The Glendale Coalition for better Government 2017 The Year In Review
Coalition Meetings Held
During the year, we held 12 General Meetings for the members and guests. The meetings are open to the public and every one is welcome.
Held the third Monday of each month at 6:15 PM. Location posted on the web site.
The Board of Directors met 39 times, often to include invited guests such as prior City employees, elected City officials, and informed and/or concerned citizens.
Organizing Within The Coalition
The Coalition is incorporated under the laws of California as a 501c (4) corporation. The Coalition has a Non Profit status approved by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The Board of Directors is currently comprised of 4 Directors and a President. The Coalition’s officers are President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The Board of Directors and the Officers serve as volunteers and receive no financial compensation.
In May, we were saddened to lose Founding Coalition Board Member Harry Zavos. Harry was in his 80’s and passed away when his heart gave out. Harry was an attorney, a college law professor Emeritus, a fun loving person, and a huge asset to the Coalition. Truly a loss to the Coalition and the City of Glendale.
The vacant position on the Board was filed by Bill Taliaferro, a very active member of the Coalition.
The Coalition maintains an informational web site on the Internet where it posts articles of interest about City Government, solicits input from citizens, posts current events, and posts dates for the General Meetings.
Through out the year, the President and Directors have attended various events, miscellaneous meetings, and City Council Meetings to interact with citizens and the City executives and staff.
The Coalition maintains an active web site at:
http://www.glendalecacoalition.org/
And, an active FaceBook Page at:
https://www.facebook.com/GlendaleCoalition/
The Coalitiion also has a comment/tip/message 24 hour phone number:
(818) 464 3772
On Going Law Suits
The Coalition currently has two, continuing, active law suits filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court against the City for acting illegally in violation of the California State Constitution and the City’s own Charter.
The Court has made judgments in favor of the Coalition in both law suits, but the City has filed appeals in both cases, holding up the return of moneys to the rate payers. The Coalition has filed counter appeals in both cases and is awaiting a Court ruling in both cases.
Note: Similar law suits filed by groups similar to ours in other cities have been won by those groups. We are anticipating an outcome in our favor. We are also currently added as an interested party to a law suit by the citizens of Reddings that has gone to the State Supreme Court.
Important: The Coalition and its members are asking nothing for themselves in both these law suits, only that the illegally taken moneys be returned to the Utility and/or to the Utility customers.
(Note: These law suits are costing the Coalition thousands of dollars and we are dependent on member dues, donations, and sponsors for funding. Also, many people have volunteered their time helping us. We thank all those who have helped.)
Glendale Civil Service Rules Violation – Police Chief Resigns
In 2016, the Coalition investigated improprieties during a Police Department Promotional Exam and sent the findings to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Civil Ethics Unit for a possible criminal complaint. The District Attorney’s Office chose not to handle the complaint and forwarded it to the California State Attorney General’s office for possible prosecution.
After many months, the State Attorney General’s office replied to us that even though there may have been a violation of Civil Service Laws, they would take no action and it was a closed case.
Partially due to our investigation and complaint, a candidate in the promotional exam filed a civil law suit against the City, and this year was awarded $550,000 for gender and ethnic discrimination.
Interesting, and coincidentally, the Chief of Police, Robert Castro, abruptly resigned in December citing personal reasons.
City Manager Resigns
The Coalition takes some credit for the November resignation of the City Manager, Scott Ochoa. The Coalition has been pointing out bad management and violations of election laws and the Brown Act by the City Manager, and feel that we exposed poor management skills and unethical behavior, forcing the City Manager to resign in November.
Upon hearing of the resignation, the Coalition sent a letter to the Mayor and City Council suggesting that the citizens of Glendale should have some input to the new city manager selection, and offered their assistance/help in various ways. The letter fell on deaf ears, so two members of the Board had a sit down meeting with the Mayor and offered our suggestions in person. Mayor Gharpetian was not interested and had already decided that the Assistant City Manager should be appointed to the position without any competitive exam or further input.
Fair Political Practices Commission Complaint Filed
After the April City Council election was finished, the Coalition discovered that reelected Councilman Ara Najarian had circumvented the City’s campaign limit law by accepting support from a Political Action Committee solely set up to allow one donor to spend $25,000 on Najarian’s campaign. Interesting that donor owns a transportation company that was the beneficiary of a 67 million dollar contract from the MTA, a contract which Najarian voted to approve as he is an MTA Board Member. It appeared to be an obvious violation of the City’s Campaign Finance Ordinance and a conflict of interest while sitting on the MTA Board.
A formal complaint was filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission in Sacramento.
City No Bid Energy Contract – Questionable Company/Process
It had come the Coalition’s attention that in 2013, the City Council had awarded a No Bid contract (in possible violation of a City Ordinance) for 25 years to purchase electrical energy. The contract was for almost 3/4’s of a BILLION dollars (730 million dollars).
Further investigation revealed the company, Skylar Energy, which was awarded the contract was less than 10 employees, located in the Virgin Islands, the CEO of the company is listed on the Internet as a “Professional Gambler”, and the Vice President of the company had been an employee of the City’s Public Utility Department before taking the position with Skylar Energy.
The investigation is on going…….
Coalition Publishes a “News Paper”
In December, the Coalition published and had printed 11,000 News Papers and mailed out 10,000 of them (1,000 were handed out in person). The Paper is called “What’s Up Glendale” and contains articles of general interest and some political information. The Coalition’s plan is to publish the Paper every other month and cover some of the cost through advertising.
There is a corresponding web site for the Paper:
http://whatsupglendale.com/
The most current issue is 16 pages and seems to be well received by the community. Articles and advertising are welcome.
Individual Board Member Accomplishments
Board Member Roland Kedikian
..Appointed as a member to the City Public Utility Commission
..Has his own weekly call in talk show on Armenian Cable Television
Mondays at 7:30 PM, Channel 395 on Charter/Spectrum Cable
Several Board Members
..Actively posting on NextDoor and other Social Media sites
All Board Members
..The Board unanimously decided not to support the Glendale Environmental Coalition as an organization, but will individually support the Environmental Coalition in its work to prevent the “repowering” of the City’s Grayson power plant. (The environment is important, but is not in our mission statement. However, City fiscal responsibility is.)
The Coalition will work to prevent the “repowering” of the Grayson Plant from a fiscal perspective. The Coalition is working with Dan Brotman, Founder of the Environmental Coalition. Brotman is working from the environmental aspect, the Coalition from a fiscal aspect…both working toward the same goal: A cleaner, less costly repowering!!
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It was a good year and we are proud of our members and our accomplishments.
Thank you for your continued support. We welcome your input, questions and comments.
We look forward to seeing you at a General meeting. General meetings are held the third Monday of each month in the evening. Additional information can be found on our web site.
Contact Information
Web Site: http://www.glendalecacoalition.org/
Mailing address: Glendale C.B.G P.O. Box 10083 Glendale, CA. 91209-0083
Phone message number: (818) 464-3772
Board of Directors:
Frank Gallo (President)…..Gallo@glendalecacoalition.org
Roland Kedikian……………Kedikian@glendalecacoalition.org
Seda Khachaturian………..Khachaturian@glendalecacoalition.org
John Samuel……………….Samuel@glendalecacoalition.org
Bill Taliaferro……………….Taliaferro@glendalecacoalition.org
