October 16, 2009
Executive Committee
Altadena Town Council
730 East Altadena Drive
Altadena, CA 91001
Dear Executive Committee Councilmembers:
Please accept this letter as my official complaint and request for an ethics investigation of Honorable Chairman Eugene (Gino) Sund’s actions regarding the following:
* Failure to communicate and share information with elected Councilmembers and community regarding Sahag Mesrob Christian School.
* Acting without notice to elected Councilmembers regarding cell site in the proposed census tract 4602.
* Communicated privately with ATT representative Richard Ambrosini and representatives from the county, excluding the elected Councilmembers in the proposed cell site location of census tract 4602 regarding proposed change of cell site location.
* Failure to respond to numerous correspondences sent regarding the bus and various transportation issues, as well as requests for information regarding the cell site and the current proposed investigation / request for information from elected Councilmembers.
* Failure to comply with due process as stated in the Altadena Town Council Bylaws prior to opening investigation against a council member.
* Failure to communicate and respond to requests after meeting with IBIG Group regarding Altadena Transit Needs Study in which I was appointed the chair person
These actions have undermined the elected officials in the census tract, and demand immediate attention and should be looked into as a matter of urgency.
Respectfully,
Hon. Okorie Ezieme
Honorable Councilmember
Census Tract 4602
Oct 18, 2009
Executive Committee
Altadena Town Council
730 East Altadena Drive
Altadena, California 91001
Dear Executive Committee Council members
Please accept this letter as my official complaint and request for an ethics investigation of Chairperson Eugene Sund, Councilperson Tesumch Shackleford and former Councilperson Ken Balder.
1. Misrepresented the Council as a governing body of the community to a County Official.
2. Submitted false and defamatory statements to a County Official concerning a former Town Council member.
3. Provided unprivileged publication of the statements to a third party (that is, somebody other than the person defamed by the statement);
4. Demanding that a disabled, low-income senior citizen and long time Altadena resident, employed through a Federally funded training program be fired from a position at the Altadena Community Center by providing defamatory information to the County Officials.
5. Defamatory statements caused the removal of above mentioned person from their position at the Altadena Community Center.
6. Committed actions that are legally considered “Elder Abuse” through harmful and emotionally painful treatment.
7. Taking actions without notice to elected Council members regarding demand for removal of employee at the Altadena Community Center.
The slanderous and defamatory actions of the above mentioned council members and former councilmember have caused harm that is detrimental to the person filing this complaint and shows a need for immediate and urgent action.
Respectfully,
Camille Dudley. Resident of Altadena
former Altadena Town Council member
October 19, 2009
P.O. Box 40923
Pasadena, CA 91114
Executive Committee
Altadena Town Council
730 East Altadena Drive
Altadena, CA 91001
Dear Executive Committee Councilmembers:
Please accept this letter as my official complaint and request for an ethics investigation of Honorable Chairman Sund’s actions regarding the following:
1. It has been reported to me that Chairman Sund has used foul language to refer to me in conversations with a former Council Member, calling me a “son of a b****” and stating that he wanted to remove me from the Altadena Town Council. This is a violation of Altadena Town Council’s Ethical Standards which state in Section 3.5 of Conducting Council Business that “Members shall refrain from abusive conduct, personal charges or verbal attacks upon the character or motives of other members of the Council, Committees, or the public.” Section 4.1 under Public Communications also states that “a member shall always conduct himself/herself in a respectable manner and never in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing his office, the Council, or Altadena into disrepute.”
2. Under Chairman Sund’s leadership, the Executive Committee of the Altadena Town Council has been quick to point fingers, but slow to train or mentor its new Council Members. To this day, no training or retreat session has been offered to new Council Members, though the Altadena Town Council Bylaws state in Article IV, A. 4(b)(1) that the Corresponding Secretary is to supply members with a written copy of their duties as defined by the Chair.” I have not received any such correspondence from the Corresponding Secretary.
3. After being elected in June of this year, I was promptly placed under investigation for what I assumed to be a misuse in wording and responses to false accusations by another Council Member against me regarding a Student and Teacher of the Month program I was implementing for schools in Altadena and its fundraising. I must assume this because I was never given anything in writing, though the Altadena Town Council Bylaws state in Article IX, C, that ” . . . a request to consider charges against a Town Council Member must be presented in writing to the Executive Committee . . . ” A written request to consider charges against me was never furnished, nor did I receive one personally.
