CC MINS 20080329 ADJ MINUTES
RANCHO PALOS VERDES CITY COUNCIL
ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING
MARCH 29, 2008
The meeting was called to order at 9:08 A.M. by Mayor Stern for a Team Building
Workshop at Fred Hesse Community Park, 29301 Hawthorne Boulevard, notice having
been given with affidavit thereto on file.
Roll call was answered as follows:
PRESENT: Long, Wolowicz, and Mayor Stern
ABSENT: Clark* and Gardiner
*Mayor Pro Tem Clark arrived at 9:13 A.M.
Also present were City Manager Carolyn Lehr, Deputy City Manager Carolynn Petru,
City Attorney Carol Lynch, Director of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement Joel
Rojas, Director of Public Works Jim Bell, Director of Finance/Information Technology
Dennis McLean, Director of Recreation and Parks Ron Rosenfeld, and City Clerk Carla
Morreale.
Also present was facilitator Dr. Tom Shanks.
FLAG SALUTE:
The flag salute was led by Recreation and Parks Director Rosenfeld.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA:
Councilman Wolowicz moved, seconded by Councilman Long, the approval of the
agenda.
Without objection, Mayor Stern so ordered.
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
None.
NEW BUSINESS:
REGULAR NEW BUSINESS:
Team Building (1101)
Tom Shanks, Ph.D., Team Building facilitator, introduced himself and his background.
He explained that he was raised in New York City, spent 25 years as a Jesuit priest,
and later taught Public Policy, Communication and Ethics for 25 years at Santa Clara
University while consulting on Ethics and Values for 15 years. He explained the ground
rules for the Team Building/Leadership Session and noted that Team Building was
about the work of the Council and its desired goals. He referenced the book "The
Leadership Challenge" by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner and shared a story about Don
Bennett, who was the first disabled person to scale Mt. Rainier. He reported that the
authors asked Mr. Bennett how he was able to scale the 14,410 foot mountain with only
one leg and two crutches, and Mr. Bennett's response was "one hop at a time." Dr.
Shanks noted that the City Council was confronting significant challenges as they begin
to implement the changes outlined by Management Partners Incorporated, deal with the
current problems before the City Council, and strive to serve the best interest of the
residents of Rancho Palos Verdes.
Dr. Shanks noted that a City Council is a peculiar type of team in that the individual
members are not specifically elected to be a team, but instead to lead a team of staff
members. He stated that in order to be successful the individual City Council members
must act like a team in order to lead a competent staff team. He stated that ethics and
leadership center around the questions "How do we act and what do we accomplish
when we are at our best?", "What are the characteristics of the City Council and staff
team when we are at our best?", and "Why should we be at our best?"
Dr. Shanks shared a story regarding a past election in the City of Santa Clara and a fine
imposed by the Fair Political Practices Commission on a candidate in the election. He
explained that he has facilitated candidate forums regarding ethics, provided workshops
on how to run an ethical campaign, and handled negotiations between candidates who
have been arguing among themselves. He shared stories of other cities and their
problems and noted that conflict could be a good thing to make one consider how to
turn the negative energy around to use it for a positive purpose. He stated that the
Council Members are currently dealing with remarkable changes and challenges, and
one of the greatest challenges is what legacy and accomplishments the present Council
wishes to leave behind.
Dr. Shanks indicated that when there is a change in the City Manager and a new group
is formed, there are many challenges to be faced. He stated that he was approaching
this particular workshop as a leadership workshop, to highlight the particular skills that
the Council could learn to be better leaders and provide stronger leadership for the
team of staff members, and for the staff to make known to the Council what they need
to be effective. He outlined the main values to be used in the leadership exercise
including honesty, active listening, improving communication skills, and respect of all of
the expertise and perspectives that are present in the room and those that are not. He
noted that it was a problem that Councilman Gardiner was not present. He reported
that he deliberately did not contact the Council Members when he realized that he may
not be able to talk to all of them, so that he could remain impartial and not have a stake
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in the process other than wanting those at the workshop to work together as best as
possible. He invited those present to talk freely, while respecting the office each holds
as a Council person or staff member. He noted that the Council should show respect
for the residents, since the residents have a right to expect the best that the Council can
possibly offer using the following illustration. He explained that if you were a patient of a
medical group where there were arguments among the physicians and you felt it was
beginning to affect you, you could choose to seek a new medical practice for health
care. He noted that the residents of a City could not take the same action unless they
chose to sell their home and move out of the area, and concluded that the responsibility
resides with the Council and City staff to be the best that they can be. He explained the
"Thank you" rule and noted that if one interrupts with the phrase "thank you" that really
means please stop talking. He inquired if there were other values, goals, or
opportunities to add to the list.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark suggested adding a goal to seek better understanding.
Public Works Director Bell suggested adding a goal to focus on proactive outcomes
rather than reactive responses.
Councilman Long suggested that the group try to identify common values, if any. He
used the metaphor that if there are some people that don't believe in medicine and are
actively trying to destroy the practice, it yields a different result and set of values and
goals than otherwise might be discussed.
Dr. Shanks noted that part of the challenge is finding the common ground even when
one person does not believe in "medicine" in the same way that another does. He
indicated that language has a lot to do with it and finding common ground is really
critical or else you cannot be a team. He stated that a team has to be more than one
person, although it does not have to be all who happen to hold a membership in the
medical practice. He noted that at a certain point in time, the rest of the team has a
responsibility to find out what the physician is thinking. He also noted that at a certain
point you must acknowledge that you can only do what you can do with a situation and
move on because there is so much else to be done. He remarked that a teacher, who
receives one negative evaluation and 29 positive evaluations out of a class of 30
students, can be consumed with the one negative evaluation. He noted that it is
amazing how much energy can be spent going over the same ground to solve a
problem that cannot be solved. He pointed out that in conflict resolutions, if there are
solutions that have been tried and do not work other solutions should be tried. He noted
that if there are no solutions remaining beyond a certain point, then a new challenge
must be faced in order to move on.
Mayor Stern stated that another goal would be to understand the role of the Council
Member in order to be an effective decision maker, noting there were limitations on
what Council should be doing.
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Public Works Director Bell suggested the goal of being principle driven rather than rule
driven.
Dr. Shanks shared Steven Covey's eighth habit of highly effective people as the skill of
being able to find your voice while encouraging and enabling others to find their voices.
He pointed out that this was important in order to work as a leadership team.
Dr. Shanks directed the participants to think about the moments when they felt the best
about what they had accomplished as individuals or as a team, or moments when the
City Manager or staff accomplished great things.
Public Works Director Bell suggested that another opportunity to add to the list would be
to accept divergent views, even though the words and concepts may not be exactly
correct, because sometimes divergent views bring things to a better work center or
focus point.
Dr. Shanks requested that the participants try to separate the person from the position
to look at the interests rather than the way the interests are being expressed and to
realize that we are all pretty fallible. He noted that once we start not doing this,
positions harden and the citizens end up losing.
City Manager Lehr suggested that trust which would lead to greater accomplishment
and greater productivity be added to the list, noting that with trust we do not have to
worry about trying to manage one another, which allows us to accomplish more.
Dr. Shanks stated that he would like to encourage the participants to be direct in talking
with each other without getting angry, or clamming up if someone says something that
provokes anger.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that he desired to see a reinvigorated sense of team as
one of the goals.
Dr. Shanks stated that he has tremendous respect for the work of City Councils. He
noted that given the events prior to this meeting and the problems the Council was
facing, he was amazed at how the five Council members were able to work together
and was impressed with the accomplishments of the Organizational Assessment
Workshop. He stated that the purpose of today's meeting was not just for team
building, but also about building public trust, noting that without public trust the Council
and staff could not accomplish its' jobs. He indicated that public trust is what
democracy rests on and defined public trust as the public's belief that whether they are
watching or not, the Council and staff are able to work together in the public's best
interests. He noted that without public trust the City is unable to do anything effectively.
He noted that if things continue to go in the manner that they are going, public trust will
begin to be hurt. He asked for comments from the participants as to the moments when
they felt the best about an accomplishment or achievement as an individual or as a
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March 29, 2008
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team, including accomplishments of the City Manager and City staff. He asked what
particular accomplishments have made the participants proud of the Council, staff, City
Manager, or citizens.
Mayor Stern stated that he was proud of the way that he and the Council were able to
move into a much more constructive way of dealing with each other as well as the
public regarding communication and the level of discourse going back a few years,
making sure that they were trying to involve the community with Council
communications and decision making, to the maximum extent possible. He noted that
when topics at a Council meeting were raised there was a willingness to listen; a
genuine effort to try to make sure the different points of view were understood; and to
the extent possible reconciliation of the different views in order to arrive at the most
robust decisions; recognizing that the five Council Members with differing values and
backgrounds were able to articulate points individually to achieve a very high level of
ability to work through the problems, and come up with good solutions in a respectful
way that did not minimize the views of any one Council Member.
City Manager Lehr stated that an example of this was shared with her recently by a
resident who told her that when Mayor Stern first joined the Council, he came in with a
completely different perspective of how government should be open, and in spite of
continuing opposition, he quietly persevered in attaining greater honesty and integrity on
the Council and ultimately transforming that body.
Councilman Long stated that some of the things he was most proud of at the time that
they took place have proven to be major disappointments on later reflection. He
indicated that the first example was regarding the time he spent negotiating an
agreement with Councilman Gardiner about the Storm Drain User Fee. He stated that
when the process was complete, he believed he had a piece of paper signed by
Councilman Gardiner that would result in unanimous Council support for the Fee, but it
did not. He identified one of the most positive achievements of the Council as the
deliberate and thoughtful way that the Council selected a City Manager in an attempt to
address a problem that Council was having with Councilman Gardiner and ultimately
that did not work. He noted that one of the City Manager's most notable achievements
was the manner in which she helped restructure the management of Channel 33 into a
professional management of that entity, and the way she dealt with making sure the
Council received professional reports relating to Channel 33. He noted that when a new
City Manager was brought in from the outside, staff worked together in an excellent and
very professional approach to make the transition smooth. He noted that it was an
extraordinary achievement that the Deputy City Manager, who was one of the lead
competitors for the City Manager position, was able to work well with the new City
Manager. He stated that one of the biggest achievements by the residents was the
relatively peaceful manner in which the very contentious issues of open space access
and trails have been handled, and the way that the residents presented very divergent
views in a very thoughtful and respectful way. He concluded that the residents, staff
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and City Manager have significant positive achievements to their credit, and the Council
and he do not, in some respects.
Councilman Wolowicz stated that the Council embarked collectively working in a team-
like manner and accomplishing many goals, during his first four years on the Council.
He indicated that the Council initially worked together on issues, discussed things
openly, and had the confidence to express ignorance and ask questions in front of each
other, noting that without that confidence, open dialogue is not possible. He indicated
that as a group the Council made decisions regarding open space acquisition and the
direction the Council would take philosophically on the first set of chosen tactical goals.
He stated that he was proud as an individual to participate in the Council by raising the
financial awareness for the first time in the City's history, so that the Council could track
the General Fund Reserves, since a lot of decisions are based on the General Fund.
He indicated that he was proud of the way the new City Manager came on board and
won the confidence of the senior management team. He stated he was a big fan of City
staff and is impressed by the devotion to the City demonstrated by the senior staff,
noting it was not uncommon for staff to come in on their days off to get things
accomplished. He commented that he has pride in the residents who are incredibly
bright and participative, have great insight and talent, and are well-educated and
articulate regarding issues that come before Council.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that the Storm Drain User Fee was one of the City's largest
accomplishments, with a sense of collective programs. He indicated that another
success was when the Council, staff, Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, and
the entire community envisioned the reality of a large open space preserve in the City,
which was made possible through strong leadership and financial contributions from
Federal, State, County, and private donors. He stated that this accomplishment would
long outlive the participants, would help define and preserve the quality of life on the
peninsula, and was a legacy that resulted from collective leadership. He stated that a
time that made him smile was when on the night of the election, all of his colleagues
were re-elected because they deserved to be and had demonstrated over the period
that they were on Council that they should continue to lead the City. He noted that he
felt a sense of personal pride that the voters supported the proposition which he had
brought forward establishing term limits in 2003, which would allow the many talented
residents of the City to participate in a role of leadership. He stated that it is hard to
characterize her first year, but indicated that the true merit of City Manager Lehr is
demonstrated by the manner in which she has withstood the pressure of attacks
throughout the year from within and outside sources.
Councilman Long added that the City's senior management staff has supported City
Manager Lehr and worked together as a team with her.
Recreation and Parks Director Rosenfeld stated that he is a native of the peninsula,
proud to work in the community, appreciated the quality of life, and noted that he was
surrounded by great department staff members who work together as well as the senior
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management team. He stated that one of his proudest moments of the Council was the
transition period after the departure of the Director of Public Works, when he was
allowed to step up and take on the role of participating in the building of the Pt. Vicente
Interpretive Center and the engineering project for the exhibits. He indicated that the
respect and confidence he received from the Council and Subcommittee made the job
rewarding and a great deal easier, allowing him to take chances and complete the
exhibit project at a cost of$750,000.00 that came in on time and under budget. He
stated that in his 21 year tenure with the City he has never worked for a boss that he
liked or respected more than City Manager Lehr. He noted that she has a style that is
supportive and comfortable, where everyone is part of the team; she is intelligent and a
sane woman. He continued that he was proud of the residents and their obvious
appreciation for the Recreation and Parks Department.
Finance/Information Technology (IT) Director McLean stated that City Manager Lehr
was selected as the City Manager because she is a strong person. He noted that one
of his favorite accomplishments, mentioned by Mayor Pro Tem Clark, is the long-term
project of the Storm Drain User Fee that started back in 2001. He indicated that the
residents had enough trust in the City to enable the Storm Drain User Fee not to be lost
after being challenged and placed on the November 2007 ballot.
Councilman Long added that the March 2003 Storm Drain User Fee Report by the
Finance Advisory Committee, under the leadership of the Finance Department, was part
of what inspired him to run for office in 2003 and part of what made the Storm Drain
User Fee an important issue in that election as well.
Finance/IT Director McLean explained that prior to joining the City of Rancho Palos
Verdes he had worked in many different environments including public accounting and
as a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for a commuter airline. He stated that he has worked
for three City Managers at the City of Rancho Palos Verdes, and City Manager Lehr
was his favorite because she is a strong leader and has led the senior management
team in an amazing way through the Tactical Planning and Budget Workshops. He
indicated that her strongest moment for him was the moment in a Channel 33
Subcommittee meeting when she concluded for the Committee Members that Channel
33 was dysfunctional. He stated that he hoped this group would be able to discuss that
topic later in the day.
Planning Director Rojas stated that what comes to mind when he thinks of the City at its
best is a workshop that the City recently held dealing with public trails, which covered
many issues and illustrated all participants at their best. He indicated that the Planning
staff really believes in the Public Use Master Plan project and thus enjoyed the
opportunity afforded by this project to create plans instead of just react to plans. He
indicated that staff's effort and time invested culminated in the workshop; City Manager
Lehr guided the process, but allowed him to do his job; the residents who came out en
masse were very articulate and offered their comments with respect; and, the
recommendations from members of a volunteer committee demonstrated how the
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different facets of the City could work well together. He commented that the workshop
occurred just days after a Council meeting where there was acrimony and staff was
concerned about the dynamics of the workshop and if Councilman Gardiner would
participate. He noted that all five Council Members were present for the workshop and
worked very well together, commenting and giving excellent feedback on the project,
and demonstrating how the Council could be at its best.
