(October 25) The county this week arranged to issue $9,250,000 worth of bonds to provide financing for infrastructure to facilitate residential development in the Lytle Creek area.
The bonds are to be issued in two separate allotments, one of $6.5 million and the other of $2.75 million. Despite the bonds being intended for utilization in the same Lytle Creek North development project being undertaken by Lennar Homes, the involved infrastructure will be placed into separate improvement areas mapped out within the project.
The bonded indebtedness is to be retired by Mello-Roos fees to be borne by the eventual occupants of the homes to be built. The Mello-Roos fees will be levied upon those homeowners’ tax bills separate from the mortgages for the homes.
As a consequence of the separate bond issuances, the county is paying replicative issuing fees to the bond underwriters and attorneys involved in the bond sales.
In March 2007, the county board of supervisors approved the establishment of Community Facilities District 2006-1, which was intended to, according to the county, “provide a portion of funds needed to address specific public facilities and services that are required of the developer in the development of the Lytle Creek North Community, a 2,086 residential subdivision located west of Interstate 15.” That same month it designated Improvement Areas No. 1 within the district, pursuant to the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982, under which bonds sold to cover the cost of infrastructure in each particular improvement area are debt serviced by a special tax levied on all improved parcels of land within the improvement area.
In October 2010 the board of supervisors approved the issuance of Special Tax Bonds Series 2010, for CFD 2006-1 Improvement Area No. 1, in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $8,000,000.
In March  2011 the board of supervisors approved the formation of CFD Improvement Area No. 2 along with other items, pursuant to the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982. To date, $57,685,700 in public infrastructure has been completed and it is expected that over the next few years up to $84 million of the cost of the infrastructure at Lytle Creek North will be defrayed through bond financing.
This week the second bond issuance, designating $6.5 million for Improvement Area No. 2 was issued. In connection with that issuance, the board approved agreements with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP as bond counsel in an amount not to exceed $81,000; Stradling, Yocca, Carlson & Rauth as disclosure counsel in an amount not to exceed $35,000; CSG Advisors, Inc. as financial advisor in an amount not to exceed $25,000; and David Taussig & Associates as special tax consultant for the completion of the bond sale and issuance and continuing services for the community facilities district  in an amount not to exceed $15,000.
In a separate but very similarly worded action, the board also approved a third bond issuance, designating $2.75 million for use in Improvement Area No. 1 along with agreements with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP as bond counsel in an amount not to exceed $66,000; Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth as disclosure counsel in an amount not to exceed $30,000; CSG Advisors, Inc. as financial advisor in an amount not to exceed $25,000; and David Taussig & Associates as special tax consultant for the completion of the bond sale and issuance and continuing services for district in an amount not to exceed $15,000.
When he was queried by the Sentinel as to why the county had not consolidated the $6.5 million and $2.75 million bond issuances to eliminate the redundancies in the bond counsel, disclosure counsel, financial advisor and tax consultant charges, county director of special districts Jeff Rigney said, “In 2006 Communities Facilities District 2006-1 was formed in conjunction with the Joanna Ranch Lennair Homes Development Project so that bonds could be sold to fund needed infrastructure, including waste water treatment facilities, roads, traffic signals, flood control levees, water lines and parks. This is our second and third issuance in that area to provide infrastructure for that development and the surrounding area. It is projected to include 2,086 homes and a community facilities district was formed to cover the entire area. But the development is proceeding in stages and that is why we formed different improvement areas. It is required that every time bonding is done for one particular area that we come back to the board of supervisors for approval. Before the developer moves ahead with each phase, both the developer and the county want to make sure the housing market is appropriate for the time we are in. That holds true especially during the economic downturn and bleak times like this. It always behooves us to develop prudently and to watch the market rather than doing one blanket issuance to make sure that only a certain number of homes are developed to meet the current and immediate forthcoming need. That is why we broke it down. The number of homes determines what the bond issuance is going to be. In this case we had two different areas and two different issuances that read virtually identically but they could not be combined. There were two different issuances, each with costs for consultants. We were able to achieve some economy of scale because we are doing them at the same time. Most likely, the $2.75 million issuance would not have been done by itself. By doing them together there were just enough economies of scale to make it work by doing the consultant fee pricing together.”

