Imperial Beach Voters Guide 2006

I.B. Voters' Guide

To Whom is our City Attorney Really Accountable?

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hile the City Attorney’s Office is supposed to represent the City’s best interests, recent findings indicate that our city’s attorney may not be able to advise the Council objectively. Our current City Attorney Lough and our previous City Attorney McDugal, also represent a number of other municipalities. While many of the problems of the various jurisdictions are similar in nature, the same cities the City Attorney represents are also members of SANDAG / MTS and the San Diego Unified Port District. Having the City Attorney flitting around from city to city like a hummingbird or honey bee might be a temptation to implement regional policy at the local level. I would ask whether or not they also do

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work for SANDAG , the County Supervisors' Office or what other Cities or agencies? The City Attorney bills hourly for litigation, whether he wins or loses a case. A City Attorney might not give the best objective advice on a legal matter if he is being influenced by outside policy or procedures. If he advises the City to litigate a case rather than submit, and the plaintiff prevails, the City loses the judgement and the Attorneys’ fees. It is in this City Attorney’s best interest to litigate, because that’s how he makes his money. Litigation is discussed in closed session. It’s a secret from you and me. A mountain of current and recent litigation has occured due to the incompetance of this council. A review of the case records

Duh!

onday night, March 14, 2005, the city council of Imperial Beach in agenda item 6.2, "Fee Study Review and Adoption of City Wide User Fee Master Schedule," voted unanimously to increase user fees charged to IB citizens. The minimum fee increases will be to the city's already-suffering building industry, which can expect planning and building inspection fee increases of 33 per cent. Those of you who have rental properties will experience "fire and safety inspection" fee increases of 250 to 500 per cent. Those who have commercial properties — in this town where businesses come and go at an alarming rate, and the ‘com-

mercial vacancy’ rate is the highest in the county — will be subjected to a brand new money grab. The city is implementing a "commercial property fire and safety inspection program." The plan is for the Fire Department to start inspecting commercial properties this coming April 16; and, for the bill to be sent to the property owner shortly thereafter. "Maximus," the city’s consulting firm, has projected that the city would only be recovering the actual cost of the inspections if it charged as much as $750 per commercial inspection. Meanwhile, Mayor Rose, stating at least three times that she is "confused here," asked why, if the actual pro-

at the Superior Court indicate that excessive litigation is occurring and costing the residents of Imperial Beach unnecessarily. Two upcoming cases for censorship will cost the City more than $2

bricks for Veterans Park. He would have advised them that the EDCO trash increase is an illegal tax , which would be challenged and they would loose! When Imperial Beach’s City Attorney is also giving seminars on the Brown Act to the City of Chula Vista, advising the City of Lemon Grove, changing the wording of council resolutions he screwed up in Solana Beach, how can he see things from Imperial Beach’s unique point of view? He doesn’t have to have our city’s best interests at heart. He is there million in judgements plus to protect the Council, no attorneys’ fees according to matter what it does — legal the ACLU. If the City or not. One thing’s for sure: Attorney was really objec- you’re paying his fees, no tive, he would have advised matter how frivolous the the Council not to censor the actions of the current City content of certain memorial Council.

jected cost of the inspections was to be so high, the city staff was proposing that the city only charge the property owners $50 to $150 for the inspections. Rose stated that she didn’t see how a new program such as this was supposed to generate new revenues for the city when, according to the consulting firm's own predictions, the city would be losing hundreds of dollars on each inspection. For the answer to this puzzle, council turned to Fire Chief Sotlo, the man who devised the plan. The Chief was obviously very distraught and literally didn’t know how to answer the question so that he could justify the program — even though it appeared destined to be an immediate financial drain on the city — but, he eventually came out with these rules of highway robbery:

— First of all, the fire department is already on the payroll and we will just be going out on the time you are already paying us for from the general fund, and we will be bringing in additional money via the new inspection fees. — Secondly, no one says that we are actually going to carry out the program past the first year — notice that the property owner gets the bill immediately after our first inspection starting this April 16, but that he will get subsequent bills on the "anniversary date" of that first inspection, not necessarily only after further yearly inspections. City council actually saw the light and commented on it to the effect that the city will only lose money on the inspections if the city actually carries them out. EXACTLY! Consider that this writer

has had as many as eight rental units in Imperial Beach, and that I have paid the annual ‘fire safety inspection fee’ for the past 13 years, and never once has any unit been inspected for fire safety. If such an inspection program exists, it is only on paper and the homeowner user fees are not being used for fire safety inspections as is called for by law when such fees are collected, but are instead going directly into the city’s general fund which makes them a tax and not a user fee at all. Next, the chief stated that the consultant's estimates for inspection were too high, but that if they proved to be accurate then the council could always come back at any time, perhaps as soon as December of this year, and raise them some more. Councilwoman McCoy, after telling the consulting SEE DUH, PAGE 8

Oct. 2006 - I. B. Voters' Guide - Page 7