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Home My WebLink About12 - City Manager Employment Agreement and Recruitment of New City Manager - CorrespondenceAirFair Supporters City of Costa Mesa City of Irvine City of Newport Beach City of Santa Ana City of Villa Park Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 AL i so 04'qa i a* Communities: Balboa Coves Balboa Island Balboa Peninsula Point Bayside Village Big Canyon Costa Mesa Residents Chapter Dover Shores Eastbluff Homeowners Foothill Communities GSMOL Lido Isle Little Balboa North Bayview Bluffs Santa Ana Heights Santa Lucia HOA SPON The Bluffs Tustin Preservation Conservancy West Newport Beach Westcliff Villas individuals: Hon. Marian Bergeson Hon, Eric Bever Hon. Marilyn Brewer Han. John Campbell Han. Christopher Cox Hon. Keith Curry Hon. Leslie Daigle Hon. Chuck DeVore Hon. Katrina Foley Hon. Deborah Gavello Hon. Rush Hill Hon. Tom Harman Hon_ Barbara Kogerman Hon. Beth Krom Hon. Wendy Leece Hon. Allan Mansoor Hon, Curt Pringle Hon. Dana Rohrabacher Hon, Loretta Sanchez Han, Jose Solorio Hon. Van Tran 10.0 Let's lock the gate at John Wayne Airport! Advisors: Jack Keating, Newport Bay Naturalists & Friends Lt, Col. Bili Kogemtan, Commissioner State Parks & Rec. Commission Robert McGowan. Capt., UAL (ret.) Dr. Jack & Nancy Skinner Environmentalists P.O. Box 16304 Imine, CA 92623-6304 (714)959-2323 www.jwatrfair.com April 8, 2018 Mayor Duffield and members of the Newport Beach City Council 100 Civic Center Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92660 ciiycouncilgnewportbeachca.gov mduffielda, newportbeachca.gov Dear Mayor Duffield and members of the City Council: As representatives of AirFair we were dismayed to learn about City Manager Dave Kiff s imminent departure. Those of us who have worked with Dave over the years cannot say enough good things about his intelligence, professionalism, competence and overall qualities as a human being. Many times he has been the one person at City Hall we all knew would hear our concerns and help to find solutions. His departure comes at a particularly bad time for residents working to protect the community from the noise and pollution effects of .TWA. Dave has made it a priority to understand the complexities of the John Wayne Airport Settlement Agreement and the history of Newport Beach's relations with the Airport and the County, Dave has been instrumental in efforts to lobby for changes to FAA -imposed departure paths that are taking a toll on the quality of life of countless residents. There is no question that the best candidate for a city like Newport Beach can only be found through a national search led by a top recruiting firm. We believe it is important that there be a way for Dave to transfer his institutional knowledge of the airport and other matters to the next City Manager. Therefore, given the short lead time for organizing this search, we hope the Council will consider appointing an interim city manager while completing its due diligence. We ask that members of the community (and particularly those actively working on the airport issue) be involved in this selection process. Such an action on your part would go a long way toward ensuring us that our interests are being taken into account and that good community relations are a top priority for the council. Sincerely, .lean Watt, AirFair Board of Directors Melinda Seely, AirFair Board of Directors cc: Leilani Brown, City Clerk, lbrown@newportbeachca.gov Dave Kiff, City Manager, dkiff&newportbeachca.gov Diane Dixon, Council Member, District 1, ddixongnewportbeachca.gov Brad Avery, Council Member, District 2, bavery@ngWortbeachea.gov Kevin Muldoon, Council Member, District 4, kmuldoon a neMortbeachca.gov Jeff Herdman, Council Member, District 5, jherdman cr newportbeachca. C av Scott Peotter, Council Member, District 6, sneotter a,newportbeachca.gov Will O'Neill, Mayor Pro Tem, District 7, woneil imewportbeachca.gov Recieved After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 April 10, 2018, Council Agenda Item 12 Comments The following comments on an item on the Newport Beach City Council agenda are submitted by: Jim Mosher ( jimmosher(c)yahoo.com ), 2210 Private Road, Newport Beach 92660 (949-548-6229) Item 12. City Manager Employment Agreement Amendment and Commencement of Process for Recruitment of New City Manager 1. The staff report does not provide a clear statement of all the significant new provisions of the amended contract. Among them: a. The new August 31, 2018, termination date. b. That, per Section 7.A, the $20,000 is being paid as a reward for signing the General Release Agreement of Exhibit "A" by April 3, 2018. The release would relieve the City from liability for any claims the Manager may have against the City as of that date. Formerly, a reward for signing was offered only in the case of termination without cause. The implication would seem to be that the City believes the City Manager does, under the present circumstances, have valid claims for which this is a reasonable settlement. Otherwise, it would seem to be a gift of public funds. Incidental to that, from staff report page 12-31, it appears the General Release Agreement of Exhibit "A" was signed on April 4. Since April 4 is after April 3, Section 7.A suggests that makes the entire contract attached to the Release null and avoid, leaving the Fifth Amendment in effect and making one wonder why the present item is on the Council agenda. c. That, per Section 7.13, the $84,000 is a reward for signing the Final General Release Agreement of Exhibit "B," which relieves the City of liability for any claim, past or future. Again, the implication would seem to be there is a basis for pursuing such claims, otherwise this, too, would seem a gift of public funds. d. That, per Section 7.F, the City Manager will receive payments for accumulated sick leave and up to as much as 80 hours of unused administrative leave that it appears would not previously have been paid on termination. 