Public Works Director Bell stated that he envisions the Council as stepping up to face
issues that would be extremely challenging, regardless of the size of the community.
He commented on the limited resources and budget contraints, regardless of divergent
opinions. He noted that when he took a tour of the City during his recruitment with the
City, he realized how dynamic it was and that it had unbelievable potential, while
recognizing the serious geological issues and problems as a result of the serious rains
of 2005. He commented that he sees a community that is dealing with a new set of
circumstances going from an old view of being reactive to embracing new ideas to
proactively address the issues. He concluded that the Council is faced with real issues
that take real courage to deal with.
Councilman Long stated that Public Works Director Bell was selling himself short,
because he was missing the specific example of what he just stated. He indicated that
not only did the City support the Storm Drain User Fee, but Finance/IT Director McLean
and Public Works Director Bell, on their own initiative, sat down and identified for
Council a way to allocate a large sum of additional money to redesign the McCarrell
Canyon and Sunnyside Ridge Drain Projects to begin the process of working on
projects in a proactive way. He noted that Public Works Director Bell hit the ground
running when he came on board and caused the Council to take a great leap forward
with a little more success than it had previously. He explained that this was a major
step and the first project of such magnitude in the infrastructure renewal, at the initiative
of staff, which the Council then helped bring forward.
Public Works Director Bell stated that he saw a great potential in the community and a
very talented but small staff challenged because of how much there is to do. He stated
that there was a need for focus and the ability to take all the strengths and divergent
views and combine them. He noted that in the past Councilman Gardiner has shared
perspectives that he believes are important for the community. Public Works Director
Bell suggested that if the team could re-engage Councilman Gardiner's views in a
productive manner, he believed the dynamic strength of the community could be far
beyond its present state. He indicated that City Manager Lehr is the right person to lead
the City as it takes control of its destiny while supporting the vision of the community,
which is critical to achieving success with limited resources. He stated that she has
tremendous courage and the value system to pair thoughtful consideration with the
City's target objectives, which is a skill that would not be found in just any City Manager.
He stated that the degree to which the City Council supports those objectives will
determine if she will be successful or not.
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Mayor Pro Tern Clark reported on a moment for the community that he felt was very
significant. He reported that City Attorney Lynch led the City's defense team against an
attack by a resident that could have undermined the entire City. He noted that she put
together a legal strategy and a legal team and was an advocate before the United
States Supreme Court that brought the City a 9-0 victory. He stated that one of his
proudest moments was when he, Mayor Stern, and Planning Director Rojas walked out
of the oral argument hearing at the Supreme Court with a sense of elation that her
leadership had saved the City of Rancho Palos Verdes.
Councilman Long added that this happened a second time with the Monks lawsuit.
Mayor Pro Tern Clark stated that it has bothered him greatly that the City Attorney, like
the City Manager, has been under constant attack.
City Attorney Lynch stated that the accomplishments that have been the most gratifying
are the litigation victories, as both Mayor Pro Tern Clark and Councilman Long have
indicated. She stated that there is always tension in the community between what is for
the greater good versus the individual. She stated that every decision regarding a
project may be for the greater good, but could cause an individual's property interests to
suffer somewhat. She noted that as technology and email use has increased, the
individuals have become very effective at putting forth their concerns, which are
important and should be considered in the balance. She indicated that the Council's job
is to consider what is for the greater good of the City, such as the following examples:
1) pressing forward with the Pt. Vicente Interpretive Center Project even though the City
confronted a lead contamination problem with the land inherited from the County; 2) the
land purchase for the nature preserve; and, 3) fixing the San Ramon drainage project,
which was one of the City's earlier catastrophes inherited from the County. She
reported that there was a lot of angst regarding the San Ramon project on the part of
certain individuals, and the Council rose above the individual angst and established the
greater good while supporting staff's efforts to work with the individuals. She noted that
she has been the most proud of times when the accomplishments have achieved great
good for the City and for the residents as a whole.
Councilman Long stated that City Attorney Lynch has been a strong force in the process
as she applied City rules consistently for the greater good as opposed to applying City
rules on an ad hoc basis, counting the heads in the room, or allowing special favors to
friends and cronies.
Dr. Shanks commented that he had noticed in some of the City's deliberations that it is
very hard to realize when there are 70 people sitting in a room opposing a particular
project that those 70 people are not necessarily speaking for the best interests of the
community as a whole, which is the responsibility of the Council.
Public Works Director Bell stated that all of the goals discussed were important, but the
bottom line and probably the most important, were the residents. He noted that there
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are some people in the community who want to step forward and do the right thing,
which has really transitioned this community forward. He noted that the following
people have been involved in helping the City deal with a safety issues: 1) Bill Webster
used $300,000 of his own resources towards helping to solve a Public Works drainage
issue; and, 2) Robert Douglas has been a huge benefit due to his geotechnical
expertise and will probably help him address the largest Public Works issue the City
faces.
Dr. Shanks inquired if there were any additional items or goals that should be placed on
the list.
City Manager Lehr stated that she would like to make two observations. She indicated
that the thing she was most proud of is the ability to step back and allow the very
talented staff do their job. She stated that she did not understand the concept of a City
Manager coming in to a city and not being able to understand that they are working with
really talented people, and getting in the way of people who are doing what they do
best. She stated that it was so easy, when you have talented people such as Carolynn,
Ron, Dennis, Joel, Jim, Carol, and Carla, to step aside and rely on their remarkable
expertise which is their knowledge, ability and grasp of the issues. She noted how
fortunate she was and acknowledged City Attorney Lynch and commented that she
could not imagine the enormous amount of pressure she has been under in the last
month or so in dealing with the constant barrage of legal challenges. She opined that
from time to time one could not help but get hysterical and want to fight back and say
"No, we are not going to do this." She stated that City Attorney Lynch has been steady
the entire way through and commented that she wondered where she and staff would
be without her guidance.
Mayor Stern offered a corollary to that observation, stating that City Council and staff
need to remember, as City Manager Lehr has properly pointed out, that we have the
people to do the work, and it is important to get out of the way and stop interfering with
them doing their jobs. He stated that Council should set the policy, give direction, then
allow the City Manager to "make it happen" and look for the result, while moving on to
the next important policy decision that needs to be made. He stated that Council needs
to keep remembering that we have a great professional staff, and to get out of their way
and let them make the policies happen.
City Attorney Lynch stated that City Manager Lehr is very focused, as is all of the staff
present, on doing the right thing. She indicated that she has heard her say on many
occasions to do the right, honest and transparent thing, regardless of whether it will
possibly create political issues or negative feedback. She noted that City Manager
Lehr's leadership is incredibly important and that she has a great team working with her
that all share those goals, which is an important vision that this City Council embraces.
RECESS AND RECONVENE:
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Mayor Stern called a brief recess from 10:42 a.m. to 10:48 a.m.
Team Building
Councilman Wolowicz noted that the Team Building meeting was not being video
recorded and that it was a major issue that their colleague, Dr. Gardiner, was not
present for the session. He stated that many of the comments that caused the Council
to arrive at this session were as a result of positions that Councilman Gardiner has
taken. He inquired how two goals could be accomplished; the first one being to relay
the contents of this meeting to Councilman Gardiner, and the second, to relay the spirit
of the meeting to him. He commented that he was not sure what provisions had been
made to bridge that gap.
City Manager Lehr replied that she had asked the City Clerk to record the meeting on
audio tapes.
Councilman Wolowicz inquired if the meeting would remain in just an audio format or if
minutes would be transcribed.
Dr. Shanks stated that this topic could be discussed as the Council moved into the next
section, noting that one of the goals was to include Councilman Gardiner in the process.
He indicated that one option could be that he could contact Councilman Gardiner to
meet with him, dependent upon what conclusions were drawn at the end of the session.
Councilman Wolowicz asked that Dr. Shanks work out the details with City Manager
Lehr regarding the matter.
Dr. Shanks shared a handout by Kouzes and Posner covering five fundamental skills or
things that leaders do connected with what they consider the "Ten Commandments."
He commented that if you think of how teams work, including the Council, staff, and
residents, the skills are the following: Model the Way; Inspire a Shared Vision;
Challenge the Process (which means to improve it, noting this is what the Council is in
the middle of doing with help from Management Partners); Enabling Others to Act; and
Encouraging the Heart (which is in fact all of the recognition programs we have that say
to people "you are working really hard and we are grateful for what you have done").
He noted that there were many things that could continue to be done as a team as far
as building skills in these areas. He stated that it was a challenge to continue to
develop more skills and could also be a way to do a self-evaluation as the process
moves forward.
Dr. Shanks stated that he has learned that leadership teams work well when there is
clarity regarding the values that should be used to guide the team; when the process to
make good decisions is known; and, when the obstacles are identified that prevent the
Council from being the kind of team that it desires to be and from making good
decisions. He stated that the problems need to be expressed and the skills identified
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that need to be learned to overcome the obstacles. He indicated that the frustration that
the Council has experienced comes from trying a variety of things that are not working
to make the team work better. He suggested that there are other skills and other
solutions that need to be explored to resolve the issues. He stated that the way he liked
to look at this, and noted that it should not be just about Councilman Gardiner, would be
to identify the obstacles that are being faced and the problems that need to be
overcome. He indicated that the starting point should be establishing the facts of what
has happened to the Council or determining the events that have taken place. He
challenged the Council to consider a scenario of trying to explain to a resident how the
rift began between the Council Members, what actually happened, and then address
how it made everyone feel.
Mayor Stern stated that from his perspective the Council Members came into office with
a common understanding of the basic structure of government, which is that five people
are elected to make good collective decisions for the community; and the process by
design is that the majority will make the decision, staff will implement it, and hopefully all
will be pulling in the same direction no matter what the discussion was leading up to the
decision. He stated that what seems to overlay the entire scenario at present is a very
fundamental breakup in the appreciation that this is by design our governmental
structure. He explained that a dissatisfied Councilman Gardiner on the short end of the
vote, cannot accept that the collective wisdom of the elected officials and the design of
the government has worked; instead he wants to undermine and attack either the
decision, how it was arrived at, or those who are making the decision, so that we see
the repeated calls that people must recuse themselves because they have conflicts of
interest. He stated that there has been a total decimation of the basic appreciation of
the structure under which the Council is to labor and, unfortunately in his view, there is a
very clear but unarticulated lack of willingness by Councilman Gardiner to step up to
state what he wants and why. He reported that everyone in the room knows what some
of Councilman Gardiner's goals are, to fire the City Manager and to get rid of Ted
Vegvari and Palos Verdes on the Net, but he has to do it in a very insidious way and all
outside of the basic framework that allows the Council to work in an organized system.
He opined that Councilman Gardiner's stance is that what he cannot achieve through
the system established by the governmental organization, he will achieve through
improper means, such as accusations of wrong-doing, demands to meet privately,
accusations of criminal conduct, all of which are outside of the structure that should be
used to make governmental decisions.
Dr. Shanks commented that Oprah has been reviewing a book called "A New Earth"
where the author is talking about ego and gives a great example for what the Council is
presently experiencing. He shared an illustration from the book where a waiter brings a
customer cold soup. He observed that there were two ways one could respond to the
cold soup and that most people tend to respond with "How dare you bring me cold
soup? What kind of a waiter are you?" Dr. Shanks reported that the author states that
such a reaction is not helpful, and one needs to examine the facts and the desired
outcome realizing that getting angry does not necessarily lead to change and tends to
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March 29, 2008
Page 12 of 55
harden the positions of the people on both sides. He continued to explain that the
author suggested approaching the situation with the statement "My soup is cold; bring
me warm soup." He noted that this approach is more effective, the waiter might learn
something from the experience, and the customer will receive his warm soup. He
stated that as Council goes through the process, these are judgments that should be
made.
Councilman Long stated that he has not particularly liked the "cold soup" that has been
served to him and related the start of the Council problems to a breakfast meeting about
three years ago that he attended with the then Mayor Wolowicz. He noted that at the
time he was the Mayor Pro Tem and was meeting with the City Manager and the Mayor
to discuss agenda items, and Mayor Wolowicz asked a very insightful question, which
was "Why doesn't Channel 33 report to you as the City Manager?" He stated that City
Manager Evans replied that the minute it did he would fire Channel 33 Station Manager
Gabriella Holt, who was the campaign manager for Councilman Gardiner in his 2005
election. He indicated that City Manager Evans' response obviously portrayed a
problem and the Council collectively did nothing to resolve the matter. He reported that
in December 2006, Mayor Wolowicz ceased to be the Mayor and commented that he
had been looking forward to his final meeting for a long time. Councilman Long
indicated that he did not know what Mayor Wolowicz meant at that time, but stated that
he now knows and it was a very apropos comment, noting when he became Mayor he
was asked to be on the Channel 33 Subcommittee with Councilman Gardiner. He
noted that other people had been assigned to serve on the Channel 33 Subcommittee
at various points in time and had "chickened out" for want of a better phrase.
Dr. Shanks interjected that if at any time anyone starts taking offense to anything that is
being said to please speak up because he may not be able to tap into that situation.
Councilman Long stated that when City Manager Lehr came on board three or four
months after he was the Mayor, she asked the question that sounded strangely like
Councilman Wolowicz's question of"Why is Channel 33 not reporting to the City
Manager?" Councilman Long reported that the question posed would be addressed in
the Channel 33 Subcommittee meeting. He indicated that the matter was addressed by
the Channel 33 Subcommittee, they did not reach a consensus, the matter was brought
to the Council for direction, and Council reached a consensus with a 4 to 1 vote. He
noted that the process took time and ultimately Channel 33 became a professionally
managed organization, rather than in his opinion, a plaything of a Council Member and
his close political allies. He explained that Channel 33 was created to offer Council
Member Gardiner's son an opportunity at an internship, which did not turn out well. He
noted that Ted Vegvari led the internship and that there was a job opportunity after the
internship, which worked out poorly. He concluded that he believed Councilman
Gardiner was waging a personal vendetta against Mr. Vegvari and his non-profit Palos
Verdes on the Net (PV on the Net) organization, which is now consuming the City and
targeting everyone who stands in the way of the vendetta, including himself, City
Manager Lehr, Mayor Stern, Finance/IT Director McLean, and City Attorney Lynch. He
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March 29, 2008
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stated that various accusations have been made against him that he has supposedly
taken bribes and used City staff members to write campaign materials and emails. He
noted that while the difficulties regarding Channel 33 were occurring, he attempted to
negotiate compromises with Councilman Gardiner, since two volunteers, Ted Vegvari
and Gabriella Holt, who had to work together, were not getting along. He stated that he
thought he had negotiated a compromise by which Channel 33 and PV on the Net
would be separated from one another and believed he had everyone's commitment to
the compromise, since both volunteers were providing valuable services to the City. He
reported that the commitment was honored by Ted Vegvari but was not honored by
Councilman Gardiner, because he essentially took one side, and in his opinion was not
honored by Gabriella Holt. He noted that the facts show that afterwards the drumbeat
of personal attacks continued on Mr. Vegvari. Councilman Long stated that he recently
received an email from Councilman Gardiner's attorney, Mr. Rawlings, questioning the
reason why the City had not fingerprinted Ted Vegvari since he works with children. He
asked what one was trying to imply with a question of that nature.
Councilman Long stated that part of the difficulty with the current situation is that he has
faced vile, disgusting accusations and lies. He noted that the accusations were way out
of character from anything he has ever experienced in his life, even from the most hard-
nosed, brass-knuckles litigation opponents he has dealt with as an attorney for 25
years. He noted that he enthusiastically supported Councilman Gardiner for election in
2001 and less enthusiastically for re-election in 2005, but since then things have
changed and deteriorated. He reported that he had attempted past compromises with
Councilman Gardiner, as was the case in the Storm Drain User Fee issue, but before
the ink was dry the paper was worthless and the decision denounced. He stated that
from his point of view, efforts of compromise and negotiation have not been successful.
