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06-02-1969 - Special Meeting - MinutesSPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY' COUNCIL CITY OF WEST COVINA, CALIFORNIA JUNE 25 1.969. The special meeting of the City Council. was called to order at 4-35 P.M. by Mayor Leonard S. Gleckman in the West Covina City Hall.. The Pledge of Allegiance was l.ed by Councilman Tom Gillum. ROLL CALL Present- Mayor Gl.eckman; Councilmen Gillum, Nichols, Chappell, Lloyd. Also Present. George Aiassa, City Manager Lela Preston., City Clerk Jim Samuelson, Pu:b1isher - The Sentinel Cliff Creager - Sentinel PROPOSAL OF THE SENTINEL Re. Participation in a Special Commemorative Section Featuring the Civic Ce.n.ter Dedication in. the Better Living Magazine of their Newspaper. Mayor Gleckman.o We have with us the publisher of the Sen.tinel.- dim Samuel.son, and the Editor,Cliff Creager. We do have a letter from the Sentinel - what is your pleasure, gentlemen,? Councilman Gillum. Mr,, Samuelson-• have you anything in mind? When we got into this we had something in mind as to the expense and what 1.t would look like - the Daily Tribune supplied this. Do ,you have something or do we have to put something together? Mr. Samuelson° We went to press an hour ago - gentlemen, and this meeting is actual.l.y superfluous, but on the cover of th.e.Bette:r L-vin.g section is the City Hall Dedication and also pages .inside regarding t�.e City and the dedication.. I would like to submit this letter to you Mr. Mayor, there are five copies, for your consideration. (Mayor accepted letters and gave copies to Council.) Mayor G1.eckman .requested that letter be put in the minutes Letter dated dune 2, 1.969 ­ P°As a newspaper of utmost integrity we are most disappointed in the "p:i.geon -hol.e`P procedure of the West Covina City staff regarding our Civic Center Dedication. request, submitted to the City Administratorvs Office, May 19, 1969.' 'The Sentinel's letter addressed to the Mayor and City Council, plus five large packets, were hand delivered the above date to the Ci.ty.Administrator`'s secretary. That 1.ette.r and packets, however, were never placed in. the .respective councilmen's folders. Consequently,, the matter was not placed on, the agenda for the regular Council Meeting, May 26, 1969.' 'We therefore file this letter as a protest to the denial of due process accorded two other Valley newspapers which sub- mitted similar requests. Their proposals were promptly placed on the agenda of the next regular Council meeting and were honorably considered by the City Council of West Covina.' 'Since an. integral. part of a newspaper, or radio and television station is to perform community service, an, action such as described above is in.effect most detrimental to the general public, the prime beneficiary of the communication media. The City Council., likewise, is obligated to serve the people and it should share our concern.' 1 Spec. C.C., W 6-2­69 Page Two SENTINEL m Con.tinued 'In view of the treatment accorded this newspaper., we are doubly concerned over the manner in which. communications from private citizens may be handled, without the coun.ci.l' s knowledge. The power of a staff member to ursurp the decision -making role of the elected body carries frightening implications.' "When correspondence is addressed to the —Mayor and City Council, :no staff member, in. our opinion., should have the authority to withhold or redirect it. Proposals such as ours involve policy decisions, which must be reserved to the City Council.' 'The operation of a city and a newspaper policy -wise is quite similar. This publisher, for instance never has and never will use the columns of his n.ew:spa.per, .for personal reasons for or against the people it is dedicated to serve. We submit that the City of West Covina should practice similar policy,, considering city business solely on its merits.' "We thank you for your consideration of this matter and request this :letter be read into the public .record. (Signed) James A. Samuelson., Publisher (The Sentinel.)." Mayor Gleckman.o Mr. Samuelson, you understandof course that up until th.e time you addressed the microphone we had no idea we were too late and. that the purpose of this meeting was to discuss this matter with. you and .not just to soothe you. You gave the impression that: some of us knew it was too late and this meeting was primarily called at your request. Mr. Samuelson I can answer that. With the holiday, etc., we did try but were unable to :reach anybody and 'we tried also to postpone the pri.n.ti.n.g but it was impossible, we have to get to the docks 72 hours ahead of time. Mayor Gleckman° You do understand that the Council°s in.tent was to make a decisioi today? Mr. Samuelson- Yes,.,'very much. so. Councilman Gillum.- You dial indicate that on your own apparently you dial go ahead with this dedication, information on the front cover and apparaiatly a story and pictures are inside of it? Mr. Samuelson- Right. In answering, actually on.