At last nights council meeting a group of MFA personnel showed up wearing red T-shirts and not looking very happy. Their union leader went to the Podium to speak after the budget presentation to the council by city manager Scott Ochoa.

The tenor of the statements made by the MFA rep were not ones of friendliness or cooperation and sounded more like a veiled threat if the city dared to lay off any firefighters.  Their message was that the fire chief and city might find themselves liable for any injuries, deaths or loss of property if they allowed the department’s shift staffing to fall below 13 firefighters per shift.  This number was per findings of an agency who’s name eludes me for now which assesses the minimum firefighter staffing levels for communities based on certain facts.

This public airing of what Scott considered dirty laundry clearly angered him and his replying statement was one containing failed threats.

I am hearing rumors of discontent form the MPOA and I wonder how long before the MFA and MPOA are competing for billboard space on the boarders of Monrovia or will they join forces and share billboards and expenses?

It seems that the picture of co-operation within the employee bargaining groups that Scott has been painting for the council and community is out of perspective unless you are wearing Rose Colored Glasses.

City Clerk Linda Proctor announced at last nights council meeting that she would be retiring this October from her job as the City Clerk and the Elected Office of City Clerk.

In a statement to the council Linda said that she had planned to remain in her elected position after her retirement from her employed position but was informed by CALPERS that if she did she would not receive the portion of her CALPERS retirement that was connected to the elected position until she retired from that also.

It’s lucky that our city has the very capable Alice Atkins who has been mentored by Linda for many years.  Alice is intelligent and has attended many classes and received many certificates that make her more than qualified to carry on when Linda departs.  The city would have to go a very long way to find a better replacement for Linda and I’m sure they don’t need me to point that out.

Linda’s departure will leave the City Council with the task of appointing a replacement to the Elected Office of City Clerk.

It was agendized as the “2009-11 Fiscal Years Budget – Department Presentations”

Not much of a budget report.  Scott Ochoa would have been embarrassed if he had any idea of how his department heads should present a budget to the governing body whose job it is to approve that budget.

It was a show and tell about what the department heads wanted to accomplish and not a budget report that described how the departments would deal with the shortfalls that the city’s budget is facing and how they would provide for the needs of the community without sacrificing goods and services during the reduced funding period.

The City Council asked a few general questions but fell short of gaining any substantive knowledge to allow them to ascertain what each department was going to do to address their reduced funding.

I would not approve a budget based on the written reports and presentations that I’ve read or witnessed during that meeting.

At the Last City Council Meeting, the Council, meeting and acting as the Redevelopment Agency, approved a loan in the amount of $150,000.00 to a new business called London’s Bar & Grille (London’s), 419 South Myrtle Avenue.  The terms of the loan called for the loan to be repaid with funds from the sales tax revenues generated back to the city by that business which are paid into the general fund.

I do not believe that state law allows the redevelopment agency to take or earmark money for payment to the agency from the city’s general fund.

I do not believe that the City Council can even approve such a transfer of funds to the Redevelopment Agency for repayment of a loan to a business by the Agency.

I will be pursuing a definitive answer to this transaction through other county and state agencies and will keep all of you informed as to the answer.

“From The City Manager’s Desk” Weekly Report- Friday, May 22, 2009

State Special Election Ends with a Whimper

“a Governor and Legislature unable and unwilling to make decisions or provide leadership because the electorate has spent the 30 years stripping them of authority.”

Scott with his typical, public servant mentality chooses to blame the people who make it possible for government to exist.  He chooses to blame the residents of California for the debt and budget woes of the state.

What Scott fails to acknowledge is that over the last 30 years the Governor and Legislature brought on their own loss of “authority” by ignoring the will of the people to the point that a frustrated electorate turned to the only voice they were left with, the Ballot Box.

What Scott should realize is that Ballot Box Legislation is becoming more popular in California cities then ever before, for that very same reason.

That reason is leadership and governance that is becoming deaf to the voices of the people, they work for or represent.

Yes those Voices are the Vocal Minority but it is that same Vocal Minority that turn to Ballot Box Legislation when all else fails. Scott expends his efforts bemoaning all that is wrong in California and blaming us.

Scott should be making some middle management cuts and having the department heads take up the slack himself included.  City Hall is top heavy with middle management.   

Physician Heal Thy Self 

The 5/5/09 seating of the newly elected City Council Members and the filling of the vacated Council Seat brought some very interesting dynamics to light about the makeup of some of the community and the MUSD (Monrovia Unified School District) board and superintendent.

