During a Scotts Valley City Council meeting, the mayor alleged an opponent of a proposed Target store was veering off the topic and blocked further comment from the man who filed a Brown Act complaint that his right to participate in the meeting was denied. -DB
Santa Cruz Sentinel
April 25, 2009
By Ramona Turner
SCOTTS VALLEY — A dispute at a recent City Council meeting, during which the mayor threatened to call the police, has led an upset opponent of a proposed Target store to file a complaint alleging Brown Act violations.
This week, Paul Bach, who is a vocal opponent of the proposal to build a 143,000-square-foot Target store on 17.6-acres of open space on La Madrona Drive, filed a complaint with the District Attorney’s Office claiming the council violated the law by not allowing him to speak freely at its April 15 meeting. Enacted in 1953, the Brown Act guarantees public access and participation in local government meetings.
“The mayor does not have the right to limit the speech of someone during the public comment period,” Bach said.
The District Attorney’s Office is investigating and a decision is expected early next week. If the district attorney agrees with Bach, the offending parties could be charged with a misdemeanor, an investigator there said. However, if the office finds no wrongdoing, Bach plans to take his complaint to the state Attorney General’s office.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Bach asked Mayor Randy Johnson and Councilman Dean Bustichi to remove themselves from voting on Target items because of an alleged conflict of interest. He claims the pair received campaign money last year from someone he says was connected to Title II Investment Inc., which owns the property.
While Johnson denied the accusation, Bustichi acknowledged accepting $100 from the person in question, a longtime friend.
“I find it ironic that Bach’s the head of a political action committee that has spent thousands of dollars for other candidates, but the committee has never filed a report of who they’ve raised money from,” Bustichi said during the meeting and reiterated to the Sentinel Friday.
The sparks began to fly later in the meeting, as the council discussed whether to seek to foreclose on the property because of delinquent assessment payments. Title II owes more than $230,000 in assessments to the city, plus fees and penalties.
During the public comment portion of the discussion, Bach again asked Johnson and Bustichi to remove themselves from the meeting and began to give his reasons why.
That’s when Johnson told Bach to comment only on the discussion item or else a police officer would be called upon. And that’s the basis for Bach’s complaint.
When asked how the police department enforces free speech issues, Chief John Weiss told the Sentinel, “We have no desire to make arrests or trample on free speech, but simply maintain order and decorum.”
The mayor’s job is to run the meeting and keep it moving, he said.
“If an individual veers off topic, becomes boisterous or disruptive, etc., the mayor would warn the individual,” he said. “If the problem persisted, the mayor would likely call a recess and have the police attend to the matter.”
Copyright 2009 Santa Cruz Sentinel