`th.e proposal we knew that this particular proposal was late in.'the sense of the other newspaper which, was done a month or so ago, but the date that you people selected fit in perfectly -with our program as per the first letter submitted. The center- page spread was not available in April or May but we had scheduled a double page for you in the June 6th issue, In my proposaland serving more than one community, I couldn"t come here and say- we would like to give this to the City, but I will tell. you frankly and "honestly that if the financial. portion of that was turned down. and if this were heard on that particular date we would have proceeded as stated in the letter with no charge to the City as a community service, but with the City of Covina right in our back yard building a new city hall, etc., we feel. that as part of your City that we would be an integral part, so I couldn't open. the offer to this particular city at)- no particular charge. But after your decision I could have done whatever I wanted in the spirit of community service. And this is also an answer to why I am occupying a few moments of your time today because I think it; :i s very important Councilman. Gillum-' Mr. Aiassa, you have read this Letter? y 2 ­ Spec. C.C. 6-2-69 Page Three SENTINEL - Continued Mr. Aiassa- I just received it. Coun.cil.man. Gillum- The date, called out by Mr. Samuelson, is this correct? Mr. Ai.assa- I received it on. the 23rd. They were hand delivered, as I gather from my secretary, Now whatever was typed on. as fair as the date was concerned W - everything that reaches .my office .is stamped officially and I frankly feel that any statement made as to "pigeon -hole" is a. far fetched shot in the dark. Councilman Gillum- Was it possible to put it on the agenda? Mr„ Aiassa- The agenda closed on. May 22nd,, Councilman Gillum- But in. the past we have had times when items have been. added to the.agenda. Mr. Aiassao Unless it is specifically asked by G'Duncil. - but off.i.ci.ally we close the ag'e:nda on I'idy 22nd. Councilman Gillum- Well I am .nct trying to lay the fault but I feel it is poor public relations by the City with the newspapers. Mr. Aia.ssa- Mr.. Gillum, I would say this, I don't th.i.nk we have ever had a problem as far as my office is concerned with the Sentinel and I don.'- think. we .have ever had any other such experience in. the 10 years I :have 'been. here where we have been thought to have pigeon -holed any other .item of concern. as important to the City. I don't know why this should 'be an, isolated item. What motivation or reason. would I have for pigeon -holing this out when we are trying to put together one of the biggest items the City has ever had? I can't put any credence to this letter because I feel it is not the i.nte:n.t. Councilman Gillum. Well I am not Sing to debate that part with you, but I am saying that if any part of this is correct I think .it is very poor public re.l.ations. Councilman Lloyd- I would have to concur with remarks here. I think one of the things That :has,occurred was the lack of a liaison on. the part of Counci_1 itself and. maybe the admini strati_on, that fi'h.e Se.nti-n.el is indeed more localized as far as its initial, internal. thrust as far as the area. than the Tribune. The Tribune serves 22 or 23 communities, and the Sentinel serves another one, May I also point out that there is a difference between the two papers. The Tribune is known. as a daily and t:he .Sentinel is a weekly, and as such their source of news and approach is totally different. And I am speaking as a public relations man.. We treat them in an entirely different manner because the lead time for'an. average weekly is a minimum of 1.0 days. That is a normal procedure in. trying to get stories in, whereas with a daily, such as the Tribune, a 3 day period is not an unrea.son.abl.e period. This points out, I believe, a problem which we have as a dynamic city, and. that is our relationship with the press. I think that the routine, and I am only submitting this for consideration, perhaps we should have staff study this, but I think we should give some consideration. to the release dates . and times to all of the papers, whether it is the Los.An.gel.es Times, the Daily Tribune or the Sentinel. And on special occasions and commernorat.ive issues which apply, I think consideration to solicitation. should be given to the Sentinel., and in -this case maybe even the Los Angeles 'Times - would ,you like to have a special, issue? Are you interested in participation? I honestly don't know and I am sure that the rest of you don.'t, but I am sure it just grew Like Topsy did -.the .fact that the special issue was put together by the Tribune, and I am very delighted 'with it -by the way. I think it .should occur, but I think in a.11 fairness to the Sentinel I do feel that we W 3 - Spec. C.C. 6-2-69 Page Four SENTINEL -• Continued haven't performed in a proper manner. We have,a right to refusal - if Mr. Samuelson were :here with the idea that we had to do this which he isn't, the attitude would be different, but in view ofthe fact that he was entitled to a function of refusal., just