2. Neither the staff report nor the amended contract makes clear how the offer of paid administrative leave is expected to work. a. Section 6.13 implies that the Council can place the Manager on "paid and benefited Administrative Leave" at any time, and for any reason, including presumably no reason, between April 10 and August 31. The implication is the Manager will be paid throughout this period. b. However, Section 4.0 caps the Administrative Leave available in a calendar year at 80 hours. c. Since there are many more than 80 hours of leave possible between April 10 and August 31, the two provisions appear to be in conflict, and it is not clear to me which prevails April 10, 2018, City Council Agenda Item 12 Comments - Jim Mosher Page 2 of 3 d. As a side note, I am also completely unable to fathom the intended significance of the new phrase (shown in bold) added to Section 4.C: "Administrative Leave will not accrue from calendar year to calendar year and must be used each calendar year or no additional entitlement shall arise or occur." Just saying the leave does not accrue would seem sufficient. But the new phrase seems to be adding that if the full amount of leave is not completely used in any given year the employee will have no entitlement to any leave in future years — which seems not only strange, but irrelevant in a contract covering a fraction of a single calendar year. 3. The Agreement seems to have several misstatements in it. For example, on staff report page 12-5: a. End of Recital B: "... The term of the Fifth Amended Agreement expires on April 24, 2019." i. As far as I know, the Fifth Amended Agreement is an evergreen contract with no fixed expiration. Per Section 1, it would expire on April 24, 2019 only if the City gave notice six months prior to that date. b. End of Recital C: "... To that end and in conformance with the parties discussions, the City publically announced Employee's intention to separate from the City effective August 31, 2018." i. I am not aware of any such public announcement. ii. The News Splash on the City website says only "Dave Kiff has informed members of the City Council that he will leave his post toward the end of 2018." iii. As noted above, not even the present staff report mentions the proposed August 31 termination date. I was not aware of it until I read the Agreement attached to the report. iv. I also have to wonder when the City started using "publically" to spell "publicly"? 4. The opening 1. Parties" paragraphs of both the General Release Agreement (staff report page 12-21) and the Final General Release Agreement (staff report page 12-33) misidentify Newport Beach as a "general law city." As acknowledged in the opening paragraph of the main Agreement (staff report page 12-5), Newport Beach is a charter city. The fact that such an obvious error would have been missed makes one wonder how carefully the rest of the Agreement was examined. 5. Even the redline attached to the staff report does not appear to be reliable. a. For example, at the bottom of staff report page 12-47 it contains a fragment of a sentence that appears to be intended to be part of Paragraph D. That is how it appears in the "clean" copy, but is not so indicated in the redline. This makes one wonder how many other changes in the clean copy are not correctly indicated in the redline. b. Throughout the redline, there are vertical bars in the left margin suggesting changes have been made, but there is no indication of what those changes might be. April 10, 2018, City Council Agenda Item 12 Comments - Jim Mosher Page 3 of 3 6. Regarding the ad hoc committee charged with formulating a recommendation about the selection of an executive search firm, I strongly recommend the Council require the committee to meet in compliance with the Brown Act so as to ensure the public will be able to observe and comment on the process. I would hope the public would also be thoroughly involved in the separate process of developing the City's criteria for a new Manager, which the chosen search firm would be using in its search. The Coastal Commission's recent search for a new Executive Director might provide some guidance: both the RFP for the search firm and the search criteria they would use were publicly vetted and modified, in part in response to public comments, at several public meetings. See, as an example, Item 5 at their May 13, 2016 meeting in Newport Beach, in which, among other things, the search firm was required to involve the public in developing the search criteria. 7. The preceding comment notwithstanding, this might not be the best time for the City to be looking for a new City Manager. The rather messily unfolding departure of the present Manager could well have created a cloud of suspicion about the work environment here, such that quality candidates may be unlikely to apply. To avoid the instability that has beset other cities like Anaheim and Santa Ana, it might be wisest to look for a caretaker manager who could keep the City running while a bit of the dust settles, allowing the Council to start the process of finding a permanent replacement in a way that it doesn't feel pressured into completing the job by a fixed deadline. 8. Whatever path the Council chooses, it seems clear the current City Manager possesses a great deal of institutional knowledge which I would think the Council would hope gets passed on to his successor. It's not clear to me the City has given a sufficient thought to knowledge transfer and succession planning in this case, or in general. How that transfer will be handled if there is no overlap in tenures (as would be the case in the previous suggestion) seems particularly important to solve. 