A former City of Big Bear Lake code enforcement officer has sued the city, maintaining he was fired when he resisted what he and his lawyer say is the city’s practice of unfairly and unevenly applying the city’s codes in favor of those who were politically connected and against those who were at odds with the city’s top elected and staff officials.
Jack Greenburg had previously worked for the City of Big Bear Lake in the code compliance department from 2000-2003 and from 2020 to 2021. During the latter stint, he was serving in the capacity of a consultant rather than a municipal employee. In 2022, he was hired, effective as of July 1 of that year, as the city’s code compliance manager.
According to David Vasquez, an attorney representing Greenberg, “Although through his consulting with the city, Greenberg was familiar with some of the deficiencies with the city’s code compliance program, upon taking over management of the operations, he discovered that the dysfunction was far more extensive that he realized.” According to Vasquez, Greenberg’s “initial analysis determined that the code was being enforced in an inconsistent and sometimes unequal manner.” and Greenberg “immediately set about establishing procedures to ensure that the code compliance program was administered fairly and without favoritism.”
In September 2022, Erik Sund, who had formerly been the city manager in San Clemente, was brought in to serve as Big Bear Lake’s city manager following in the aftermath of Frank Rush’s departure as the mountain community’s top administrator some five months previously.
According to Vasquez, “Almost immediately, Sund began interfering in the fair administration of code compliance matters.”
The situation escalated the following year, according to Vasquez. “In May 2023, Sund pressured Greenberg to go easy and not enforce the city codes on the Rotary Club for their annual car wash event for which they failed to obtain a permit. City Council Member Rick Herrick is a longtime Rotary member and has frequently advocated for special treatment of the organization. Greenberg refused to bow to the pressure to extend special treatment to the Rotary Club despite the directives.”
Further, according to Vasquez, “In May 2023, Mayor Pro Tem [Perri] Melnick lodged a complaint regarding a private home rental on her street. Greenberg contacted the relevant parties and was able to obtain voluntary compliance as per the practice of the department. [U]nder pressure from the Mayor Pro Tem, Sund directed Greenberg to abandon the practice of seeking voluntary compliance and issue citations on every call. In May 2023 and June 2023, Melnick complained to Sund that her neighbors were not being cited for what she believed were violations. Sund directed Greenberg to deviate from established policy to cite Melnick’s neighbors.”
Greenberg told Erica Stephenson, who in 2022 had been Big Bear Lake’s city clerk and human resources director, that Sund’s directive entailed unequal treatment of city residents and businesses and inconsistent handling of potential code violations.
According to Vasquez in February 2024, Stephenson bypassed Greenberg and directed a code compliance officer who was directly answerable to Greenberg on the city’s organizational chart to dismiss a code compliance citation that had been issued at 39284 Lark Spur Avenue. When Greenberg told Stephenson there was no basis to dismiss the case, Stephenson told Greenberg that Sund was directed by Melnick, who at that point had been designated Big Bear Lake’s mayor, to dismiss the case. Greenberg protested that it was unfair and bad policy to dismiss the case where other similar cases were not being dismissed.
The same month, February 2024, according to Vasquez, Ms. Stephenson directed Greenberg’s subordinate to dismiss a parking citation. Greenberg, according to Vasquez, took the matter up with Stephenson “and was informed that Sund directed that the citation be dismissed because Council Member Randy Putz complained about a friend getting a parking citation in front of his business.” Vasquez said that Greenberg lodged a protest “that it was unfair to selectively dismiss citations and that it was a slippery slope dismissing specific citations based on the direction of council members.”
Vasquez offered documentation show that between January 2024 and April 2024, Sund ordered Greenberg to dismiss code violation citations issued for properties located at 1267 San Pasqual, 43136 Sheephorn, 42762 Cougar, 844 Ravine, 654 Blue Jay, 42280 Fox Farm, 1288 Clubview, 269 South Eureka, 40195 Guinan, 1149 Clubview, and 43911 Yosemite.
According to Vasquez, “Based on information and belief, Sund made these orders at the request of Perri Melnick. This occurred during the period of time that Perri Melnick was subject to a recall petition. Vasquez complained to Erica Stephenson that the dismissals were not warranted.”
Greenberg maintains that throughout 2023 and into 2024 he pressed on with straightforward, uniform and thorough enforcement of the city’s codes.