(October 25) The imminent construction of a sound wall at the Auto Club Speedway’s north end will clear the way for parking lot drag races to resume there by next year. The erection of the sound wall is a key part of the settlement to a long simmering dispute at the racing venue.
The raceway opened in 1997 and hosts a variety of racing events, including NASCAR sanctioned races. Starting in 2006, what were at first unsanctioned drag races were initiated in the raceway’s parking lot, creating sound levels reaching and exceeding 100 decibels as measured on nearby residential properties.
Complaints to county authorities about the unsanctioned drag races did not result in their cessation, however, as county officials were persuaded by participants and others that some off-road venue was needed for drag racing activity so as to limit illegal racing on public streets. In 2007, the county began granting permits to the organizers of the events under the aegis of the Pacific Street Car Association. Initial restrictions placed on the speedway’s operators prohibited sound emanations of more than 75 decibels reaching the near-lying residential neighborhoods east and north of the racetrack. The drag strip’s sound levels routinely exceeded the standards, but no enforcement action against the facility or its management was taken by the county.
Unable to convince county officials to disallow the races, which because of the intensity of speed and acceleration of the competing vehicles were a third again louder than the race track engines, nearby residents formed an action committee, CCOMPRESS (Concerned Community Members and Parents of Redwood Elementary School Students) and intensified its protests with county leaders. When that did not convince the county to end the events or enforce the state’s noise standards, CCOMPRESS  hired the law firm of Chatten-Brown and Carstens to represent them.
CCOMPRESS, represented by Chatten-Brown and Carstens sued and achieved a ruling in 2009 that an environmental impact report be completed before any permanent permit for a drag strip could be granted. In response, the county approved a supplemental environmental impact report in November 2010. CCOMPRESS  cried foul, asserting that the drag strip’s proponents had misled the county over the intensity of the impact on the neighboring properties.
In September 2010 the county planning commission voted to recommend to the board of supervisors that it certify the environmental impact study. On November 2, 2010 the supervisors certified the environmental impact study and on November 5, 2010, the Auto Club Speedway continued with the Pacific Street Car World Finals events.
In certifying the supplemental environmental impact report and giving go-ahead for further drag races, the county gave permission for the speedway to hold louder events, raising the noise standards from 75 to 85 decibels to as high as 100 decibels for some events while requiring the construction of a quarter-mile, 20-foot-high sound wall.
While the sound wall was never completed, the races went on, with races taking place three weekends a month.
Chatten-Brown and Carstens did not desist in its efforts to have the county seriously consider the plight of those in the area. The law firm continued to challenge the adequacy of the supplemental environmental impact report and in court filings emphasized that the sound wall had not been completed and that the sound level reached an intensity greater than 120 decibels as measured on nearby residential properties, exceeding the state of California’s industrial sound limit.
On February 23, 2012 Judge Barry Plotkin made a finding that the environmental impact report for the drag strip was fatally flawed and he ordered the county’s approval of the drag strip be set aside and that the races be suspended at least until an adequate environmental impact report is completed and the sound wall, which was stipulated as a condition of the November 2010 approval, be put in place.
In July, 2012, a settlement with CCOMPRESS was reached by the sponsors of the drag race evemts, but it was only within the last few weeks that a move toward building the sound wall, which is estimated to cost about $1 million and be roughly a half-mile in length, has been made. It will be placed between the drag strip and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks. Auto Club Speedway President Gillan Zucker said financial commitments by Auto Club of Southern California, NHRA, SEMA and K&N Filters are scheduled to cover the cost of the wall’s construction.
Sal Lopez, who since 1991 has lived with his family in a home in a residential area adjacent to the drag strip and was a founding member of CCOMPRESS and the most vociferous of protesters against the drag strip, this week told the Sentinel, “The Auto Club Speedway has reached a settlement with CCOMPRESS, represented by Chatten-Brown & Carstens, related to the operation of the Auto Club Dragway. As a result, the Auto Club Speedway may resume operations at the Auto Club Dragway if it first complies with a series of requirements intended to mitigate the environmental impacts to the surrounding community, including construction of a soundwall.”
Beyond that, Lopez said, “We have no further comment.