Dr. Shanks illustrated how he was trying to use a facilitation technique of separating the
facts and what the problems seem to be, the solutions that have been tried that haven't
been working, and the opinions which are being listed as concerns. He stated that if
Councilman Gardiner were present, he would ask Councilman Long to direct his
statements to Councilman Gardiner, but since he was not he was listing them under
concerns.
Councilman Long noted that he has shared most of his concerns and opinions directly
with Councilman Gardiner.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that he endorsed Councilman Long's statements, but
opined that the breakdown did not begin with Channel 33, but instead in the summer of
2005 when the community was approaching the mail ballot election for the Storm Drain
User Fee. He noted the preparation for the election was a very long and thorough
process that began in 2001 regarding infrastructure renewal and the need for
community involvement, including financial participation. He stated that the Council
really started to break apart when Councilman Gardiner decided not to support the
Storm Drain User Fee.
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March 29, 2008
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Dr. Shanks inquired what Mayor Pro Tern Clark meant by "break apart" and if prior to
this point in time the Council was of one mind.
Mayor Pro Tern Clark stated that prior to this point in time, the Council worked together
collaboratively and cooperatively with some sense of mutual respect on a variety of
goals, but Councilman Gardiner took the position that he could not support the Storm
Drain User Fee, which fundamentally shocked all of the Council. Mayor Pro Tern Clark
believed that point in time was the inception of when the Council began to move apart.
He noted that Councilman Gardiner had two fundamental issues with the Storm Drain
User Fee which were the following: 1) that a citizen advisory concept had not been
embodied in the voter initiative; and, 2) the length of time that the Storm Drain User Fee
would be in place. He reported that the program of infrastructure renewal, based upon
Public Works studies, was a 30-year program and that was what was on the ballot. He
noted that when the item came before Council to make a decision on the ballot, they
had received feedback from the community on both of the issues which were debated
and the majority of the Council voted in favor with a 4 to 1 vote. He continued that he
had tried to broker a shorter term for the Storm Drain User Fee because he thought it
important, even though he recognized it would take 30 years to complete all of the
needed repairs, and from that point forward the Council started down a slippery path.
Councilman Long reported that he did broker a shorter term for the Storm Drain User
Fee later, even though he was always opposed to the sunset and wanted the User Fee
amount to be double what it was. He noted that he reached out to Councilman Gardiner
more than three-quarters of the way to his position and they entered into an agreement.
He noted that the concerns stated by Mayor Pro Tem Clark were actually Councilman
Gardiner's concerns the second time around, and that initially he was opposed to any
Storm Drain User Fee at all, believing that the infrastructure renewal could be funded by
the taxes that would come from the unbuilt hotel at Long Point. He opined that the
situation was one of constant shifting sands to try to figure out what the basis was for
Councilman Gardiner's opposition. Councilman Long stated it was an opportunist
grasping for whatever he could grasp at.
Dr. Shanks inquired as to the more recent concerns that Councilman Gardiner raised
regarding the issues around the Storm Drain User Fee.
Councilman Long replied that Councilman Gardiner wanted an oversight committee and
he wanted the Storm Drain User Fee for a period of ten years.
Mayor Stern reported that he thought Councilman Gardiner's concerns were reflective
of the comments that came in from the public at that particular time.
Councilman Long replied that those were the articulated excuses he was posing at that
time, because once those conditions were given to him and he signed the agreement,
before the ink was dry on the agreement he renounced it. He stated that Councilman
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March 29, 2008
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Gardiner's real motives will never be known, because the Council does not have
honesty and integrity in one of its five members.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that the Council of Homeowners' Association suggested
the notion that the City should have an advisory committee based on the fact that the
Palos Verdes Peninsula School Board had oversight advisory committees for their ballot
initiatives. He reported that the City of Rancho Palos Verdes worked very hard and put
together a good consultant team to work on the User Fee, but should have examined
the models that other cities used, such as the City of Palo Alto that passed a
Proposition 218 Storm Drain Renewal ballot initiative with an advisory committee in
place. He stated that he believed Councilman Gardiner was pushing the point
regarding the length of the term of the Storm Drain User Fee because some of his
supporters and others in the community said that the City did not have the ability to pay
for the infrastructure renewal, but the new resort hotel coming online in a few years
could underwrite the Storm Drain User Fee. He explained that what was not taken into
account as part of this argument was that every year the Council would review the
Storm Drain User Fee and determine whether to continue, cancel or modify it. He
stated that the implicit message was that the community was not quite sure that they
trusted the Council to move forward.
Councilman Long stated that the ballot initiative with the 30-year Storm Drain User Fee
won, admittedly by only 44 votes. He explained that the minority not respecting the
election petitioned to place it on the ballot for a second time, putting the City through a
second divisive election, and that was when he and Councilman Gardiner compromised
to arrive at the 10-year term, and then Councilman Gardiner did not even hold with that
decision. He stated that Councilman Gardiner interprets compromise as weakness and
does not understand the true nature of compromise. He reported that upon discussing
the matter, Councilman Gardiner stated he never compromises his principles.
Councilman Long stated that from his point of view Councilman Gardiner does not
understand compromise because he never compromises anything. Councilman Long
reported that he continued to honor the compromise, continuing to support the
agreement he signed because he has integrity.
Councilman Wolowicz stated that many people have asked him about the problems with
the Council and he has realized after explaining to residents and non-residents alike
that it is a long story, yet to be concluded. He stated that he liked the analogy that Dr.
Shanks shared regarding the soup, and noted that when the waiter came back with the
soup he had his thumb in the bowl, and a great message was relayed there. He stated
that he would not defend his colleague, Councilman Gardiner, with whom he had met
quite regularly regarding the issues and commented that he was sorry he was not
present for the discussion. He reported that Councilman Gardiner's statements sound
very similar to Councilman Long's, which were that he was not at fault, everyone else
was. He noted that Councilman Long has stated his position and his disappointment a
number of times, publicly and privately, but when he listens to the story, he knows there
are two sides to the fight. He stated that what has happened is similar to two guys who
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
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walk into a bar and one of them pokes the first guy that they see in the eye and then
looks over his shoulder and says to his companion, "fix this for me." He stated that he
has seen this situation unfold and that it is like watching a "car wreck" in slow motion
that started a long time ago, and there were parts of it that he could stop and parts of it
that he could not, yet he could remind the participants that it was unfolding. He stated
he would not defend Councilman Gardiner because he was perfectly capable of doing
that himself, nor Councilman Long for he is more than prepared to do that. He reported
that he did not like the fact that accusations occurred regarding his colleagues and that
he would stand up and testify on their behalf regarding all of the assertions, because he
knows their characters. He stated that the point is that both sides are citing injustice,
noting they are both passionate about the presentation of their points and firm in their
beliefs that the other side was short-sighted. He stated that the issue with Councilman
Gardiner started out quite some time ago and reported that Councilman Gardiner felt he
was "done dirt" regarding a budget issue that was a core value to him at the time.
Mayor Stern requested an explanation regarding the "done dirt" phrase. He noted that a
decision was made by the elected body in a particular way. He stated that one of the
things that makes the City Council dysfunctional is that when someone feels a decision
is wrong, they feel they've been "done dirt" which is the wrong conclusion, because the
policy is set by five elected people and no one "does dirt."
Councilman Wolowicz explained that the idea was that there was a budget crisis and
that the Council had agreed not to spend additional funds. He explained that
Councilman Gardiner stated that if Council was going to agree to add more people to
the staff and therefore spend more money, he was going to rescind his support for the
Storm Drain User Fee.
Councilman Long stated that he had heard this argument before.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that he and Councilman Wolowicz are not the targets of
attack, but that Councilman Gardiner's action was fundamentally disappointing because
he was changing the playing field on a very important issue, the Storm Drain User Fee,
which had been modified to address the issues that he had publicly said kept him from
supporting it the first time, and then he brought in a new issue. Mayor Pro Tem Clark
stated that he found that action to be absolutely lacking in collaborative integrity and
cooperation.
Councilman Wolowicz stated that for the record everyone understood his position on the
Storm Drain User Fee and noted that their words were not lost on him. He stated that
each time issues would come up, the Council would all put an edge on something and
sometimes humor would be added to it, with statements such as "I will support
Councilman Wolowicz on his issue related to Argument No. 3 if Councilman Long brings
up Argument No. 1." He noted that the particular issue of the Storm Drain User Fee
was not offered up this way and he knew enough not to get into an argument or
dialogue with two professional trial lawyers.
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March 29, 2008
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Dr. Shanks observed that what he was hearing so far was that over issues where there
was disagreement on the Council, Councilman. Gardiner felt like he was always losing
on the issues.
Councilman Wolowicz clarified that there was sniping taking place even at the
innocuous level and gave the following example: I will support your item on something
that is not related, but how do I know you will not reverse your field like you did the last
time.
Councilman Long reported that when he and Councilman Gardiner signed the
agreement which the entire Council had approved on the Storm Drain User Fee, it did
not have any conditions in it that there would not be any new hires. He noted that when
City Manager Lehr proposed the new hires, it was within a balanced budget. He
reported that after Councilman Gardiner renounced the agreement, he was approached
and was told that if he was willing to compromise on the Information Technology issue,
which meant to agree with Councilman Gardiner to sail PV on the Net down the river,
Councilman Gardiner would come back around on the Storm Drain User Fee issue. He
reported that he was approached by surrogates of Councilman Gardiner with that
suggestion.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark and Mayor Stern reported that they were also approached with
the same proposition.
Councilman Long continued that his response was that he might be interested in
negotiating, because he just wanted to find out what the proposal would be; but that he
had a fundamental problem with the fact that he had already signed a compromise and
was being asked to essentially buy again what he thought he had already bought. He
stated that he wanted to know what guarantee he would receive - another piece of
paper signed by Councilman Gardiner. He stated that with all due respect, the issues
are those of governance, not issues that one can continue to straddle the fence on. He
stated that this was not just a personality battle between Councilman Gardiner and
himself; and that it may well be that Councilman Long is a jerk and everyone could say
that and he does not have a problem with that. He asserted that what this is really
about is how the Council handles their decision-making process. He inquired if it was
proper for Councilman Gardiner to approach the Council with accusations of misconduct
of Mayor Stern and Councilman Long, and suggest the Council agree to meet quietly in
Closed Session with him and his lawyer. He stated that as far as the world knows,
Councilman Wolowicz does not have an answer to that question and accepts it as
proper, while enabling the misconduct of Councilman Gardiner.
Dr. Shanks advised to keep the matter a little calmer.
Councilman Long stated that there were more issues than that. He asked if it were
proper for a Council Member to charge people with taking bribes through his surrogate
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March 29, 2008
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and if it was proper shortly thereafter to admit that he had no evidence of that. He
asserted to Councilman Wolowicz that the world thinks it is okay because he did not
object to it.
Dr. Shanks noted that if Councilman Gardiner was present, he probably would have
objected because from his perspective he might feel there was injustice in this
conversation. He noted that people usually do not take the kind of action Councilman
Gardiner has taken unless he is frustrated, just as is Councilman Long.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark reported that he has a theory regarding what has happened and a
couple of facts to share. He asserted that because this situation became so polarized,
Councilman Gardiner became convinced that he could not work with the current City
Council. He explained that Councilman Gardiner then brought in his own candidate in
the last election and vigorously attempted to take out one of his colleagues on the
Council. He noted that in the 2005 election, everyone on the Council supported
Councilman Gardiner for re-election, yet two years later, Councilman Gardiner was
unsuccessful, but came close to unseating one of the current Council Members. He
asserted that he believed Councilman Gardiner was targeting to take Councilman Long
out of office, but almost took out Mayor Stern, because he did not run much of a
campaign for his third term. He opined that since that election, there has been an
attempt to disrupt the City and basically take Mayor Stern and Councilman Long out of
play through these attacks. He stated that Councilman Gardiner was not successful in
the election, so he is taking another angle. He stated that he has heard this sentiment
through the community and that frankly he agreed that this was basically municipal
terrorism.
Councilman Long stated that Mayor Stern had used the words paranoid and delusional
to describe Councilman Gardiner's actions and he agreed with them. Councilman Long
asserted that when he was Mayor he saw Councilman Gardiner make comments to
members of staff or others saying that he was not receiving the same information as
other Council Members. He noted that what amazed him about those accusations was
that he knew Councilman Gardiner was receiving the information because he first
learned of the information sitting in a meeting when he was sitting next to him. He
commented that he did not know if it was a case of being disingenuous or a case of
having a memory problem, but it did not matter what the cause, because obviously if he
thought he was not getting the same information as other Council Members, that is a
serious problem. He stated that he certainly suggested to staff to make certain that all
Council Members receive the same information. He noted that there were Brown Act
constraints, so he as a Council Member could not give everyone the same information
that he has before a meeting, which can lead to suspicion and mistrust as well.
Mayor Stern commented that it was very interesting to hear that all of the Council
Members were all approached by Councilman Gardiner's surrogates that if they would
do what Councilman Gardiner wanted on the IT issue, then he would be back on board
on the Storm Drain User Fee. He reported that when he was approached on that
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March 29, 2008
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matter, he said what he will say now and until he is off of the Council and beyond, which
is that he does not trade votes and never has done so, noting that good ideas get his
vote, bad ideas do not. He reported that he was offended that anyone would even
suggest the idea that the Council's business is handled in that manner. He stated he
never has conducted business in this manner, but cannot speak for anyone else. He
asserted that the question really comes back to the fundamental structure of the
government, how it is going to operate, and what should be respected in terms of how
those decisions are made.
Mayor Stern reported that there is a fundamental breakdown right now and the Council
is not following an established system, which is quite simple, where five people get
together publicly, debate issues, and then come to the best conclusion they can. He
concluded that whatever the vote is, the policy is then implemented. He noted that this
is a concern that should be added to the list— a fundamental breakdown in the
understanding of how the Council should operate, make decisions, and carry them out.
He reported that someone is trying to get his way by doing everything that is outside of
the model for that collective decision making. He stated that he did not disagree with
anything his colleagues mentioned regarding the facts of the breakdown. He explained
that in mid-February he received a phone call from Chip Rawlings stating that he, as the
lawyer for Councilman Gardiner, would be present at the Closed Session and
articulated the two issues he wanted to address, one of which was an open session
item. He reported that in consultation with City Attorney Lynch, he responded that Mr.
Rawlings could not be present, noting that the Closed Session was for elected officials
only. He relayed that there was an email that basically said that the Council Members
have violated the law, violated the Brown Act, made prior violations of the Brown Act,
had corrupt practices, and caused the destruction of evidence. He asserted that this is
not the way that you convince people that there is an issue to be dealt with
constructively, coupled with the fact that it was all with the goal to meet privately in order
to discuss issues "quietly" and come to "cooperative solutions" to avoid the public
presentation of these nebulous, but nonetheless disturbing accusations. He explained
that he did not know why Councilman Gardiner or his lawyer thought that this could in
any context be the way that people behave. He noted that this certainly was a very
strong defining moment and he took a very significant course of action, which he felt
was the only course of action that he could take with the allegations having been made
and the threat that the Council should take action privately, cooperatively, and outside
of the public view. He noted that the Council could not make a decision on any of the
topics in private, would not do so, and could not even do it under the taint of that
suggestion, because there was always going to be the threat that somehow each
Council Member was looking over his shoulder at a personal interest and hence the
decision was tainted. He concluded that it was not his most favorite moment.
