01-16-2019 CRC RPT 02 - Laserfiche WebLink

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January 16, 2019 Riverside Charter Review Commission Dear Commissioners, I want to start with thanking you for donating your time. I attended the Charter meetings last cycle and saw first hand what a thankless task it was, as in the end, not much changed. The one good reform the commission put before voters, which was the creation of a city auditor to be hired by and answer to the Council, was in the end defeated at the ballot box. You can have the best idea, but if it's a long ballot and can't spend money to promote the idea, it will die. Like you, I applied and was interviewed for the Commission. I was asked many of the same questions but I'd like to share with you a statement by one of the councilmen, because when taken with other information, it illustrates the seriousness of your task. Councilman Adams didn't ask a question but made a statement. He said when he was a police officer, he'd found that laws were written too specifically, and that he had felt restrained. In regards to the City Charter, he felt that there should be no radical changes, but that I quote, "It should be kept intentionally vague, so they can do what needs to be done." Let me share with you another quote, this time from past Councilman Ed Adkins. Mr. Adkins is currently sitting of the City Ag Water Rate committee. In a recently, that committee was discussing a fear of violating State Prop 218, to which Mr. Adkins stated, "We don't need to concern ourselves about violating Prop 218. The city will never get sued, as it would be too expensive for anyone to do the studies and bring suit." Apparently, we have and have had Council who find Charters and Constitutions restraining or inconvenient. Having reflected the last few weeks since my interview, I'm inclined to think Mr. Adams is wrong. Intentional vagueness of the law invites abuse by the unscrupulous. So, I'm going to urge you to eliminate ambiguities. It would be nice to believe city staff or elected offices are honest and can be trusted, do not forget what Mr. Adams said during the discussion of our recently departed City Manager, when the council was discussing a new contract. Adams said, he and his wife had become good friends with the city manager and his wife. He said they were going to have diner that Friday, and that he hoped it was still going to happen. Anywhere else, such an admission of such an inappropriate relationship between a supervisor and employee would be cause for recusal, but this is Riverside. We need strong laws, because people are people. Some people are more flawed than others, but it's why we need the guardrails.