(October 25) Buffeted by the city of San Bernardino’s filing of bankruptcy last year together with a spike in crime that included 47 murders citywide in 2012 along with recent proposals from the city’s top elected officials to dissolve his department and contract with the county sheriff’s department for law enforcement service, San Bernardino Police Chief Robert Handy yesterday announced his resignation effective in December.
Handy, who has served as the police chief in the county seat since October 2011 after he was lured to San Bernardino from the Phoenix Police Department in Arizona where he had been a police officer for 21 years and had risen to the rank of commander, will become chief of Huntington Beach’s police force after his departure.
Handy indicated San Bernardino’s bankruptcy and burgeoning political travails, including an ongoing recall effort against city council members and the filing of criminal charges against two others, one of whom has now resigned, pushed him into leaving. “Considering the constantly changing environment at City Hall, I decided to seek the position to stabilize my career,” Handy wrote in an email to employees. “The election is unpredictable, I am now working with my third city manager, third finance director, and all new department heads. In that context, it is also important to consider I am (an) at-will employee and can be released at any time for no cause.”
Handy has been the latest in a string of relatively short-lived police chiefs. He replaced Keith Kilmer, who had succeeded Michael Billdt and Garrett Zimmon. All four averaged tenures of just a little over two-and-one-half years each.
During his time in office, the police department has downsized significantly as financial difficulties culminating in last year’s bankruptcy have rocked the city. When he started as police chief, the department had 350 sworn officers and 104 non-sworn personnel. At present, after sustaining a $6 million cut to the police department budget, it is down to 249 officers and 63 civilian employees.

You can see Ruth’s column with all of its photos by downloading this week’s Sentinel. A Google Documents version of the Sentinel is available further up on this website.

By Ruth Musser-Lopez
Unremarkable was the painted structure on the downtown Upland corner of First Avenue and Ninth Street, until Attorney Marjorie Mikels stripped layers of paint off the firebrick, resurrecting the law office of Attorney Archie Mitchel and the old Draper Mortuary to its original stately appearance.   In this building Mitchel left the law practice to reside as Justice of the Peace, which also elevated the stature of the structure to Upland Justice Court; a dungeon like room off to the side served for a time as the city morgue.
While the court, the morgue and Mitchel have long since passed, the spirit of Judge Mitchel, who was an important historic figure in both Upland and Ontario, is said to linger there.  In the early 40s, as a young college student, the late Harvey Stump was hired for night shift to guard the bodies in the morgue, some of which were considered evidence in murder trial cases.  Allegedly, while on duty, he often heard strange sounds.
Archie Mitchel’s law office on the south side of the building was the same one that Attorney Mikels occupied for a few years.  Through the last twenty years, frequently she worked late at night on difficult cases there. Often the doors would “creek” she says, and she would “welcome the ghost of former Justice Court Judge Archie Mitchel to assist her in those weighty court briefs.”
Considered the “heart” of the Ontario Airport, Archie Delwood Mitchel along with Waldo Waterman, Hugh Wolfe, Allan Couch, and several others, figured largely in its founding in 1923, then called Latimer Field after the Orange Packing Company next to the landing field.  At that time the field was east of Central Avenue, 3 miles west of the current airport near the Union Pacific railroad track, where pilots gaged the direction and strength of the wind by observing the smoke from the steam locomotives passing below.  You can see Judge Archie Mitchel’s portrait next to another historic figure, Mayor John Latimer in the tiled mosaic rendered at the current Ontario International Airport.
Though not meant to be an exhaustive list, here are a few more notable historic haunted habitats maintained in San Bernardino County mentioned at www.hauntedplaces.org among others.
The Joshua Tree Inn at 61259 Twentynine Palms Highway in Joshua Tree.
Some people believe that ghost of the Gram Parsons, father of country rock, former Flying Burrito Brother and paramour/collaborator of Emmy Lou Harris, inhabits room 8, which is where Parsons died at age 26 of a morphine and alcohol overdose in 1973.  Joshua Tree was apparently Parson’s favorite haunt when he was alive, retreating there to drop acid and watch for UFOs. Now, his eidolon will allegedly move or relocate small items such as earrings and will move the mirror that hangs on the wall – which is reported to be the only piece of furniture that still remains from the furnishings that were in the room when he died. Joshua Tree Inn thrives from the reputation:  “[Room 8] is haunted – bring your guitar and write songs!”
Early Redlands citrus farmers, David and Sarah Morey built The Morey Mansion at 190 Terracina Boulevard in Redlands in 1890.  Some say that both of them remain in the house today.  Locally tales hold that Sarah died a tragic death in a bedroom referred to as the Blue Room and her husband committed suicide shortly thereafter, in 1901.  The “Blue Room” is now reported to be haunted; orbs and hot spots have also been alleged. The property has changed hands over the years, owned by various famous and wealthy people. In 2006 it was converted to use as a bed and breakfast inn.  In 2009, the year before it became a private residence, a ghost-hunting team inspected the place in an episode of The Outsiders.  They captured photographs and other evidence of the initials S.M. (Sarah Morey).
The Beverly Hotel at 112 S. Euclid Ave. in Ontario appears to be a circa 1920s era structure likely built about the same time as the nearby Granada theater.  It is now allegedly haunted by “cold spots” flickering lights, shadows seen in the southwest 2nd floor corner window, footsteps and random fire alarms sounding.  Sounds like Chaffey’s Class of ‘71 got loose.
In “parting,” please keep in mind that the value of maintaining historic structures using “in kind” parts and materials increases the worth of a property.  Regular maintenance will keep a place from getting creaky and creepy.  Replacing electrical fixtures and wiring on old places will not only enhance the value but is safer and keeps sirens, alarms and lights from flickering on and off from loose or dirty connections.  Happy Haunting and be safe this Halloween.

