Guest Commentary: Writer Asks Council to Rein in City Staff

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city-hallBy David Thompson –

Look at what City Staff is doing with our public funds down at City Hall. We ask the newly seated City council to rein in City Staff, stop the waste of public funds and investigate the charges we submitted to the Attorney General?

Yolo County Grand Jury

In June 2011, the City Attorney told the Yolo County Superior Court in person and in a signed declaration (presumably under oath) that the City did not wish to participate in settlement discussions re the Davis Areas Cooperative Housing Association (DACHA). A few weeks later the City Attorney and the City Council sent a report required by law to the Yolo County Grand Jury stating that” settlement discussions had begun.”  Did the City Attorney tell the City Council she had just stated and written the opposite to the Yolo County Superior Court? Did the City Attorney place the Council in the position of having lied to the Grand Jury? The Yolo County Grand Jury should find out?

Our Public Funds for her Parking Fines

 

The DACHA Treasurer ran up a bill of $10,500 (mainly parking fines) from the Home Owners Association. The DACHA board tried to evict her for sticking the organization with the bill and for being chronically delinquent. The DACHA board asked Danielle Foster (City Staff) to approve the $800 expenditure for eviction. Foster denied their request. The DACHA Treasurer (delinquent now seven years) is still living in the City owned home without City staff taking any action except to stop the board from evicting her. Recently I was told that the City (likely through Danielle Foster) used public funds to pay down the parking fines owed by the DACHA Treasurer. Why so much favoritism by Foster?

City Attorney’s law firm paid $302,749 for legal work January – April 2012

How much of that is the City Attorney throwing at a small local foundation? The State Department of Finance denied the City’s request for payment. So now how will that bill be paid, through the General Fund?

Department of Finance denies City paying $1.4 million from RDA funds.

Why did City Staff exceed the state law by $1.4 million dollars and put the General Fund at risk?

What City Staff did not tell the Council when it recommended a 4 million dollar loan of public funds?

City Staff (Foster and Ayala-Garcia) wrote a report to the Council recommending a $4 million dollar loan to DACHA. Foster and Ayala-Garcia omitted from their report that the DACHA board were all ineligible to serve under the DACHA bylaws. Delinquencies amounted to $68,000 at time of loan signing. Neither where there enough DACHA members eligible to vote to borrow the $4 million of public funds as so many were delinquent. Nonetheless, City Staff exposed all the members to lawsuits for either improperly or illegally borrowing public funds. The President, Treasurer and Secretary were ineligible to serve and yet they signed numerous public documents to the Secretary of State, Yolo County Superior Court and the Attorney General all under penalty of perjury. Most of these actions were guided by City Staff likely through the City Attorney.

About One Million Dollars of Public Funds

City Attorney, Harriet Steiner has directed about one million dollars of public funds to defend, litigate or cover up the DACHA debacle. Public funds have paid for 31 lawyers. What a waste. A number of lawyers have raised the question should the City Council not look at having an independent review of the role of Harriet Steiner and her law firm on whether they should continue to represent the City in this case. Our law firm has pointed out that; Ms. Steiner and her firm named her as a witness in the discovery responses and “that attorneys who are named as witnesses and who will likely be testifying at trial should not represent a party to the litigation due to a presumptive conflict of interest (see Rules of Professional Conduct section 5-210).

City Council Opinion Piece

Earlier this year the Council co-signed an opinion piece in the Davis Enterprise. At the beginning of that piece, the Council wrote that Councilmember Stephen Souza had made an offer to both Neighborhood Partners and Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation. TPCF immediately produced the emails from Council Member Stephen Souza that showed that the offer was solely to Neighborhood Partners. Souza’s memo required that David Thompson of NP had to get TPCF to drop its claim and get nothing. Under California law it is a crime for David Thompson to take money for himself and get the nonprofit to take nothing and drop the suit. Presuming that the City Attorney and City staff drafted the Opinion piece did the City Attorney or City Staff blind side the three new members of the Council (Krovoza, Swanson & Wolk were not there at the time) into signing a statement that was not true? TPCF has asked the City Council for an apology to our foundation for making an untrue statement. A Council Cleanup is needed!

For many of these details please see www.community.coop/davis.

David Thompson, President, Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation

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19 thoughts on “Guest Commentary: Writer Asks Council to Rein in City Staff”

  1. SouthofDavis

    David T. wrote:

    > The DACHA Treasurer ran up a bill of $10,500 (mainly
    > parking fines) from the Home Owners Association.

    That seems like a lot of parking fines…

    Any idea if it was 21 $500 parking fines or 2,100 $5 parking fines.

    My only hope is that this mess stops the city from trying to play real estate developer next time they think that adding 20 crappy little homes to the city is really going do anything positive…

  2. David Thompson

    DACHA continues to refuse to provide various documents required by our discovery process so it is hard to answer the question. The City does have all of the information but has not provided it at this time.