9. Finally, it would seem of public interest to know the extent, if any, to which the special payments of $20,000 and $84,000 are "PERSable" — that is, do they affect the departing City Manager's future retirement benefits? Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: Susan Seely <smseely1@mac.com> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2018 11:18 AM To: Brown, Leilani Subject: For the Record: City Manager From: Susan Seely <smseely1(a-)_mac.com> Subject: City Manager Date: April 9, 2018 at 8:56:18 AM PDT To: citycouncil _newportbeachca.gov Dear City Council Members, I am very disappointed and disheartened by the way that the "resignation" of Dave Kiff has transpired and subsequently been managed. Newport Beach is an incredibly city -- we are fortunate to have the beautiful resources and wealth that we do. A city such as ours deserves an outstanding, clear-eyed civil servant such as Mr. Kiff. It does NOT need council members who are in collusion to manipulate city oversight and business in their favor, nor in favor of the financial gain of their friends. Council members are elected to REPRESENT citizens of Newport Beach, NOT to further their own political, ideological and/or financial gains. It would behoove you all to reach out to your constituents more to see where our priorities and concerns actually lie. My own Council representative, Jeff Herdman, does an excellent job doing this, via regular email newsletters, community meetings, and through his open attitude of welcoming input and conversation with any member of our City at any time. It now falls to you to have a rigorous City Manager candidate search -- one that is as open and transparent as it can be. This next Manager will be crucial to carrying on Dave Kiff s legacy of excellent stewardship, and to implementing the decisions that will carry Newport into the future. Thank you for your time, Susan Seely 1006 Park Ave Balboa Island Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: Suzanne Gauntlett <surtg@pacbell.net> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2018 11:42 AM To: Dixon, Diane; Avery, Brad; Duffield, Duffy; Brown, Leilani Cc: Dept - City Council; 'Susan Skinner' Subject: Complaint re Potential Brown Act Violation Sent to Mr. Armstrong, Assistant D.A. Special Prosecutions Unit - Tuesday's Council Meeting Good Morning Newport Beach Mayor Mr. Duffield, City Council Members, Ms. Dixon, Mr. Avery, Mr. Muldoon, Mr. Herdman, Mr. Peotter and Mr. O'Neill, City Attorney Aaron Harp, City Manager Dave Kiff, and City Clerk Ms. Brown. I just wanted to share the e-mail exchange below with you all and have it included in the public comments section for the Closed Session of the City Council Meeting tomorrow, April 10, 2018 — Section III, Public Comments; IV Closed Session, A. PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PERFOMANCE EVALUATION (Government Code 54957(b)(1): 1 matter, Title: Dave Kiff, City Manager; in the Regular Meeting, Section XVI. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON NON -AGENDA ITEMS; as well as The PUBLIC COMMENTS FOR AGENDA ITEM XVII, 12. City Manager Employment Agreement and Commencement of Process for Recruitment of New City Manager. In short, I filed a Brown Act Violation Complaint with the Special Prosecutions Unit of the Orange County District Attorney's office on March 26, 2018 via Certified Mail, Return Receipt. The email below confirms that my complaint was received and that I was asked to provide additional information. Assistant D.A. Armstrong copied City Attorney Harp on the email, so you may be aware of the complaint. But, let this email serve to have it added to the official record for both the Closed Session and Regular Session of the Newport Beach Council meeting being held tomorrow, April 10, 2018. Thank you in advance for ensuring this is in the official records, Suzanne Gauntlett 5 Pelican Vista Drive Newport Coast, CA 92657 (949)375-5284 Cell/text surtg@pacbell.net From: Suzanne Gauntlett [mailto:surtg@pacbell.net] Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2018 11:08 AM To: 'Armstrong, Ray' <Ray.Armstrong@da.ocgov.com> Cc:'aharp@newportbeachca.gov' <aharp@newportbeachca.gov> Subject: RE: Complaint re Potential Brown Act Violation Happy Holidays Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Harp, Thank you for getting back to me so promptly! It appears to me and others that there were conversations either in person, text, phone, cell phone or email between four of our city councilmembers Duffy, Muldoon, O'Neil and Peotter leading up to Sunday night's hastily put out press release stating that City Manager Dave Kiff had decided to retire. My understanding is that it was a total surprise to council members Avery, Dixon and Herdman. It clearly appeared so in the social media posts leading up to the Press release last Sunday,Night. I invite you to speak to all of our City Council members about how this came about and what they knew, when they knew it and how they communicated. The meetings of the first four council members mentioned would be violations of the Brown Act. I will not waste our time citing the specific provisions of the Brown Act here. The violations are not the one on one conversations they may have had with Dave Kiff, but the ones they orchestrated among themselves to push out the City Manager by compelling him to retire early. I also suggest you speak with Dave to find out what triggered his decision and how he was approached to make it. I believe the communications and contact happed in the last month, leading up to last weekends announcement. What is odd is that I have known Dave for over 15 years. He has a well-deserved reputation for integrity. A year ago, April, he signed a two year employment agreement with the City of Newport Beach. Dave's apparently spontaneous