May 23, 2023
Poway City Council
13325 Civic Center Drive
Poway, CA 92064
City Council Member and City Clerk,
RECEIVED
JUM O 6 2023
BY: .(!J;( ...... l~..f.':.. ..... .
I am a Poway Resident and don't agree with having the Lifetime Fitness facility proposed for The Farm project. I don't believe this huge commercial building belongs in the Farm Community - our neighborhood. Currently the facility proposed is over 10 times the size of the promised building.
Please let me know how I can further help in addressing the situation and how to best follow up with the city.
I am requesting that this letter be documented in the next meeting packet.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
{j~~C-_
Penny Berman
17209 St Andrews Drive
Poway, CA 92064
From: Tony Blain
To: Steve Vaus; Brian Pepin; Peter De Hoff; Caylin Frank; City Clerk; Fenstermacher, Alan Subject: June 6 & 13 meetings
Date: Monday, June 5, 2023 5:36:40 PM
EXTERNAL EMAIL
Poway Mayor, Council Members, City Clerk, and Attorney, I am on 2 week active duty California Army Reserve National Guard orders until June 17 and I am requesting no Poway City Council action on District 2 Council Member appointment or selection until I return.
Very respectfully,
COL Arthur “Tony” Blain
From: Phyllis Collins
To: City Clerk
Subject: Item 15
Date: Tuesday, June 6, 2023 11:08:09 AM
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EXTERNAL EMAIL
City Clerk,
We are 33 year residents of District 2. We feel choosing our City Council representative should be our choice. Appointments are not politically or ethically good for our city government. The voters in Districts 2 are fully capable of making their choice of who they want to represent them.
Howard & Phyllis Collins
16886 Saint Andrews Dr.
Poway, CA 92064
Sent from Mail
for Windows
From: Sheila Cram
To: Brian Pepin; Caylin Frank; City Clerk; Peter De Hoff; Steve Vaus Subject: Item 15
Date: Monday, June 5, 2023 3:03:50 PM
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EXTERNAL EMAIL
Honorable Mayor and Council Members,
As a former Mayoral staffer in the City of San Diego, I believe the action of appointing a council member to a vacated council seat is simply unjust.
Let the people vote!
Thank you,
Sheila Cram
--
Sent from somewhere in Nirvana
From: DAN KRALL
To: Steve Vaus; Peter De Hoff; Caylin Frank; Brian Pepin; Carrie Gallagher Subject: Filling Barry Leonard"s Seat
Date: Monday, June 5, 2023 9:56:01 PM
Attachments: District 2 Alternatives.pdf
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EXTERNAL EMAIL
Please find attached my comments regarding filling Barry Leonard's seat.
Regards,
Dan Krall
Please consider my input as you decide how to fill the vacancy on City Council opened by Barry Leonard’s resignation.
Good, representative government is not an inexpensive proposition. The fact that the City may need to spend between $175,000 and $300,000 to hold an election should not be considered a cost, but rather may be better viewed as an investment in good government.
Immediate Appointment
Nothing seems to be further from good government than an immediate appointment of someone who has likely had the ear of Council members immediately following Mr. Leonard’s announcement. An appointment without a process seems totally irresponsible.
Make an Appointment by August 1, 2023
While better than an Immediate Appointment, it is still fraught with concerns. The City has been through this process before, and has been criticized for appointing a new member rather than holding an election. Whether those appointed members would have prevailed in a general election without having the “incumbent” status is an unknown.
What has changed since those past two appointments is that District elections have been implemented by the City. At the time of the prior appointments, all four sitting Council Members represented the entire City, and the person being appointed represented the entire City. In today’s current situation, only one Council Member (the Mayor) represents the entire City, while the other three members represent other Council Districts. While I am sure the three non-District 2 Council members have the best interests of the entire City at heart, how are they expected to decide who the best candidate is for District 2, when their first responsibility is to their own District?
