| receive and file issue |
Well it is obvious Mayor Whitaker that you should have known that the Milliman actuarial consultant was in attendance at the May 15, 2017 Fullerton City Council meeting because it was highlighted as the first sentence under Agenda Item No. 5 as follows: “John Botsford of Milliman, the City’s consulting actuary, will present the City’s updated actuarial analysis of Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) liabilities.” Your claim that you had no idea that the consultant was present for the council meeting is ludicrous and ridiculous on its face.
You are telling us that you didn’t even read the agenda as Mayor when in fact it is your responsibility along with the City Manager to put out the Agenda itself. What are we the good people of Fullerton to make of your statement that you did not even read the Fullerton City Council Agenda prior to your leading the city council meeting? You are either totally incompetent or not being truthful with us. There are no other legitimate explanations for your behavior and statements. Shouldn’t you, Mr. so-called Fiscal Conservative, be aware of the costs to the taxpayer to bring that high priced consultant back again after you would have probably spent a few thousand taxpayer dollars to bring him down here for the May 15th meeting already?
Greg Sebourn made the motion to send the consultant packing
When Doug Chaffee is the only voice of reason on the council, you know we are in trouble
Why would you vote to postpone an agenda item that had already cost the city possibly thousands of dollars for this May 15th meeting, which required only the council’s action to Receive and File the item? In other words really no substantial action at all! Why would Greg Sebourn make a motion to postpone a Receive and File item to the next meeting and all of you very quickly concur with him?
Jesus Silva pondering the facts
In all cases when a motion to postpone an agenda item is being considered it should be necessary at the absolute minimum for that council member making that motion to explain why it is necessary to postpone the agenda item, especially at the very last moment as was the case here. The way this was handled was totally derelict by all of you. It demonstrated that you did not care about the great inconvenience you were willing to put the consultant and those Fullerton residents that were at the meeting or at home staying up to that late hour to hear this agenda item. We say shame on all of you for trying to avoid an agendized issue that obviously was embarrassing for all of you. Once again your action shows your complete disregard for the public.
Mayor Whitaker, you even added insult to injury by trying to skip public comments on this issue. How many times have you been mayor, Mr. Whitaker? We believe this is at least your third time. You keep on digging a bigger and bigger hole for yourself and it would take a Houdini like effort to now dig yourself out of this in our opinion.
You claim you quickly reversed the decision? No the city employee had to correct you and point out that it would be a great burden for this person to come down from the Bay Area and present at a later date. Not to mention your silence on the increased cost to the taxpayer by the councils original vote to postpone the item. He was there I assume based on your requested date and time. You have embarrassed yourself with this action and people who are paying attention will have plenty to discuss between now and the next election about your failings and we intend to lead those discussions.
The people of Fullerton more and more know the games you play. It is becoming a more and more common event for you and your fellow council members to mislead and or not to provide proper information on the important subjects we are dealing with. 
We are also confused why David Curlee, Josh Ferguson and Tony Bushala, all present at the meeting had nothing to say on this item? They are people that highlight financial issues and they were all completely silent on a 35 million dollar unfunded liability. David Curlee and yourself have made it a point to discuss the propriety of $300/$400 a night city employee hotel bills in the recent past, yet now not a peep from either of you on a 35 million dollar unfunded Fullerton liability that will be have to come from us the taxpayers.
Finally, Greg Sebourn states that he will put on the agenda a discussion on having the city attempt to get a refund from the staircase contractor for obvious shoddy and substandard workmanship. Yet Sebourn never actually made a motion to get this on the agenda for the next meeting or for any meeting for that matter. Was this just political grandstanding by Sebourn? Why as Mayor and self proclaimed fiscal conservative, Mayor Whitaker did you not make that motion yourself?
How does it feel to remain silent on false claims about our Ordinance 3149, the Child Sex Offender Residency Restriction Act and then based on those false statements repeal a very good law. When will you or any member on the Fullerton City Council dais acknowledge what we have proved that City Attorney James Touchstone provided false information to justify his recommendation to repeal the Fullerton Ordinance? You stated that your votes are all appropriate. You call basing your vote on a previously proven misstatement of fact appropriate voting? You know with regard to that, you don’t have a leg to stand on. Mayor Whitaker, the guilt and the shame of your facial expressions when Diane and we were discussing this issue was so very telling. You voted along with all of your colleagues to repeal a Fullerton law based on a faulty presentation that helped to keep our children safe from pedophiles. You have repeatedly ignored the proof and evidence we showed all of you that the justification for your actions was based on falsehoods about the status and the language of Ordinance NO; 3149. Once again we say shame on all of you. It is hard to imagine a more damning set of circumstances that you now own concerning your action to intentionally lesson the safety of our children based on information you all knew was false. Shame on all of you.
#1 by W.H. Norman on May 18, 2017 - 10:11 pm
I have known the Bushala brothers for years through various business dealings around the city. It is a very well woven web of connections that they have developed over the years, with some very seedy ones as well. Tony himself has had a thing for politics for one reason and one reason only; control over land use and development. He has been fighting for years. Your readers might find it of value to consider that the Bushala real estate holdings in Fullerton are upwards of 40 million dollars and much of it is in the downtown area before they assign some sort of messiah status to Tony.
Your readers may also find it worthwhile to investigate the Bushala ties to the very people you are constantly complaining about. What some may consider the “great Fullerton recall” was never about reforming anything, but rather a carefully executed plan to harness the public outrage over the beating death of a homeless man and convert it directly into his political power. Tony financed his boys like Kiger, Whitaker, Sebourn, and Levinson. Two still remain and have become proverbially joined at the hip to the city hall power brokers.
Shawn Nelson’s relationship with Tony is the one and only reason Jennifer Fitzgerald was elected in 2012. The Bushala brothers purposely steered clear of her then and, as it turned out, she would be the vote cast every single time for government expansion and development. Of course Tony would have been on the receiving end of the massive development that was planned. Those projects were fortunately shot down and stopped in their tracks by people like those who contribute to this blog.
This political capital Tony spent almost half a million dollars amassing was squandered immediately by his own plants on the council. Kiger was filleted like a king salmon and the city hall regime carried on with business as usual in the wake of his narrow defeat.
You will notice how he evades the larger question needing to be asked today and that is where is the call from Bushala for police reform in light of the sudden and unexplained departure of Hughes and Felz?
#2 by Barry Levinson on May 19, 2017 - 4:55 pm
I agree with everything you said Mr. Norman with the one exception your calling me one of Bushala’s boys. Yes when I ran in 2012 I received some contributions from Mr. Bushala but much less than the other candidates he backed. I believe now that he never wanted me to win a seat on the council for he new I was totally independent and not someone he could control or even influence. I have evidence that at least one of his buddies worked hard to see me defeated at the same time he supposedly was supporting me. By the way I have not had any contact with Mr. Bushala in 4 and one half years. Not exactly the relationship one would expect if I were one of “his boys”. I was and always will be my own man and that is one of the main reasons I did not get a council seat.