See Diane’s column with all of its photos by downloading a copy of this week’s Sentinel. A downloadable version of the Sentinel is available further up on the website.

By Diane Dragotto Williams
At Wildhaven Ranch, we have been amused by the gross and the ugly wild creatures, as well as the attractive.
Certainly, the Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura, with its disgusting behaviors, and peculiar face qualifies! Getting its name from the red skin on its head and dark body feathers that resemble a turkey, this carrion feeder is common to the United States and seen in habitat from woodlands and farms to the desert. Gliding over open country, looking for food which it finds by its scent, it often roosts in flocks, and many birds will converge to feed at a carcass.  It prefers meat to be ripe, making it easier to strip off the bones, and for the bare head to be bacteria free after engorging on a bloody mess.
Soaring birds hold their wings above their back in a shallow V called a dihedral and rock side to side as if unsteady in the air. Circling above treetops and up to 200 feet high, they are a master at flying.  Turkey vultures frequently circle and gain altitude on pockets of rising warm air, or thermals. When they reach the top of the thermal, they glide across the sky at speeds up to 60 miles per hour, gradually losing altitude all the while. When they need to gain more altitude, they locate another thermal and so begins another sequences of circling, rising, and then gliding. Turkey vultures can cover many miles going from thermal to thermal without ever needing to flap.
Twenty-five to 32 inches long, with a wingspan around 6 feet a healthy adult turkey vulture can weigh approximately 5 to 6 pounds. Nesting on the bare ground, in caves, rock outcroppings, hollow trees and even empty buildings, these avians have few predators. Except man, golden eagles and large mamals that may take adavantage of their presence on the ground, their eggs or nestlings can be taken by bald eagles, great horned owls, raccoons, opposums and foxes. Turkey vultures have weak, chicken-like feet, which are suitable for running on the ground but not for grasping and cannot lift or carry food with their feet. They can only step on their food to hold it in place while eating. Without a voice box, turkey vultures either hiss or grunt, or sometimes growl around food, which gives them their only appearance of aggression.  Though the bulk of their food is carrion, they sometimes eat rotten fruit and vegetables, stranded mussels, shrimp and fish, and even coyotes and sea lion feces.
Standing in a spread wing pose, the turkey vulture warms and dries itself in the morning sun to rid itself of bacteria and bring its temperature up from its night time almost hypothermic degrees to save energy.  Efficiency a standard, and unable to sweat, on warm days, urinating on its legs cools the vulture as the urine evaporates.  In addition, this urine contains strong acids from the vulture’s digestive system, which may kill any bacteria that remain on the bird’s legs from stepping in its meal.
But their most disgusting behavior experienced by us at Wildhaven Ranch is vomiting at will.  Usually this is done as a means for vultures to off-load some weight as predators approach when the vulture has eaten too much to fly.  But they will also regurgitate under stress or to keep anything threatening at bay.  Also semi-digested food can be offered up to a predator as an easy meal instead of attacking the intended vulture!