decision to give notice less than one year into to a two year employment agreement is not Dave's style no matter how tired he may be. He cares too much about our city! Many of us understood that after the November Elections and training and transitioning he would think about retirement next April when his contract is up. But his apparent early retirement decision is a big surprise. Additionally, I have received Dave's pre -council emails for many years. I scanned the last few years of them. None starts with the subject "Insider's Guide-" or ends with "As always I enjoy hearing from you about any other community issue involving the city government. So does the City Council — remember that you can email them at citycouncil@newportbeachca.gov to express your thoughts or ideas." The last part highlighted in yellow is suspicious. Additionally these emails usually arrive Friday afternoon or Saturday morning before the Tuesday Council Meeting; this one arrived Saturday evening. This is not at all consistent with Dave's usual pattern and or practice. Thank you for looking into this matter. Sincerely, Suzanne Gauntlett (949)375-5284 cell/text surtg@pacbell.net From: Armstrong, Ray[mailto:Ray.Armstrong@da.ocgov.com] Sent: Friday, March 30, 2018 10:06 AM To: surtg@pacbell.net Cc: aharp@newportbeachca.gov Subject: Complaint re Potential Brown Act Violation Good morning, Ms. Gauntlett, We received your letter dated March 26, 2018, requesting that we "look into" potential Brown Act violations of the Newport Beach City Council relating to the "early and unexpected" retirement of the city manager. The retirement of a city manager, even if "early and unexpected", does not necessarily mean that there was a Brown Act violation. We have no information regarding this matter, so if you could specify how and when you believe the violation occurred, we will review it, and take appropriate action, if we find that there was, in fact, a violation. Thank you, Ray Armstrong Senior Deputy D.A. 2 Special Prosecutions Unit Orange County District Attorney's Office Ray.armstrong_kda.ocgov.com CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE. This communication with its contents may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. It is solely for the use of the intended recipient(s) Unauthorized interception. review. use or disclosure is prohibited and may violate applicable laws including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and destroy all copies of the communication. 3 Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: Susan Skinner <susanskinner949@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 6:20 AM To: Brown, Leilani Subject: Fwd: April 10 meeting regarding Mr. Kiff's contract Leilani, Somehow my letter to the council hasn't made it into the correspondence posted on the website (and to be printed in the staff report). May I ask that you please include it? Thank you, Susan Skinner ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Susan Skinner <susanskinner949@gmail.com> Date: Sun, Apr 8, 2018 at 8:57 PM Subject: April 10 meeting regarding Mr. Kiffs contract To: citycouncil@newportbeachca.gov Dear City Council members: I imagine that you are not looking forward to the April 10 meeting any more than I am, since your perfidy will likely be the topic of the day. My reason for dreading this date is that it is the date you complete your action plan to 'retire' Dave Kiff. I suppose that I am writing this as much to have it entered into the record and printed out in the staff report for those who come to this meeting as I am to give you feedback because I'm guessing that you already know that you have stiffened my resolve to remove Team Newport from the dais in any way (legally) possible in November. I would really like to have councilpersons who put 'city before self rather than the other way around. The governance contract requires that the governed trust that the governing body acts in their best interests, but you undermined that trust long ago. Interesting that in taking the oath of office, you pledge to act for the public trust. Was the Museum House petition acting to protect the public trust? Turning down the gas tax? I would argue no. Similarly, this action undermines the public trust. So, who will replace Dave Kiff? The jungle drums say that it will be Mark Denny, the city manager of Dana Point. So, let's meet Mr. Denny, a man with a prior conviction for voter fraud and only 10 months experience as a city manager. In 1996, Mark was convicted of voter fraud when he helped arrange a decoy Democratic candidate in a tight Assembly race. Dana Rohrabacher's future wife was involved in that incident as well. He was working for Curt Pringle at the time. 1 He then worked as former Supervisor Bill Campbell's chief of staff until he was hired as the director of county parks in 2008. Around 2014, he was hired as the Chief Operating Officer of the county, a position that involved overseeing the Registrar of Voters. This created a flurry of controversy given his prior conviction and he was ultimately stripped of the ability to oversee elections. He was in the COO position for 3 years before moving to Dana Point as the Director of Parks and Recreation in the fall of 2016. During that time, the OC Register reported that he was under investigation for awarding $1 million dollars of no bid contracts while running the parks department. According to the article, the contracts were awarded to a friend of a friend of Denny with little oversight and and no appropriate paperwork. Dana Point, like our city, has a council majority of 3 who often are at odds with the other 2 councilpersons. The gentleman I spoke at Dana Point with didn't know if Dave Ellis was involved but said that it is commonly believed that there is an outside person or group who is directing decisions for the council majority (sound familiar)? A bit more than a year ago, the city manager there said that he was planning to retire in a few years and that he thought that it would be good to have a Parks and Recreation director. The council agreed and created this position on a Tuesday night and by Friday, Mark Denny had been offered the job and accepted. It was clearly planned in advance. The information about his past became commonly known after he had accepted the job. The city manager then announced that he was going to retire immediately. The city hired a recruitment specialist to find experienced candidates. The well respected assistant city manager applied for the job and the recruiter found them a number of excellent candidates. Unexpectedly, the assistant city manager withdrew his application, leaving 3 finalists for the job. Mark Denny never even applied for the job, but when the selection occurred, the 3 members of the ruling cabal picked him in July 2017. What Mark does have is a virtual web of political connections to the people who have the greatest influence over Team Newport and this may well be enough to get him the job. He has now been city manager of Dana Point for 10 months. The man I spoke with was quite guarded in his description of how Mark was doing on the job, but did say that he was "learning on the job." He said that the skill sets Mark had acquired at the county are quite different from the skill set needed to run a city. Given this history and your own history of ignoring the public's best interests, you will excuse me if I am very concerned that you will create a charade of selecting the next city manager only to hire Mr. Denny at the last minute. Newport Beach deserves better than z this, but we may not get it. We certainly deserve better than Team Newport as our representatives and it is my sincere hope that we will get that in the next election. Thank you, Susan Skinner Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: CAANP To: mduffield(a newportbeachca.aov; Dept - City Council Cc: Kiff, Dave; Brown, Leilani; Dixon. Diane; Avery, Brad; Muldoon, Kevin; Herdman. Jeff; sr)oetter(c newportbeachca.gov; woneilCabnewportbeachca.aov Subject: City Council Meeting Tonight Dave Kiff Agenda Item Date: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 3:44:25 PM Dear Mayor Duffield and members of the City Council: The community members of CAANP (Citizen's Against Airport Noise and Pollution) are very concerned by the early departure of Dave Kiff, City Manager, at this critical time in the process of getting a residents' resolution to the airport noise and pollution from JWA. Dave Kiff is the person with the most knowledge of the airport issues and has been instrumental in spearheading the recent city and community groups in their joint effort to find a resolution to the intolerable quality of life as a result of the airport. In the past few months, the City has hired a DC lobbyist, a public relations firm and HMMH, an aviation noise firm, to work on gathering data and implementing a plan for the quietest, least pollutant departures to bring forth to the FAA, Congress and the airlines. We greatly appreciate the involvement and efforts of council members Jeff Herdman, Diane Dixon and Kevin Muldoon, in this JWA noise and pollution issue. However, at this juncture, it is imperative that Dave continues to lead the effort and having him depart will be extremely detrimental to our efforts and to the community. CAANP would also like to urge the council members to hire a national executive recruiting firm to find his replacement and include a committee of community members actively working on the airport issue to be involved in the process. The qualifications for the incoming Newport Beach City Manager are extensive and even more complex given the airport issues and 1985 Settlement Agreement. Sincerely, The members of CAANP Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 April 10, 2018 Mayor Duffield Members of City Council City of Newport Beach Dear members of City Council, This letter is to call your attention to what i believe is a substantial violation of a central provision of the Ralph M. Brown Act, one which may jeopardize the finality of the action taken by Newport Beach City Council. . The nature of the violation is as follows: In its meeting of March 27, 2018, four members of the Newport Beach City Council conspired to, and did, take action to terminate the employment of City Manager Dave Kiff by acknowledging an alleged request by Mr. Kiff, apparently made under duress and threat of termination without cause, to have his current employment renegotiated and prematurely concluded. The action taken was not in compliance with the Brown Act because it occurred as the culmination of discussions over a period of weeks by a majority of the city council members in private, either directly or through intermediaries. The Act does not allow for this type of clandestine activity, either in closed session or outside of a properly scheduled meeting. There was no adequate notice to the public on the posed agenda for that meeting that the matter acted upon would be discussed and there was no finding of fact made by the Newport Beach City Council that urgent action was necessary on a matter unforeseen at the time the agenda was posted. In violation of the Act, the matter was premediated, preapproved and choregraphed. I call your attention to California Government Code Section 54952.6, which defines "action taken" for the purposes of the Act as "a collective decision made by a majority of the members of a legislative body, a collective commitment or promise by a majority of the members of a legislative body prior to an open meeting) to make a positive or negative decision, or an actual vote by a majority of the members of a legislative body when sitting as a body or entity, upon a motion, proposal, resolution, order or ordinance. " As you are aware, the Brown Act creates specific agenda obligations for notifying the public with a "brief description" of each item to be discussed or acted upon, and also creates a legal remedy for illegally taken actions—namely, the judicial invalidation of them upon proper findings of fact and conclusions of law. Pursuant to that provision (Government Code Section 54960. 