. Her pick is Mars Serna.

Speaking to Kareem Gongora the other candidate in this election isn’t taking donations like these he is relying on family, friends and the community to send him to the Fontana Board not large corporations and Charter Schools.

We have asked Mars Serna to sit down with us and he refuses so I guess he would rather leave us to make up our own minds about these dirty campaign contributions.

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Appointments Open for West Valley Water District

17 Feb 2017 Leave a comment

So what happens when a local governing body is so fractured that no more than two people can agree with each other? Another governing body has to do your work for you.

There are few governing, publicly elected bodies like West Valley Water District that cover Rialto, Colton, Fontana, Bloomington and other unincorporated areas of San Bernardino County, and a portion of Jurupa Valley in Riverside County. West Valley Water fly’s under the radar of rate payers because until recently who cared about your water board right? Until the hyper controlling measures that state and local water agencies laid out on ratepayers nobody really took the time to watch what their water board is doing.

West Valley Water Board members Clifford Young, Linda Gonzles and Greg Young worked hard over the last two years to kick certain board members off the board, bring in new blood that wont question bad spending habits and fight to keep certain people from ever sitting on the board EVER…..

Well with twice appointed never elected board member Rafael Trujillo moving over to Rialto City Council there is once again a vacant seat. Normally the board has a politically charged person waiting in the wings but partisan politics coupled with a lack of ability to collectively agree on a person now has taken this choice out of their hands. The names that were floated around being considered were former Rilato Councilman Ed Palmer, Former Fontana Planning Commissioner Phil Cothran and Activist Irma Flores were just a few of the names that were talked about.

The community was ready to charge the doors of West Valley Water district if Phil Cothran was appointed to the water board. He is coming off a fresh election where he has been accused of trying to takeover the Fontana Woman’s Club, stories of failing to report campaign donations that Phil Cothran took from Young Homes prior to voting yes on their projects and running a local PAC that derailed some very good peoples chances of winning an elected seat. Apparently Ed Palmer who was supported by Clifford Young was not what Greg Young was looking for in a fellow board member. Greg Young didn’t want Ed Palmer’s drama from the recent election where he challenged current Mayor Deborah Robertson for her Mayor seat.

So since West Valley Water is punting this decision it is now up to the San Bernardino County Supervisors to make the appointment. The Board of Supervisors created a special advisory committee consisting of Second District Supervisor Janice Rutherford and Fifth District Supervisor Josie Gonzales to interview the applicants and recommend an appointment to the full Board of Supervisors.

What is funny is that West Valley may have a Board member that they fought long and hard against two years ago wasting thousands of dollars and wasting rate payer time advocating for their choice in the election.

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Councilman Rafael Trujillo Holds Secret Meeting To Make Rialto a Sanctuary City

01 Jan 2017 1 Comment

On a rainy day in the Inland Empire most people were cleaning out from the Christmas rush and finishing out a last day of work before 2016 ends and 2017 began. One of Rialto’s newest council members was formulating a plan to break federal law and put Rialto’s ability to obtain Federal Funding in serious jeopardy.

In Rialto voters chose two candidates to replace the two seats left vacant by one councilman’s untimely death early this summer and another choosing to run (unsuccessfully) for Rialto’s Mayor. One of those choices (Rafael Trujillo) has spent his young lifetime working as an aide to State and Federal leaders who would routinely select the audience they choose to speak to and keep their conversational statements from public view. He also has a history of filling elected spots others vacated early and pretending to be the champion of the people.

Some seemed confused about what a sanctuary city is like Victorville City Councilwoman Blanca Gomez (yes all the way from victorville) So we thought we would share the definition:

A sanctuary city is a city in the United States or Canada that has adopted a policy of protecting undocumented immigrants by not prosecuting them solely for violating federal immigration laws in the country in which they are now living illegally. … The designation has no precise legal meaning.

President elect Donald Trump has said that being a Sanctuary City is the quickest way to loose federal funding.

Well Mr. Trujillo was tested by fire and he seemed to crumble under the weight of his plans for Rialto when the opposition came out to challenge him. Rafael Trujillo had planned to hold a private meeting with Maribel Nunez and organizations like TODEC & LULAC. None of these groups have offices located in San Bernardino County let alone Rialto and Mrs Nunez is the Executive Director at California Partnership an LA. This is important because Rafael Trujillo claimed that those who showed up for his Sanctuary City meeting were not qualified to attend because he was only listening to constituents. These groups represent only the needs of people living in this country illegally outside of California Partnership who also helps low income residents but each are large parts of the push to ignore US immigration laws. Actually the only person we could verify that was a Rialto resident was former City Clerk Candidate Ana Gonzalez everyone else was not a verified Rialto resident.

Other People who Rafael Trujillo wanted to hear from were Emilio Garcia a professional activist currently lending his voice to boycotting Driscols Berry Farms over immigrant berry pickers rights to be paid more than most other people even EMT’s working for AMR Private Ambulance Service.

Rafael Trujillo seemed really worried about the cameras because he said the meeting would only resume when the cameras went away little did we know that Rafael Trujillo invited a reporter formerly with the Fontana Herald and now with the Hispanic Publican Unidos en el Sur de California to cover (See image below)

The image above says it all that Alejandro Cano was there to write a puff piece on Rafael Trujillo’s plans to sneak this idea on Rialto residents. Now Rafael Trujillo was asked a question that I thought was interesting. Is his boss Norma Torres behind this effort?

Well here is where you connect the dots. Rafael who has never had a thought that was his own works for Norma Torres and Rafael invited Alejandro Cano to cover this action. Now all we need to do is connect the three Sanctuary Cities, Alejandro Cano, Rafael Trujillo and Norma Torres hmmmm.

Yes Alejandro Cano seems to work very closely to both Norma Torres and Rafael Trujillo. So close in fact that he wrote this article of Norma Torres swearing in her son who was recently elected into the Pomona City Council. At this meeting Norma Torres was quoted as saying “On the issue of immigration and the political ideas of President-elect Donald Trump, Torres said that now more than ever the Council must support local, state and federal authorities in their readiness to confront Trump’s radical policies“. So it begs to question was Arthur Schaper (the person who shot this video) onto something or is Rafael Trujillo taking liberties with his employment in the Congressional office of Norma Torres?

The end result was the meeting was shut down and the actions were halted for now. Rialto residents that don’t support Sanctuary City for Rialto include Councilman Ed Scott and Councilman Joe Baca Jr. Other vital members of the Rialto community that are opposed are Ed Palmer, Ray Farmer and other residents that were in the crowd of anti Sanctuary City Protesters.

Ray Farmer “If this is true we are drifting into dangerous waters, I want to know more about this and who is involved, as a long time Rialto residence , I am very concerned,!“

To view all the video on this event go to the following alternative media sources:

Arthur Schaper – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3axGiyZUvqdDwSibAxACxw

We the People Rising – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC51_X0HFgp1AKG71u8Tu59w

Gindall 61 – https://www.youtube.com/user/grindall61

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What’s Going on in Rialto June 4th 2016

03 Jun 2016 Leave a comment

We posted a video on our Facebook page about this weekends events. For more info and a deeper look at what is going on here is what we showed off.

It’s HOT this weekend don’t forget about the cooling centers:

Love to garden and your looking for tips, soil and summer landscape workshops go to the Rialto Community Garden:

Summer Reading Program Kick-off Party is this Saturday at 10:00 am. Friends of the Rialto Library will have a face painter give us Superhero mask, sidewalk chalk and popcorn. Come and join us to sign up for a great SRP season. They want you! BRING WATER it is going to be hot!

Latin Concert & Sounds of Rialto Featuring VILMA DIAZ y la SONORA Saturday, June 4th 4:00 – 9:00 pm Free Concert!!!! Rialto City Park
130 E. San Bernardino Ave. For more information call Rialto Community Services at 909-421-4949

Friends of the Library presents: “One Sliver Spoon, One Silver Bullet” June 4, 2016 Rialto Senior Center 1411 S. Riverside Ave. Rialto, CA Doors open at 6:00 pm Tickets:$18 in Advance and $20 at the Door Tickets may be purchased at the Rialto Branch Library at 251 E. First Street, Rialto CA

Don’t forget to vote on Tuesday June 7th for the best person to represent Rialto in Washington D.C. Paul Chabot

https://www.facebook.com/PaulChabotCalifornia/?fref=ts

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Niagara Water Gets Caught Lying To Local Rialto Reporter

11 May 2016 Leave a comment

When our staff found out about the Grand Opening ceremony at the Niagara bottling plant we decided to head up and see who was there and get some great video and pictures. What we were met with were lies and fear from the Mayor of Rialto Deborah Robertson and the executive staff at the Rialto Niagara bottling plant. Mayor Robertson saw our staff getting out of their vehicles and she darted into the building. Once inside our staff were met with some questions on who we were with then a lady from Niagara Water Came out and told us that press and media were not allowed in their Grand Openings. Well as you can see from the video above apparently that only applies to Rialto because in Pierce County the media was given full access to the Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting.

