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Home My WebLink About17 - Confirm Annual Appointments to the Finance Committee - CorrespondenceReceived After Agenda Printed June 26, 2018 Item No. 17 From: Brown, Leilani Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2018 9:54 AM To: Mulvey, Jennifer Subject: FW: Changes in the Finance Committee Attachments: peotterfinancecommittee.docx Leilani I. Brown, MMC City Clerk City of Newport Beach 100 Civic Center Drive Newport Beach I CA 192660 T 949-644-3005' (brown@newportbeachca.gov Regular Business Hours, Excluding Holidays: Monday to Thursday: 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday: 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. From: Keith Curry [mailto:keithcurryl@yahoo.com] Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2018 9:37 AM To: Dept - City Council <CityCouncil@newportbeachca.gov> Cc: Brown, Leilani <LBrown@newportbeachca.gov>; hillary.davis@latimes.com; bvontvl@gmail.com; 'Christopher Trela - NB Indy' <christopher@firebrandmediainc.com>; 'Canalis, John' <John.Canalis@latimes.com>; sara@newportbeachindy.com; 'Sara Hall'<sarahallphotography@yahoo.com>; 'Norberto Santana' <voiceofoc@gmail.com>; Tom@StuNewsNewport.com Subject: Changes in the Finance Committee Hon. Mayor and Members of the City Council. Please find the attached correspondence regarding the proposed appointments to the city finance committee. I am requesting that these comments be made part of the record and made available to the public at the meeting. I am also copying the media and authorize them to be quoted in whole or part. Best wishes, Keith Curry Hon. Mayor and Members of the City Council: Tonight you will face one of those issues that defines if your orientation is to public service and the betterment of our city, or if you are simply a cog in a failing, flailing, political machine. Let's call the sacking of Diane Dixon from the finance committee and her replacement by Scott Peotter what it is; a petty, petulant, small minded, exercise in political retribution by Mayor Duffield. Duffield is apparently upset that Dixon courageously exposed the inconsistencies and falsehoods in Duffield's cover story for the ousting of city manager Dave Kif£ This is yet another example of why Duffield is unfit to be mayor of our city. But the real damage is done by the appointment of Scott Peotter, the most financially incompetent and reckless council member to serve in any city in recent memory. Let's review the Peotter financial record: 1. Peotter twice proposed slashing the Business License Tax by $3.5 million annually, creating a structural deficit in the city budget. 2. Peotter supported and wrote an opinion piece in the Daily Pilot in favor of refusing $480,000 in gas tax funds for badly needed road repairs in Newport Beach. Taxes paid by Newport motorists. 3. Peotter is a longtime advocate for selling the old city hall site. As you now know from your closed session financial analysis, this Peotter idea would have cost the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. 4. In spite of analysis from our independent financial advisor showing it was a ridiculous proposal, Peotter advocated the refunding of the civic center debt at a cost to the taxpayers of $20 million. 5. Peotter suggested that holders of city debt, currently trading a 120% of face value, would accept 30% on the dollar. The financial ignorance demonstrated by this position speaks for itself. 6. Peotter twice proposed that money designated for pension liability reduction be used to speculate in the stock market. This decision would have cost the city millions and would have scuttled the pension reduction efforts considered to be the most significant accomplishment of this council. 7. Peotter has explicitly stated that he would have accepted debt service $719,000 annually or a minimum of $7 million over ten years higher in order to have a call feature in the civic center debt. Even after your "show trial" hearing on debt most of you concluded yourselves that this would have been a bad and reckless position. 8. Peotter proposed a variety of random, reckless and foolish ideas during the four budget hearings he has participated in. These include slashing funding for police services on the peninsula, increasing sea wall funding by $5 million in a year when it could not be spent, delaying the completion of Marina Park and spending $200,000 on AV improvements in the council chamber so that "he does not look like he is asleep" on TV broadcasts. 9. Peotter was the key vote in providing $355,000 in taxpayer funds to his major donor Woody's Wharf. 10. Peotter supported incurring $320,000 in taxpayer costs to require a special election to repeal the Museum House approvals. 11. Peotter supported an unnecessary payout of $200,000 following the ouster of the city manager. 12. Peotter advocated the change that allowed, and strongly supported the appointment of, convicted embezzler Jack Wu to the finance committee. Wu was convicted of embezzling $173,000. 13. Peotter was a strong advocate for continuing the $16,000 per month lobbying contract for the "Port Plan," a scheme the Coastal Commission staff called "laughable". This contract is now the subject of a serious conflict of interest investigation. 14. Peotter is currently under active investigation or charges for one count of conflict of interest violations, one count of Brown Act violations (this is in addition to his 2015 violation related to his comments on group homes to the Costa Mesa Tea Party), four counts of campaign contribution limit violations, (five additional counts are evidenced by his 2017 reports but were not included in the initial complaint), and five counts of campaign reporting violations. Didn't we learn anything from the Jack Wu scandal? 15. Peotter's personal financial record is relevant here. He defaulted on a $13 million loan in Irvine and for ten years, until recently, was making restitution payments to the victims. He lost his own (inherited) home in the Port Streets due to financial mismanagement. Do any of you believe this record justifies him making multi-million dollar decisions on behalf of our residents? BE WARNED: If you choose to place Peotter on the finance committee you become complicit in his financial incompetence and recklessness. We can expect these ideas to appear again and again until he is removed from the council. His appointment is an act of malpractice and HIS financial record will become YOUR financial record. This act of petty political retribution, undoubtedly carried out at the direction of Bob McCaffrey and Dave Ellis is a defining moment for the city council. You were elected to serve the best interests of the city. Don't let us down. Keith Curry Former Mayor Received After Agenda Printed June 26, 2018 Item No. 17 and 24 From: Melinda <nbseely@aol.com> Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2018 11:43 AM To: Dixon, Diane; Avery, Brad; Duffield, Duffy; Muldoon, Kevin; Herdman, Jeff; Peotter, Scott; O'Neill, William Cc: Kiff, Dave; hseely@seelylaw.com Subject: City Council Meeting Tonight Dear Mayor and Council Members: We are concerned about actions you appear to be ready to take at the Council Meeting tonight. We refer to changing the rules for petition gathering within the CNB. I believe this is unnecessary and a further abridgement of our rights as citizens to be involved in the City affa i rs. We also protest removing Diane Dixon from the Finance Committee to be replaced by Scott Peotter. We have yet to learn that Mr. Peotter has special expertise in the realm of finance that would prove to be more of a benefit to the Committee than Councilmember Dixon who has the benefit of understanding what has already been addressed by the Committee. Melinda and Hall Seely 2833 Carob St. Newport Beach 92660