Citizen About Town

By Nancy C Arcuri, Editor and Publisher

Email: nancyarcuri@thecitizensvoice.net

During the August 21st City Council Meeting I thanked Mayor Hans Liang for suggesting a new Code of Conduct, Meeting Procedures and Healthy Workplace Environment on tonight’s agenda.  Agenda Item 6-A can be located in the Agenda Section of the city’s website for the complete text of the Code of Conduct with any changes noted in red print.

I have attended our Council Meetings for 23 years and have seen and heard first hand the bullying and hateful statements made by certain Councilmembers against other Councilmembers, city staff and our residents.

I had to hire an attorney to stop former Mayor Frank Venti from trying to intimidate me both at the meetings and on line. He took offense at my several editorial and personal opinions I stated at meetings and in my newspaper.

I saw and heard former Mayor Frank Venti, former Mayor Betty Tom Chu and current Mayor Pro Tem Mitch Ing lie about our former City Manager Chris Jeffers.  They slander him so bad about a Christmas gift with a red envelope sent to him at City Hall one year.

The policy at that time was for any Christmas gifts presented to the department heads were passed on to the staff members.

One doctor sent him a food gift and a red envelope that included a gift of cash.

Chris Jeffers was on vacation that year. So another department head pass the gift to his department staff.  When one of our employees discovered the cash gift in with the food gift. The staff member notified the department head who pulled the gift.  The food gift and red envelope was returned to the good doctor.

The doctor was not aware that any gift of cash that he sent to City Hall was considered a bribe. He was following the customs in his home country.

These three Councilmembers made Chris Jeffers life so miserable that he gave notice and left his job in July 2007.

Frank Venti was also known to yell at Councilmembers, city staff and residents who opinions he did not agree with.

You can review these facts on the videotapes of the meetings held when Frank Venti sat on our City Council.

I am sure our Legal Department still has copies of the letter my attorney sent Mr. Venti at City Hall to leave me alone or I would take legal action against him.

Their actions were so vicious that several residents including myself founded “The Concerned Citizens of Monterey Park” to help combat their malicious ways.

I know that Mitch Ing remembers those meetings as well as I do.  We have since made peace. I support him on most issues.

Thank you Hans, Mitch, Teresa, Stephen and Peter for reviewing this agenda item.

I hope you vote to amend the City Council’s existing policies on the Code of Conduct and adopt as Healthy Workplace Environment.

This agenda item should protect our hometown of Monterey Park in this current highly toxic environment.

During the September 4th Council Meeting at Oral Communications I again thank Helena and Cindy from our City Clerk’s office for emailing me a copy of Monterey Park’s Incorporation document dated May 29th, 1916.  The city is now a duly Incorporated Municipal Corporation of the Sixth Class.

The city had five Board of Trustees who set up our city government.  They also elected a City Clerk and a City Treasurer.

The documentation included copies of the minutes of the meetings held by our early city officials.

Apparently there were no By Laws established at the time of incorporation.

I asked the city attorney a legal definition of the Municipal Corporation of the Sixth Class that our city was incorporated in.  Karl Berger said that legal description is no longer valid since the state changed the verbiage in the 1960s to either a charter city or a general law city. Monterey Park is a General Law city.

At the August 21t meeting Hans Liang presented a request to update the Code of Conduct for elected officials and commissioners.

The Councilmembers suggested many ideas and they all agreed to meet with the city attorney privately to discuss their ideas to make any changes to the document.

Some Councilmembers and their supporters called the code a gag order. I just shook my head at this stupid remark.  A code of conduct is first instilled into children by their parents. They are told to love each other, be kind to everyone and respect other people.

Your code of conduct follows you for the rest of your life. It is how you behave and treat people in your life.

So if that is a gag order then the Ten Commandments must be a gag order from God.

I am tired of hearing about the so-called coup against Mitch Ing and Teresa Real Sebastian when all five of our councilmembers voted for the redistricting map.  The map listed each district and which elected officials lived in each district.

Peter Chan asked our city attorney if we could vote by districts in 2022 since district one has two sitting councilmembers and district five has two sitting councilmembers.

Our city attorney said NO because if we did not vote by districts in 2020 we could be sued by Mr. Shenkman and his client.

So it was determined by our city attorney that district two with one sitting councilmember, district three with no sitting councilmember and district four with no sitting councilmember would have opened seats on the 2020 city ballot.

Peter Chan, Hans Liang and Stephen Lam voted to approve this sequence.

During the August 21st meeting two supporters of Mitch Ing and Teresa Real Sebastian were campaigning for people to sign their petitions during our public meeting.

Congratulations to Miyochelle Yee and Paul Isozaki for becoming Public Figures as the faces of the Recall Petitions Against Hans Liang and Peter Chan (Legal Definition “A person may also be considered a “limited purpose” public figure by having thrust themselves to the forefront of particular public controversies in order to influence the resolution of the issues involved”.)

I also request our city attorney explain the legal definition of corruption to the public since Mitch Ing’s and Teresa Real Sebastian’s supporters have used this accusation against Hans Liang, Peter Chan, Stephen Lam, Judy Chu and Mike Eng.

Editor Dave Barron reminded the residents that they could be sued for stating these public officials are corrupt without valid proof. (Legal Definition “The court made a rule that public officials could sue for statements made about their public conduct only if the statements were made with “actual malice.”)

Are our city council meetings becoming high drama television productions with “malice” towards elected officials and residents who disagree with Mitch Ing’s and Teresa Real Sebastian’s supporters?

Long time residents are upset to see our hometown again torn apart for the benefit of two Councilmembers who should have been termed out in 2020 but they “skated by” since they were already serving in office at the time that the 2013 ballot measure was approved. The residents who voted for term limits were not aware that they could serve two more terms after the 2013 Term Limits vote was approved.

Now the new Vote by District has squeezed them out of office until 2022. Unless they can get approximately 6,000 valid signatures on their Recall Petitions against Hans Liang and Peter Chan.

The voting residents would make the final decision on recalling Peter Chan and Hans Liang at the ballot box.

Be careful of the lies and rumors being told by the Ing’s and the Real Sebastian’s supporters against Hans Liang and Peter Chan. Their supporters are becoming vicious. They are trying to destroy our hometown to benefit Councilmembers Mitch Ing and Teresa Real Sebastian.

(Legal Definition “In general, corruption is a form of dishonesty or criminal activity undertaken by a person or organization entrusted with a position of authority, often to acquire illicit benefit, or, abuse of entrusted power for one’s private gain.”)

Remember we did not get a chance to vote on the new Vote By District policy. The current Councilmembers voted this new policy into law under the threat of being sued by Mr. Shenkman and his client in Texas.

Our city council meetings should be held to do the city’s business that benefits all of the residents and businesses in our hometown.