D.A. drops Brown Act investigation

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- City officials escaped further investigation into a

possible violation of open-meeting laws by deciding to discontinue

nontraditional negotiations with developers, the Orange County district

attorney’s office said Tuesday.

The district attorney’s office announced Tuesday it will drop its

inquiry into a possible violation of the Brown Act because Costa Mesa

officials decided among themselves to stop questionable negotiations with

C.J. Segerstrom & Sons regarding the Home Ranch development in June.

“Whether or not the [subcommittee designed to negotiate the agreement]

actually violated the Brown Act is an open legal question,” Deputy Dist.

Atty. Pete Pierce said. “Since the Costa Mesa City Council decided to

scrap the committee, the issue became moot.”

City Atty. Jerry Scheer, who has always maintained the city did not

violate any laws, said he was pleased but not surprised.

Pierce launched a preliminary investigation in October after his

office received a letter from Costa Mesa resident Paul Flanagan, who

claimed the city violated the Brown Act during early subcommittee

negotiations on the development agreement for the Home Ranch project.

Flanagan is the president of Costa Mesa Citizens for Responsible Growth

and a vocal opponent of the development.

The Brown Act -- the state law that governs public meetings -- allows

for government officials to “cure” any possible violations by simply

stopping the problematic behavior, or going back and doing everything in

the open, Pierce said. The fact that Costa Mesa officials abandoned the

subcommittee negotiations was the main reason the district attorney’s

office decided not to pursue it, he said.

“People went ballistic so the politicians capitulated. They wound up

getting so much bad press, they decided to do it the normal way,” Pierce

said.

Normally, the developers work with city staff and the city attorney to

draft a development agreement, which the City Council then reviews and

decides on after public hearings.

Motivated by previous messy negotiations, the City Council decided to

try including city officials in the early stages of the negotiating

process to bring up controversial issues sooner than later.

During a Feb. 20 meeting, council members voted to authorize the

formation of the steering committee and appointed Mayor Libby Cowan and

Councilwoman Karen Robinson to it. Planning Commission Chairwoman Katrina

Foley and Commissioner Bill Perkins were later chosen to represent the

Planning Commission.

Members of the committees, staff and representatives from C.J.

Segerstrom & Sons had conference sessions to weigh the proposed

mitigations and public benefits that may have been included in the

development agreement, Cowan said.

In previous interviews, Cowan said she knew the subcommittee members

were in unique territory but had rulings from the city attorney before

proceeding with discussions.

“I still don’t believe we violated the Brown Act,” Cowan said Tuesday.

“But we knew that once there was a question, disbanding the committee

would alleviate the situation.”

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .