Page 3 - Sanger Herald 7-5-18 E-edition

SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, JULY 5, 2018 EDITORIAL & OPINION
By Dick Sheppard
I'm sad to have to report the demise of the oversight responsibilities of the Measure S Citizens Oversight Committee.
Those duties have been assumed by city manager Tim Chapa.
Dick Sheppard
show up once a month and approve whatever the council sent its way before the council voted on it. That was the sequence spelled out in ordinance 1094 and faithfully followed until Tim Chapa became city manager in early 2016.
But a couple of things happened that made the final few years of the oversight commit- tee more complex than a space mission, set the committee and the council against each other and finally attracted another grand jury to town: resolution 4122, mysteriously went missing and even more mysteriously, apparently totally forgotten; and, under city manager Brian Haddix, gang and drug pre- vention and intervention grants began to go to outside non-profit entities. (Many claimed that was never envisioned by those who cre- ated the original Measure S. They intended, it was said, for those activities to be overseen by the police department.)
Without resolution 4122, the committee struggled mightily with line item supplement versus supplant issues, constantly asking for direction – and not receiving it – from the city manager and the city council.
The committee coped with equally com- plex issues related to those new non-profit grants. That was made even more difficult because new city manager, Chapa, and the present city council and staff seemed to make a point of not providing the committee with timely or complete information.
A compliance audit the committee request- ed was so mishandled by Chapa and his staff it was useless.
Chapa completely bypassed the commit- tee when it came to letting the committee vet Measure S spending before the council voted on it - and the council was okay with that.
Chapa, went against the committee’s interpretation of supplement versus sup- plant when he recommended and the council approved raises for all public safety employ- ees out of Measure S funds.
Then, as mysteriously as it had disap- peared,resolution4122re-appearedjustin time to seemingly give weight to the city manager’s wage increase decision.
Coincidence?
The tired and battered committee, with every reason to be suspicious, balked at Chapa’s attempt to get the committee involvedinfurtherclarifyingtheresolution.
That’s about the time the grand jury came to town and wound up issuing a report that pretty much agreed with all the committee’s complaints.
Then, on June 30, at a special Saturday evening "bait and switch" city council meet- ing,thecouncilapprovedabudgetthatcon- tained the controversial wage increase and
a Measure S budget and 10 year Measure S spendingplanthatwasnotrecommendedby the oversight committee.
That budget approval said to anyone paying attention - the to grand jury and to the members of the Measure S Citizens Oversight Committee that the present city councilbelievesChapacanprovidetheonly oversight of Measure S funds that is needed.
That leaves only one role for the commit- tee, administering those Measure S grants to non-profits with still probably little or no help from city staff.
The committee’s oversight role with about $2 million in tax dollars that comes in each year is no longer needed or wanted by the present city council. That responsibility offi- cially came to an end at about 5:20 p.m. on June 30, 2018, nine years, eight months and 23 days after the first committee was sworn in.
That duty has now been assumed, with the agreement of the council, by the city man- ager.
That's more than a little bit like the old idiom about the fox guarding the henhouse.
•••
"Bait and switch" city council meeting?
In retail sales a "bait and switch" tactic is regarded as fraud.
Those who attended a June 21 council meeting heard the city attorney say there would be a special council meeting of only about five minutes to vote on a continuance of the present, 2017-2018, spending plan into the new fiscal year.
That special meeting was finally scheduled for Saturday evening before a major holiday. It was necessary because the council, with
councilmember Humberto Garza absent at the June 21 meeting had not been able to approve the controversial 2018-2019 budget.
What was really on the special "bait and switch" June 30 council meeting? The contro- versial 2018-2019 budget. That was because, Chapa explained, a majority of the council- members had come to him and requested that it be put on the agenda.
Sure, there was a 24 hour notice of the meeting and an agenda was available online. But what about all those at the June 21
meeting who skipped the June 30 meeting because they thought they knew what the council would be voting on and they were okay with it?
What Chapa and the council did was just wrong - but totally consistent with recent behavior.
•••
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo
Comments, complaints and suggestions may be emailed to sangerherald@gmail.com or may be made by calling 875-2511.
Random thoughts In retail sales a 'bait and switch' tactic is regarded as fraud ...
R.I.P.
Measure S Citizens Oversight Committee
October 7, 2008 June 30, 2018
Let's take a look back at a once proud, but troubled committee ...
The Measure S Citizens Oversight Committee has always been a little like come- dian Rodney Dangerfield, who was known for his self-deprecating humor and his catch- phrase "I don't get no respect."
The committee was conceived when it was mentioned on a ballot measure origi- nally approved by voters in 2008 and in city ordinance 1094 which just about everybody agrees did a bad job of defining Measure S and an even worse job of defining the over- sight committee.