Who wasn’t there?  Notably absent was all but one MUSD Board member and Supernatant, the only MUSD board member in attendance was Ed Gililland.   I find this absence very strange because Clarence Shaw is a School Board member and the board had lamented that they felt the city could do more for the district then it currently was. 

The school board members did not endorse Clarence or do anything to assist his running for the council which might have helped the district by having a ex-board member on the council.  Chris Rich MUSD board president did endorse a very obvious looser in the race before it even started, one Paul Larson.

It would seem that the MUSD board members have some very strange political agendas that have nothing to do with what might benefit the School District.  Clare Chesley, Bryan Wong and Chris Rich have all demonstrated that they do not place the School Districts needs ahead of their own political agendas and personal feelings.  Remember that when they run for re-election, Monrovia City Watch will.

Who was there?  Mostly a room full of Becky Shevlin supporters that didn’t support the Communities Democratic Right to elect their own representatives. 

These individuals only cared about their friend Becky and winning, Democracy Be Dammed.

Clarence wants to stay in touch with the people he represents and will be using the Blog and Twitter to help him accomplish this.

His cell phone number and email address are posted on his Blog along with a link to his “Twitter” and other useful informational links.

He will be posting what he is doing on the council along with times and places that you will be able to meet and speak with him in person.

He will be keeping you up to date with items coming before the council that he would like to have community input on.

He will be asking for Community input on items that the Community wants the Council to address.

http://shaw4monrovia.com

http://twitter.com/shaw4monrovia

Our Police Department has some very outstanding Female Police Officers that have received recognition for Bravery and other achievements that have proven them as combatant as any Male Officer.

MFD

Looking at the City Council Agenda 04/07/2009 Item-(PR-3 Introduction of Newly Hired Monrovia Fire Department Employees, Firefighter/Paramedics Dustin Leddy, Anthony Gallegos and Nicholas Board) I see three Male Firefighters being hired and I can’t help wondering why the MFD doesn’t have any Female Firefighters.

Other Fire Departments around the LA area and United States have had great success with Female Firefighters.

The Sleeping quarters in the recently remolded Fire Department would accommodate Male and Female Firefighters without a Privacy problem for the Department.

The only things that seem to be preventing the Hiring of Female Firefighters is the:

• Apathy of the current City Council
• A City Manager and Fire Chief that don’t believe in Equal Opportunity
• A group of Firefighters who have Masculinity issues

CFF JAC-Short video highlighting demands and rewards of being a firefighter, focusing in particular on women who have succeeded in the fire service.

Continue reading ….

We’re Mad As Hell and We Aren't Going To Take It Anymore

Vote No We Can’t Afford Anymore

THE SPENDING STOPS WITH A NO VOTE

 Vote May 19, 2009 Vote

THE SOLUTION IS NOT MORE TAXES, SPENDING AND BUSINESS AS USUAL.  HOW MUCH MORE TAXATION CAN WE INDURE!

The May ballot offers phony solutions to real problems.  Democrats and Republicans are chasing headlines while refusing to face up to the fact that they created a budget deficit that they are incapable of resolving. The proposed solutions simply continue the same shell-game budgeting efforts that got us into this situation in first place. Therefore, voters should reject Props. 1A through 1E and then, at the next election, reject current office holders

The following is a summary of each proposition: Continue reading ….

The Democracy we enjoy in this country has been and is being paid for with the sacrifices of the brave men and women who have served and are serving and those who have been maimed or killed in its defense.

If Mayor Elect Mary Ann Lutz is really concerned about Democracy and wanted to give the community their democratic right to elect their representatives then she would have resigned her seat on the council in time to have it placed on the ballot so that the community could have chosen her replacement.

Instead of doing the right thing for her community she chose to do the best thing for herself and run for Mayor while retaining her Council seat in case she was not elected Mayor.  That is known as self serving.

Now Mary Ann wants to cheat the community out of electing their representatives by screaming what every self serving Politician screams (IT WILL COST TOO MUCH) when they want to take the community’s Democratic rights away and appoint a Political Crony to the seat.

Here is a simple solution to have it cost nothing.

Let the City Council pay for the election by using the $13,166.00 (Total of $65,830.00) that each member has for travel and promotion to pay for the Special Election to fill the vacant seat.

We Live In A Democracy

We Have A Right To Vote