Despite indicating by a 4-1 vote at the October 26 meeting that the Irvine City Council was effectively eliminating the Sunshine Ordinance to dramatically shorten the time the public has to review a published agenda, Mayor Farrah Khan announced at the November 9 meeting that the item was “deleted.” So not sure if that means its been removed for further discussion or that the council will revisit another time, but its never a good idea for Democratic-elected to vote to shorten public review or comment.
Additionally, TheLiberalOC heard back from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) regarding Vice Mayor Tammy Kim’s interruption of a citizen speaker during public comments and Mayor Farrah Khan shutting down the speaker for being “disrespectful.” Remember, the ACLU is an organization dedicated to protecting the Bill of Rights for everyone. And surprise, surprise, Irvine’s Mayor and Vice Mayor violated the speaker’s First Amendment rights.
According to Zoë McKinney, a staff attorney with the First Amendment and Democracy Project at ACLU of Southern California, “…. interruptions are generally problematic—particularly if they result in the speaker not get his/her full time to make comment. Also, being “disrespectful” is not a legitimate basis to cut off someone’s comment time for First Amendment reasons.
McKinney suggested the actions of Kim and Khan may have violated the Brown Act and First Amendment, as well as the California Constitution’s Liberty of Speech clause. City Council members are required them to allow a speaker to make comment without interruption. Kim’s subsequent media appearances on the incident and political mailers from an unknown organization branding Eugene Kaplan as a racist are inaccurate and unfair. Mr. Kaplan is a Jewish military veteran who strongly believes the Veteran’s Cemetery belongs at ARDA not Anaheim Hills.
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And Irvine has a new city manager. Here’s the press release:
Irvine City Council names Oliver Chi as new City Manager
Approval at November 9 meeting; his contract begins December 24
IRVINE, Calif. (November 9, 2021): The Irvine City Council has chosen Oliver Chi as its new City Manager, approving him at its November 9 meeting. His contract begins Friday, December 24.
“As a City Council, we went through an extensive recruitment and interview process that included input from the community,” said Mayor Farrah N. Khan. “Oliver Chi has the leadership and executive management skills to effectively implement the policies we set as well as manage the day-to-day operations of the City. Oliver’s experience and approach will allow for him to have an immediate impact on our City, as we continue to recover from the pandemic, and continue to be a world-class City well into the future.”
Oliver has more than twenty-two years of extensive government experience at both the state and local level. Since 2019, he has served as the City Manager for the City of Huntington Beach, one of the premier beach communities on the west coast. Prior to his current role, he held a variety of management and staff positions with the cities of Monrovia, Barstow, Rosemead, Claremont, and Arcadia, along with serving for a period of time as a staff member to the California State Legislature.
“I am humbled, excited, and grateful for the opportunity to join a city as dynamic and diverse as Irvine, said Oliver Chi. It is a truly remarkable community, and I am so looking forward to partnering with the Mayor, City Council, and staff as we work together to guide Irvine’s continued growth during its next 50 years.”
During his tenure in Huntington Beach, Mr. Chi has been credited with establishing a dynamic, values driven organization focused on achieving key community goals, including development of the innovative Be Well OC mobile crisis response model that dispatches non-sworn crisis intervention teams to address mental health and substance abuse related calls for service. Additionally, he worked to advance a citywide strategy to address homelessness, instituted thoughtful sustainability initiatives, oversaw a robust capital project portfolio, established unique affordable housing programs, and prioritized fiscal health and community engagement activities.
Oliver, who is an Eagle Scout, earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles. He also holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California.
Oliver Chi becomes Irvine’s sixth City Manager. The first City Manager, William Woollett Jr., served from 1972-1989, followed by Paul Brady (1990-1999). Allison Hart (1999-2005), Sean Joyce (2005-2018), and John Russo (2018-2020).
Chi has agreed to a two-year term at a compensation rate of $301,246.40 per year.
Since its incorporation in 1971, Irvine has become a nationally recognized city, with a population of 307,670 that spans 66 square miles and is recognized as one of America’s safest and most successful master-planned urban communities. Top-rated educational institutions, an enterprising business atmosphere, sound environmental stewardship, and respect for diversity all contribute to Irvine’s enviable quality of life. This family-friendly city features more than 16,000 acres of parks, sports fields and dedicated open space and is the home of the Orange County Great Park. For more information, please visit cityofirvine.org.
Sources suggested Chi was well-regarded by the Huntington Beach city council. And I’m delighted that the Russo administration will finally be swept clean. And ‘m hoping Chi will reach out to those exceptional staffers who left when Russo arrived and created a less-than-ideal work environment in City Hall. Hiring some of those people back would be a step in the right direction.
That said, our friends at Irvine Watchdog published a factchecked article received by an anonymous source that suggests background checks were not as well done as could have been or that they were ignored entirely.
Here’s are excerpts that should raise an eyebrow or two:
Chi appears to have been controversial wherever he goes, marked by an alleged lack of maturity, callousness, and a willingness to place his ambitions over the good of the communities he was tasked with serving.
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Chi’s dubious track record began as Deputy City Manager for the City of Rosemead. He later became a member of the California City Management Foundation’s Board of Trustees, at the direction of the City Manager of the City of Claremont, Glenn Southard, who helped start the organization. [1] Under their combined leadership, tens of thousands of dollars in credit card bills were racked up monthly with personal charges to dining and entertainment establishments. In 2006, city officials determined that many credit card charges were not accompanied by receipts. A subcommittee directed to review these issues never met. In 2008, when more charges were incurred, the City of Claremont City Council was forced to take the public heat. [2]
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Having only completed his postgraduate education in 2005, Chi seemed young and inexperienced when he was appointed as City Manager of the City of Rosemead in 2007 by a 3-2 vote, at the age of 27. Chi was described as a party boy by many residents of the City of Rosemead, and was a close ally of the Mayor John Tran. After Chi’s eventual resignation and subsequent move to Monrovia, a former employee of the City of Rosemead shared his experience under Chi’s amateur leadership. “I was employed there at City Hall in Rosemead while all this corruption was going on. I cannot believe the City of Monrovia and all its citizens trust this suspect who was never brought to justice. […] Just because he wasn’t convicted doesn’t mean he is innocent.” The corruption being referred to is described in detail below.
When Rosemead Mayor Tran lost his re-election bid, Chi was forced to resign as City Manager by a 4-1 vote of the newly elected Rosemead City Council. A major complaint of Chi was his failure to hire the most qualified candidates when executing an expansion of staff in the City of Rosemead. The only reason Chi was not fired was because of a provision of the City of Rosemead Municipal Code which did not permit the termination of employees in the ninety days following an election. Therefore, Chi negotiated for and accepted his resignation with the inclusion of a no-sniping clause, which precluded the City of Rosemead and Chi from speaking disparagingly of each other. [4]
Following the challenge of an unemployment claim by former Councilmember John Nunez, Rosemead closely examined what they were paying out and to whom. Chi’s claim and collection of $9,900 came as a surprise to the City of Rosemead, which thought it was done with Chi when he was paid $334,000, nearly twice his annual salary of $178,00, as a severance package under a settlement agreement made prior to his resignation. Chi returned the $9,900 in order to “maintain a good relationship with city staff and officials,” despite claiming that he had every right to collect unemployment since he resigned “under the threat of termination.” [5]
During his term, Tran solicited more than $10,000 in bribes and Chi convinced a developer to purchase a property adjacent to an office building she owned to develop a mixed-use project. Following his term, Tran pled guilty to bribery, in exchange for not being prosecuted for a felony count of attempted witness tampering by corrupt persuasion and one count of making a false statement to the FBI. Prosecutors had determined that Tran met the witness, a real estate developer, at a Starbucks and instructed her to tell a grand jury she did not meet with him or give him money. Both Tran and Chi were mentioned by name in a $1.5 million claim filed by the developer. Tran also submitted a false statement to the FBI, purporting to have not met with the real estate developer or been given money by the real estate developer. [6, 7]
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In October of 2020, Chi reportedly gave unwanted hugs to his former secretary, who filed a complaint with the City of Huntington Beach. While it is likely that her accusations were based in fact, Chi suggests that the secretary made these allegations and filed the complaint out of animosity after being the subject of two employee misconduct violations. Prior to any formal investigation, the secretary claimed that she faced retaliation by Chi while the City of Huntington Beach prepared to offer the secretary a settlement agreement in the form of paid leave, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $60,000, if she was willing to recant her accusations. Upon her receipt of the settlement, she tendered her resignation. However, this highlights a pattern of no-sniping clauses and settlement agreements attached to situations where Chi has been accused of wrongdoing, a form of silencing his victims. National headlines from earlier this year revealed that “we should believe women and that we have an obligation and a [duty to] protect women in their workplace.”
During his Huntington Beach tenure, Chi was also accused of cyber spying on the elected City Attorney, Michael Gates, when he ordered the Chief Information Officer, a subordinate, to secretly conduct an invasive search of the City Attorney’s emails that would require him to review all of his emails, inclusive of privileged material. Chi had told the Chief Information Officer that he did not have to conduct the search, if he did not want to. As expected, the Chief Information Officer refused to do so and made his concerns regarding this process available to members of the City Council and the public. Chi claimed that a City Councilmember had asked him to investigate a matter related to the City Attorney, which prompted his request. However, this did not explain Chi’s retaliation toward the Chief Information Officer upon the release of these allegations. Chi attempted to coerce the Chief Information Officer to resign after 17 years of service as an employee of the City of Huntington Beach. Eventually, Chi treated the Chief Information Officer as though he was leaving, even though he refused to resign.
Both of these instances demonstrate that Chi fostered a toxic and hostile work environment. During these turbulent events, two police chiefs announced their departures in a little more than a week. When asked during an interview about his role in all of these incidents, Chi denied any wrongdoing and claimed that this was the work of political opponents who were trying to sabotage him, which makes one wonder. As an appointed City Manager who had moved from Rancho Cucamonga and had served in this capacity for less than a year, who exactly were his political opponents? [14]
Most recently, the Huntington Beach Finance Commission wanted to meet in August to scrutinize a major purchase agreement made by the City of Huntington Beach before the deal was formally closed. Chi prevented the meeting from being called to order by excusing himself, as “he was going on vacation.” As a result, the deal closed with no oversight. As the City of Irvine is entrusted with an annual budget of over $200 million, such disregard for stewardship of taxpayer dollars could make the City of Irvine very vulnerable to abuse. [15]
Irvine City Manager Finalist (2021)
Chi is quoted as saying that “change found him” when a recruiter from Bob Murray & Associates, the firm providing executive recruitment services, reached out to him. Vice Mayor Tammy Kim stated that Chi’s background as a person of color positions him well. If preferential treatment was, in fact, provided to Chi on the basis of his race, the City of Irvine City Council would have violated Section 3-5-202 of the City of Irvine Municipal Code. According to Vice Mayor Kim, Chi is also being brought onboard as the City of Irvine prepares for future growth. However, the City of Irvine City Council and Chi do not share the same priorities. Chi sees that it is a priority for the City of Irvine to cement its status as a cultural epicenter, which does not reflect the five strategic priorities adopted by the City of Irvine City Council of quality of life, natural environment, traffic and mobility, fiscal strength, and organizational excellence. [16]
But my friends in town are telling me, “let’s give him a chance.”