Sanger voters approved the measure in February, it took effect in July and revenue began coming in around October of 2008. That’swhenthecitizensoversightcommittee, which had been appointed by the mayor and city council on July 17 was formally sworn
in on Oct. 7, 2008. The first committee was composed of Mary Burnett, Tony Herron, Johnny R. Krum, Kim E. Pennington and Ron E. Stukey.
Itdidn’ttakelongbeforethecommittee, like Dangerfield, got no respect.
In May of 2009, acting city manager John White told the committee that the city attor- ney felt Measure S spending decisions were to be made by the council - with or without recommendations from the oversight com- mittee.
That’s about the time resolution 4122 was being crafted by the council in an attempt toclarifysupplementversussupplantissues that were poorly addressed in ordinance 1094. The resolution had a spending formula based on the 2008 proposed budget, prior to when Measure S went into effect. The resolu- tion said in laymen’s language, the Measure S moneycouldbeusedforjustaboutanypub- lic safety purpose as long as the general fund was spending as much on public safety as it did in 2008.
That language would have left the over- sight committee with not much to do but
In my OPINION
Liberals losing touch with reality
By Fred Hall
This country has seem- ingly entered a real danger zone where at least a part of our population is approach- ing a nervous breakdown!
CNN, MSNBC, NBC,
CBS, ABC, The Washington
Post and The New York
Times and several other
media outlets nationwide have, for some rea- son, abandoned any real news reporting and havegone“anti-Trump,allthetime.” We've lost track of the number of lawsuits which the attorney general of California has filed to avoid the enforcement of federal law, espe- cially dealing with illegal immigration!
It appears that the “resistance to Trump” group has completely lost touch with reality whenitappearswillingto encroachupon the civil rights of those who realize that the president has been making huge strides in “making America great again.”
There has always been a great unwritten rule that the children of politicians are held blameless and should be left alone by political opponentsoftheirparent(s). Demonstrably, that has not been the case when it comes to Donald Trump, where his children are con- cerned. Trump'swife,childrenandeven grandchildren have been openly attacked
by both Hollywood and their acolytes in the mainstream press.
Let's face it, the Democrats were talking about impeachment before the president was evenswornintooffice. That'salmostasillog- ical as Barack Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize from that renown leftist group before he had done anything that even hinted at being qualified for such an honor.
We've grown accustomed to the drone
of America's left wing press carrying on about the great “blue wave” which the talk- ing heads tell us is coming for the mid-term elections without any empirical proof that itisevenremotelyfeasible. Itjustmakesa greattalkingpoint! Thisfar-leftwingofthe Democrat party and their rabble rousers dis- play every symptom of blowing up whatever natural, historical edge they may have had.
The American people do not tolerate hate- ful rhetoric or hateful deeds when it comes to our civility.
Talk about representing the canary in a mine. WealwaysthoughtDemocratswere smarter—well, at least some of them—than piling on a man and his family in such a devi- ousandspiteful manner. Itseemsthatallhe did was win an election and set about fulfill- ingpromisestothe forgottenAmericanwho Washingtonhadignoredforsolong. Thisis the sort of infantile behavior that does noth- ing more than virtually guarantee a second
Fred Hall
The real election wave
term of the Trump administration. Remembering the Steve Scalese shooting
about one year ago, one can't help being con- cerned for the safety of the targeted govern- ment officials as their antagonists become morepersonalandphysical. Itappears–at least to me—that it's just a matter of time before the promoters of this craziness—like Maxine Waters and Hollywood - wind up with blood on their hands because of some nut they inspire.
Realizing that it will probably serve no useful purpose for this small town newspaper toofferasuggestion, Iwillofferoneanyway.
Perhaps the time has come for this group of people who have taken such umbrage at the election of a president they feel should have never been able to defeat a member
of the Democrat royal family, the Clintons! Our advice to them is to begin to develop
a platform based on discussions with and truly listening to the wants and needs of the Americanpeople. Realizethatthegovern- ment has indeed become the “deep state” and is driven by a need for enrichment and preservationoftherulingclass. Trumpsaw the damage being inflicted on the Average American and reached out to them, offering to assist in the alleviation of their suffering and neglect.
Rash decisions and rash behavior is always the result of decisions made and actiontakeninanger. Getovertheelection, return to civility with the citizens of this country and formulate some kind of real plan towinbacktheelectorate. Continueonthis current stupid course and risk doing real harm to American while becoming irrelevant andundesirablesourceofleadership. This group of naysayers have already done great damage to our society but, at this point, we're not sure it is irreparable.
But, as always, that's only one man's opin- ion.
In addition to the Sanger Herald, Publisher Fred Hall oversees two other Mid Valley Publishing newspapers - Reedley Exponent, and Dinuba Sentinel. He can be contacted by phone at (559) 638-2244 or by email at fred@ midvalleypublishing.com.
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