Councilman Long stated that there was cronyism going on in this situation. He pointed
out the irony that Councilman Gardiner tried very hard to have the City hire Mr.
Rawlings, the person making the accusations and his firm, to represent the City in
defending a lawsuit to the tune of$1 million. Councilman Long opined that Mr.
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March 29, 2008
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Rawlings had a strategy that was very unwise and thankfully the Council followed City
Attorney Lynch's recommendation instead, which undoubtedly put her on the list of
people Councilman Gardiner wanted to attack. He noted that having failed to get his
crony, Mr. Rawlings and his firm, a sizeable chunk of income representing the City,
Councilman Gardiner then used Mr. Rawlings as his tool in this personal attack.
Councilman Long stated that this helped convince him that further compromise with
Councilman Gardiner is beside the point.
City Attorney Lynch stated that she has been with the City for 17 years and when she
first came on board there was a very bitter divide on the former Council. She noted that
the only thing that was substantially different about that situation was that while the
Council would rip each other to shreds at meetings, much to everyone's dismay, the
division did not involve the staff and there were no allegations of misconduct on the part
of various staff members brought into the matter. She noted that the present situation
has been very impeding to the City's ability to go forward which is a very unfortunate by-
product of what is happening now.
Deputy City Manager Petru stated that she did not believe that the attacks on staff was
the by-product of discord among the Council Members and that the situation really
began with the mistreatment of staff long before things surfaced at the Council level.
She stated that she believed Councilman Gardiner has a general mistrust for local
government and for those who work in local government. She noted that he has used
that perspective to further his standing in the community by always treating anyone who
came to him with a complaint as automatically right, and assuming that staff is always in
the wrong. She stated that there has been a background undercurrent that people have
not seen until very recently. She stated that the only reason staff has withstood this for
as many years as it has been going on, since 2001 with Councilman Gardiner's first
election to Council, is that the staff is a very good and strong staff, not just at the
management team level but throughout the whole organization.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that one point Deputy City Manager Petru did not mention
that made it possible for staff to withstand the situation she explained was that staff had
the support of the rest of the City Council.
Deputy City Manager Petru agreed that that was absolutely the case.
City Attorney Lynch indicated that often times the Council was not even aware of the
situation.
Councilman Long stated that he was not aware of the situation with staff until he was
the Mayor in 2005. He inquired if Dr. Shanks had seen the exchange of emails with
Mrs. Johnson.
Dr. Shanks replied that he had not seen the email exchange.
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March 29, 2008
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Councilman Long summarized the email exchange. He explained that the Johnson
house burned down and when they submitted plans for the rebuild of their home it had
to be built according to the new Building Codes, noting that if one does not have
Building Code upgrade insurance one may have a problem and run out of money. He
stated that this resident was experiencing these problems and did not know that she
needed a drainage plan because her architect did not tell her. He reported that her
problems came before Council because Councilman Gardiner placed an item on the
agenda, even though there was nothing the Council could do, Council discussed the
situation and gave direction to staff to do everything they could within the Codes to
expedite the project. He reported that she later found out she needed a drainage plan,
which her architect had erroneously not mentioned earlier instead blaming the City and
she wrote an email immediately to Councilman Gardiner. He explained that
Councilman Gardiner responded with an email to him, copying the resident in the reply,
stating that staff is incompetent and the project should immediately be allowed to go
forward. Councilman Long reported that he replied to Councilman Gardiner that staff
should be heard from first before they were publicly labeled as incompetent and that
drainage plans were important in a City with slopes where the failure to have proper
drainage has led to massive multi-million dollar damage from time to time. He noted
that Councilman Gardiner's response was that he completely disagreed with him.
Councilman Long opined that what Councilman Gardiner completely disagrees with is
good government.
Deputy City Manager Petru stated that she wanted to make the point that this situation
is something that has been festering for a long time, and whether right or wrong, City
staff has always had tried to resolve the issues at the staff level, and to not let them rise
up and become issues that the Council has to deal with. She reported that staff at all
levels has worked very hard to be problem solvers in order to avoid things from
percolating up. She noted that problem solving has become increasingly more difficult
and it has burst through and hit the City Council level.
Dr. Shanks inquired as to the role and approach that staff takes during elections.
Deputy City Manager Petru replied that the approach was that staff members make
themselves equally available to the candidates running for Council, to do their best to be
fair, and provide answers to any questions asked. Responding to Dr. Shanks' question,
Deputy City Manager Petru stated that staff does not get involved in the politics of the
election.
Dr. Shanks stated that it was important to remind the public of the lack of staff
involvement in the politics of an election, since that was one of the points being
questioned publicly.
Mayor Stern stated that in 1997, the then City Manager Paul Bussey contacted and met
with him and offered access to any background information he might need, noting that
he could contact him with any questions he may have. He stated that in the decade
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March 29, 2008
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since, the same attitude has always been present which was that staff would provide
any public person, and certainly the candidates, information so that they could do
whatever they wished with it. He stated that from what he has seen, there has been
absolutely no deviation from being totally open and fair in that regard.
Dr. Shanks stated that every staff he has worked with really bends over backwards to
be fair to all, and noted that he did not see anything that indicated otherwise at the City
of Rancho Palos Verdes. He indicated that people do not understand that the Code of
Ethics for the International City Manager's Association makes it very clear that the City
Manager absolutely must be fair. He noted that it was important for people to
understand that the Council/Manager Model and the role of staff is to let all the noise go
on that will during the political process, while the residents know that the City is still
being managed efficiently.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that if Councilman Gardiner were present he would tell Dr.
Shanks that he does not believe that staff is fair.
Dr. Shanks inquired where the evidence to support that claim was and noted that the
burden of proof would be on Councilman Gardiner.
Councilman Long stated that the assumptions and suspicions were regarding the lists of
gifts that he had received. He stated that one of his campaign volunteers was accused
of writing materials for his campaign and she was accused of being a City employee,
which she is not and never has been. He opined that it was a ridiculous assumption
and City Manager Lehr could have been asked that question directly, instead of having
the cloak and dagger assumptions.
Mayor Stern stated that this has been the consistent case throughout.
Dr. Shanks stated that one thing that stands out was that the Council does not have
Rules of Engagement, Core Values, an Ethics Code that the Council routinely revisits,
or an effective method for a Council Member to make a complaint. He noted that the
Council is not having those conversations and the atmosphere is volatile at the present,
but noted that a staff person has the freedom to support anyone they desire, but they
just cannot do it as part of their employment.
Councilman Long stated that because Councilman Gardiner has a disdain towards staff
and understands that some of the other Council Members do not share that disdain, he
has the perception that his relationship is not the same as that of others, but it is on a
professional level. He noted that the Council Members are able to compartmentalize,
evidenced at the most recent Council meeting, where he voted in favor of one of the
significant split issues regarding if there should be an Audit Committee or not. He
opined that every now and then Councilman Gardiner makes rational decisions on a
rational basis when his personal bias is not involved in the decision-making process.
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 23 of 55
He noted that he can enjoin him in making a decision that he believes is a good
decision and other times he cannot.
Dr. Shanks stated that he suspected the anger Councilman Long feels that guides his
comments were coming from the same place that Councilman Gardiner's were coming
from.
City Manager Lehr stated that she understood what Dr. Shanks was saying as it
pertains to Councilman Long, but asked Mayor Pro Tem Clark to relate the incident of
what occurred in her relationship, where she went from the candidate of choice by
Councilman Gardiner to a much less desirable position.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that Dr. Shanks' opinion that Councilman Gardiner must be
feeling the same thing is incorrect. He noted that Councilman Long and Mayor Stern
have not hired attorneys and that Councilman Gardiner is engaged in a whole different
level of combat.
Councilman Long stated that his anger is a veneer for the substantive issues. He stated
that Councilman Gardiner's silent, pleasant, friendly looking atmosphere is a veneer.
Councilman Long stated that part of the reason he is taking a more angry approach was
that compromise and friendliness did not work in the past and his hope was that brass
knuckles would help Councilman Gardiner understand.
Mayor Stern stated that staff needs to be elevated beyond whatever differences this
Council has so that the professional staff gets its job done and is not being attacked by
Council Members.
Dr. Shanks agreed that was an absolutely critical point in the entire situation.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that it was his idea to hold the Team Building Session,
because he thought it would be good for the Council, yet he predicted that Councilman
Gardiner would not participate. He reported that during the City Manager selection
process, Councilman Gardiner was the strongest advocate for City Manager Lehr, yet
less than three months into her tenure, Councilman Gardiner called him and stated that
he had made a mistake and that something had to be done about it. He noted that the
reason for his dissatisfaction at that point was Channel 33. He inquired if Dr. Shanks
had seen dynamics of this type in the past, noting that he had never witnessed it in the
twenty years that he has followed city government. Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that
this situation does not compare with what happened 15-20 years ago when the then
Mayor married the then City Clerk and there was a huge split on Council caused by this
situation. He stated that there were not attorneys involved and there was not a constant
attempt to take people to court. He noted that he was really disappointed that the
Council was completely distracted from doing the work that should be done.
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
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Councilman Long opined that he did not believe that the Council was completely
distracted, because it was still getting things done, but he did believe that Council was
less efficient. He added that during the City Manager selection process, he recalled
thinking about the fact that Councilman Gardiner was supporting Carolyn Lehr,
someone professional and independent, who would exercise good judgment and not be
his little pawn. He noted that the Council thought it was a very positive sign that
Councilman Gardiner supported her. He stated that he highlighted the City Manager
selection process as one of the Council's accomplishments, since the process forced
the Council to work together as a team. He indicated that the Council reached out to
Councilman Gardiner and compromised again. Councilman Long stated that he learned
the lesson that every time you compromise with Councilman Gardiner the results are
bad, since Councilman Gardiner interprets compromise as a sign of weakness; and he
will exploit it to carry out his own agenda, aggrandizing himself personally and putting
together his little power base of what he will achieve for himself.
Finance/IT Director McLean stated that he wanted to revisit one of the points
Councilman Wolowicz made since it seemed he was attempting to give the group some
insight and everyone piled on after his comments. He indicated that Councilman
Wolowicz has been very open that he is friends with Councilman Gardiner. Director
McLean reported that he has been targeted by Councilman Gardiner for a long period of
time and needed help. He noted that one of the things he heard Councilman Wolowicz
say was that Councilman Gardiner felt betrayed in that there had been a commitment
not to add any significant expenditure to the budget, such as staffing positions, in
exchange for his commitment to support the Storm Drain User Fee.
Councilman Wolowicz stated that he would not make any more statements in the
defense of Councilman Gardiner, because of the piling on, but that he would let
Councilman Gardiner speak for himself. He reported that Councilman Gardiner had
expressed his opinion that Councilman Wolowicz had sold the endorsement of the
Storm Drain User Fee to him in a Council discussion when he had made the statement
that the City would be in financial crisis if it did not pass the Storm Drain User Fee,
because the City was close to the reserve limit and that as long as the City kept the
current budget and the current spending, it would stay right at that point. He reported
that Councilman Gardiner told him the increase in spending indicated that he had not
been told that funds could be spent elsewhere, instead of spending the annual $1.2
million dollars and he saw the numbers as interchangeable, which was the basis for his
explanation for the rescission. Councilman Wolowicz commented that he is friends with
all members of the Council, values the friendships, has disagreed with each member of
the Council as they have disagreed with him, noting that is the nature of government as
it should be with any managing board of this nature. He reported that he met with
Councilman Gardiner after his decision to rescind his support of the Storm Drain User
Fee and told him he was disappointed in him. He stated that he was going to be the
driving wheel behind the Storm Drain User Fee issue and welcomed his participation.
He reported that he told Councilman Gardiner his position of rescinding his support was
probably the most damaging blow to the Storm Drain User Fee campaign and put the
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 25 of 55
City behind coming out of the blocks. He stated that Councilman Gardiner said he
understood, but it was a principle issue with him. Councilman Wolowicz noted that he
was waiting to report on this and another matter for four weeks, since the City Council
Oral Reports have been postponed several times. He reported that City Manager Lehr
and Deputy City Manager Petru approached him to speak with Councilman Gardiner,
because his recent behavior was highly disruptive to staff. He reported that he
contacted Councilman Gardiner and suggested a meeting with Deputy City Manager
Petru and himself, and that Councilman Gardiner stated he would not meet with any
staff member, but would meet with him. Councilman Wolowicz stated that he delivered
two messages to him; the first was that he did not agree with his position and wished he
would drop it, noting that he had not had the opportunity to share this with other Council
Members in a public forum until this Team Building meeting. He stated that he told
Councilman Gardiner that his actions were disruptive to staff and that the situation was
wrong and inexcusable. He stated that Councilman Gardiner's long explanation was
evidence to him that this was part of a slow "car wreck", with forces in motion that even
he could not stop. Councilman Wolowicz noted that he did not agree with the situation
and if he were a commission of one he would put a stop to it. He continued that his
greatest complaint about the entire issue was that it was disruptive to the City of
Rancho Palos Verdes, noting that his key philosophy was that while the Council does
not have to get along, it is expected to accomplish tasks in a positive manner for the
good of the constituents. He noted that when a Council Member ceases doing that,
consciously or unconsciously, he has stopped fulfilling the obligation of his office.
Councilman Long stated that Councilman Wolowicz's remarks were very positive and
he was very glad to hear them.
Mayor Stern stated that the public perception of silence regarding this matter is that the
problem is just a bunch of children playing in the sandbox, and that if Councilman
Wolowicz had been willing, along this unfortunate path, to publicly tell Councilman
Gardiner that his actions were not constructive and should stop, the public perception
might be more favorable toward causing him to take pause. He thanked Councilman
Wolowicz for his remarks, but noted that because of the nature of the situation, it was
very important for people to say quickly that this was wrong, should stop, and was
disruptive to both Council and staff.
Councilman Wolowicz replied that he is consistent during the meetings in not stating
that he disagrees with the subtle, or not so subtle, jabs.
Councilman Long stated that he and Mayor Stern were the primary targets of the
vendetta along with various members of staff, but commented that staff should be left
out of the issue. He stated the most effective response to this matter so far has been by
Mayor Pro Tem Clark who responded to it in a decisive public way, which has pointed
the Council back to taking a more business-like approach. He indicated that this was a
cathartic experience and hoped he would not have to go through this exercise again
and that the focus could be more constructive going forward. He stated that he wanted
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 26 of 55
the Council's decisions to be business-like in the future, noting that when there have
been episodes of difficulty the Council has fairly quickly been able to get back to
business-like decision making approaches. He noted that he believed this approach
was one that Councilman Gardiner also wanted regarding most issues, and as to those
issues where that was not his desire; Councilman Long indicated he would ask
Councilman Gardiner to recuse himself from those discussions in the future.
Dr. Shanks indicated that there were some very significant revelations that just took
place. He noted that Finance/IT Director McLean and Deputy City Manager Petru
expressed the disruption to staff that this situation has caused for a long time. He
inquired where this path was leading if nothing changed. He noted that there was a
feeling on the part of Mayor Stern and Councilman Long that Councilman Wolowicz was
silent when he should not have been silent; and that Councilman Long has made
comments that Councilman Wolowicz has believed not to be appropriate or helpful, but
he was silent then also. He indicated that everyone was grateful that Councilman
Wolowicz stated his feelings about the situation at this time and that the group can feel
proud of this part of the conversation later because they have been talking directly to
each other about things that really matter.
Councilman Long stated that he has disagreed philosophically with Councilman
Gardiner and Councilman Wolowicz on a number of issues; however, he never has had
a reason to question Councilman Wolowicz's, Mayor Pro Tem Clark's, or Mayor Stern's
personal integrity in any way whatsoever. He noted that if someone were to claim that
Councilman Wolowicz was an embezzler, he would stand up publicly and state that was
not true, and would give him his life savings knowing it would be safe and probably
better invested with him.
Finance/IT Director McLean stated that Councilman Wolowicz has shared with
Councilman Gardiner the risk of the destructive nature of the "car wreck" to the good of
the City. He indicated that Mayor Pro Tem Clark has publicly stated how troubled he is
by the current situation and asked that Councilman Wolowicz express his feelings at a
televised public meeting in the future.
Councilman Long opined that Councilman Gardiner is like a child who is playing with
gasoline and pouring it all over the Council Members, but mostly spilling it on himself,
and inviting them all to play with matches. He stated that he was sorely tempted to light
a match and throw it his way, has resisted the temptation for quite some time, would
love to see the result, but realized that all of the Council would be burned, which is not
in the City's best interest.
Mayor Stern observed that the disruption Councilman Gardiner is causing and the
torment of staff, is by design, what he wants to achieve. He stated that Councilman
Gardiner loves every minute of the "car wreck" that is occurring because it is causing his
agenda to be advanced. He stated that Councilman Gardiner does not like City
Manager Lehr although he was at one time her champion. He noted there is a system
City Council Meeting Minutes
Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 27 of 55
by which the City can thank and excuse a City Manager, which requires discussion by
five Council Members in Open Session or via an evaluation in Closed Session. He
indicated that there is a methodology by which the Council achieves the proper goals,
which is a decision that Council can choose to make. He stated that the Council is
unwitting participants to the insidious "car wreck" that Councilman Gardiner is
engineering, but the reality is that there is an agenda that is being advanced, which is
the destruction and demoralization of the staff and Council, and Councilman Gardiner is
getting his way. He explained that if City Manager Lehr is not of Councilman Gardiner's
liking, the Council could take the democratic steps necessary to evaluate her instead of
Councilman Gardiner undercutting her authority, undercutting the staff, and
demoralizing them all, which is a huge problem. Mayor Stern stated that Councilman
Gardiner is achieving his goal.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that what is going on is not a "car wreck" but instead
municipal terrorism to the City, City staff, Council, and to the people's business. He
stated that it was time that the cause of the terrorism is identified as Councilman
Gardiner and his little puppets.
Dr. Shanks stated that it was important to remember one of the basic points regarding
communication, which is that no one can make a person angry and instead we choose
to be angry. He stated that this is the situation the Council is dealing with at the
present, and if the Council does not figure out a positive way to deal with the situation,
this would be a horrible legacy to leave for the City. He explained that he has dealt with
this type of situation before, and gave an example of the results, where a City Council
fired the City Manager; undid the entire Rules of Engagement and Ethics that the
Council had worked on; nine of the Department Heads left the City; and, finally the
residents began to realize what was going on and said that it had to stop. Dr. Shanks
opined that the next election would probably be very ugly and other unpleasant
situations may occur.
Councilman Long opined that the scenario Dr. Shanks just described was exactly
Councilman Gardiner's agenda. He stated that he would make it clear in the next
election, should Councilman Gardiner be so unwise to run for re-election, that this was
his agenda, and he would do everything in his power to assist someone in unseating
Councilman Gardiner.
Dr. Shanks stated that it was important for Council to realize that the examples given
today have demonstrated that they are able to work together in spite of all that has
happened; and it may very well be that the Council cannot recover the five members
working together as well as in the past, but suggested that the group break to get
something to eat and continue the conversations over lunch to arrive at some creative
solutions.
City Attorney Lynch reminded the group that the Council was to recess to a Closed
Session at noon regarding the York land purchase.
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 28 of 55
Dr. Shanks posed the following questions to the Council to ponder for discussion over
lunch: 1)When Council looks back on the decisions that are going to be made, what is
going to make you feel like you did whatever you could? 2)What is going to make you
feel that you lived up to the values that are your core values? 3)What kind of individual
Council members do you want to be? Dr. Shanks reiterated that Councilman Long's
statement was to fight fire with fire.
Councilman Long stated that he would try whatever technique was necessary, but the
goal was not how the battle was fought, but the outcome.
Dr. Shanks stated that the goal was both how it was fought and what the outcome was.
Councilman Long agreed but stated that what he desired to see for the City were the
following goals: 1) preservation of open space; 2) protection of the City's finances; and,
3) a good staff team that is valued. He noted that he did not have a particular
preference in a way to achieve the goals, but was interested in what is successful.
Dr. Shanks stated that the Council needed to think about ways of accomplishing these
goals in a way that everyone could feel proud of them. He noted that this was a
defining moment to decide how to respond when one is unfairly attacked.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that what Dr. Shanks was really asking was the following
question: Can the five Council Members collaboratively, openly and cooperatively work
together to accomplish the Council's goals?
Dr. Shanks agreed and added that if the Council decides it cannot work together in this
manner, it must identify the options that are available. He noted that since the
beginning of our country, there have been fights over the majority versus the minority,
but the Council must determine how to use integrity to deal with the present situation.
He asked if the five Council Members could work together and protect the staff, which is
a fundamental factor. He indicated that when the Council reviewed the past, they noted
that the previous City Manager did not fight the battle over Channel 33 that is presently
being fought and should have. He indicated that no Council Member or Subcommittee
should have ever ended up doing the work of the City Manager and reiterated that this
basic premise relates back to the point regarding the role to be taken.
Mayor Stern stated that the reporting structure of Channel 33 was an error of judgment
by the City Manager and Council, which needed to be dealt with and corrected. He
noted that the initial situation was championed by a Council Member, so the politics of it
made it very difficult for City Manager Evans; none of the Council Members was willing
to challenge Councilman Gardiner regarding the structure of the situation; it festered for
a few years; and, to her credit City Manager Lehr examined the situation and declared
that it did not work and needed to be restructured.
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 29 of 55
City Manager Lehr reported that she wanted to set the record straight. She stated that
prior to being hired she attended the Channel 33 Workshop/City Council Meeting in
January 2007, where the City Council decided that Channel 33 should report to the City
Manager. She noted that the problems began when she attempted to implement the
Council's decision.
Dr. Shanks stated that the present reporting structure for Channel 33 is the correct
structure, but noted that the difficulties experienced are the result of correcting the
reporting structure.
Councilman Long stated that the issue boils down to the following questions: Are we a
board of directors that sets policy which staff then consistently implements without
regard to favoritism or cronyism? Is there a department of the City where the manager
of the department is a volunteer, who is a close personal friend of a Council Member,
and when she does not like something the City Manager does, she sends an email to
the Council Member? He inquired if the City was a professional government or a "crony
government."
Dr. Shanks replied that the City was in the stage of switching from one structure to the
next, even though he did not necessarily agree with some of the words Councilman
Long used. He added that the challenge was to determine how a professional
government deals with the situation, and how the four Council Members and staff
members would deal with a difficult situation, no matter how Councilman Gardiner
responds.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark commented that the reason City Manager Evans was not present
today was he saw the tsunami coming and got off the beachhead, and City Manager
Lehr was on the beachhead just as it swamped over her, the entire staff, and the
Council.
RECESS AND RECONVENE:
Mayor Stern called a recess for lunch from 12:33 p.m. to 12:45 p.m.
Team Building
Dr. Shanks asked Council to identify standards to be met so that when solutions were
identified the Council could determine if the solution was action oriented.
Councilman Wolowicz asked if the Council might make policy decisions and take action
on the steps to move forward.
Dr. Shanks requested suggestions from Council that would necessitate proactive,
positive action be taken to resolve the particular situation that the Council is dealing
City Council Meeting Minutes
Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 30 of 55
with. He explained that if the Council were entering into negotiations regarding the
budget, the Council would identify principles to be met by that budget.
Mayor Stern stated that one of the standards would be that staff has to be taken out of
the equation so that they will be able to perform the tasks assigned by Council.
Dr. Shanks clarified that Council should provide solutions for how the team or some
section of the team is going to respond or act in the future. He inquired if there was a
resolution or solution to the situation that has not yet been tried. He noted that the goal
was to figure out the next step for a professional team to take and to judge if the action
that Council comes up with is the kind of action they wish to take.
Councilman Wolowicz stated that his one of his objectives was to further the best
interests of the City, which is slightly different than the best interests of the Council
Members.
Dr. Shanks reiterated that the solution for the present issue must be in the best interests
of the City.
Councilman Long indicated that the Council should formulate a solution that is not only
fair and balanced to all five Council Members, but is perceived as such by all five. He
added that another goal would be to define the Council's roles and compartmentalize
them. He added that the Council needs to understand the appropriate conduct on and
off of the dais.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that another standard should be that all five Council
Members should participate in the solution.
City Manager Lehr stated that she recognized the Council would want to wall off the
issues from the staff, but that goal was not possible since those at the senior level
including City Attorney Lynch, Deputy City Manager Petru, Finance/IT Director McLean,
and herself, have spent countless hours trying to deal with the demands for public
documents and the charges that the City is destroying evidence. She explained that
they have no choice but to spend hours dealing with the situation.
Mayor Stern agreed with City Manager Lehr's statement, but explained that he meant
that the five Council Members should recognize the core value that staff is not a political
football; and the squabbles Council might have should remain at the Council level, so
that when Council decisions are made staff has clear direction. He stated that he
recognized some things were beyond Council control such as Public Records Act
requests and some of Councilman Gardiner's demands.
Dr. Shanks suggested that a bigger solution was to determine how the Council should
act going forward and he inquired if the Council agreed that staff should be walled off
City Council Meeting Minutes
Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 31 of 55
from certain issues. He stated that the goal should be to work with the smaller task of
identifying solutions in order to move the Council forward.
Councilman Long stated that the situation of the staff getting involved in the Council's
policy and political disputes is that the staff is being victimized, like children in the
divorce of their parents. He stated that people having strong policy views want to be
able to express them strongly and wanted to know if there was a way for Council
Members to recognize that when differences are very decisively stated it is not a
personal attack. He explained that in his case, the way he communicates may
sometimes come across as a personal attack when in actuality it is an attack on policy;
however, he stated his comments regarding Councilman Gardiner are both personal
and policy attacks. He admitted that he was probably less effective than others in
distinguishing between the personal and policy attacks, but in his case everything was
completely above board with all cards face up on the table with no surrogates, which he
believed was important.
Dr. Shanks noted that in the Management Partners' recommendations, there was some
comment about the Council at times micromanaging from the policy decision into the
staff implementation.
Mayor Stern stated that when Councilman Gardiner brought up some of the issues with
his August 2007 IT report, it was particularly puzzling to him that Councilman Gardiner's
choice of words was that he had been "ambushed," which demonstrates a fundamental
misunderstanding of the very basic process. He explained that Councilman Gardiner
placed an item on the agenda, Council Members could not call him to state their
concerns because of the legal constraints of the Brown Act, yet he had a grotesque
misunderstanding of the fundamental way that Council must act. He noted that the item
was discussed at the meeting, some of the members voiced concerns about his
proposal, and rather than accepting those concerns as the collective decision of the
Council on a 4 to 1 vote, he chose to perceive it as "being ambushed." He stated that
for him the decision was not about Councilman Gardiner, but about the policy.
Councilman Long stated that in fairness, for him, it was partially about Councilman
Gardiner, but he tried to be very careful about that, because when he was dealing with
the IT report, it was not just that it expressed a viewpoint of policy that he thought was a
departure from what the Council agreed with previously; but he also felt it was an effort
to deceive him since key assumptions of the study upon which the report was based
were left out. He stated that either by incompetence or design there was an effort to
affirmatively mislead him by presenting a Council Member authored report to cause him
to make important policy decisions on behalf of the City. He noted that the report was
incompetent, plagiarized, and left out key points, but he presented his concerns in a
very factual way. He stated that from his point of view it was an issue regarding the
personal integrity, credibility, and competence of one of the Council Members.
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
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Dr. Shanks stated that the ideas that Councilman Long just expressed were very much
like the statement Councilman Gardiner read at the City Council's last meeting,
regarding the fact that there is no trust. He stated that trust could be rebuilt, but it was
difficult. He shared a story about Margaret Thatcher who noted that she was thrilled
when people attacked her personally, because it meant there were no longer any
substantive policy issues for people to discuss.
City Manager Lehr stated that she is grateful that there has been no evidence of any
wrongdoing by her or Council Members in all the thousands of documents that have
been provided.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that point was a fact, but noted the attacks still keep
coming. He indicated that he has come to the conclusion that this is not about finding
truth and reality, but instead about disruption and changing the City because one does
not like the City government.
Dr. Shanks presented a scenario where the Council would be called into another City to
examine this situation and make recommendations regarding steps that could be taken
to resolve the matter. He stated that the Council had to step back from the personal
attacks, hurt, anger, feelings of being victimized, and the sense that nothing was going
to change, in order to come up with possible recommendations.
Councilman Long suggested the following: 1) Protocols be developed for both ethical
conduct and communication between staff and the Council Members; 2) Controls be
established regarding the consumption of City resources and staff time, such as the
adoption of the one-hour rule; and, 3) Controls be established regarding the agenda so
that items are not placed on the agenda when Council cannot take specific action on
them.
Dr. Shanks inquired if any Council Member could place items on the agenda in this
manner and noted this was a structural issue that needed to be addressed.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that there was a balance between hijacking the agenda
and having one of the five Council Members place something important on the agenda
for Council action.
Councilman Long indicated that in four and a half years on the Council, no other Council
Member has placed anything on the agenda in the manner that he had described, and
noted that even Councilman Gardiner does not do it very frequently. He indicated that
there were various tools available to an individual Council Member who wants to disrupt
things, and some of them the Council can do nothing about.
Dr. Shanks inquired if there was a positive way to move forward to five or six years in
the future, with suggestions to strengthen the City Council to make certain this kind of
situation does not occur.
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
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Mayor Pro Tern Clark stated that he did not want the last part of his tenure on Council to
be wasted and wanted to concentrate on the goals he hoped the Council would
accomplish in his second term. He noted that he wanted the Council to resolve the
present issues.
Dr. Shanks stated that if he were to talk with Councilman Gardiner about the Council's
discussion, he would want to be able to state that the solutions the Council discussed
were in the best interests of the City, and not just directed at one particular problem. He
explained that the purpose of the present conversation was to determine the steps to be
taken to ensure the Council has the opportunity to create a legacy that invites others to
want to join the City Council in the future.
Councilman Wolowicz stated that the first action item should be that this package of
information and dialogue be conveyed to Councilman Gardiner since he was not
present.
Councilman Long stated that if that was a motion, he would second it.
Councilman Wolowicz stated that all five Council Members needed to make decisions
regarding the topics that were discussed and listed during the day's discussions. He
noted that he either wanted buy-in on the topics from each Council Member, or at the
least have any antagonist have the ability to make a statement before the Council takes
a vote on the matter.
Councilman Long stated that the Council needs to try to have all five Council Members
present, but noted that absences could not be allowed to be used as a means of
preventing a decision.
Dr. Shanks stated that Council might direct staff to work on some of the suggested
topics to come back with a strategy, but noted the question regarding if there was a way
to work with Councilman Gardiner in a positive way still remained.
