Janice Elliott

In a move reminiscent of the governance exercised by former mayor John Pomierski, the Debra Stone-led Upland City Council on Monday will consider stripping councilwoman Janice Elliott of her three committee or adjunct board assignments.
On the agenda for the June 12 city council meeting posted late Thursday, item 11 J lays out interim city manager Martin Thouvenel’s proposal to remove Elliot as the alternate Upland representative on the Inland Empire Utility Agency, remove her as Upland’s representative on the San Bernardino County Interagency Council on Homelessness, and remove her from her position on the City of Upland Investments Committee.
Thouvenell indicated that change could be made by a resolution. He simultaneously recommended that city councilman Gino Filippi move into her post with the Inland Empire Utility Agency, that city resident Eric Gavin assume her place on the San Bernardino County Interagency Council on Homelessness and councilwoman Carol Timm assume Elliott’s role on the City of Upland Investments Committee.
According to Thouvenell, “The proposed action supports the city’s goal to provide representation on city and regional boards and committees.” Thouvenell said the changes are intended to be “effective immediately upon adoption of the resolution.”
The city council has the authority, according to Thouvenell, through Resolution No. 6397 which it adopted on April 10 to make the change. Section 7 of Resolution No. 6397 states, “Any committee, commission, board, or authority member may be removed from office during his/her unexpired term upon 4/5ths vote of the city council, when in the sole discretion of the council said removal is deemed appropriate.”
From 2000 until 2011, John Pomierski served as Upland’s mayor. Relatively early on, Pomierski established a ruling coalition on the council that catered to his will and that of his political donors and supporters. Few differences among council members surfaced, and when they did, Pomierski was deemed the ultimate arbiter of how they were to be resolved. Appointments to city and regional boards and committees became a tool of Pomierski’s employment of power and were handed around as perquisites of being on his team. As mayor, Pomierski would brook no dissent or challenge to his authority. When then-councilman Ray Musser vied against him in the 2004 election and continued to call into question some of the city’s policies, Pomierski, in concert with the remainder of the city council, removed Musser from the city and regional boards and committees he had previously been assigned to. Moreover, Pomierski used his political reach and grip to intensify his domination of the city, relying upon the cohesion of the council majority he had constructed to purge the city of employees who were not subservient to his command. Among those forced out in this process was Thouvenell, who was then Upland’s police chief and whose loyalty to Pomierski was under question. Pomierski retained his dominance of the city right up until the day of his resignation the day prior to his indictment by a federal grand jury on charges that he had used his hold on City Hall to shake down businesses and individuals with business before the city council or applications for city permits and licenses. Ultimately, Pomierski was convicted and served two years in a federal prison. He was succeeded as mayor by Musser.
Elliott, who was first elected to the city council in November, has found herself disenfranchised from the current council because of her reluctance, failure or refusal to embrace the guidance Thouvenell, who was hired to serve as interim city manager in the immediate aftermath of the council’s abrupt termination of former city manager Rod Butler last summer. On relatively rare occasions Elliott has dissented from the majority vote. She has also made expression of her differences with the council majority in the local press. Her strongest deviation from the team attitude came when she lodged a complaint with the district attorney’s office alleging a violation of the Brown Act over the council having been presented in closed session at its May 8 meeting with a written protocol entitled “In House Polices of the Upland City Council.” This protocol related to council members’ dealings with the press, the use of social media and forums for communicating with the public all members of the council were expected to sign and adhere to. The Ralph M. Brown Act is California’s open public meeting law and requires that all government-related business be discussed in an open session, with the exceptions of pending or actual litigation, pending real estate sales or purchases or negotiations for sales or purchases, and issues relating to personnel decisions. Elliott’s complaint filed with the district attorney’s office was two-fold: that the presentation of the “protocol” document to the city council in closed session was improper and that its presentation was accompanied by a fraudulent attempt to disguise what was occurring by representing the discussion as a personnel matter pertaining to Thouvenell. Since Elliott’s complaint with the district attorney’s office’s public integrity unit became public, the anger of her council colleagues and Thouvenell toward Elliott has been palpable.
Neither Thouvenell, Stone, Filippi nor deputy city manager Jeannette Vagnozzi responded to Sentinel inquiries about the proposal agenda item 11 J. -Mark Gutglueck