1), 1 demand that the Newport Beach City Council cure and correct the illegally taken action as follows: immediately terminate any and all contract negotiations, discussions or approvals regarding the negotiation of Dave Kiff's contract as City Manager; provide a public meeting to discuss the circumstances and reasons for the forced resignation of Dave Kiff; identify the parties involved in any and all discussions regarding the forced resignation of Dave Kiff prior to the March 27, 2018 City Council meeting and charge the City Attorney, pursuant to the Newport Beach Municipal Code, to immediately initiate an investigation into the allegations of violations of the Brown Act and the forced resignation of David Kiff . As provided by Section 54960. 1, you have 30 days from the receipt of this demand to either cure or correct the challenged action or inform me of your decision not to do so. If you fail to cure or correct as demanded, such inaction may leave me no recourse but to seek a judicial invalidation of the challenged action pursuant to Section 54960. 1, in which case I would also ask the court to order you to pay my seek court costs and reasonable attorney fees in this matter, pursuant to Section 54960.5. spectfully yours, auri Preedge Lpreedge(a-)gmail. com 949.413.1307 Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 April 10, 2018 Mayor Duffield Members of City Council City of Newport Beach Dear members of City Council, This letter is to call your attention to what i believe is a substantial violation of a central provision of the Ralph M. Brown Act, one which may jeopardize the finality of the action taken by Newport Beach City Council. . The nature of the violation is as follows: In its meeting of March 27, 2018, four members of the Newport Beach City Council conspired to, and did, take action to terminate the employment of City Manager Dave Kiff by acknowledging an alleged request by Mr. Kiff, apparently made under duress and threat of termination without cause, to have his current employment renegotiated and prematurely concluded. The action taken was not in compliance with the Brown Act because it occurred as the culmination of discussions over a period of weeks by a majority of the city council members in private, either directly or through intermediaries. The Act does not allow for this type of clandestine activity, either in closed session or outside of a properly scheduled meeting. There was no adequate notice to the public on the posed agenda for that meeting that the matter acted upon would be discussed and there was no finding of fact made by the Newport Beach City Council that urgent action was necessary on a matter unforeseen at the time the agenda was posted. In violation of the Act, the matter was premediated, preapproved and choregraphed. I call your attention to California Government Code Section 54952.6, which defines "action taken" for the purposes of the Act as "a collective decision made by a majority of the members of a legislative body, a collective commitment or promise by a majority of the members of a legislative body prior to an open meeting) to make a positive or negative decision, or an actual vote by a majority of the members of a legislative body when sitting as a body or entity, upon a motion, proposal, resolution, order or ordinance. " As you are aware, the Brown Act creates specific agenda obligations for notifying the public with a "brief description" of each item to be discussed or acted upon, and also creates a legal remedy for illegally taken actions—namely, the judicial invalidation of them upon proper findings of fact and conclusions of law. Pursuant to that provision (Government Code Section 54960. 1), 1 demand that the Newport Beach City Council cure and correct the illegally taken action as follows: immediately terminate any and all contract negotiations, discussions or approvals regarding the negotiation of Dave Kiff's contract as City Manager; provide a public meeting to discuss the circumstances and reasons for the forced resignation of Dave Kiff; identify the parties involved in any and all discussions regarding the forced resignation of Dave Kiff prior to the March 27, 2018 City Council meeting and charge the City Attorney, pursuant to the Newport Beach Municipal Code, to immediately initiate an investigation into the allegations of violations of the Brown Act and the forced resignation of David Kiff . As provided by Section 54960. 1, you have 30 days from the receipt of this demand to either cure or correct the challenged action or inform me of your decision not to do so. If you fail to cure or correct as demanded, such inaction may leave me no recourse but to seek a judicial invalidation of the challenged action pursuant to Section 54960. 