    However, the HOA does have strict parking regulations which the DACHA Treasurer/member has frequently broken. In think the fines accumulated over time, I think the DACHA management company tried to get the DACHA Treasurer/member to pay them but they would not. So DACHA was stuck with the fines and DACHA decided not to pay them. Under the bylaws DACHA had the right to collect from the member or evict the member. They chose to evict her but Danielle Foster would not approve the expenditure of $800. We do have two board members who have attested to that fact.

    When the City took over DACHA they then inherited the fines. The City should then have colected from the member or evicted the member. Danielle Foster who oversees the DACHA homes chose not to. It appears that recently Danielle Foster had the City pay down some of the money owed to the HOA. My question is why is the City using public funds to pay off her parking fines?

    David Thompson, Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation

  3. Mr.Toad

    While the author states his association he never reveals that he has a financial interest in the outcome of the litigation or that his lis pendens on the property was recently lifted by a judge. I am surprised that this blog would give voice to to this one sided piece without any kind of qualifying background, solicitation of opposing views or rebuttal.

  4. Michael Harrington

    Toad: don’t shoot the messenger. He does have an interest in the outcome of his case, but the facts are the facts. He knows the facts because he has to know them, being a litigant. If Ms. Foster authorized using city money to pay my parking fines (if I had any), the City Manager and CC would be up in arms about it; she would certainly lose her job. Yet, here is DACHA, with no end in sight as the City continues to pay huge monthly legal fees on a case with bad facts for the city.

    The February 2012 motion by Dan Wolk ordered that an independent investigation be conducted. Nothing done yet, or announced.

    That same motion ordered staff to set up mediation. So far, no mediation, at least none that is public.

    My take: Dan makes some great motions, but the follow-up is lax. And the CC does not enforce them if staff does not want to comply with a successful motion.

  5. David Thompson

    The key focus of this Opinion piece is the questionable role of City staff and City Attorney in the DACHA coverup.

    The ongoing City Staff cover up has embroiled numerous other innocent parties in the proceedings.

    There were two votes to do an investigation a couple of years ago and Souza asked how much would an investigation costs. I think the answer was about $20,000. Souza thought that was a lot and voted no. Looking at how much has been spent since, Souza could have saved everyone a lot of money by voting for the investigation.

    Now the City Attorney is charging $82,000 a month (bills for Jan-Apr 2012)for legal fees.

    But the Department of Finance has denied the City paying those bills through Redevelopment Funds.

    The Department of Finance actually denied the City paying $1.4 through redevelopment funds.

    All of that is going on in a little known successor agency oversight board that no one from the public except myself attended.

    The Council needs to be aware that the denial of $1.4 million by Department of Finance puts the General Fund at risk.

    Both the Enterprise and the Vanguard should look into this hiddden activity?

    My opinion is that something is wrong down at City Hall and it needs the New Council to act and investigate.

    David Thompson, Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation

  6. Eric Gelber

    “facts are the facts” ~ Michael Harrington

    True. But, if one is making accusations against individuals, by name, let’s make sure the facts are reliable and not based on speculation or hearsay, such as: “Recently I was told that the City (likely through Danielle Foster) used public funds to pay down the parking fines owed by the DACHA Treasurer”

  7. David Thompson

    To Eric Gelber:
    The documents we have through discovery show that the cumulative fines by the HOA on the Arena home amounted to $10,500. At the exam, the DACHA Treasurer/Member showed no evidence that they had paid the HOA fines assessed against her home.

    The minutes show the DACHA board wrestling with a $10,500 cost now levied on DACHA. The DACHA books show no evidence of having paid the HOA fines.

    The City took over all the DACHA homes and therefore all its obligation.
    The $10,500 amount then became an obligation of the City.

    The City has paid some of those fines.

    The City has been asked to show its communication with the HOA and payments to the HOA so we know exactly what.

    I am assured that the communication will show the City made a payment on behalf of a portion of those fines.

    Why?

    David Thompson, Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation

  8. David Thompson

    Mr. Toad:

    You have now actually raised a further question that I had not paid attention to.

    The $10,500 were specifically fines by the HOA for breaking various Codes Covenants and Restrictions (CC&R’s).

    The HOA fees are a separate charge. The DACHA Treasurer pays the lowest cost for any of the DACHA homes (from court documents). However, due to being both in a Mello Roos district and in a HOA the DACHA Treasuerer’s home is the most expensive home of all 20 DACHA homes. DACHA members always wondered why it was the City that set the carrying charges on the DACHA homes(after refinance) that is the job of the DACHA board. After all the carrying charges had been set, the DACHA members found that City staff had assigned the DACHA Treasurer the lowest rent on the highest cost DACHA home. As a result, the City staff set it up so that the rest of the DACHA members were subsidizing the DACHA Treasurer.

    So from that the citizens of Davis have continued that subsidy.

    Mr. Tad has reminded me that the City is now paying the Mello Roos fees and the HOA fees on the home of the DACHA Treasurer?

    Seven years delinquent (court records), no action by DACHA board or City and the citizens are subsidizing the DACHA Treasurer, ffes and fines.