as the Azusa Herald would have been. entitled to and maybe they felt they should have been included. I don't know. Each of them have an area which I normally assign to them in our manipulations in our office, but they feel they have certain rights and I feel Mr. Samuelson feels very strongly he has certain rights and prerogatives with regards to the City of West Covina, and as a professional I think he probably does. I am deeply sorry personally that as a function of this body this thing had to come to this point, because it is making our relations more strained with what I consider a very _viable and necessary communication organ within our community. As such I would have preferred that we not have i.t happen in the first place, but in the final analysis if we go forward from here with the realization that the Sentinel is a part of our community, and as I pointed out the other day, no one has really ever mentioned our local radio station - - then I think that all of these things have to be considered. I think. we have arrived at a point where we must consider in our role of policy making a stronger public relations program and I am sure that statemert comes as a shock to all, particularly coming from me. This points up a fact that I think, although our staff has performed admirably over a wide range of services as far as our city is concerned it needs the services of something more professional than what we have been. able to do in the past. It is no longer a small community city hall which serves a group of groovers at their convenience, hours, time and thrust, but we have arrived at a point where we are functioning as a very highly structured urbanized community and I think it is time we took into consideration a more professional approach. I think this serves to point this up and I feel I have clearly stated my position. Councilman Gillum: ' Mr. Samuelson., I believe has written a very strong letter and has stated some strong opinions and I for one am concerned about it and with the consent of the Council, would like to have some of these areas clarified and explained. Mayor Gleckman.- Who would you Like to answer whatever you want answered? Councilmen Gillum: They are directed at staff. Mr. Aiassa: What would you like -me to answer —Mr. Gillum? Councilman Gillum: It does concern me that you have stated that we have had good relations with the newspapers and in your opinion this is the first time this has occurred. The first question. that comes to my mind is who made the original contact with the Tribune? Did we contact them or did they contact us and if we contacted them why not contact the Sentinel at the same time? Mr. Aiassa: Mr. Gillum, I never contacted the Tribune. I have not contacted any newspapers© ,Councilman Gillum: Then the Tribune made the proposal to us? Mr. Aiassa: I received by communication from the Tribune that they were putting up this type of press release. I made no contact,wi.th them. I would also like to point out to the Council that this is the first time I have ever experienced something of this nature where something has been stated or claimed that it was withheld from the City Council that was directed to them. Councilman Gillum: This is the point I am trying to make - the statement has been made that a letter from a local. newspaper was withheld and it does concern me ­ so ip your position I wanted it at least denied, answered or something. - 4 .- SPEC. C.C. 6-2-69 Page Five SENTINEL - Continued Mayor Gleckmano Let me take it a step further and try and clarify. First of a1.1 the Tribune came to us with a proposal. The idea emanated sometime ago when we were originally going to have our first dedication April 25th and they immediately went to work with the idea of putting out a dedication issue at that time, and because of the time element involved at that time the Sentinel showed no'indicati.on of interest because they were previously committed. Now if I am wrong I would like to hear about it. Then the date changed again and the Tribune continued to work on it and at that time the Sentinel showed no interest or indication of participating and it is not the prerogative of this Council to go to -the newspapers to request such a thing. When the date was finally set at the meeting on the 21st of May to June 6th as the definite date well on the meeting of the 26th, the evening of the 26th after the meeting was over I was approached by Cliff Creager asking why the proposal on the Sentinel had not come up on the agenda and I informed him that I had not seen it and knew nothing about it. I went to the City Manager the next day and he told me there had been some communication brought into the City Hall on Friday but that nobody had been advised as to what had been in the envelope and they hadn't requested that it go on the agenda of the 26th to his knowledge, but that since I was inquiring he would check further and see what happened. I was then informed that Mr. Samuelson. had requested to be heard on this matter and when I went to request a special meeting I found out Friday was a holiday and at.the same time that we needed 24 hours written notice in order to call a special meeting, so I had no idea up until Mr. Samuelson walked in today and said they had gone to press that it was 'too late for us to:make a decision on this matter. The only knowledge I had was what you have in the letter and that is the o.n.l.y one I received. If the City staff or the City Council has done this purposely I have no knowledge of it. On the other hand if .it is a mistake all we can do is apologize to the Sentinel. and advise the City Manager and staff that anything that comes from the press should get to us in quicker fashion. Councilman Nichols- I suspect that if the XYZ Peanut firm had submitted a proposal that had been pigeon -holed for providing peanuts for the Civic Center we wouldn't be sitting here .in a special meeting because they were disturbed they hadn't been acted upon., so.Mr. Samuelson I believe that pretty much conveys our feelings of concern about this. I wanted to get that out -because it is a deep concern and I think the fact that we have this meeting now tells you that we are much concernd and disturbed because you are concerned and disturbed because we know you create image for this community and we are concerned with that .image. As near as I can tell this whole thing is probably a result of an, unfortunate combination of circumstances that just timed out at a very bad time, Mr. .Ai.assa indicates that as far as he knows there hasn't been. any such problem in the past. Would you fellows say that is essentially correct? Or do you feel that this has been a problem in the past? Mr. . Samuelson- I don." t know. I haven't thought of it in the past Councilman Nichols: So as far as you are concerned it hasn't been a pro- blem in the past. Mr. Samuelson: We stated this was viand carried on the 19th - on Monday - so what :happened to it in .four days? Councilman Nichols: Well all of us -on Council know the procedures and how things work out with regard to our mail. Our agenda goes to bed on Friday and we receive in the mail. on Friday a packet of all of our agenda material. for Monday evenings meeting and any material that would be received,in. City Hall after the - 5 - SPEC. C.C. 6-2-69 Page Six SENTINEL - Continued ds:� :d P ien of the agenda, would be addressed to me in my next mail packet. Mr. Samuelson: But this was here on'Monday the 19th. This was the point. If Mr. Aiassa didn't see it until the 23rd what happened to it in 4 days. And if this happened to us it could possibly happen to others. Councilman Nichols- That leads to what I am trying to say. In the absence of any information to the contrary I would take this position - - that there was no pigeon- holing that occurred, if by "pigeon -holing" there is an inference or feeling that something by intention was set aside until the deadline passed. Obviously in practice something didn't arrive when it should have arrived and because of the unfortunate deadline, resulted in a loss of business to your firm. I would think of it as a staff error, totally human and totally forgiveable, except that it cost you some money. Unless someone said to me - well somebody has it in for me personally and .is hiding my communications - and then is somebody just forming these judgments for all of the communications that come in? The packets were made up and this got waylaid to one side. I think if it commands anything in my judgment it commands a review of office procedures in .terms of tightening to see where it went astray and if a short circuit occurred to correct it in the future9 so it wouldn't happen again. That is the way I feel about it. Nothing has been demonstrated to me that there has been a conspiracy but I do see that the mistake occurred somewhere in that a communication should have been sent to me to at least tell me that a communication didn't get to me in time. Mayor Gleckman- Yes that is what I would be upset with too, because if the Mayor and City Council don't get mail addressed to them that would be a problem. Councilman Lloyd- Mr. Samuelson, I recognize the irritation and the fact that you feel you were kind of left out. I, of course, don't know the procedures that led up to it, however I do know that Cliff" tried to call me on the phone when was that? Mr. Samuelson- We polled the Council on Tuesday. Councilman Lloyd- Let me ask this question then - recognizing that we are -unhappy and desirous of no reoccurrence of this type, do you feel that your positim has been. irreparably damaged at this point? Of course it is agreed that there has been damage and I wish it had not occurred but beyond that do you feel we have to go further or'are you satisfied that this Council will take cognisance and move forward on the fact that we are going to have to have some new procedures? Mr. Samuelson- I feel that the City has suffered. We don't care about the $500.00 or this or that, but we have to put some monetary take on any type of proposal. As Mr. Creager knows and as you gentlemen know we do community service. Regardless of whether you said "okay" on the monetary thing