See Grace’s Column with all of its photos by downloading the October 25 Edition of the Sentinel. The download link is featured further up on the website.

Halloween is the greatest show on earth. This celebration happens once a year and across the world. It is when dress restrictions don’t count. This event is major in the evenings and people have a blast. Halloween costumes aren’t meant to be conservative and pretty much anything goes! You can truly have a blast putting one together too. It doesn’t matter where you find the costume – thrift store, foreplay.com, or in your closet. There are so many terrific costume ideas for Halloween. The ideas people come up with when in costume mode are pretty wonderful. The makeup and hair ideas that go into putting a costume together are quite exciting too. I can’t wait to see everyone in their Halloween attire this Halloween. Have fun finding the right costume for you. Halloween offers so much diversity and it’s happening right now in San Bernardino County.

“I can still fit into my Battlestar Galactica costume!”
-Dirk Benedict

You can view the October 18 edition of the Sentinel by clicking on the following link:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8lNbWHOLLKIMDZKMUlMdk9uZTA/edit?usp=sharing

(October 18) Upland-based attorney Cory Briggs has recently filed four lawsuits against the city of Chino on environmental grounds and a fifth against Chino City Attorney Jimmy Gutierrez and his law firm, alleging multiple violations of the state’s conflict of interest statutes.

Cory Briggs

Briggs is the attorney of record for the Inland Oversight Committee, which has as its stated mission the reform of governmental affairs in the Inland Empire together with the monitoring of governmental entities’ compliance with open government law and the California Environmental Quality Act. As an environmental attorney, Briggs has filed numerous lawsuits against San Bernardino County municipalities, including Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Hesperia and Chino.
Briggs has taken a special interest in the latter as a consequence of the success and the significant payday he experienced when three years ago he took up the case of Citizens for Responsible Equitable Environmental Development, which challenged the city of Chino in court over what were alleged to be deficiencies in the city’s general plan. As a consequence of that suit, the city amended the general plan on terms consistent with the Citizens for Responsible Equitable Environmental Development’s assertions, and the city paid  Briggs $215,000 for his legal billings to the group for representing it.
Within the last four months, Briggs filed five suits in which Chino is a defendant or a real party in interest. Four of those suits relate to project approval or permits the city has given to the Watson Land Company, Viramontes Express, Hillwood Investment Properties and Stratham Homes. The fifth suit names Chino City Attorney Jimmy Gutierrez and his law firm, with the city as a real party in interest.
The Watson Land Company project approval suit alleges the city improperly approved, at its April 29 planning commission meeting, the Watson Land Company’s proposed 51-acre development at Kimball between Mountain and Cypress avenues.  According to Briggs, there were shortcomings and defects in the planning commission’s findings cited during the April 29 hearing for the project. The commission failed to advertise the hearing properly, Briggs maintained, and did not adequately inform the public about changes to the general plan’s provisions for an environmental impact report for the project.  Rather than complete a new environmental impact report devoted to the project, the city adopted the findings from its general plan environmental impact report and amended it to incorporate the Watson project. Watson is named as a codefendant in the suit, which was filed on June 21.
Briggs filed suit against both the city and Viramontes Express, the operator of a green waste processing plant on Hellman Avenue south of Chino-Corona Road, based on the city council’s June 18 approval of an agreement allowing Viramontes to up by 15 percent the 12,500 cubic yards of green waste it stores on its premises.  The city’s approval of the green waste agreement was made after Briggs launched a protest, claiming an environmental impact report for the change had to be undertaken. Briggs alleges the plant is already in violation of the  city’s zoning code. The city maintains the plant is “grandfathered in,” as it was in existence prior to the property on which it sits being annexed into the city. That suit was filed on July 18.
On August 15 Briggs filed suit against Chino, naming Hillwood Investment Properties as a co-defendant. Hillwood is undertaking, with city approval, a 409,930-square foot industrial building development at 13880 Monte Vista Avenue. The city council approved the project at its July 16 meeting, defying Briggs’ insistence that an environmental impact report for the project be completed first. He maintains the public hearing for the project was not properly advertised.
Briggs filed a second lawsuit on August 15 against the city of Chino, along with Stratham Homes, Inc,  which is planning a 94-home development on 11.8 acres at the southeast corner of Riverside Drive and Fern Avenue. According to that lawsuit, the city improperly gave go-ahead to the project without completing an environmental impact report and prevented those opposed to the project from placing their comments on the record when the July 16 hearing for the project was conducted.

