(Aug. 25, 2020, 5:15 a.m.) -- On Aug. 24, LBREPORT.com filed a request under the CA Public Records Act to learn the identity of the person Mayor Garcia said (during the Aug. 18 Council meeting) had asked if the Council could vote on ten regularly agenda items in a single voted action.
The peculiar procedure -- unprecedented in our observing over 25 years of LB Council meetings -- came on the same night Mayor Garcia shrugged his City Charter elected duty to preside at City Council meetings to appear in an MSNBC political interview segment. No Councilmembers publicly asked the Mayor to explain his action or objected to it. LBREPORT.com made the Public Records Act request after first asking the Mayor's Chief of Staff, Diana Tang, to identity who made the request...and asked specifically if it was she. We received no response. Our Public Records Act request seeks a number of records related to the Mayor's action. As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, Mayor Garcia opened the Aug. 18 City Council meeting which began a bit later than its scheduled 5 p.m. time. Long Beach City Council meetings typically last until well past 6 p.m. Earlier in the day, Mayor Garcia referenced on his Twitter channel a scheduled interview on MSNBC after 6 p.m. Pacific time .
Developing. ` |
The above ad space donated by LBREPORT.com |
The Long Beach City Charter specifies that the Mayor's duties "shall be considered as the full-time employment of the person occupying that office. The Mayor shall preside at meetings of the City Council." The City Attorney responded to the Mayor's inquiry by indicating the Council could vote on ten items in a single action if the City Clerk announces each item individually and allows the public to comment on each item individually. The City Clerk read the items as titled and the collective items proceeded, but Garcia (invisible via teleconference) vanished and Vice Mayor Dee Andrews quietly took over.
Garcia subsequently surfaced on MSNBC.
Developing. Further as we learn it.
blog comments powered by Disqus Recommend LBREPORT.com to your Facebook friends:
Follow LBReport.com with:
Contact us: mail@LBReport.com |
|