or not, we were prepared to go along with that section and this we have done although we don't feel it is as good,as it could have been. The point here is and it could be left for your consideration as to how to act - this is the situation in my mind, that it is your situation and not mine. I am a resident of the City, and I have a business of general circulation within the City. What has happened on my particular thing as I stated has no bearing personally in any fashion with any of you people or with this City. The coverage will still be the same and I hope it is adequate, 'but I believe this is a point that you gentlemen should be concerned with because this is the second time now in 4 years that I have submitted a letter to this - 6 - SPEC. C.C. 6-2-69 Page Seven SENTINEL - Continued City. Neither one of these letters ever came to the Council. The other one was about 4 years ago on the annexation thing and I never pressed that9 but again this is a personal thing. As for your XYZ Peanut Company, this is not the point here. I know we have taken much time gentlemen and I have brought it to your attention. Councilman Lloyd: We called the meeting because of the letter request from you and we would now like to pursue the -matter until there is some satisfaction as far as this Council and you and everyone else is concerned. I agree you have a point, no,question about that, but I also feel we should move down the line we have other things we can bring up in this area. Councilman Nichols: When I read this - it has the aroma of an allegation that somebody intentionally is short-circuiting the mail? Now is that your intention? Am I being too blunt? Doyou intend to say that in the letter? That somebody with malice aforethought has withheld your communcation to this Council?. Mr. Samuelson: If this be true this would be a personal matter. My letter simply states what happened in this particular situation and our opinion as to the harm that this particular procedure can do to others. If the question you are asking is one of that type then it becomes a personal thing and not something for the city directly. Councilman Nichols: The wording of the letter gives me to believe that is what you are saying and that is what I want to clarify. Mr. Samuelson: All I know is that five large packets and one letter were delivered to this City Hall by our dispatch girl to the City Administrator's secretary on Monday, May 19th. That is the facts as far as we are concerned. What happened, we don't know. Councilman Nichols: My reaction would be this - if material was delivered on.Monday, May 19th, addressed to me I should have received it. How it happened? If it happened? I don't know. I don't attribute malice to it, I attribute a breakdown somewhere and I think the City Manager should look into it and find out if that is factually when it,arrived and what happened and give us an explanation. on it. Mayor Gleckman: Are there any further comments? Motion by Councilman Nichols that the City Council ask the City Manager to ascertain the facts concerning the materials allegedly delivered by The Sentinel.on the 19th of May, 1969, and to inform the Conncil there concerning and further inform Council those procedures which resulted in their not receiving the material mailed. Seconded by Councilman Gillum, and carried. (Mayor Gleckman thanked Mr. Samuelson and.Mr. Creager) APPROVAL.OF PERMIT TO LAND HELICOPTER Mr. Aiassa: ;You have a report from the Fire Department and they would like to have Council accept the recommendation to allow the helicopter to land at City Hall. We also have a clearance from the F.A.A. It is now a matter of Council saying "okay" to proceed. So moved by Councilman Lloyd, seconded by Council- man Gillum, and carried. - 7 - • SPEC. C.C. 6-2­69 Page Eight S PERMIT TO LAND HELICOPTER - Continued Councilman Chappell.- Where are they going to land? Mayor Gleckmana In the parking lot at City Hall. I believe the arrangements were done very well and from what I understand, Speaker, Monagan is going to arrive between 12.-15 and 12.-30 and then auto°d over to Stark's Restaurant. Does Council have any suggestion as to who should meet the helicopter? Councilman Gillum.- Either the Mayor or Mayor Pro tem. Mayor Gleckman.- I believe Mayor Pro tem should meet Mr. Monagan and bring him in to Starks and then the program will be in full swing Councilman.Nichol.s.- You are wrong the Mayor and Monagan should come in together. (Council agreed.) (Discussion by Council followed regarding time of luncheon, friendship period, etc. Time scheduled at 11.-30 - suggested it might be moved up to 12 noon, etc. etc.) Mayor Gleckman.- Let's just say we are giving permission for it to land at City Hall, and as far as the meeting with Sp eakev Monagan, I.will be glad to meet the helicopter and bring him over and the four members of Council can play host, as well as staff at the city luncheon, until we arrive. Motion by Councilman Chappell., seconded by Councilman Lloyd, and carried, that this special meeting adjourn at 5.13 p.m. ATTEST: CITY CLERK APPROVED,. _MXY_OR 8