Jimmy Gutierrez

Briggs has also filed suit against Gutierrez, who as city attorney will be in charge of conducting the legal defense of the four suits lodged against Chino.  According to that suit, Gutierrez was illegally involved in drafting his own firm’s professional services contract with the city. That suit is seeking the return hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees the city has paid to Gutierrez and his firm, Gutierrez, Fierro & Erickson.
Briggs, maintains Gutierrez ran afoul of the state of California’s conflict-of-interest law when he assisted in preparing agreements for city attorney services between the city of Chino and the firm. Gutierrez, according to the lawsuit, had a financial interest in the contract between the city and his firm, which he drew up “in direct violation of Government Code Section 1090. Section 1090 states members of the legislature, state, county, district, judicial district, and city officers or employees shall not be financially interested in any contract made by them in their official capacity, or by any body or board of which they are members.” According to Briggs, Gutierrez directly participated “in the making of the July 5, 2005 agreement for city attorney services and the October 3, 2006 agreement for city attorney services. Briggs referenced “the well-established notion that ‘the defining characteristic of a prohibited financial interest is whether it has the potential to divide an official’s loyalties and compromise the undivided representation of the public interests the official is charged with protecting.’“
According to Briggs, Gutierrez had worked for Chino as its city attorney since 1975 under a contract that did not secure work for anyone other than him. Until 2005, according to Briggs, the law firm of Gutierrez, Fierro and Erickson – including its predecessors and attorneys – were not employed by the city. In 2005, Briggs said Gutierrez participated in the making of the 2005 agreement between the city – whose city council Gutierrez influenced and for which he  worked and was receiving compensation – and his law firm and its partners, Arturo Fierro and James E. Erickson. Gutierrez’s “financial interest in the economic well-being of his firm at the time he entered into the 2005 agreement resulted in a straight-forward violation of Section 1090, which was repeated again in the making of the 2006 agreement,” according to Briggs.
Gutierrez has declined to comment on the legal actions launched by Briggs against him and the city he represents. Gutierrez and Gutierrez, Fierro and Erickson are represented by the Los Angeles-based law firm Arent Fox.
Ontario mayor Paul Leon has questioned the motive behind the various legal actions Briggs has brought, saying that the environmental issues raised in those lawsuits are negligible ones that pose little or no threat to the wellbeing of the public. He said the suits have served as an impediment to economic development.
Former Hesperia city councilman Paul Bosacki was more blunt, referring to Briggs as a “legal shakedown artist” who files suits against major projects “and then goes away after he’s collected his legal fees for whatever bogus environmental group he happens to be representing. His lawsuits have nothing to do with legitimate environmental issues. It’s all about money.”
Nevertheless, Briggs has had some notable successes and rulings from courts that validate at least some of the causes of action he has cited on behalf of his clients.

(October 18) The cities of Upland and Montclair are finalizing a proposal for the partial merger of their  fire departments, one that is aimed at reducing costs and intensifying firefighting resource capability and which will be presented to their respective city councils for consideration as early as next month.
Under the parameters being worked out, the command staff and administration of the two departments will become one and the service boundaries separating the departments will be eliminated. Each department will maintain its own identity and retain responsibility for its own firefighters.

