Will Councilmember Vreeland do the honorable thing and resign at the February 27th city council meeting? More than one year delayed for doing this, we'll see.
Pacifica Tribune/Jane Northrop, 2/21/12. "Lack of a quorum stymies two city council hearings."
The
unexpected absence of Councilmember Jim Vreeland caused the
continuation of two items on the City Council agenda last Tuesday. 
City
Council members must excuse themselves from voting on something if they
live too close to it, have a business too close to it, or have any
perceived conflict about it. In two public hearings brought before City
Council last Tuesday, so many council members had a conflict, they had
no choice but to continue the matters until the next meeting, Feb. 27.
City
Council members must excuse themselves from voting on something if they
live too close to it, have a business too close to it, or have any
perceived conflict about it. In two public hearings brought before City
Council last Tuesday, so many council members had a conflict, they had
no choice but to continue the matters until the next meeting, Feb. 27.
The
appeals challenging the Planning Commission's decision about the
assisted living facility on Oddstad were to be heard Tuesday. Council
was also expected to hold a public hearing and vote on the utility
undergrounding along Palmetto Avenue. Mayor Pete De Jarnatt did not attend the meeting, but his absence was anticipated by city staff. DeJarnatt
felt he had to excuse himself from voting on both public hearings that
evening. For the Oddstad property, he said he had a perceived conflict
because his mother lives adjacent to the property. For the hearing about
Palmetto Avenue, he had to excuse himself because he lives too close to
the area. Mayor Pro Tem Len Stone had to excuse himself from the
Oddstad hearing because he has a business in the adjacent Park Mall.
That left Councilmembers Mary Ann Nihart and Sue Digre the only ones
able to vote on the matter. In the case of the public hearing about the Palmetto Avenue undergrounding, Nihart had to excuse herself because she lives near Palmetto Avenue.
In the case of the Planning Commission appeals, both sides had extensively planned for their experts and their supporters to attend the hearing. The continuation cost both sides a considerable amount of money and inconvenience. City staff did not anticipate Vreeland's absence and expected he would be able to vote on both of the issues.
Vreeland told the Tribune he has had medical issues over the past year and has recently been admitted to a hospital. He said he is planning on resigning his seat on City Council because of these ongoing medical issues. The city attorney is expected to present council members information about council's rules about attendance and when absences are excused or unexcused at Monday's meeting, said City Manager Steve Rhodes.City Council is expected to discuss the matter of Vreeland's repeated absences at the next council meeting. "This cannot go on," Mayor DeJarnatt said. "I don't know what our options are. He can't keep missing meetings. I'm very concerned about him. I hope he's OK, but the business of the city must go on. This is not permissible. I'm worried about him. It wasn't fair to have those projects not heard."
Posted by Kathy Meeh
18 comments:
I feel for Mr Vreeland but he should have resigned long ago.
Hopefully Dejarnett will follow.
Where does Pete get off? Isn't he part of the problem?
"For the hearing about Palmetto Avenue, he had to excuse himself because he lives too close to the area."
So saith our esteemed mayor. I saith he be a purveyor of bullshit! Peruse below, and be not frightened, it is a matter of the King's record. Fair Maiden Sueth Digreth doth liveth in closer proximaty than our twisted teller of tales Lord Pete. And if our mayor doth liveth too close, what becomes of all his prior decrees (votes) on our royal avenue thus named Palmetto? Me smelleth a rat.
Owner: DEJARNATT RUBY E TR; DEJARNATT PETER
Address: 759 EDGEMAR AVE
City/State/Zip: PACIFICA CA 94044-2320
Parcel #: 009-272-390
Merlin, I would suggest a joust between Lord Vree and Lord Waldo.
The winner gets to keep his council seat for a fortnite.
You can't write this stuff. Only in Pacifica.
Mayor DeJarnatt lives slightly closer to Palmetto than does Councilmember Digre. They both live on the same block, a couple of houses down from each other. Councilmember addresses are all part of the public record and are printed within every City Council Agenda.