So what does it say about a company that allows local elected mayors to use them to keep people out of informing the public through good ole fashioned reporting methods?

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West Valley Water District Cuts Rates & Approves Rebates

18 Jan 2016 4 Comments

In a post to the Bloomington MAC Facebook Group newly elected Board Member Gregory Young announced that the board had voted to reduce rate payers rates and rebate the money they saw as excessive. Here is his statement:

“I am pleased to introduce my new after meeting report on what actions were taken this evening. I will be doing this for every meeting I am at in the future. The big news from tonight’s meeting is that we voted unanimously to rescind the scheduled rate increases for 2016 and 2017. Having run to repeal these increases, I am so pleased to have fulfilled my promise to you to stop these increases. Additionally, we also voted unanimously to rebate back to you the increases from 2015. A big night for you the ratepayers of the district!”

According to Director Young we found out the following:

“The total amount to be refunded is ruffly $3 million.”

“The rebate will come in the form of a check that should be mailed out sometime after March 1st.”

“The exact amounts will vary as will the exact time people will receive it.”

We also asked about people who payed for water in West Valley Water District in 2015 and have moved if they would see a refund?

“In terms of those who may have moved, staff is working on addressing that situation. Obviously, most people who move don’t tell us where they go so that makes it difficult to provide the rebate to the appropriate party. The public affairs committee will be looking into the whole process in the coming months.”

As we watched the many City of Rialto rebate programs avoid looking to include people who paid and struggled avoid looking to repay everyone it is nice to see West Valley Water working to repay those who may have moved.

Moves like this bring up more questions because of the rules on raising water rates under prop 218. Prop 218 is used as a way to limit rate increases that are not needed to provide utility service. So why were the rate increases approved? Why were the necessary?

According to sources the Water District operates with a $25 million surplus in the bank but really only $15 million cushion for unknown expenses. If we had a major earthquake or if a Natural Gas well started spewing toxic gasses into the air driving people from their homes and businesses waiting on the Federal Government isn’t going to work in the short term. So having a buffer to work from is vital.

Previous board members looked at the Bond Rate Governance and the fact that homes were going empty at alarming rates during the housing crisis they decided that a rate increase was needed to make sure the District could continue to provide water services to its customers. Some on the inside at the time say that previous board members may have gone a little bit overboard but their overall intention was to make sure the Water District remains solvent.

Clearly this is a win for rate payers that paid some of the highest water rates in the area but what is unclear is where this leaves the district with a emergency fund in which to provide for residents water needs in the midst of a crisis.

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West Valley Water Board Swears In New Members & Changes Rules

02 Dec 2015 2 Comments

by rialto-now in Clifford Young, Colton, Currupt, David Goldstein, Fontana, Inland Empire, Layoffs, perchlorate, Rialto, Rialto, Vice President Young, Water, West Valley Water District, WVWD

On Thursday December 3rd West Valley Water District ushers in a lot of change. With the coming changes the cloud of controversy that hangs over the sitting board remains.

The first order of business will be to administer the oath of office for the three board members that were elected in November. The three people include Greg Young, Alan Dyer and Donald Olinger. Greg Young was one of the three people that current Vice President of the West Valley Water Board was supporting which lays a layer of uncertainty over his seat on the Board. One of the people Greg Young replaced (Rafael Trujillo) appeared follow Clifford Young’s lead even when it led to potentially violating the Brown Act as well as possibly misappropriating funds and hiding information that the public inside closed session that should have been heard before the public. Alan Dyer the only sitting incumbent won re-election but not without being under extreme scrutiny by Clifford Young, Linda Gonzalez and the private counsel that is being paid public funds to investigate Mr. Dyers residency and secretly report back to the Water Board in closed session. Don Olinger is a common name in the city of Rialto as a former teacher, school board member and a former West Valley Water Board Director. Given the latest antics that the current board has underwent Mr Olinger has his work cut out for him.