1, in which case I would also ask the court to order you to pay my seek court costs and reasonable attorney fees in this matter, pursuant to Section 54960.5. spectfully yours, auri Preedge Lpreedge(a-)gmail. com 949.413.1307 Received After Agenda Printed April 10,ap 1�� Item No. 115 From: gail rosenstein <gailboom@me.com> Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2018 6:33 PM To: Dept - City Council Cc: Kiff, Dave Subject: Dave Kiff I first met Dave Kiff in 1998 during his first week as Newport Beach Assistant City Manager. Helen Japenga and I were raising funds to buy and develop the two pieces of land on Newport Boulevard and Via Lido, that are now Lido Park and Balboa Peninsula Park. We took Dave to lunch to discuss the project. Over the years, Dave Kiff proved to be a great Friend and leader to all in Newport Beach as Assistant City Manager and City Manager. Dave has done an outstanding job in negotiating the SNA Flight Plans, along with his skills In handling the Rehab Homes, and under his watch, we have an outstanding award winning City Hall. Dave always has an ear for all citizens of Newport Beach. I had a friend tell me he called Dave with a Complaint on Saturday, and Dave responded immediately . You people , our City Council, Should be doing everything in your power to keep Dave Kiff as our City Manager, for the durationof his contract !!! He has earned that respect M! Yours Truly Gail Rosenstein R�g�gige4 tAft6gA,UggdFd iP ed )'Ob iQ 891618 ItenppN�212 From: gale demmer <galedemmer@gmail.com> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2018 12:06 AM To: Dept - City Council Subject: Dave Of To the members of the Newport Beach City Council: It is with great disappointment that our city manager, Dave Kiff, is leaving our city. He has been one of the finest city managers we have ever had. I have been actively involved in my zone, Newport Heights, for forty- seven years and feel Dave has always communicated honestly and forthrightly with the citizens in our community. I am proud to know him and greatly disappointed he is leaving..l would like him to be encouraged to remain and ask the majority of this council to give him your full support.. Thank you. Gail Demmer Reff&A*6t9krf6P9k�%YS'Wr ted ApAp#1�0%18 IteWdPN'W 12 From: PATRICIA B GWIN <patty_gwin@icloud.com> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2018 7:21 AM To: Dept - City Council Subject: Dave KIff retiring and a possible new hire to replace him. Gentlemen, Many of us are very concerned about a possible replacement for Dave Kiff who has served our City well. A name being tossed around is Mark Denny. I ask you to reconsider this person based on his past record of voter fraud. Patricia Gwin Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: HYLA BERTEA <myredshoes@icloud.com> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2018 5:40 AM To: Dept - City Council Cc: Susan Skinner Subject: Mark Denny City Council, Wish we could be here in person to voice our extreme disappointment over the "early retirement" of Mr. Klff. He has been such a solid, knowledgeable, ethnical manager. We trust you will appoint a new manager with the same skill set, background and transparency as Mr Kiff. Newport Beach should have a manger who has run a city the size of ours. Referencing Mark Denny as a manger for our city is an example of extremely poor judgement and leadership. His resume doesn't match the tools needed to run a big city to say nothing of his prior conviction for voter fraud. WE DESERVE THE BEST. Here is to good city governance and leadership, Hyla Bertea Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: Susan Seely <smseely1@mac.com> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2018 8:56 AM To: Dept - City Council Subject: City Manager Dear City Council Members, I am very disappointed and disheartened by the way that the "resignation" of Dave Kiff has transpired and subsequently been managed. Newport Beach is an incredibly city -- we are fortunate to have the beautiful resources and wealth that we do. A city such as ours deserves an outstanding, clear-eyed civil servant such as Mr. Kiff. It does NOT need council members who are in collusion to manipulate city oversight and business in their favor, nor in favor of the financial gain of their friends. Council members are elected to REPRESENT citizens of Newport Beach, NOT to further their own political, ideological and/or financial gains. It would behoove you all to reach out to your constituents more to see where our priorities and concerns actually lie. My own Council representative, Jeff Herdman, does an excellent job doing this, via regular email newsletters, community meetings, and through his open attitude of welcoming input and conversation with any member of our City at any time. It now falls to you to have a rigorous City Manager candidate search -- one that is as open and transparent as it can be. This next Manager will be crucial to carrying on Dave Kiff s legacy of excellent stewardship, and to implementing the decisions that will carry Newport into the future. Thank you for your time, Susan Seely Balboa Island Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: Jeanne Fobes <jeannefobes@gmail.com> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2018 3:08 PM To: Dept - City Council Subject: Agenda item re: Dave Kiff To the "Team Newport" members of the City Council, I am writing to express my outrage at your shenanigans involving our highly esteemed City Manager, Dave Kiff. Mr. Kiff is a capable, reliable, intelligent, valuable City Manager who deserves respect and gratitude. Instead, you are finagling to push him out and no doubt install one of your minions. Regrettably, I am out of town and unable to attend Tuesday night's council meeting. However, please be aware that I am only one citizen of many in our city who feel the same outrage and who will remember any actions you take that are contrary to decency and to the good of our city. Jeanne Fobes Newport Beach 92663 Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: Pam Howard <pamhowardl23@gmail.com> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2018 4:57 PM To: Dept - City Council Subject: early retirement of Dave Kiff Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged I would like an explanation of WHY? we (the City of NB) would want to have this outstanding gentleman, who has been such an asset to our community, retire early? He would provide consistency in our November election