Between October 2023 and April 2024, the city’s code compliance division received multiple complaints regarding Sessions Resort at 41421 Big Bear Boulevard, accusing the city of giving the business preferential treatment.
Greenberg maintains that he personally looked into those complaints, determining there were no code violations. The complainants complained again to Sund, who reassigned the case to Kelly Tinker, a code compliance officer who worked for Greenberg. According to Vasquez. Tinker determined that there were violations, which Vasquez and Greenberg claim was a conclusion not verified by the facts.
In February 2024, Greenberg raised the issue of the city council and top administration interference with and efforts to micromanage the code enforcement division’s function with Stephenson. He told her specifically about Sund’s waiving of an $18,000 fee based on “political pressure from the city council,” noting that fees were not waived for others in similar situations. Greenberg told Stephenson that this unprecedented reassignment of the Sessions Resort case resulted in preferential treatment for the complainants.
According to Vasquez, top Big Bear municipal officials’ intrusion into the province of enforcement of codes that were beyond their designated authority did not confine itself merely to the city code but matters generally reserved for law enforcement or agencies outside the purview of the city.
In March 2024, attendees at baby shower near Snow Summit were ticketed by deputy sheriffs and complained to the local press, after which Sund, according to Vasquez “directed the sheriff’s office captain to dismiss them. The captain opposed the directive and requested that the Sheriff’s office review their own citations.”
Greenberg seized on this to make the point with Stephenson that the city council was demonstrating a willingness to selectively suspend the law, or at least its enforcement, with regard to its members’ friends and supporters while pressing for unrelenting enforcement of city codes against others, including their perceived opponents. According “preferential treatment” to certain residents or businesses “based on the requests of city council members,” Greenberg told Stephenson was unbecoming of the community of Big Bear and an abuse of the city council’s authority.
According to Vasquez, “In or around April 2024 Randy Putz, city council member, complained about a friend/customer ticketed near his business, Chirp, by the sheriff’s department. Sund directed Greenberg to dismiss the citation and Sund issued a directive that Greenberg must get approval for all citations from Sund. Greenberg complained that this was preferential treatment.”
According to Vasquez. “On April 11, 2024, Greenberg was notified that his position was eliminated and was escorted off the premises as if he was a dangerous employee. Furthermore, Greenberg was given a release of liability and told that he had 24 hours to sign it despite the agreement itself providing for 21-day review.”
Initially, Greenberg licked his wounds and sought to pick up the pieces and move on with his lice. Nevertheless, he believed his termination was not justified. Under California law, however, a public agency cannot be sued unless a claim against it is first filed – and filed within six months of the action taken by the government or its agents deemed to have been out of line – and thus giving the governmental entity an opportunity to acknowledge the harm alleged and take action or provide compensation to redress the grievance. If the governmental entity denies the claim or ignores it for six months, the aggrieved party then has one year in which to file a lawsuit before the deadline for doing so elapses.
On September 23, 2024, Greenberg submitted a claim against the City of Big Bear Lake, which the city council rejected on November 7, 2024.
At that point, Greenberg had consulted with Vasquez. Anticipating that the city would reject the claim, Vasquez over the next several days fleshed out a lawsuit he had contemplated putting together on Greenberg’s behalf. That lawsuit was filed in San Bernardino Superior Court on November 19, 2024
In that suit, Vasquez named the City of Big Bear Lake and 20 unspecified defendants, ones presumably including Melnick, Herrick, Putz, Sund and Stephenson.
According to Vasquez, “The defendants retaliated against the plaintiff by terminating the plaintiff made repeated complaints regarding the unequal enforcement of city codes and refused to engage in the unequal enforcement of city codes. The plaintiff complained about the unequal application and enforcement of city codes which he believed to be a violation of the equal protection clauses of the California Constitution and the United States Constitution.”
Vasquez said it should be noted that “The city council had not passed any resolution reorganizing personnel to eliminate Greenberg’s job.”
According to Vasquez, Greenberg “was harmed as a result of the defendants conduct” and “the defendants’ termination of the plaintiff was a substantial factor in causing Greenberg’s harm.”
According to Vasquez, he is prepared to demonstrate, by going to trial, the veracity of the allegations contained in the lawsuit.
Big Bear City Attorney Steve Deitsch declined the Sentinel’s offer to comment on the lawsuit.
The matter is next scheduled for a court hearing on June 16 at 8:30 a.m. in Department 28 before Judge Michael Sachs for a trial setting conference.