    David Thompson
    Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation

  9. David Thompson

    $990,156 for legal fees in 2012.

    At the rate of $82,513 per month ($330,053. paid to City Attorney) for Jan-April legal fees will mount to $990,156 for 2012.

    Who is authorizing such waste?

    For what purpose?

    Davis Business Friendly?

    David Thompson, Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation

  10. Anonymous Pundit

    If only justice could be found in a court or on a blog…
    The City will continue to stonewall, the court will draw this out endlessly, and the public at large will not learn what’s really going on.

    I agree, the City Council should conduct an immediate and transparent investigation. If nothing else, it would bolster public confidence in the City Council.

  11. David Thompson

    The Mayor and all four present Council members have all met at our home.

    They have all been shown the rent rolls of DACHA and it has been pointed out to each one that the board members of DACHA who borrowed $4 million were ineligible to serve on the board and the DACHA members who also voted to borrow the $4 million were not able to achieve a legal quorum as only a few were eligible to vote. If you were 30 days delinquent you could not vote and you were required to be automatically removed from the board.

    The five Council members have seen the evidence of the actions of an illegal board and membership allowed by staff to borrow $4 million of public funds.

    All the members allowed themselves to be drawn by City staff and presumably the City Attorney into voting on illegally borrowing the $4 million dollars of public funds. The City Attorney told the City Council at a hearing on DACHA that the loan was valid because they (the City) had had the members vote on it.

    Were the DACHA members aware of the legal exposure under California Public Benefit Law?

    What a shambles this has become,

    David Thompson, Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation

  12. jimt

    Geez, what a fiasco.
    I admit that I’m clueless as to how this whole DACHA mess happened; have seen it pop up in the news now and then over the years; but I haven’t figured out the origins and nature of the dispute (my knowledge of real estate development contracts and law is too sparse).
    When cities get involved with housing developments, is this inherently complex and beset with legal landmines? Are clear contracts difficult to achieve?

    $80,000 per month for legal fees–there goes one of the tree-trimmer jobs for the next decade or more; pouring money down a bottomless legal pit instead, it would seem.

  13. David Thompson

    I do not think that the rest of the City Council knew that the CIty Attorney’s firm was charging the City RDA $82,500 per month except the Mayor.

    I attended the meeting of the RDA Oversight Board and obtained a copy of the County Audit of the City RDA. There was the incredible expenditure on legal fees and lots of questions raised by the accounting firm about the payments.

    Not only that but the Department of Finance had denied the payment to the City Attorney.

    Now is the General Fund at stake for not just the legal fees but $1.4 million in disallowed payments by the Department of Finance?

    David Thompson, Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation

    The cover up is costly.

  14. David Thompson

    September, 18, 2012

    Fr: David Thompson, Neighborhood Partners LLC.

    Tale of Two Cooperatives treated very differently by City Staff in the same month.

    On August 2, 2008 Danielle Foster of City Staff sent a threatening letter to Brian Johnson, then President of the Rancho Yolo Community Association.

    The letter detailed that she had had conversations by phone with Brian and was following up those discussions by letter to layout the requirements the City wanted RYCA to meet regarding the conduct of RYCA’s board meetings, closed sessions, Park Audit and Treasurer Report and reminding Brian as President of the City’s contract requirement.

    The two page letter outlined in specific detail that Ms. Foster had received an anonymous tip that the RYCA board was doing things wrongly. Rather than checking whether the anonymous tip was valid, or checking whether the facts were correct, Ms. Foster laid out what RYCA should do to correct its conduct.

    This is the same Ms. Foster who once threatened Brian Johnson that the City might cut off their funding to RYCA.

    In that same August of 2008, Ms. Foster of City staff was closing a loan of $4 million dollars in public funds that City staff had recommended that the City Council loan to the Davis Area Cooperative Housing Association (DACHA). However, in the case of DACHA they were not following their own bylaws or state law.

    DACHA’s entire board was by their bylaws ineligible to serve
    A majority of DACHA’s membership were ineligible to vote
    The borrowing of $4 million in public funds was done by a board and membership that could not achieve a legal quorum
    DACHA had held numerous board meetings in closed session in which they approved self-dealing transactions and loans to members. Numerous times the Board broke its own bylaws and state law on self-dealing transactions
    City staff including Danielle Foster was present when the DACHA board discussed breaking the bylaws by suspending the bylaws so that ineligible delinquent members could not vote.

    So my question is why in the same August of 2008 did the staff engage in such unequal treatment of a group of Davis seniors (RYCA) while covering up the illegal borrowing of $4 million by an ineligible DACHA board?

    Is this City Staff conduct acceptable to the City Council?

  15. David Thompson

    Sorry,
    In that last post one sentence should be corrected.

    City staff including Danielle Foster was present when the DACHA board discussed breaking the bylaws by suspending the bylaws (not allowed by law)so that ineligible delinquent members could vote.

    David Thompson

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