transition, is so knowledgeable about the inner workings of our City, and has an excellent relationship with the Airport representatives. WHY would we remove him earlier than his retirement plans that are in place? and WHY would we offer him and additional (is it $65,000 of taxpayers money) to do this? I would appreciate a reply. Pam Howard Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: mikekazeef <mikekazeef@att.net> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2018 5:35 PM To: Dept - City Council Subject: Dave Kiff "retirement" Dear City Council, I want to voice my strong reservation about the candidate that seems to be a shoo-in for replacing Dave Kiff, as well as, the apparent precipitation to make a decision, A voter fraud is a serous matter that stains one's ability to manage anything especially a public office. At any rate, no appointment/contract should be made without a proper search for candidates while at the same time providing time for a transparent review process . How could the Council claim to credibly appoint a man with only 9 months experience without having built a slate of vetted candidates? It would not pass the "smell taste". Any rush to cut the process short will create a lasting and public suspicion about the Council motives and a low sense of accountability of its members. I also want to express my appreciation for Dave Kiff 's clarity of communication and his open presentation of the city matters. He did a great job. Newport Beach deserves an open and transparent process. It is the Council's responsibility to provide it. Respectfully, Mike Kazeef Newport Beach Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: Daniel Wampole <wampole@me.com> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2018 6:21 PM To: Dept - City Council Cc: Gerry Ross; Jim McGee Subject: Dave Kiff Dear Councel Members, I'm am saddened by the many decisions that have lead to us loosing Dave Kiff. You are our Councel and are trying to do your best for us, but loosing Dave is the worst decision you could have make. Please find a way to keep Dave. Sincerely, Dan Wampole President of the Newport Ridge H.O.A. Member of The Newport Coast Advisory Committee Sent from my Whone Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: Sandy Asper <sasper@aol.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 6:57 AM To: Dept - City Council Subject: Dave Kiff Dear City Council I cannot begin to imagine how Dave Kiff leaving actually happened and really cannot imagine what this city is going to be like with a new person (who potentially has little experience and a spotty background). It is frightening. I had one experience with Dave a few years ago when I wrote and called the city hall with regard to the lack of video available on channel 3 for the Newport Mesa Board Meetings. They either weren't on or on at odd times and much later than the actual meeting (which is a conflict with your meetings). I expected to have to wait for anyone to talk to, and probably the problem would be relegated to a secretary or something. Oh no, Dave not only called me but also a flurry of emails went back and forth, and before I knew it the problem had been taken care of. Voila! The Nmusd Board Meetings were actually on when people could watch them ... and in ther entirety. Just a little story out of hundreds... It is a crying shame he's leaving. Please do the right thing. Sandy Asper Sandy Asper Sasper a,aol. com Sandv. asneraa ,mail. com 949.981.0449 Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: Christy Dambrosio <christyd716@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 7:44 AM To: Dept - City Council Subject: Kiff Please stay with us Mr Kiff. This city needs you! Christy D'Ambrosii Sent from my Whone Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: Milvi Vanderslice <milvivander@aol.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 8:06 AM To: Dept - City Council Subject: David Of is a great city manager I can not believe you are doing this to him. My regard for the council has totally eroded.Milvi Vanderslice Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: Patti Bellitti <pabellitti@icloud.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 9:41 AM To: Dept - City Council Subject: David Kiff I am very disappointed that David Kiff who has been an advocate for the citizens of Newport Beach is being forced out would like to see him continue as Manager. He offers a balance of power in our council. I do not want to see any more high density housing being approved. Sincerely, Patti Bellitti Sent from my Whone Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: Gloria Sullivan <gloriassullivan@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 12:44 PM To: Dept - City Council Subject: Dave Of Dave Kiff has been a GREAT City Manager. We will miss him. Hope and intrigue and drama are not true. Gloria & Mike Sullivan Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: Rhonni kitchen <rhonni@mac.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 5:27 PM To: Dept - City Council Subject: Stop We need to keep our community as it is meant to be ! not a big city Not a port city not overbuilt people like Dave Kiff need to remain to protect what the values are of our communities and Dave the direction we all have supported for so many decades Rhonni iPhone Received After Agenda Printed April 10, 2018 Item No. 12 From: JACQUELYN DILLMAN <jbeaudill@sbcglobal.net> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 5:28 PM To: Dept - City Council Subject: City Manager This is a letter of support for David Kiff. He is a talented and judicious man and we, who have lived in Newport Beach for thirty years, give Mr Kiff our full support in remaining as City Manager. Sincerely, Dr. and Mrs. Robert 0. Dillman 1200 Polaris Drive Newport Beach, CA 92660 Sent from my Wad