Illegal Abyss

Reference 02/01/17 GNP front page article “Judge says city violated state law”, the Glendale City Attorney Mike Garcia has literally led the Glendale City Council into an illegal abyss. More disturbing is that the article states that the City Council is likely to vote to appeal the L. A. Superior Court ruling on the direction given by the City Attorney, falling further into the abyss of violating the Glendale City Charter and California State Law.

Since 2008 I along with many other Glendale residents and rate payers have been publicly urging the sitting city councils to stop transferring funds from the GWP directly into the Glendale City General Fund. The council was given copies of the sections of the City Charter that were being violated time and time again, only to be ignored by every city council including the sitting council.
The outcome of these citizen protests was that Councilman Dave Weaver when acting as Mayor, ended our presentations by stating “Sue Us”, which led to the formation of the Glendale Coalition for Better Government (GCBG) of which I am a member. The GCBG filed subject lawsuit in 2013 at great expense which is borne by the members of the GCBG.

The bottom line to decisions made by the Glendale City Council is its continued acceptance of legal advice received from the City Attorney appointed by the council. Clearly, that advice has not served the council well. Also sharing in these legal missteps is the advice and support of the city attorney’s recommendations by the City Manager. These actions clearly point out the need for the City Attorney and the City Manager to be elected positions. Unfortunately, the appointments by the city councils over the years have not served the public interests well.

Albert Hofmann, Glendale Resident