Rick Mayhew

At present the city of Upland employs 36 full time firefighters staged out of four fire stations. Montclair fields 24 firefighters and operates out of two fire stations.  Previously, the city of Upland contemplated outsourcing options for its fire department in an effort to reduce costs, including considering contracting with the city of Ontario, the California Division of Forestry or the county of San Bernardino for fire protection service. Upland also approached Los Angeles County to see if its fire department would provide it with a fire service proposal. Los Angeles County turned Upland down because the California Division of Forestry, also known as Cal Fire, and LA County Fire have an agreement that Cal Fire will not come into Los Angeles County to seek contracts and Los Angeles County has agreed not to go into San Bernardino County or Orange County for contract agencies.
In Montclair, officials previously gave serious consideration to the outsourcing of that 36,664-poulation municipality’s fire department, specifically the concept of dissolving the department in favor  of contracting with the San Bernardino County Fire Department or the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
At the root of the move are financial causes, brought on by the downturn of the economy, dwindling governmental revenue and the conflation of governmental services. As a result of the state of California’s shuttering of municipal redevelopment agencies throughout the state, toward the end of the 2010-11 fiscal year, Montclair laid off 10 employees as part of its effort to make up for its loss of redevelopment money. Throughout much of 2010-11, one of the Montclair Fire Department’s paramedic units was parked and the paramedics functioned from the department’s remaining engines, which stayed in service. Over the last year-and-a-half, what was a 27-firefighter department has lost three positions to attrition, and has not filled those vacancies, making up for the manpower shortage with overtime. In September 2012, city manager Edward Starr, in a cost-cutting move that saved the city nearly half a million dollars a year in wages and benefits, elevated police chief Keith Jones to the position of director of public safety and gave fire chief Troy Ament his two-week severance notice. In June of this year, police captain Michael deMoet was appointed to the position of director of public safety, following Jones’ retirement.  de Moet continues to function in the role of Montclair fire chief.
The Sentinel has learned that Starr and Upland City Manager Stephen Dunn have formally discussed the concept of consolidating the management of their respective city’s fire departments and removing the jurisdictional barriers between the agencies. Discussions of the proposal involving the command staffs of both departments have proceeded to the point that Starr was able to put a protocol for the partial merger in writing.
Starr said there is general agreement between him and Dunn on the matter, as well as between the command echelon of both departments with regard to the proposal.
“It now needs to go to the bargaining groups (i.e., labor unions) so they can address whatever concerns they may have,” Starr told the Sentinel. According to Starr, the Upland firefighters will remain Upland city employees and the Montclair firemen will remain as Montclair city employees. Upland, which boasts a population of 73,732, pays its firefighters higher wages and provides slightly better benefits than Montclair fireman receive. According to Starr, because Upland has twice as many fire stations as Montclair, roughly one-and-a-half times as many firemen and operates a helicopter, Upland will pick up 64 percent of the command level and accompanying administrative costs under the arrangement, while Montclair’s share will be 36 percent.
Current Upland Fire Chief Rick Mayhew will become the new Upland-Montclair fire chief and his command staff will consist of two assistant chiefs along with battalion commanders sufficient to cover each station, augmented by administrative staff consisting of an executive assistant, a clerk and secretary.
Mayhew, who has been fire chief in Upland for eight months, said the merger “is still in the discussion phase. We are discussing what operational challenges we would have and what operational benefits there are.”
Mayhew said the fire unions might or might not have concerns over such a change taking place but that those were issues “do not impact us at the fire department administrative level.”
He said that it is “not correct” to assume that the partial merger would automatically take place, but that the plan was proceeding toward presentation to each city’s respective city council. He said that if called upon by the city council to carry out the merger of command and administrative staffs and eliminate the departments’ mutual service boundaries, he could do so with “absolutely no problem.”
He said that if both councils prove amenable to the idea, it could be implemented “sometime in 2014.”
Starr said he anticipated getting full input from the fire unions by November and the plan being previewed by the city councils in late November or early December. He said votes on the proposal could take place in the first quarter of next year, with possible implementation shortly thereafter.

