From: Laurie alderman < >
Sent: Monday, June 10, 2024 4:22 PM
To: Kevin Patterson <[email protected]>
Cc: George Barich <[email protected]>; Laura Sparks <[email protected]>; Susan Harvey <[email protected]>; Ben Ford <[email protected]>; Sylvia Lemus <[email protected]>; Kay Rivers <[email protected]>; Chris Simmons <[email protected]>; Adina Flores < >; Carleton L. Briggs Attorney at Law < >; Michael
Ceremello Ceremello < >; Michael Hilber < >
Subject: public comment on #9 Citizens Business.
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Well, here we go another council meeting without putting on an agenda item about code enforcement and it's over-reach into violating people's civil rights. This wrongdoing just goes on and on, seemingly with the blessing of the council.
The day after last council meeting, was the latest code enforcement hearing against George Barich. The "trial" on code enforcement has lasted three days now, with no end in sight anytime soon. When it was a public hearing, the longest time was one hour in front of the council in 2015. Robert Smith, the code enforcement attorney/enforcement official changed it to a judicial proceeding in 2019 -- taking his "program" from the City of Sonoma, to the City of Cotati, then the City of Cloverdale, and then the Town of Windsor.
The possible code enforcement fines (on paper), have reached over a million dollars accrued, more than the worth of his house. More civil rights were broken in relation to this latest hearing. Robert Smith ex-parte wrote the administrative law judge because he said I was organizing an disruption. We already know that Robert Smith and members of the city staff stalk Let's Talk Public Comment
Cotati. The City has used Facebook posts of George and me for years now as evidence in litigation, usually taken out of context.
Robert Smith thinks I tried to set up a disruption, because I encouraged a few members to come to the code enforcement hearing. I guess now we don't even have the constitutional right to assembly? I was encouraging an attorney who lives in Cotati to come to watch as an member of the court, and also a taxpayer advocate. We, as usual, were the perfect audience, with not one word said by anyone in the audience. No disruptions at all. Yet, we had a police officer assigned to the hearing... how much did that cost?
I guess the greatest threat to the City of Cotati is that citizens might attend city meetings? Since there is only a handful of police officers on duty in Cotati, you all chose that 4 people in Cotati gathered were a dangerous situation? With a journalist, a taxpayer advocate, George Barich and me?
Oh, and finally after 8 months, we received the 1981 municipal codes from city staff. When George Barich's house was built in 1982, 2 inch asphalt was required in new subdivisions. Some of the violations are for having asphalt that he is being prosecuted for. This is the hole you all are digging, applying current code on properties grandfathered in. Are you all coming to my house next about our driveway, which surely is not up to current code, but was built in 1972 when my family moved here? That's the precedent you all are setting.
Exhausted at all of this... Laurie Alderman