Special Election
The write-up by Mr. Fenstermacher seemed to lean heavily toward aiming for a March 5, 2024 election based on the wording that “any special election called by the City Council after July 14, 2023 would fall on March 5, 2024.” There was no mention of what it would take to have the election fall on a date prior to that, or what the date would be (I would assume on November 7, 2023), other than a comment that the seat would be open for “at least 4 months.” What is wrong with taking action to set the election on November 7, 2023, so that the residents of District 2 have the opportunity to truly select a representative, rather than one who’s appointed by the Council and becomes a de facto incumbent in a subsequent election? Having to wait an extra couple months to have a representative elected and seated by the District 2 residents in November, rather than by an appointment in August, seems that it could be a prudent way to proceed.
Regards,
Dan Krall
14223 Primrose Court
Poway
District 2
From: Karen
To: City Clerk; Steve Vaus; Caylin Frank; Peter De Hoff; Brian Pepin Subject: 6/6/23 council meeting item#15
Date: Tuesday, June 6, 2023 2:59:52 PM
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EXTERNAL EMAIL
Hello Council Members-
Due to the resignation of Barry Leonard,the council must decide how to fill the vacant council seat in D2. Please choose a special election and let the people of D2 decide who should represent them on the council. Their voices will be diminished by an appointment.
Sincerely,
Karen Machamer, Poway resident.
City Clerl<'s Office
City of Poway
Item #15
Requesting the recusal of Councilmember De Hoff and Mayor Vaus for violations of SB 1439. Specially for Peter De Hoff, accepting over $250 from council members and the mayor. For mayor Vaus, his donation is a clear financial interest as defined .
Donations accepted:
9/22/22 Barry Leonard council
9/29/22 Steve Vaus Mayor
Barry Leonard announced his Resignation May 2, 2023, triggering Council business and the 30 day repayment of $250 from Leonard as well as Vaus.
As of June 3, De Hoff had not returned the donations from the Leonard or Vaus as would be required to continue. No public record shows this, as required by SB 1439. De Hoff needs to recuse himself from any portion of item #15, and any future council vacancy discussion or items per SB 1439.
It should be noted that the donation isn't illegal, nor accepting it. However, once actions were triggered by donors, Barry Leonard's resignation, the financial interest also became clear. Vaus recused himself from council raise discussions last year, but has a financial interest by its very nature. Appointing or discussions regarding appointing a council member who could vote on pay for council at any future meeting represent a clear financial interest.
Peter De Hoff, the council, and the mayor uniquely represent many aspects covered by this law. As such, the most important aspect is defined and covered by article 1, chapter 7, section 87100 which reads:
"A public official at any level of state or local government shall not make, participate in making, or in any way attempt to use the public official's official position to influence a governmental decision in which the official knows or has reason to know the official has a financial interest ." Both Mayor Vaus and Councilmember De Hoff need to recuse from this discussion and it should default to an election.
From: Christine Vickers
To: Ernie Hoffman
Cc: Brian Pepin; City Clerk; Caylin Frank; Steve Vaus; Peter De Hoff Subject: Re: June 6, 2023 Council Meeting, Item #15 D2 City Council Seat Date: Monday, June 5, 2023 5:55:51 PM
EXTERNAL EMAIL
Not on your life! Haha, I’m only about 1 peg down on the Richter scale from Mark Betteker! On Mon, Jun 5, 2023 at 2:51 PM Ernie Hoffman <[email protected]> wrote:
YOU SHOULD RUN
Sent from my iPad. Ernie Hoffman
On Jun 5, 2023, at 12:25 PM, Christine Vickers <[email protected] >
wrote:
Poway City Council Members,
With the recent vacancy of D2 City Council, please opt for filling the vacant council seat in a special election, I would like to elect our own representative to the D2 District in Poway.
Regards,
Christine Vickers
Poway D2 District Resident
--
Christine