Mayor Stern stated that Dr. Shanks has heard the concerns and frustrations from the
four Council Members and staff present; and inquired if Dr. Shanks had any
suggestions, since the attempts made by Council and staff, up to this point, have not
resolved the issues.
Dr. Shanks inquired if the Council has attempted arbitration.
City Manager Lehr stated that arbitration had been attempted by Councilman Wolowicz.
Councilman Long reported that his campaign manager of 2003, who was Councilman
Gardiner's campaign manager in 2001, suggested that Councilman Long agree to a
meeting with Councilman Gardiner. Councilman Long stated that he agreed to meet,
City Council Meeting Minutes
Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
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but the meeting could not be arranged. He indicated that a second attempt was made
for a meeting with the same results.
Dr. Shanks inquired if there was a facilitator offered in the past for a meeting with
Councilman Gardiner.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that he would be in favor of the idea of formally having
Councilman Wolowicz act as a negotiator with Councilman Gardiner.
Councilman Wolowicz thanked Mayor Pro Tem Clark for the compliment, and noted that
one of the points he suggested with Councilman Gardiner was the concept of mediation
and/or arbitration, noting that Councilman Gardiner took notes at that meeting.
Dr. Shanks stated that the interests at stake are the needs of Councilman Gardiner, the
Council, and the staff and suggested that the Council work on an approach to those
needs.
Councilman Long stated that the agenda of the City Council is not and should not be
about Councilman Gardiner's complaints regarding the campaign of Councilman Long
or Mayor Stern and he would not agree to enter into mediation or arbitration regarding
those matters. He indicated that he would be happy to mediate or arbitrate City
business.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark indicated if there was to be a formal mediation, other topics not to
be included in the discussion would be the termination of City Manager Lehr, Finance/IT
Director McLean, or Ted Vegvari. He noted that Councilman Gardiner should not
negotiate a change in staff.
Councilman Long indicated that the purpose of the mediation would be to mediate a
way forward for the City Council.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that what he is afraid of is that Councilman Gardiner will
not stop his efforts until he succeeds in the dismissal of City Manager Lehr, Finance/IT
Director McLean, and Ted Vegvari.
Dr. Shanks indicated that the Council should consider all of the possibilities including
the following: mediation or arbitration, taking no action, or compartmentalizing the
damage.
Councilman Long indicated that he believed the Council was at its best when
Councilman Gardiner was not present. He stated that if Councilman Gardiner chooses
to absent himself from the meetings, so be it; and when he is willing to be involved, he
should be encouraged to be involved in a positive, constructive way regarding the
decisions to be made.
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 35 of 55
City Manager Lehr stated that such a resolution would not help the staff because just
the day before, the staff was called upon to provide immediate information that was
being demanded by Councilman Gardiner; and she suspected it would take a number of
hours to provide the information and staff would be skewered for applying the new one-
hour rule. She indicated that whether the Council is meeting or not, the staff members
are easy targets.
Dr. Shanks stated that there must be an established set of protocols that a person not
involved in the dispute could determine to be reasonable. He noted that Management
Partners indicated that the one-hour rule was reasonable. He reported that most cities
consider the one-hour rule as reasonable and not a gag order, because once a Council
Member requests the staff to work on a task that will take a long period of time, that
decision is appropriately one for the entire Council to make.
Mayor Stern stated that one thing that is important to him as the Mayor is to make sure,
to the maximum extent that it is possible, the agenda as adopted by the City Council is
the agenda that the City staff is focused on and advancing. He indicated that it was
critical that staff members not lose sight of that point and they advance the agenda that
has been adopted, particularly given the City's limited resources. He inquired as to the
number of hours that Councilman Gardiner was at City Hall the previous week to review
records and invoices.
Finance/IT Director McLean stated there was probably a total of 30 hours spent by all
staff members responding to Councilman Gardiner's recent request to review records
last week at City Hall.
Mayor Stern stated that the structure of the government is that the majority of the
Council defines staff's work, and yet one Council member has come in and is constantly
taking that away.
Councilman Long stated that by increasing the IT expenses a small amount, the City
could purchase a litigation-style software package that would allow the staff to respond
to Public Records Act requests more efficiently, noting that the Council may have to
authorize an additional full or part-time position of a Public Records Act officer to assist
in this area. He stated that his proposal may ultimately be to place an item on a Council
agenda to establish the cost and provide the tools as a solution to the problem enabling
the rest of the staff to function effectively, because we cannot get this particular member
of Council to get back to business.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark asked what it would take to get Councilman Gardiner to cease
these unconstructive activities. He indicated that there were four Council Members
present willing to work collaboratively and put the past behind them. He noted if the
only thing that would get Councilman Gardiner to move forward was the termination of
City Manager Lehr, Finance/IT Director McLean, and Ted Vegvari those options were
not being considered.
City Council Meeting Minutes
Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 36 of 55
Dr. Shanks stated that before lunch Mayor Stern pointed out that Councilman Gardiner
was being effective in derailing Council from its goals. Mayor Stern had inquired how
staff could be protected and one thing that came to his mind was that the one-hour rule
could easily be abused by making separate requests every week or every day. He
suggested that Council could determine the period of time that was reasonable to
respond to the requests, if the one-hour requests add up. Dr. Shanks indicated that he
had not taken a position on the matter, but stated that if any one Council Member were
in one part of the room shouting, all of the attention would go immediately to that
person. He noted that if the attention is not directed towards them and the work
continues, eventually the person will look fairly silly.
Councilman Long stated that one example was when Councilman Gardiner read his
statement off-camera on Monday, March 24, 2008. He opined that Councilman
Gardiner always chooses to do certain things off-camera or through surrogates, and
noted that the Council was discussing the Approval of the Agenda at that time, so
arguably he was out of order. Councilman Long stated that Council can and should
take control of the agenda to state that the campaigns of Councilman Long and Mayor
Stern are not on the agenda and the Council will not allow the reading of the statement.
He indicated that the Council should get back to business and those kinds of things
should not be on the agenda, nor should lawyers of Council Members be allowed to
speak on behalf of the Council Members, because they are not elected.
City Attorney Lynch stated that before the discussion went any further, the Council
needed to recess to Closed Session so that the City negotiating team could discuss the
proposed land purchase.
RECESS INTO CLOSED SESSION:
Mayor Stern recessed the Council into Closed Session at 1:28 p.m.
RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION:
Mayor Stern reconvened the meeting from Closed Session into Open Session at 2:07
p.m.
Tactical Plan for 2008 (306)
Councilman Wolowicz moved, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Clark, to continue the item
regarding the Tactical Plan for 2008 to a Council meeting in May.
The motion passed with Councilman Long abstaining (3-0-1).
Councilman Long moved that the Council accept public comment on the Tactical Plan.
City Council Meeting Minutes
Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 37 of 55
Tom Redfield, representing the R & R Coalition, Rancho Palos Verdes, stated that his
Coalition applauds the City for having the Organizational Wide Assessment. He stated
that he reviewed the City's traffic enforcement materials and based on the success of
the dedicated traffic Deputy versus the shared regional traffic Deputy, he was proposing
that the City create a second dedicated traffic Deputy for the City of Rancho Palos
Verdes from the current shared regional pool of total hours.
Councilman Long stated that he would study the issues, but that he was cautious about
making changes to the shared contract without discussing the matter with the other
Peninsula cities who participate. He noted that the City of Rancho Palos Verdes would
soon be approaching the cites that participate in the Peninsula Regional Law
Enforcement to see if they are interested in sharing in the cost of the Los Angeles
County Sheriff's Advanced Surveillance and Protection (ASAP) program. He indicated
that he appreciated the speakers' comments and noted that in this community one is
three to four times likely to be injured by traffic incidents than by incidents related to
crime.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark inquired if Mr. Redfield's premise was that the City of Rancho
Palos Verdes would be better leveraged having another dedicated traffic Deputy.
Mr. Redfield answered in the affirmative and stated that it would be at no additional cost
if the hours were separated out from the Peninsula Regional contract.
Team Building (1101)
Dr. Shanks asked for input from City Attorney Lynch regarding her perspective on the
steps that could be taken to deal with the Council's conflict and minimize the harm.
City Attorney Lynch indicated that if a Council Member has an item to be placed on a
City Council agenda it was certainly appropriate to do so, including any items that take
any substantial amount of staff time. She stated that this was the process that has
recently been enacted and essentially works well under most circumstances. She noted
that she was concerned that we could put too many constraints on Council Members
being able to obtain information and a Council Member could potentially argue that he is
being disenfranchised and unable to obtain documents. She noted that it might be
appropriate to place an item on a future agenda regarding additional directives and
policies to deal with the issue, noting it was important not to disenfranchise any Council
Member from making legitimate requests that are not too consuming of staff resources.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that one Council Member is consuming too much of the
staff resources and as a consequence there are Council Members who are not having
things done and not constantly requesting information from staff. He noted that all
Council Members are to be equal. He compared the fact that Councilman Gardiner
consumed 30 hours of staff time this week compared to his one hour of staff time for the
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 38 of 55
month or perhaps for the year. He inquired if Councilman Gardiner should be able to
consume this amount of time if all Council Members are equal.
Councilman Long stated that there should be a careful balance, and he would never
want any Council Member to be able to legitimately say that they are being deprived of
information they have requested. He indicated that if a Council Member requests
information requiring more staff time than the present one-hour rule allows, he would
need to bring that request to Council for approval. He noted that he wanted the
requests to be made in the public because he wanted people to know that Councilman
Gardiner is asking for every email between him and certain people covering a whole
host of subjects for the last eleven years. He noted that he did not want Councilman
Gardiner to be able to address all of the issues "offline" so he could continue the myth to
the public that he is a friendly, cooperative person who does not burden anyone and
then to be privately bludgeoning staff"offline"with litigation-style document requests.
Councilman Long stated that the necessary arrangements and budget adjustments
need to be made so that the public has an understanding of exactly what is going on.
Mayor Stern indicated that this issue is regarding the allocation of public resources,
which is the Council's decision to make. He stated that the Council should make the
decision to either allocate the resources or not and take whatever political heat is
associated with it, as opposed to doing it underneath the radar in a most disruptive way.
He noted that the requests for information are coming in surreptitiously, such as the
letter received by staff the previous week, that stated Councilman Gardiner would be in
the next day to review a list of specified items. He indicated that a decision of this
nature should be a collective Council decision.
Councilman Long stated that it was one thing to send a letter, as Councilman Gardiner
did, to City Attorney Lynch privately stating that he knows the law and the documents
should be produced, or to staff privately, and yet another thing if he is forced to do it in
public.
Dr. Shanks stated that the topic being discussed was really at the heart of the issue of
transparency.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that he believed the one-hour rule that was recently
adopted should be modified.
Dr. Shanks asked if City Attorney Lynch was suggesting modifications or clarifications to
the one-hour rule, noting that Council needs to understand the needs of staff members.
City Attorney Lynch stated that she was suggesting some fine tuning of the one-hour
rule, since Council had previously decided to omit items that are on upcoming agendas
and that particular aspect of the policy is being used liberally. She noted that perhaps
there was a protocol necessary to address how requests should be made from Council
and to determine reasonable time limits regarding the responses to those requests,
City Council Meeting Minutes
Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 39 of 55
because of their disruptive nature. She explained that the City received an email one
afternoon that indicated Councilman Gardiner would be coming in to review documents
the next day; and a subsequent email sent one morning stating he wanted the
requested documents later that same day. Responding to a question from Mayor Stern,
City Attorney Lynch stated that the most recent request from Councilman Gardiner was
for the City to produce copies of additional invoices.
Dr. Shanks suggested that, as the Council Members discuss this matter, they should
not allow anger to guide them in their remarks.
Mayor Stern stated that he was returning to his earlier point; noting that the agenda of
the elected City Council is not getting done because of the constant requests for
information from one of its members.
Councilman Long stated that he found it intriguing that Councilman Gardiner stated he
was unavailable to do business with the Council, yet he was available to demand these
other things.
Dr. Shanks stated that the reaction the Council Members are expressing continues to
enable the behavior and Council must respond to it by taking the emotion out of the
situation as much as possible.
Responding to a question from Mayor Stern, Finance/IT Director McLean stated that
Councilman Gardiner's recent request was for 18 months worth of invoices for the City's
telephone service provider regarding T1 lines. He explained that he received a voice
message from Councilman Gardiner around 11:30 a.m., but no details as to the nature
of the request. He indicated that he left Councilman Gardiner a message suggesting
that Councilman Gardiner could leave either a voice mail or email regarding the
information he was requesting. He reported that after he returned from lunch, around
1:30 p.m., he received a phone call from City Attorney Lynch in which she indicated she
had received an email from Chip Rawlings, requesting that the information be delivered
to them via Fax by 2:00 p.m. that same day.
Dr. Shanks inquired as to a reasonable response to this type of request for staff in the
future.
City Attorney Lynch stated that there should be protocols adopted to set up time
parameters for these requests. She reported that she notified Mr. Rawlings that
sending requests of this nature to her was completely inappropriate; and indicated that
they should be directed to City Manager Lehr and City staff and not to her, and that
putting her in the middle of a request for information only delays the timeliness of the
reply.
City Council Meeting Minutes
Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 40 of 55
Councilman Long asked if the phone services involved in the request were in the same
area in which Mr. Ken DeLong previously expressed an interest in providing service to
the City.
Finance/IT Director McLean responded that it was indirectly related and added that
Councilman Gardiner's request for the 18 months of information was clearly a follow-up
to the information he had recently reviewed.
Councilman Long stated that he becomes angry when his City is a victim of cronyism
and this was another example of cronyism. He reported that he has an email in his
possession where Mr. Delong expressed dissatisfaction that Councilman Gardiner was
unable to obtain for Mr. Delong a contract with the City, and he suspected that this was
in response to that matter. He opined that this was another example of cronyism and
Councilman Gardiner's currying favor with particular individual residents to aggrandize
himself.
Dr. Shanks noted that there were probably many reasons for him to request this
information, although it was hard to imagine a positive one.
City Manager Lehr explained how she was planning to proceed with the request. She
stated that she did not believe the one-hour rule was inadequate, even though it does
exclude items coming up on a future agenda. She indicated that her initial comment to
staff was that this request did not seem to have a reasonable connection to the
upcoming agenda item regarding the discussion of the remaining Management Partner
recommendations regarding IT, because there was nothing as specific as T1 lines for
the telephone service. She stated that she planned to ask Finance/IT Director McLean
for an estimate of the time required for his staff to gather 18 months of invoices and if it
was going to require more than approximately one to one and a half hours to compile
the materials, it would need to be brought to Council for a decision, since this was a
new body of work.
Councilman Long stated that ultimately the City will continue to receive requests of this
nature, but he did not think it was practical to have an agenda item for each and every
separate request and suggested that perhaps the requests would need to be grouped
together.
Dr. Shanks stated that the policy the Council adopts or modifies should protect the staff
as much as possible, since mixing the staff up in the politics of the City is very
destructive.
Councilman Long indicated that the policy be written so that staff only needs to make a
determination regarding if an item is going to require more or less than an hour of staff
time in order to respond; and if the required time is more than an hour, the Council
Member would have to decide if it was important enough to ask his colleagues for
approval. He stated that it is being falsely portrayed that the one-hour rule is an
City Council Meeting Minutes
Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 41 of 55
impediment to the Council Member attaining information; but it is instead a requirement
that he step forward, put it on the agenda, and ask for support to devote the resources
to receive the materials. He stated that if Councilman Gardiner is willing to have the
courage to come forward and request the invoices, he would be happy to vote that he
receives them so that Council could all review them, in addition to his emails with some
of his cronies as well.
