Citizen About Town

By Nancy C. Arcuri, Editor and Publisher

E-mail: nancyarcuri@thecitizensvoice.net

Fax: 626-307-9081

Many of Monterey Park residents are still getting the news that Betty Tom Chu resigned from the City Council on June11 during a Budget Hearing.

During the June 20 meeting I asked City Attorney Mark Hensley these questions.  Since Councilmember Betty Tom Chu resigned on June 11, 2012 when will her all of appointed commissioners and committee members be removed from their seats? Including her appointed Ad Hoc Committee member.

Since Councilmember Chu went into an Arts and Culture Commission meeting the last time she was elected to our City Council and advised Victoria Chavez that she was no longer a commissioner since her Councilmember was no longer serving on our City Council.

What is the city’s policy on this issue?

Mr. Hensley stated that the commissioners and committee members would retain their seats until Mrs. Chu seat is filled.

Item 21 of the agenda at the same meeting was for the Council to determine if appointment or a Special Election should fill the empty seat.

I responded this City Council is in the middle of a budget crisis and has to determine the fate of our hometown with staff reductions, possible reductions in city services and the fire service issue.

I am not in favor of this Council appointing a resident to fill the seat vacated by Betty Tom Chu. No matter who you select they may not be trusted due to the current hot political issues in our city.

I am not in favor of this Council adding a Council Election to the November 2012 ballot or calling for a Special Election and spending approximately $60,000 or more of our tax dollars for a person to fill our vacant seat from mid-December until the March 2013, which is a less than three months.

The best financial option is to leave the seat vacant until the March 2013 elections.

The city will save approximately $4,250 plus insurance benefits that we would have been paid to Betty Tom Chu.

This is not the first time in history that our Council had a four-member team.

I have faith in this Council to handle the city’s business with all four of you working together in the best interest of Monterey Park.

Residents were very concerned when Larry Sullivan suggested that the Council appoint him to complete Mrs. Chu term. He listed his employment and commission history and stated he was the best person for the job.

He orchestrated four speakers to tout him as the best person for the job during the public address of this agenda item. One young lady addressed the Council in Mandarin and was advised by City Clerk Dave Barron to give us an English translation of her speech.

Several residents including myself advised City Attorney Mark Hensley and City Manager Paul Talbot that we have a rule about campaigning during the meetings. They determined that it was not campaigning since this was not an election.

We determined that we could not afford a Special Election and we did not want to appoint anyone to fill the seat. The taxpaying voters should elect the person of their choice not the Council.

We also disagreed that Larry Sullivan and his four supporters were not campaigning with the support of Mitch Ing and Teresa Real Sebastian.

Councilmembers David Lau, Anthony Wong, Mitch Ing and Teresa Real Sebastian did agree that we could not afford a Special Election.

The vote was two yes votes (Ing and Real Sebastian) to appoint Larry Sullivan and two no votes (Lau and Wong) so the seat remains opened until the March 2013 election.

If the Council had voted to appoint a member they would have had to advertise for the job, take applications for the job, interviewed candidates and then vote to appoint the best candidate just like they do with commissioners and committee members.

Warning to all Monterey Park residents be very aware of who you vote for in the March 2013 election as the Firefighters Union is still pushing for the Fire Service Issue on the ballot as soon as possible.  If the Firefighters Union supports a candidate they will spend tons of money to get the party elected so they can force the issue on the ballot.

Our firefighters are very lucky that they still have their jobs since other police and firefighters across the country have lost their jobs due to the downturn in the economy.

More residents need to pay attention to the Ad Hoc Committee meetings held to discuss the County Fire Service Issue.  Please call City Hall 626-307-1255 for the current meeting times and locations.

During the July 9 Ad Hoc meeting I asked City Attorney Mark Hensley to read Measure J onto the record and give us his legal opinion on it.

He was not able to express his legal opinion on the issue as three Councilmembers (Chu, Ing and Real Sebastian) would not wave their client/attorney privileges.

Residents want his legal opinion on Measure J to be made public. Committee members Peter Chan and Joe Rubin asked him questions on the issue since the Council only allowed him to answer direct questions.

Mr. Hensley finally stated that the staffing issue mentioned in Measure J (the same staffing or better) would stand up in court in his legal opinion if the county were to reduce the staff from 17 employees to 12 employees per shift.

This Ad Hoc Committee was forced upon us by the Firefighters Union who threatened to sue if the committee was not formed.

Maybe we should have let them sue our hometown since a judge would have created a legal ruling that the employees could not sue their employer to overturn a voter-approved initiative.

So on and on we go with tons of paperwork created by Los Angeles County and our fire department negotiating the staffing levels, emergency response time and estimated costs of giving our fire department to the county.

ESCI, the outside contractor, is still reviewing all of the data and will be submitting their findings to the committee sometime in late August.

The committee will be reviewing all of the documents on the fire service issue and submitting their opinion to the Council in the future.

However their recommendation is non-binding, the final decision is up to the Council.

The next scheduled Ad Hoc Committee meeting is scheduled for September 10 or 11.

Please check the city’s website for the Fire Department and review all of the paperwork, the minutes and bring your questions to the City Council meetings or the Ad Hoc meetings.

The taxpaying voters should be only ones to determine the future of our hometown of Monterey Park. Not the employees who belong to the Firefighters Union or City Councilmembers who are paying back their political favors.

We in Monterey Park do not want our hometown destroyed by greed.

Please speak up and defend our hometown and America before we lose our freedoms of speech and assembly.

Remember evil triumphs when good people do nothing.