Distance should not be grounds for recusal with regards to Palmetto matters. As best as can be determined, DeJarnatt lives 1800 feetfrom Palmetto (straight line). Digre, 2000 feet.
Mayor Dejarnatt has been absent for 1 of 3 meetings in 2012. In 2011 he was absent for 5 of 24. In 2010 he was absent for 3 of 23. Further related details may be found at Pacifica Index
Having to recuse himself from voting is a lame excuse for deJarnatte not even bothering to show up.
These bush league antics are exactly why Pacifica is in the toilet.
Council knew he was going to be absent but I'm not so sure it was because of the recusal. Not made clear in the article.
Some have joked that he was worried that Theresa D. was going to serve him with papers for recall that night.
Doubtful.
Ok pilgrims,
The city of Davis just went through this process and rather than hold an expensive election the council decided to appoint someone to fill the vacant council seat. They did not appoint the next highest vote getter from the previous election. No, it was WAY better than that. The city had an appointment process identical to that of choosing a commissioner which meant they accepted applications from anybody and everybody who wanted to apply for the vacant council seat.
HAHAHA can't WAIT to see if that happens here. All you wanna-be's can, possibly, have a crack at being a council member. Something that otherwise would never happen for you.
HAHAHEHEHEHEH, oh man I hope council decides to follow in Davis's footsteps if Jim resigns. What a freak show that will be!!! haHAhahaHEHEHEheheeee.
Bray
Did you take your medication today?
"...Did you take your medication today?" Then again, Anon (1222) good question for everyone.
Without Vreeland, the city council vote could be a tie. That is funny.
Glad Todd (1048) brought-up the possible "ego" contest, which is hardly limited to those who blog here. But, of those who do blog here, what happens to the city council vote when 30 of them are named Anonymous?
well I doubt anyone appointed will be worse than Vreeland has been for this town.
Once they replace him we can work on Dejarnett
If the replacement process does go the way of a Commissioner selection we need to mobilize like never before.
We may get lucky with deJarnatte doing his usual no show.
Then Pacifica can finally get on the road to recovery from this 30 year NIMBY nightmare.
Whether Mr. Vreeland resigns or vacates his office through unexcused absences Council faces a very challenging issue. Who replaces him and how? Perhaps the most reasonable and positive thing Council can do is to temporarily appoint someone from the community who is widely-respected and not closely aligned with any group. Perhaps an elder statesman or stateswoman if one can be found and council can agree on the choice. An independent with no recent council experience. That person serves until the winners of the November election are sworn in. Whoever wins Mr. Vreeland's spot in that election would have a first term of only 2 years. This approach allows the business of the city to go forward at this critical time with as little rancor as possible. It also allows potential election candidates to get their acts together for November. We are probably already too late to use the June election. And, a term of 2+ years should be settled by an open election, not handed down to any of the runners-up from 2010 or arbitrarily decided by Council. IMHO based on decades of watching self-destructive Pacifica politics and with deep concern for this city.
Yeah, we decide to recover from the 10 to 30 year nimby nightmare just in time for the even bigger financial nightmare we refuse to deal with. Keep dreaming Pacifica, there won't be any miracles here, no matter who's in charge.
Todd's just cranky because his guy The Postman is the runner-up. I do think Leon is an honorable guy who'd show-up and do his best but this needs to be settled by the voters, not council. Let him run again. If he wins, well the people have spoken.
Who gets Vreeland's seat and how?The rules governing how Council can fill the expected vacancy can be found in our new favorite CA Gov't Code Section 36512. There are several options and not all are good. I like item C part 3. It allows for Council to enact an ordinance to appoint an interim person to serve until a special election held Nov 2012 (a regular general election).The appointment of an interim until November allows business to finally go forward and makes sure the voters choose who serves the last 2 years of Vreeland's term. Unfortunately for Pacifica it looks like Council under another part of Section 36512 could also choose to fill the entire remaining term of the vacancy by appointment. Those of us who have watched Council games for years know that method is not the best choice for Pacifica.
Plenty of info on the process on-line. Real world example with clear summary of the options in the City of Thousand Oaks CA. Keep your fingers crossed.
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