The next major item on the board agenda is a change from the Roberts Rules of Order to the Rosenberg Rules of Order. Now you may say who cares what system they use. Well I would caution you to hold that thought it was Clifford Young who asked for this change and as he stated in the first meeting of November he is not at all happy with the increase of public participation that his actions have garnered lately. If you look below we copied some of the areas of the Rosenburg’s Rules of Order sections for you and the one that stood out the most was “a five-member body with a few members of the public in attendance” Clifford Young wants to use a system that works with low public participation.

If one is chairing or running a parliament, then Robert’s Rules of Order is a dandy and quite useful handbook for procedure in that complex setting. On the other hand, if one is running a meeting of say, a five-member body with a few members of the public in attendance, a simplified version of the rules of parliamentary procedure is in order.

Below it talks about these 21st Century rules have found a welcoming audience. How is this possible if its used to lower public attendance? We see the writting on the wall and more public elected boards will be doing what they can to get better control of what the public is ALLOWED to participate in.

These rules have been simplified for the smaller bodies we chair or in which we participate, slimmed down for the 21st Century, yet retaining the basic tenets of order to which we have grown accustomed. Interestingly enough, Rosenberg’s Rules has found a welcoming audience.

Finally this is the best part for Mr. Clifford Young he wants to be able to silence people that speak against him and his tactics.

The chair should always ensure that debate and discussion of an agenda item focuses on the item and the policy in question, not the personalities of the members of the body. Debate on policy is healthy, debate on personalities is not. The chair has the right to cut off discussion that is too personal, is too loud, or is too crude

It is unfair to ask someone to bottle up their passion for a given issue but when it comes to elected power and water issues nobody seems to want to play fair lately.

Join us:

WEST VALLEY WATER DISTRICT

855 West Base Line Road, Rialto, CA

BOARD MEETING AGENDA

Thursday, December 3, 2015 – 6:00 p.m.

Brown Act Violation Rumors Swirl Around Closed Session Information

19 Nov 2015 1 Comment

https://youtu.be/wXSrv4VakDg
According to SB Sun Reporter Ryan Hagen the city council in a closed session decided to terminate City Manager Allen Parker’s employment with San Bernardino. According to Ryan Hagen’s story and comments to Rialto Now we see some major Brown Act Violations. First is the fact that the City Attorney never reported the closed session report and second that Ryan Hagen’s source decided to take Closed Session information out of the room and divulge it to the public.

As your used to reading here the Brown Act is used as more of a tool to keep information away from the public rather than make sure that public officials are playing by a set of rules that keeps them accountable before the people. Below you will see the various times local elected bodies have violated this act:

San Bernardino City Council Members divulging closed session information.
West Valley Water use of private counsel to investigate other members and report back to the entire board.
Rialto City Council members walking into June Hayes public comment trap.

The list can go on and on…….

The issue here is that San Bernardino City Council seems to think they are above the law. I don’t fault Ryan Hagen too much for allowing someone to go off the record but….. normally when I allow someone to go off the record I find another source that is willing to go on the record so I can show proof that I am not fabricating information. Leticia Garcia posted the following statement on the “I Love San Bernardino” Facebook page:

“As an FYI. It is a violation of the Brown Act to divulge closed session information. The Sun is irresponsible to condone and report the information without also reporting the offense to the DA Public Integrity Unit.

Why do the residents of this city allow their elected officials to be corrupt unchecked?

I want to know who divulged this? A person in the room is beholden to the Brown Act and as such, would only be an elected or the City Manager. This person should RESIGN from office or Administration immediately!

According to Mrs. Garcia “We should demand from Ryan Hagen that he divulge the name of his source!!!” We called Ryan Hagen and he was not prepared to divulge his source but did say that “he believed it was appropriate to report the communication because it was an informational item and not an item that had anything to do with litigation.”

“Allen Parker’s last day as city manager will be Dec. 31, after the City Council agreed Monday to modify his contract to include a year’s severance pay in exchange for his resignation, according to a source who was in the room for the closed-session vote. However, Monday’s vote was not to dismiss Parker. Instead, according to the source, the City Council agreed to give him a year’s salary — $221,976 — and benefits for himself and his wife.”

So what do you think? Should the press have to follow the same laws that elected officials are supposed to? When will the DA and his defunct Public Integrity Unit start requiring that local elected bodies start following the very set of rules that are there to level the playing field for the public?

http://www.sbsun.com/government-and-politics/20151118/source-san-bernardino-city-manager-allen-parker-to-leave-post-dec-31

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