(October 18) SAN BERNARDINO—Within two hours yesterday, Thursday October 17, action by law enforcement authorities on both sides of the San Bernardino County/Riverside County line transpired to curtail the political careers of two members of the San Bernardino City Council.

Chas Kelley

City councilman Chas Kelley, who has represented the city’s extreme north end as the 5th Ward councilman since 2003, was charged with one count of felony perjury by the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office and arraigned on the charge. At his arraignment he pleaded guilty to one count of perjury.
Eleven miles south, in Riverside, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office charged San Bernardino Councilman Robert Jenkins with 30 criminal counts related to identify theft and stalking of his one-time homosexual lover and one of his former lover’s more recent boyfriends.
Kelley, who was running for mayor, immediately resigned as councilman and pulled out of the mayoral race.

Robert Jenkins

Jenkins  is represented by attorney Virginia Blumenthal, who proclaimed her client’s innocence and arranged for a bondsman to post $25,000 bail on Jenkin’s behalf through the court Thursday morning so Jenkins avoided both arrest and being taken into custody. He is scheduled for arraignment December 17 on charges of unlawfully distributing, via computer, personal identifying information of a harassing nature; unlawfully obtaining, through fraudulent means, information of another person; stalking; and forging an official state seal or that of a public officer. Indications are that he will fight the charges and will not resign from office. He must stand for reelection on November 5.
The district attorney’s office investigation of Kelly was touched off by a complaint to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office Public Integrity Unit received in October 2011 that maintained Kelley was diverting to his own use campaign money that had been provided to him. According to the district attorney’s office “After further investigation, the amount of under-reported monetary contributions Kelley failed to disclose was $74,222.76.”
Following his guilty plea, Kelley made the following statement: “I freely, voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently admit that from on or about January 31, 2007, through July 30, 2012, on numerous occasions, I committed perjury, by falsely stating as true the amount of money I was depositing to and withdrawing from my Friends of Chas Kelley campaign account, on the Fair Political Practices Commission Form 460 that I filed or caused to be filed for the reporting periods that occurred between July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2012, so I could hide the fact that I was using that money improperly for non-campaign related purposes.”
As a result of his guilty plea, Kelley is precluded from holding any future elected or appointed governmental position. He is scheduled for sentencing on December 13. The terms of his plea arrangement call for his serving 90 days in county jail and five years on probation.
It was also disclosed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph B. Widman that since June Kelley had cooperated with an ongoing FBI investigation in which Kelley was using his candidacy for mayor to solicit campaign contributions from donors and obtain evidence, through the recording of the conversations without those donors’ knowledge, that they were abetting him in the receiving of bribes and the laundering of such as campaign contributions.
“Mr. Kelley has generated approximately 25 recordings of this kind at the direction and under the supervision of the FBI,” according to Widman.
Jenkins, who was elected to the city council in a special election held in July 2012 to fill the Ward 2 council seat vacancy left by the resignation of former councilman Jason Desjardins, is alleged to have used his computer and home internet account to place several personal advertisements on Craigslist seeking sex partners and then diverting responses to those ads to Jenkins’ former partner or the man whom Jenkins believed his former partner to be involved with. The ads included the victims’ personal information, entailing names, addresses and photos. Jenkins is further charged with forging a San Bernardino Police Department internal memorandum, using the names of two department employees, Sgt. Tom Bielaszka and Lt. Dario Robinson, as well as city and police department seals, according to the criminal complaint.
Statements emanating from the Jenkins’ camp and Blumenthal’s office suggested Jenkins, who previously hid but now openly acknowledges his homosexuality, was set up by his former lover, who had a key to his home and access to his computer.
The developments come as a blow to the city of San Bernardino, which filed for bankruptcy last year, as well as to the city council and in particular to the Republican element of the council, which is outnumbered by Democrats four-to-three on the seven-member panel. Both Jenkins and Kelley touted themselves as conservative Republicans. Jenkins is being challenged by Benito Barrios in the November election.