Councilman Long commented that this matter really boils down to an issue of trust,
because not every email between every Council Member and every staff member is
copied to all the others, since that would be a violation of the Brown Act. He stated that
Council Members have to trust that when questions are asked and information is
gathered, that information will be shared to help educate each Member at the meeting
when the item is discussed and the decision is made.
Dr. Shanks stated that perhaps Council could direct staff to propose some reasonable
rules to tighten up the one-hour rule, which might be as simple as a Council Member
bringing up his intention to make a request and presenting the reasons for the request
to his colleagues prior to the request being made to staff.
Councilman Long reported that in the past Councilman Wolowicz and he had
conference calls with Finance/IT Director McLean, which he thought was a useful way
for him to be educated on the issues, but lately he has just read the answers to
Councilman Wolowicz's questions regarding agenda items, instead of asking his own.
He indicated that the person that needs to be involved in the process to start rebuilding
trust is Councilman Gardiner, noting that might be possible with the help of Councilman
Wolowicz or someone else.
Councilman Wolowicz stated for the record that he voted against the one-hour rule,
because he had some concern over the matter. He indicated that traditionally, Council
Members could meet with staff to ask questions regarding an item on the agenda prior
to the City Council meeting. He noted that he found it helpful to send staff a list of
queries regarding matters that he needed clarification on. He stated that his original
intent was to inform staff of the questions he would be asking at the meeting, and then
he found he could get answers to his questions. He reported that the questions and
answers he poses are distributed to all Council Members at the meeting. He indicated
that the numerous requests made by Councilman Gardiner have the perception of
abuse of the system by putting unwarranted demands on City staff time. He stated this
was a very important problem, because it grinds the process of government to a halt or
sets in the mind of the person issuing the demand or request that he will be set upon
because of the fact that he is presenting questions. He reiterated that the Council has
instituted a rule for this particular situation which is truly unique in the history of the City.
He stated that he would protect the system as it is currently established and would not
protect any colleagues' right to abuse the system.
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 42 of 55
Mayor Pro Tern Clark stated that he appreciated the statement from Councilman
Wolowicz because he believed it to be right on the mark. He inquired if there was any
question in Councilman Wolowicz's mind that the perceived abuse was not the reality.
Dr. Shanks stated that there was no way to know for certain what the reality was
regarding the matter.
There was Council discussion regarding if the matter was an abuse of the situation or
not.
Councilman Long observed that the way Councilman Wolowicz uses the question and
answer process with staff is the model of how it should be used, and in fact some of it is
an outgrowth of specific encouragement given to Councilman Wolowicz and himself
when they first joined the City Council because of the number of questions they asked
during the Council meetings. He stated that the process of asking questions and
obtaining answers is used to check out assumptions, confirm certain points, determine if
something needs to be removed from the Consent Calendar, save the Council and staff
members time, and helps to educate fellow Council Members. He added that
Councilman Wolowicz often references his questions and answers in the late
correspondence packet in order to save additional time during Council meetings.
Dr. Shanks stated that there could not be enough rules made to solve the problems. He
noted that Finance/IT Director McLean thought that the attempt should be made to talk
to Councilman Gardiner one more time.
Finance/IT Director McLean stated that perhaps the Council should discuss some ideas
of where to go from here, including protocols and tightening up the one-hour rule,
because he stated there was abuse going on. He opined that what occurred last week
cost the staff more than 30 hours of time, yet did not serve the purpose of answering
questions to make a decision for a Council agenda item, and instead served the
purpose of another agenda. He stated that it would be worthwhile to lay out groundwork
for providing another opportunity to reach out to Councilman Gardiner with someone
like Dr. Shanks. He stated that the person could report to him the details of the meeting
and discuss the concerns and collective suggestions to move the Council from its
present situation forward, with or without him.
Dr. Shanks stated that he was a manager at a University for 18 years and had to fire an
employee. He explained that he received information from Human Resources about the
necessary legal steps to take in this situation. He stated that the more he followed the
rules, the worse the situation became and the more the employee stood her ground.
He reported that at one point he sat the employee down and explained that the situation
was not working and they were really just damaging each other. He inquired how the
situation appeared from her perspective and the conversation ended; she came in the
next day and resigned.
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 43 of 55
Dr. Shanks shared another story regarding the County of Santa Clara Library System,
which was being attacked by a small group of people regarding Internet access,
because they believed the Internet should be filtered for pornography. He indicated that
the conversation started with the group coming into one of the branch libraries with the
police to arrest the librarian for distribution of pornography since she was not restricting
people's use of the Internet. He reported that the group of librarians organized against
the initial group of people, and then the parents began to organize a group. He reported
that he constructed a value analysis for the decision makers which illustrated that if they
took a certain action that action would reinforce specific values. He noted that at the
beginning there was no point in holding a joint meeting of the groups, because each of
the groups was so entrenched in their positions that there was no possibility of resolving
the issues.
Dr. Shanks suggested that Council might direct staff to find someone impartial who
could identify some of the needs and explore reasonable solutions with Councilman
Gardiner.
Councilman Wolowicz stated that absent of any corrective action by the Council, the
Council was in the middle of watching a train wreck.
Dr. Shanks stated that he imagined there were other California cities that have dealt
with similar situations, but the Council might find an alternative solution that they have
not previously thought of that should be explored.
Councilman Long stated that there was one alternative to the concept of train wreck and
that was recognizing the philosophy of"we are four, he is one." He stated that the
Council seems to have difficulty with the arithmetic every now and then, and it need not
be a train wreck, but might simply be the caboose coming off the tracks.
Dr. Shanks stated that a formal arbitration might be the best idea, including debriefing
Councilman Gardiner on the dialogue that has taken place at the meeting today and
giving him an opportunity to respond. He suggested that Council could do one or more
of the following: 1) direct staff to find an impartial person who could explore some
reasonable solutions and report back to the Council; 2) take no action; 3) adopt rules
and protocols and tighten up the one-hour rule, but absent good faith that would not
solve the problem; and, 4) identify external people who care about the future of the City
that Councilman Gardiner trusts and could speak with him about the situation.
Mayor Pro Tern Clark stated that one person, John McTaggart, who helped in the
appointment of Councilman Gardiner to the Council, might be willing to try to intercede.
He commented that Mr. McTaggart was the longest serving Council Member.
Mayor Stern reported that Mr. McTaggart was also the one who brought PV on the Net
aboard as the City's IT Service provider.
City Council Meeting Minutes
Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 44 of 55
Mayor Pro Tern Clark noted that might be another reason that Mr. McTaggart may be
the right choice.
Dr. Shanks indicated that staff could explore these suggestions or strategies. He noted
that Councilman Long's suggestion was to wall off the damage, not respond in kind and
not allow one's chain to be pulled which leads to the reaction demonstrated, because
that just reinforces the dysfunctional behavior.
Councilman Long stated that the path might be a parallel path.
Dr. Shanks asked for any other suggestions that could be added to the list.
City Manager Lehr stated that an alternative to getting angry was one that Dr. Shanks
had mentioned earlier, which was when these issues are faced at a Council meeting,
the frustration should be expressed in terms of explaining what this is doing to the
organization in a manner that can be understood by the community in terms of the
functionality of their government, expenditure of their tax dollars, and disruption to the
City's business. She opined that the community is the audience and ultimately they
probably have the power to put a stop to the problems.
Dr. Shanks reported that there are a couple of books that have come out recently, one
titled Fierce Conversations and another titled Toxic People, which deal with the
methods used to turn this type of situation around. He noted that typically when people
get angry they say nothing, but these books direct a set of steps to identify the behavior
engaged in, the response to express how it makes one feel, and the consequences of
the action. He stated that these books outline the way in which we would hope adults
would interact with each other but often do not for a number of reasons. He reported
that when one is attacked his biological system begins pumping adrenaline and he will
either respond by fight or flight, noting that when the adrenaline begins to pump, the
rationale part of the person diminishes to enable the necessary reaction. Dr. Shanks
indicated that when we teach children how to deal with their anger, the first thing we
teach them is to pay attention to what is happening inside. He stated that one strategy
to take when one is being attacked is to pay attention to the trigger and ask the question
regarding the level, from 1 to 10, of the anger that one is feeling. He noted that by
asking the question, one is removing himself from the immediate situation so that he is
less likely to blast back. He noted that skills such as these can be helpful to develop
and noted it was important to stick to the facts and not make judgments, even if you are
convinced that you know the person's motivations, because that leads to a hardening of
the positions which lessens the chance of any kind of change. He suggested that
during the meetings each Council Member should note the triggers, participate in direct
conversation in response, but keep the demonizing out of the conversation. He noted
that at a recent meeting, when Chip Rawlings was speaking for Councilman Gardiner,
Councilman Long attempted to intervene to not allow the speaker, but Mayor Stern
chose to allow him to speak. He opined that Mayor Stern's action was very good
City Council Meeting Minutes
Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
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because the public watching could see that he attempted to be fair, reasonable, and
professional.
Mayor Stern reported that City Manager Lehr received an email the next day stating that
he had cut Mr. Rawlings off and refused to allow him to speak.
City Attorney Lynch noted that the facts speak for themselves.
Dr. Shanks reiterated that the stance to take is to consider what is in the best interests
of the City. He noted that if one approach does not work another might be tried,
although history teaches us that anger and response to anger does not work.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark opined that he did not believe the community really understood
the situation and how imbued with anger and dysfunctional the City has become
because of the issues and they need to know. He stated that he would like to figure out
strategies to make the public aware of the situation, because their premise is that the
City is operating effectively on their behalf. He indicated that there are very few people
who realize that this is like an iceberg under the water and the situation could potentially
sink their ship. He stated that he was not certain the suggested strategies would work;
the public may not find out about the problems until the iceberg is upon them and then
may ask why the Council did not inform them.
Councilman Long stated that public knowledge is also a restraint and the best way to
address the situation is with all cards face up on the table so that the public knows. He
explained the situation as the efforts by one Council Member to push the City Council to
make decisions that are not in the best interest of the City, but rather fulfill personal
vendettas and agendas. He stated that he would always be honest and indicated that
at a recent meeting one of the values that was high on the list was civility, which to him
was much less important than honesty. He noted that he was pleased that honesty was
on the top of the list today because philosophically this is the area where he differs
sharply from Councilman Gardiner.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that he wanted to add an item to the list regarding how the
Council would engage the community so that they are aware of the situation.
Dr. Shanks added that the question would be when and how the community should be
engaged. He indicated if that step was taken too soon, the result could be the formation
of small groups that could cause the situation to become more paralyzed with differing
opinions and hours of public comment.
Mayor Stern stated that it would be very beneficial for Dr. Shanks to meet with
Councilman Gardiner, debrief him, engage him in constructive dialogue, with the goal
that he would recognize and hopefully be willing to modify what he would characterize
as destructive behavior. He opined that Dr. Shanks should have an excellent sense for
where the remainder of the Council was coming from and he possessed skills that were
City Council Meeting Minutes
Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
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not typical of just anyone. He stated that perhaps Dr. Shanks could work with
Councilman Gardiner, listen to his concerns, and arrive at some constructive
suggestions for the entire Council.
Councilman Long reiterated that he believed the Council did actually function well the
first few years or so together. He noted that Councilman Gardiner did an excellent job
during that period of time, and he and Councilman Gardiner could discuss issues, even
leading up to the discussion regarding the Storm Drain User Fee. He explained that at
the end of the discussion, when they produced the document regarding the Storm Drain
User Fee, he recalled that Councilman Gardiner referred to it as a remarkable
document and noted he felt the same. He indicated that having seen the potential
before, he knows it exists, and hopes the City Council can return to the time when the
members functioned well together.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that Councilman Gardiner was going to receive a message
from some of the audience members that he was beaten up at this meeting, which is
really not the case. He indicated that part of the message that should be transmitted to
Councilman Gardiner is that he needs to take ownership for some of what has gone on;
and beyond that he stated he was ready, and believed the other Council Members were
also, to say bygones. He reported that he was in favor of dropping the past and starting
afresh.
Dr. Shanks stated that in the days' discussions he hoped everyone could see that he
was trying to challenge all of the participants to be mindful of what they said, and that he
was honest in speaking up when he thought something crossed the line. He noted that
what was important in trying to mend the situation was that he was both no one's
consultant and everyone's consultant; that he calls things the way he sees them; and
the fundamental thing for him as an ethics consultant was to tell the truth the way he
sees it. He indicated that if anyone present thought he allowed Councilman Gardiner to
be beaten up, that was not his intention, and he hoped that was not what occurred.
Councilman Wolowicz stated that the burden of the message carrier is that the
conversation with Councilman Gardiner will be a two-way street, a great deal of
information will be given to Councilman Gardiner, and Councilman Gardiner has much
information and statements he would like to pass on to the remainder of the Council.
He suggested that the first thing that needed to occur was the summarization of today's
discussion, to be followed by the relaying of the message to Councilman Gardiner, and
then a follow-up meeting to relay the message back to the entire Council. He noted that
until Councilman Gardiner has the satisfaction of knowing that the Council has heard his
side of the story, he would be just as recalcitrant to making changes as any other
person might be in a similar situation. He stated that after all the noted steps, and if
necessary follow-up arbitration, everyone will be on a parallel track. He noted that
taking no action wouldn't change anything, and City government needed to get back
onto the schedule that it needs to adhere to, including incorporating some of the rules
and protocols that will be considered. He indicated that a second part of the process
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March 29, 2008
Page 47 of 55
would be to deal with the issues that Councilman Gardiner raises. Councilman
Wolowicz indicated that the issues raised and the suggestions made demonstrate the
direction that the Council desires to go and the dialogue needs to continue. He noted
that the unfortunate thing was there was a sense of urgency to address this matter as
soon as possible so that no time is wasted.
Dr. Shanks stated that when time allows, Council should consider proactive steps
toward not allowing the next election to become an ugly mess.
Councilman Long suggested that in structuring the way in which the issues are
presented to Councilman Gardiner, someone would have to sift through all that has
been stated including the cathartic experience, and then approach the question of how
to get back to business and move forward constructively, which might best be
commented on by Mayor Pro Tem Clark and Councilman Wolowicz. He noted that he
was not particularly interested in an arbitration or mediation, unless it was narrowly
focused on City business, nor a group discussion on issues related to his campaign. He
indicated that as one of the many targets of the attack it would be hard for him to
provide constructive comments to Dr. Shanks, but believed helpful input would come
from Mayor Pro Tem Clark and Councilman Wolowicz.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark reported that Councilman Wolowicz has already met with
Councilman Gardiner, but he has not. He stated that he has been very blunt with his
comments today, which might upset Councilman Gardiner, but he was being honest.
He indicated that he would be willing to meet with Councilman Wolowicz, Dr. Shanks,
and Councilman Gardiner.
Councilman Wolowicz stated that he was about to propose the same idea.
Dr. Shanks inquired if anyone saw any negative aspects to the suggestion.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that the reason he made the suggestion was that
Councilman Gardiner had once stated that he works best with him.
Dr. Shanks stated that the plan would be to come back to Council with some
suggestions, after the proposed process.
Mayor Stern indicated that Dr. Shanks may pick up on something none of the Council
Members has seen by sitting down and hearing Council Member Gardiner's side of the
story.
Dr. Shanks opined that this would also give Councilman Gardiner the ability to try to
extricate himself from what he might see as not heading in a good direction.
City Attorney Lynch stated that it would of course be up to Councilman Gardiner to
decide whether he chooses to implement this option, and that he may be more
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
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comfortable just meeting with Dr. Shanks, may decide that he does not wish to meet at
all, or say that he wants to meet with his lawyer.
