Editor and Publisher of <SaveIB.com> (Ed Kravitz/ That's Me) addressed the city council Wednesday January 9th night as the lead off speaker during public comments. It didn't take long for an angry Mayor Janney to interrupt the speaker telling him he was "out of order".  It was apparent that the council did not appreciate criticism and wanted to cut short any negative comments, however true they might be! Councilwoman Winter appeared stunned as a deer in the headlights. Fred McLean almost fell off his chair when I told him he needed to resign and step down from office along with two other conflicted council members.

 January 9th  was the first time this reporter has seen the new council chambers. It appears that public seating has been reduced, press area removed and the dias area increased to give a feeling of grandour to the pompus ones who sit behind it.

It is also apparent that the improvments which cost more than $400,000 could have been done for about $20,000 or less. The chairs now have a little padding on them, but it appears there are fewer in the chambers now to make room for the oversized dias.

Among the items in the presentation:

City Clerk , Local newspaper publishers do not print pubilc notices of public meetings in the spirit of the Brown Act. While the city clerk does post meetings on the wall at city hall on Friday afternoons for council meetings the following Wednesday, the Eagle Times does not hit the streets till Thursday .....a day after the meetings are over...if they were noticed at all in the paper. The fact that the City Manager, City Clerk, local reporters and the Publisher are all aware of this for over a year, they continue to obfiscate public information to the detriment of the public and refuse to address adjusting either publication schedules or timeliness of release of the agendas to allow publication at least 48 hours before a public meeting. The fact that they can't seem to get it together indicates a willingness to keep things the way they are. The Eagle Times should loose their certification as the legally adjudicated newspaper for public mis-service.

Consent Agenda Spending  was addressed as a non-democratic way of spending millions of taxpayer dollars each month without public transparency. There is no public discussion on these expendatures, some of which are questionable spending items which should be discussed further. In addition, several council members have voted on these items ....some of which directly affect their places of employment, non-profits that they or family members recieve financial renumeration for.....

Realizing that it would take a lot of time to explain each check written in the register and what it is for, it was suggested that a third council meeting be estabished each month for the sole purpose of going through the "WARRANT REGISTER" (CHECK BOOK) of the city and explaining what each of these expendatures is for.........so that the public knows what their money is being spent for. Right now it is a secret and numerous times over the last year the supporting documents were not available via the city's website or the City Clerk.

The consent items passed without discussion, implies a consensus on the part of the council prior to the council meeting. Whether the council uses the City Manager to circumvent the Brown Act, or whether they still meet in a quorum outside the public session, it is obvious that these items  on the consent agenda have already been discussed and the outcome already agreed on..........or they wouldn't be on a consent agenda. The average person attending a council meeting would probably not even know they just spent $1.1 million dollars on consulting fees , lobbying fees, kickbacks and a few legitiamate expenses of running a city.

Removing the checks and balances from the public hearing process violates the municipal code. If a resident does not like the decision of the council in property matters, they have the right to appeal to the  Planning Commission.....but since Bixler disbanded the planning commission and the council made themselves the planning commission, there are no check and balances and no recourse except litigation if you don't like how the city voted on your situation.

The conflicted City Attorney in conjuction with SANDAG,Port District,The League of California Cities and the City Manager.....act as the secret 4th branch of government, bringing policy to the city from on high and implementing it without public input at the grass roots level, or choreographing faux public support via the IBCC "Flying Monkeys".

Also mentioned was the request to the City Manager from over a year ago for a "PRESS CREDENTIAL" for SaveIB.com. The last response from Gary Brown was that he would discuss it with the City Attorney......and he never responded again.

With all the new video and renovations to the council chambers....you'd think someone could get a video feed?  I told the council I want that video feed to upload to the website.

I mentioned that one council member (Mayda Winter) had used the City Attorney to defend her in a civil case at her place of work. The litigation she started with the city attorney's help was lost. I demanded that Councilwoman Winter "PAY BACK" the General Fund for every penny wasted on attorney services in her frivolous case to  RESTRAIN & GAG reporter John Carr.

And winding down, I told the council that 3 of it's members were so deeply conflicted and had voted fraudulently and illegally on so many issues, that they should save themselves the embarrassment and humiliation of prosecution or recall and just "STEP DOWN FROM OFFICE".  Fred McLean shouted, "WHAT"! as he almost fell out of his chair.

In closing , I informed the city council , that while some of them had been elected with 2500 votes or less to public office, that SAVEIB.COM had racked up over 7500 unique readers. That means ...even if you take away the 2500 people that elected current council members, there are still 5000 that could recall them or vote them out of office. I pledged to register another 5000 voters in Imperial Beach and mobilize them against the incumbents.

Mayor Janney told me I was,  'OUT OF ORDER" !

Might as well talk to the wall. They don't care what you think or what I think. They have their agenda..........and it doesn't include what their constituants want.....unless it's low interest RDA Loans and grants.........free house painting or landscaping...or special immunity from Municipal Ordinances.

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Dear Ed: