Tag Archives: Debbie Presson City of chico Ca

Yes, the clerk certainly does pick and choose what she puts in the reports and minutes

12 Sep

I hate to be a pest, in fact, I won’t tolerate a pest. Yesterday I found rat turds on my garbage can, so my husband went out and bought me a trap! It’s that time of year, everybody’s foraging – but I don’t put up with rats that close to my house.

Yes, I hate to be a pest – mostly because, people will only put up with a pest for so long. I’ve always known I’ve been walking on thin rice paper Downtown, trying to get information out of employees who may or may not like what I’m doing. I’ve had city staffers walk up to me out of nowhere and hand me documents – one woman said, “if anybody asks you where you got this, you don’t remember…” I’ve had them come up and tell me things, call me on my private phone, approach me at my kid’s games,  to tell me things aren’t good Downtown. This has been happening for a good five or six years, ever since I started to criticize the pay scale and the benefits. 

When I needed something from the clerk’s office, I’d ask for it. I’d tell them I didn’t want to be a bother, no hurry, etc. Debbie Presson was always almost too friendly, too cheerful, but I appreciated her cooperativeness. I remember when my neighbors and I had an appeal up before the city, we were told, we had to get it in within “calendar” days, not working days. It was Christmas time, and they counted both Christmas Eve and Christmas in the 15 days we had to turn in our appeal.  Debbie Presson was really nice – when my husband needed help with something, she told him, she’d be down there on Saturday morning, give her a call and she’d meet him at the door downstairs. That bothered me – at the time, I didn’t want her to go to the trouble, now I wonder, was she on overtime? And why can’t she do her job during the 9-5 M-F week? So, I figured – my mom liked to go to her office for the peace and quiet, maybe that’s what Debbie was doing. 

Knowing we pay dearly for Presson’s time, I’ve kept my requests to a dull roar.  But always Presson indicated to me that I could call her or e-mail her office anytime I needed anything! We had personal conversations I won’t repeat here. I started to get too comfortable with this woman because she was so kissy-nice all the time. 

You know me, I can’t swing with a good thing, I always have to shoot a hole in the dinghy. I started to find out, Presson has a lot of discretion. Discretionary rules always bother the hell out of me. Discretionary rules often set up a system by which “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” And sometimes I don’t want my back scratched, and I sure as hell don’t like scratching somebody else’s back. Yeeeeecccchhhhh!  I don’t play those games, I always get thrown out for bitching about stuff.

Below here I have the exchange I’ve been mentioning between myself and Debbie Presson, from December of last year, regarding incorrect minutes from the November finance committee meeting.  One thing I will point out – last year she had those minutes up within a month of the committee meeting in question, that’s why I asked her why she’d left out a whole conversation between me and Hennessy regarding the employee’s share.  

Then she says they will be discussing my questions regarding minutes at the January 2 2013 council meeting – I don’t remember it, and she only posted the minutes for that meeting a few days ago. According to the minutes, my letter was read to council and no action was taken. You have to get up there and call these people out physically if you want something – gee, I guess I had better things to do the day after New Years than go Downtown and try to Matt Dillon some legal propriety out of these idiots Downtown.

This is why I’m getting to the end of my patience with Debbie Presson and $taff and the talking heads we call our “elected representatives” – they play games, they jack me around, they are shysters.

In December of last year, having attended a Finance Committee meeting during which I asked detailed questions about the city retirement system and was given erroneous answers by the Finance Director, I read the report from that meeting and noticed that while another question I’d asked had been included in the report, they’d left the conversation about the pension system completely out, not one word.  So, I felt this was important enough to mention, I wrote the following e-mail to Presson and the council:

 

>>> juanita sumner  12/12/2012 6:49 AM >>>

Hi Debbie, Council members, 

 

I was just going over the minutes for  the Finance Committee meeting I attended earlier this month. I see that one question I asked, about the cost of certain consultant reports, was included in the minutes, but not the question I asked regarding what the city pays toward the “employee share” of pension premiums. Jennifer Hennessy stated at that time, “about $7 million.” Later she sent me an e-mail correction – the actual figure was closer to $10.1 million.

 

I wonder why my question and Hennessy’s answer are not included in the minutes? I asked this question during the discussion regarding the loss of Measure J. I was trying to point out, that while the city is complaining about losing $900,000 on a failed tax measure, they spend millions paying THE EMPLOYEE SHARE of pension costs, in addition to the employer share. Our city’s financial problems would be solved if the contracts were rewritten so that the employee pays their own share. Why isn’t this option coming up in the discussion? 

 

I also notice, the police advisory board gets verbatim minutes. I wonder, why aren’t all the committee meetings, including the ad hoc meetings, recorded verbatim? 

 

I’d like this letter to be attached to the next city council agenda as a “communication.” 

 

I’d also like to thank Fritz McKinley for answering my flood notice question. 

 

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation, Juanita Sumner

 

Presson answered right away to let me know she’d received the e-mail:

 

Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:34:27 -0800
From: dpresson@ci.chico.ca.us
Subject: Re: letter to council
To: juanita sumner

Hi Juanita….
 
I have received your email and I wanted you to know that I will check into the minutes as well as place your letter on the January 2, 2013 meeting under Reports and Communications.  I will however be in touch with you as soon as possible.
 
Have a great evening!
 

Debbie

When I didn’t hear anything or see any change in the minutes a week later, I wrote back, wondering if she needed proof – Mark Sorensen was the one who e-mailed me to tell me Hennessy had given me the wrong information. By this time, the whole employee share thing was getting pretty clear, and I felt like I was being pushed back in my attempts to bring it to public attention:

 >>> juanita sumner 12/19/2012 8:28 AM >>>

Hi again Debbie,

 

I wonder if you’d like me to forward you the e-mail discussion I had with Mark Sorensen and Jennifer Hennessy regarding the question I asked that was omitted from the minutes of the meeting? I’m sure Scott Gruendl and Mary Flynn also heard my question and Hennessy’s answer. 

 

My question and Ms. Hennessy’s answer (answers?) need to be part of the public record. I’m just wondering, why do the minutes mention the one question I asked, but not the other?  The record needs to be complete. This is another reason people don’t participate. I rode my bike through the park to that meeting, at 7:45 in the morning, just to ask that question, and it’s important to me that the question and the answer are part of the official record. Is it a waste of my time to attend these meetings? A waste of time for the public to pay attention? 

 

I’ll be at the next Finance Committee meeting, I’d like some kind of resolution to this problem by then  – thanks, Juanita Sumner

Presson answered me that day. She mentions council’s 2001 decision regarding “‘action only’ minutes, with some summary when needed.”  Well, I think what has become apparent in this conversation, is that Presson and her staff are either incompetent to provide proper “summaries” or they are willingly distorting the record. You decide. 

 

Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2012 19:56:57 -0800
From: dpresson@ci.chico.ca.us
CC: bnakamura@ci.chico.ca.us; DBrinkle@ci.chico.ca.us; KMasters@ci.chico.ca.us
Subject: RE: letter to council regarding minutes
To: juanita sumner

Hello Juanita.

I have researched your questions regarding the discussions that occurred at the 11/27/12 Finance Committee Report (minutes) and found that the report does not reflect all of your comments regarding employee share of pension and benefit costs and subsequent responses by staff. That report is currently under review and once the report is amended, we will provide the Council with the report, with a copy to you as well. Please note, it is always our intent to provide a thorough report from these meetings. The reports however, are typically in summary format. Council’s formal action in 2001 was to direct staff to provide “action only” minutes, with some summary when needed. That motion carried 7-0. 

On a side note, but still related to this topic…. City Manager Nakamura sent you an email following that November Finance Committee meeting which included two attachments pertaining to safety and miscellaneous costs as well as an overview of the range of healthcare benefits that employees can chose from and for which they pay a share of the costs. Would you mind confirming if you did or didn’t receive this information? We would like to make sure he has your correct email address.

As I had mentioned in my 12/12/12 email, your email will be included on the January 2, 2013 agenda under Reports and Communications. At that time, I will be able to address regulations regarding the types of minutes required. Hope that helps. 

I wish for you and your family a wonderful holiday and will see you on January 2, 2013.

Sincerely,

Debbie 

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Clerk feels her $135,000/year time is best spent hunched over her computer picking and choosing what goes into the minutes – that’s why the minutes are seven months behind

11 Sep

Well, my questions to the city clerk and staff regarding the production of meeting minutes has started quite a conversatin.  It’s gotten weird – with Stephanie Taber and Sean Morgan asking me to “back off.”  But here’s the answer I was waiting for, from Debbie Presson:

Hi Juanita.

 

I thought I would provide additional clarification regarding the preparation of minutes that is clearly my responsibility.

 

First, let me set the record straight, the Council action regarding minutes which carried 7-0 on November 7, 2000 was to “approve “action-only” minutes, with staff to provide summary detail when needed.”  This action was based on the fact that VHS videos (at that time) were available for check out the day after the meeting.  We then moved to DVD’s when that technology became available and then in 2009, started streaming the meetings and making all Council meeting videos available on the website so our citizens would have immediate access to the meeting information.  For citizens who cannot access the videos on the internet, we still maintain a DVD copy available for citizens to check out and take home to view.

 

So, yes… the City Council minutes are behind at this time.  Back in May 2010 through the first part of 2011, they also got behind when nine additional Council meetings were held in order to take in public comment for the General Plan Update.  Public input was critical to that process and therefore needed to be reflected accurately.  I had to watch those meetings over and over again in order to capture what each citizen stated for the record. 

 

The second note that I would like to make is that I do not pick and choose what goes into the minutes.  The detailed minutes were in many cases “verbatim” in order to capture anything related to the budget issues that the Council was grappling with at that time.  I began to provide more verbatim minutes when Council kept asking questions regarding the financial situation but was often told by the Finance Director that she didn’t have that information with her.  Detailed or verbatim minutes were solely related to those financial discussions and contained all the comments from all speakers related to the item, not just the items I wanted to see included.

 

I am honored to serve as the City Clerk of Chico and my duties surrounding the legislative history are very important to me.  I strive at all times to provide minutes that accurately reflect what actions were taken at each and every meeting and more importantly, what the video can attest to…. at any given moment.  As mentioned by both the Mayor and Stephanie Taber, there is no statute that provides a deadline or time line for the presentation of minutes to the Council for review.  Having said that, I am committed to getting them caught up as quickly as I can.  However, there are other things that are deadline driven and required by State law that will always need to be completed within the time frames allowed by law.  Those types of items by their very nature, take priority over the minutes.

 

I do appreciate your suggestion of annotated agendas where the motion, second and vote are indicated.  At this time, I am just trying to get the minutes caught up…. but should a backlog of minutes occur again in the future, I believe the annotated agendas would be helpful to those individuals who choose not to watch the videos.

 

Thank you for your comments. 

 

Debbie Presson  

I answered:

Debbie, you do pick and choose. I still have the e-mail exchange where I had that conversation in which Jennifer gave me erroneous information about the employee share, and you and Dani just “chose” to leave that whole conversation off the record. I wondered if Jennifer had asked you to strike it – is that allowed?  You’d put another question I’d asked in the record, so I knew I was at the meeting.  It was Sorensen who pointed out Jennifer gave me the wrong figures, and I had to ask you to add that. It’s pretty clear that you guys listen to the tapes and type what you want into the record.

 

I’ve seen the verbatim minutes. With a video for back up, I see absolutely no reason for verbatim minutes. 

 

It is my belief that you would better serve the public if you gave us the annotated agendas where the motion,  second and vote are indicated. That would be best for all the meetings, not just council. I think it is a terrible waste of expensive staff time to strain over an hour’s tape for 5 – 6 hours trying to pick and choose. 

 

Here’s why I choose not to watch the videos – all I want is the motion, second and vote, why should I have to sit at my computer, pushing the button, trying to find the exact moment of the motion, when you get paid over $135,000/year to take notes?  Why can’t the notes be available within a week? A month? That’s not unreasonable, other towns do it with less resources than Chico. 

 

Thank you for doing the job you are generously paid for, and I’d also like to add, you guys need to pay your own pensions and healthcare package. That would really establish some good will on your part. 

 

Sincerely, Juanita Sumner

This is a catharsis – FINALLY the city clerk drops that “have a wonderful day” bullshit and talks straight – I’ve been waiting for this through years of phony ass-kissing and superficial conversation.   I don’t hate Debbie Presson, I hate phony people, and she doesn’t present her true face, she uses that sugary coating as a defense mechanism, so nobody will tell her to cut the crap and do her job. Well, I’m telling her, damn the feel-good torpedoes. 

 

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