Councilman Long stated that the concept is to attempt to have a meeting with
Councilman Gardiner, the two Council Members, and Dr. Shanks.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark indicated that he would rule himself out if Councilman Gardiner
brings his lawyer.
Councilman Long stated that was his decision to make.
Mayor Stern and Dr. Shanks suggested taking the matter one step at a time to see what
develops.
Councilman Long reported that the whole situation has been one roller coaster ride after
another and one of his concerns is that regardless of the conversation, what occurs
after the meeting is the most important, but noted that each bridge must be crossed as
Council gets to it.
Dr. Shanks stated that there will have to be some walling off and conscious decision as
the Council moves forward because trust will not come back immediately and may not
come back at all, but the business of the City will continue; and the goal will be to
conduct business without it derailing staff and Council Members, which is something
that needs to be done. He noted that it would be ideal if the business of the City could
be conducted as a group of five Council Members plus staff, but noted if that was not
possible, the Council would come to another decision point regarding how to move
forward. He stated that he had to believe that ultimately the good judgment of the
community would come through and that democracy would survive the divisiveness
because the residents make good choices.
Public Works Director Bell stated that the group should look at decisions that can be
made, not just the things we feel victimized by, because it is important not to surrender
our ability to make choices. He stated that the public is going to expect the best of us,
so the question might really be how to determine the vision of this community and
improve the processes within our abilities that we can change, even if one Council
Member is not perceived to be part of that solution.
Dr. Shanks stated that he suspected one of the things he would come back and suggest
to the Council is a process to determine in real practical terms what the Council looks
like when it is at its best, and what it looks like when it is not, so that the Council ends
up with a values and principle based Code of Conduct that is translated into practical
terms. He indicated that this Council is one of the only ones he is aware of that is not
operating with an Ethics and Values Code that is real, not one to just hang on the wall.
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Councilman Wolowicz indicated that once the Council passes the current major hurdle,
such an exercise would be a good experience for the entire Council to be involved in.
Dr. Shanks stated that he would like conclude with each member of the group sharing a
comment or posing a question based on the discussions of the day, as each person
summarizes for himself what he is taking away from the day's proceedings.
City Manager Lehr commented that the day has been emotionally and mentally
exhausting, but a very good exercise to go through and probably something that should
be used as a valuable management tool in the future. She stated that it was too bad
that when it comes to discussing the organization there was only this one overriding
issue that the Council was able to discuss, since Mayor Stern alluded to other things
that we could have been working on as far as productivity and our working relationship
with each other.
Dr. Shanks inquired if the staff had enough time to state their concerns.
City Manager Lehr replied in the negative, but stated that the staff was definitely a part
of the process, because one of the first exercises Dr. Shanks used put the staff in a
good place; but there were more issues that were not addressed. She stated that staff
consists of very talented people who want to share their ideas regarding ways to be
more productive, and ask questions that would help everyone gain more insight and
vice versa. She thanked Dr. Shanks for his work in facilitating the discussions.
Dr. Shanks indicated that today's exercise could be viewed as the first steps in a
process to allow the team to achieve greater things in the future.
Councilman Wolowicz stated that he wanted to take away from the meeting a breathing
body, and noted that he had run out of gas, still had a long journey for the remainder of
the day, and was tired of listening to himself.
Mayor Stern stated that on one level he felt good about the meeting in the sense that it
was very helpful for Council, as painful as it has been, to understand some of the
issues, frustration, and anger that have been experienced, and appreciate where
everyone was coming from, noting there were no surprises. He indicated that on a
totally different level he felt outraged that we have devoted time to what should not have
to be, and embarrassed because everything has been and could be so much better due
to the quality of the City of Rancho Palos Verdes. He noted that he was glad the group
participated in the exercise in terms of what he hoped to see in the future, but was
disappointed that the group had to devote the time to the problem that exists. He stated
that he had hoped to be able to achieve further discussion, a better understanding of
the rules, and how to be more effective. He explained that he adheres to the view that
he was elected to set policy, along with four other members who sit on the Council; he
is on the Board of Directors and comes to make decisions and give his best, and
believes others do the same; and, expects that the staff will move forward to carry out
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
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the Council's agenda as efficiently and effectively as possible. He noted that one thing
missing from today's discussion was the ability to discuss how the Council functions to
achieve this goal. He opined that the Council is not very good at achieving this goal,
and that it should not take the Council as long as it does to arrive at decisions. He
indicated that Council should focus on that goal and gaining a better understanding of
Council and staff roles at a future meeting. He indicated that much progress had been
made on something that he wished never had to be dealt with.
Public Works Director Bell stated that he would like to see the dynamic energy of the
group be released since the capabilities are present and the needs are huge. He
indicated that we should be excited about what we are doing; look to the future and
what we can do; focus on the needs of the community, making quantifiable and
measureable improvements towards these objectives; and, sidetrack the issues that
take us away from these goals. He noted that if people do not want to be part of the
solution, they will alienate themselves. He stated that if the character and vision of the
City is strong, powerful decisions can be made to achieve those goals, and those who
do not wish to be involved will part ways. He indicated that diverse views can bring us
closer to the vision because there is a greater opportunity to work collaboratively to
discover improved alternatives, avoid pitfalls, and reduce cost.
City Attorney Lynch stated that the City has a great staff and we all need to reinforce
each other every day to be even-handed, fair, and supportive, because of the common
goal to benefit the community and to accomplish the City's work. She indicated that if
we can continue to reinforce each other, attempt to not personalize things, and keep
everything as even-handed as we can, these are worthy goals, noting that some days
they are more obtainable than others, so we need to look to each other for support.
Planning Director Rojas stated that he was glad to have participated in this session. He
reported that he comes into contact with many residents and a few weeks ago the
reaction of the public viewing the Council meetings was one of making light of it; but as
it continued, he received serious questions and concerned comments. He indicated
that he was not certain how the situation was going to be resolved, but thought this
opportunity for discussion was a positive step towards a resolution.
Mayor Pro Tem Clark stated that this was quite an experience and expressed
appreciation to Dr. Shanks for his efforts in facilitating the Team Building and
Leadership Session. He noted that he appreciated the fact that Dr. Shanks began the
day with the imagery of the accomplishments of the Council and the actions that the
Council takes pride in collectively and individually. He agreed that it was cathartic
focusing on the main issue confronting the Council. He stated that he gained a greater
appreciation for what the staff is dealing with in this dynamic and noted there was a
level of honesty and candor as a group that has never been experienced before. He
indicated that there was a sense of the common theme from the group of the desire to
attain the necessary help to get beyond the current situation in order to move forward.
He stated that he wished Councilman Gardiner had been present, but hoped there was
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
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an opportunity created with this session to provide a means of including him in the
discussion.
Finance/IT Director McLean stated that he agreed with everything that has been said.
He indicated that he has always thought of himself as an optimist and a positive person,
and his wife is a therapist and has pointed out that he is getting beaten down by what
he has been living through over the last year or so. He continued that he is an optimist
and hoped the plan of action including the upcoming meeting with Dr. Shanks and
Councilman Gardiner would result in positive direction. He noted that he desired
nothing more than to see the group be able to return to serving the City of Rancho
Palos Verdes.
Recreation and Parks Director Rosenfeld expressed appreciation for Dr. Shanks and his
facilitation of the session. He stated that Dr. Shanks laid the cards on the table, which
was really important; and one of the key points he will walk away with are his comments
regarding triggers, because we all respond in certain ways to regular things and when
we react differently something has triggered this reaction. He noted it was important to
be aware of our reaction to triggers and how we might react in a different way the next
time.
City Clerk Morreale stated that a great deal of information was shared at the session
that was very enlightening and it was unfortunate that Councilman Gardiner was not
present, since there was nothing like gaining his insight from his perspective, as well as
having him hear and understand the feelings of others. She indicated that progress has
been made and there is great potential for the future. She noted that it was important to
never close the door completely on the past, and that people needed to be able to park
their anger and egos at the door and return to holding professional Council Meetings.
Deputy City Manager Petru stated that she was surprised at how much emotion was
stirred up for her personally, because she does not tend to let her emotions out. She
indicated that one thing that was apparent was that we all care a great deal about the
City. She stated that the City was incorporated with the great vision of the founders 35
years ago, and that we have lost our way somewhere along the line due to a number of
reasons, including limited resources and perhaps limited vision, and noted the City
became a very reactive organization for a number of years. She stated that she had a
great deal of hope and excitement in the early part of this decade that the City was
turning a corner and returning to that earlier vision of being able to harness the
resources that we have in order to move the City forward and excel way beyond what
the original founders had in mind. She indicated that the things that have been
happening over the last couple of years, and more particularly the current situation,
have made her frustrated because she viewed it as an external force, or perhaps more
accurately, an enemy from within, who is attempting to push the City back into the
reactionary mode. She stated that the current situation was such a disservice to the
community and the people who care about and really invest their time and energy into
the community, which includes Council, staff, and others who have a vested interest in
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Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
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the City. She stated that at the beginning when we were talking about the City's
proudest moments, the public deserves a great deal of credit for those moments, and it
was important to remember that and why we are all sitting in the room today. She
stated that she is an optimist and hopeful that the situation will improve, although she is
not certain how that will happen or play out, but is concerned that it will take a number
of months or even years to achieve. She stated that she did not want to see the City
waste time and voiced her frustration regarding all of the things that we could be
accomplishing that are getting sucked up into the black hole that has been created by
the current situation. She concluded that she was hopeful and appreciated all of the
good ideas and honesty that was shared in the day's discussions.
Councilman Long stated that he thought the meeting was comfortable, pleasant, and
rejuvenating because of the effect of the cathartic experience of putting everything on
the table. He noted that he did not consider himself a politician because if he were he
would be much more polite and much more concerned about what people thought of the
image he projected than about actually trying to achieve something. He indicated that
he was very hopeful after the meeting regarding the attitudes of everyone in the room
and agreed with everything that was said. He indicated he was pleased by the
descriptions reported by Councilman Wolowicz that he was not aware of, which make
him realize that Councilman Wolowicz has tried very hard to play a constructive role in
this process, some with greater success than others. He stated that the meeting
reinforces the view that the staff is working very hard to take a professional approach to
all of the issues they face. He noted he was grateful that the staff when confronted with
difficulties or errors has not tried to cover his mistakes and has confronted him honestly
regarding the situation. He continued that he hoped all Council Members felt the same
as he in this regard and stated that he wanted to know when he made mistakes so that
they could be corrected as quickly as possible. He noted that there has to be a
realization that while the City Council sets the policy, they do not live the daily
operations of the City, and therefore the Council should in the process of decision
making show some respect for and be willing to listen to staff before jumping to
conclusions, noting this concept was part of the day's themes. He stated that one thing
that was ironic and interesting was that notwithstanding that one of the Council
Members seems at times to lack respect for staff, what all Council Members are
competing for is the use of the staff, which if nothing else, indirectly shows that the
Council really does value the staff, even by those who seem to profess to not value it.
He noted that he believes these conflicts burn out in time and the Council is in the midst
of something that was generated by a whole host of emotional things and unhappiness
and acknowledged that his own response perhaps has not helped lead to the best
resolution. He indicated that the general consensus was to find the best path forward
for the sake of the City, and determine the best path forward to keep us focused on the
appropriate role of deciding the policy and supporting staff with positive reinforcement
on the path to implement the established policy. He noted that there was a major
change in the City Council in 2001 and 2003, but there was not a major change in staff,
because the staff was, is, and continues to be a professional, motivated group of people
who will implement the policy directives they are given, even if those directives change
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March 29, 2008
Page 53 of 55
because of a change in the politics. He noted that anyone looking at the histGry of our.
City staff should realize that even if a new Council comes on board, the professional
staff will appropriately implement new policies, and he would not complain about them
doing that because that is their job. He indicated to the credit of some of the prior
Council Members that they have not been critical of staff for implementing the current
policy. He indicated that it was important to return to the historical perspective of the
City, which Councilman Gardiner has departed from, and hoped that if he understood it
better, he would come back to it, respect it, and understand the value of it for the sake
of all of us going forward.
Dr. Shanks stated that he hoped everyone heard in the comments the tremendous
common ground and abilities that the group has as a team to work together to better
accomplish the goals of the City. He noted that if Councilman Gardiner is going to join
the team that is his decision. He commented that every leader can either lead from light
or lead from shadow, the difference being that the people that lead from light take
responsibility for what is going on inside of them and then respond in a way that fosters
growth. He noted that this was one thought he wished everyone to take away from this
session. He stated that he would try to take the next steps fairly quickly, but while that
was occurring the Council should continue making decisions and conducting the
business of the City.
CLOSED SESSION REPORT:
City Attorney Lynch stated that the Council gave unanimous direction, with Councilman
Gardiner absent, to the City's negotiators to prepare a counteroffer to the York Long
Point team with respect to the land purchase and authorizing Mayor Pro Tern Clark to
sign that offer in the absence of Mayor Stern.
Land Acquisition Purchase Agreement (950)
City Attorney Lynch stated that this item would be removed from the agenda in light of
the action taken in Closed Session, which would assume the approval of the Land
Acquisition Purchase Agreement included in the agenda packet.
City's Response to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board Order
and Notice of Violation (1402)
City Attorney Lynch reported that notices of violation and order have been issued by the
Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Board finding 18 entities and the County of Los
Angeles in violation of pollution rules in Santa Monica Bay, and she is recommending
that the City join with the County of Los Angeles and the other entities to file an appeal
from those orders and thereby preserve arguments that the City can make later.
Councilman Wolowicz moved, seconded by Mayor Pro Tern Clark, to approve the staff
recommendation to: 1) Authorize the City to join the County of Los Angeles and 18
City Council Meeting Minutes
Adjourned Regular Meeting
March 29, 2008
Page 54 of 55
other public agencies to file an appeal with the.State Water Resources Control Board
("State Board") challenging the decision by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality
Control Board ("Regional Board") to issue an order and Notice of Violation against the
City alleging a violation of the storm water discharge effluent limits into the Santa
Monica Bay; and, 2) Authorize the City Attorney and City Staff to work with the Regional
Board to attempt to resolve these issues through an informal process.
Councilman Long commented that if the staff recommendation in the future was that the
City might wish to pursue a separate appeal if Council concludes that the City's
conditions are different than the other entities, the situation would be awkward. He
noted that he recalled a past pollution regulation where the cities fell into different
categories. He indicated that the action by the Regional Board was not constructive at
all, nor helpful in addressing the actual pollution problem by setting the standards,
without regard to what is practical and feasible in the community.
City Attorney Lynch replied that there are many common grounds for the appeals but
she would certainly include in any documents the specific facts that Rancho Palos
Verdes and the other peninsula cities do not even drain into this area, which will be
something that will be advanced as well. She indicated that both the common issues, at
a shared cost, and the individual issues of each city that make the response unique, will
be advanced in the appeal.
The motion passed on the following roll call vote:
AYES: Clark, Long, Wolowicz, and Mayor Stern
NOES: None
ABSTAIN: None
ABSENT: Gardiner
COUNCIL DISCUSSION & SUGGESTION OF FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS:
None.
ADJOURNMENT:
Councilman Wolowicz moved, second by Councilman Long, to ._djour the - -ting.
Mayor Stern adjourned the meeting at 4:02 p.m.
Ai4 /IPA,
Mayor
Attest:
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ry City Clerk
W:\City Council Minutes\2008\20080329 CC MINS ADJ MTG TEAM BLDG.doc
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