4. It had only been 21 days since I was sworn into my position on July 21st. I have since apologized for and corrected my mistake. Nevertheless, this “investigation” has continued for about three months, damaging my name and character in the community. I believe this decision to conduct an alleged investigation for such a minor mistake that could have been easily rectified was irresponsible. The investigation’s lack of efficiency and prolonged duration demonstrate Sund’s poor judgment and call question to his intent.
5. Chairman Sund allows his personal opinion of me to influence his actions in public. For example, at the NAACP Centennial on September 16, 2009, Sund intentionally excluded me from a public introduction of Altadena Town Council Members who were present at the event. Though he clearly knew of my presence, he deliberately excluded me, while acknowledging the other Council Members who were present. Julianne Hines, of Assemblymember Anthony Portantino’s office, later apologized to me and stated that she had verified with Sund that he had given her the names of all Council Members who were present.
He is quick to point fingers, but has not put forth any effort to ask me questions about my Student and Teacher of the Month Program or to offer his assistance. He refuses to support potential educational programs which would benefit the community. It seems that Sund allows some Council Members certain privileges but denounces others for the same accused behaviors.
6. Additionally, Sund has failed to communicate to Council Members and to the Altadena community regarding pertinent issues. During the Station Fires, for example, he did not communicate to me or to other Council Members with whom I spoke that a press conference was being held in the area with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, which I believe was held at the Hansen Dam on August 30th. I did not receive any notification of this important event, although I did discover that Sund attended along with at least one other member, Tecumseh Shackelford. Part of our duties as the Altadena Town Council is to “[encourage] the flow of information between individuals and community organizations that are working for the betterment of Altadena” (Altadena Town Council Bylaws, Article V, Section A.4).
7. He has also failed to communicate to the community regarding the proposed cell tower in Census Tract 4602, as well as with the representatives who have been elected to represent Census Tract 4602. Sund privately communicated with an AT&T representative, Richard Ambrosini, without consulting Census Tract 4602’s residents or elected representatives. He has failed to respond to e-mails from Hon. Okorie Ezieme inquiring about updates on the cell site. It can be inferred that Sund has privately caused AT&T to withdraw its proposal and seek another location for their cell tower without concern for the community’s opinion on the matter, though the Altadena Town Council’s Ethical Standards state in Section 3.4 under 3.0, Conducting Council Business, that “members shall not knowingly and intentionally withhold substantive information relevant to the matter under consideration, received from sources outside of the public decision-making process, from any other member, or from the public prior to taking action on the matter.” The Bylaws also state in Article V, A.3 that the duties of the Altadena Town Council include “providing frequent fora to encourage the participation of the Altadena citizenry in each Census Tract for the purpose of determining their views and wishes on issues brought before the Town Council, all the while striving to accurately mirror in its policies and positions the desires of the community as a whole.” Nowhere in the Bylaws or Ethical Standards is it stated that the Chairman is to act in such a manner. Additionally, a community poll on Altadenans.com showed strong favor for the proposed cell tower. As of October 16, 2009, 70 people voted that they were in favor of the cell tower (85% of the total votes), while only 12 people (15% of the votes) voted that they were in opposition to it. Chairman Sund never contacted either Census Tract representative to hear what the community had to say regarding the proposed cell site.
Furthermore, at the Land Use Committee meeting on October 6, 2009, the Land Use Committee had no knowledge of the new proposed cell site. Bob Hayward, the general manager of the Lincoln Ave Water Company also had no knowledge that the cell tower was going to be placed on the company’s property.
8. Sund has publicly stated several times that the Altadena Town Council is not subject to the Brown Act, and has violated it by holding an unauthorized Closed Session Meeting with no agenda or minutes. However, recent court judgments have determined that advisory boards with no legislative power (similar to the Altadena Town Council) are indeed subject to the Brown Act, such as in the case of the Agua Dulce Town Council in 2005.
9. Additionally, Sund has violated the Altadena Town Council’s own bylaws. At the illegal Closed Session Meeting, he submitted three absentee votes on behalf of three Council Members who were not present at the meeting. Only one out of the three is a member of the Executive Committee, indicating that Sund held private discussions with the other two members who submitted their absentee votes. This was a direct violation of the Altadena Town Council’s bylaws, which state that absentee voting is permissible only in the election of officers or in the case of personal hardship (Article III, A.2). Additionally, the bylaws state in Article IX, C that ” . . . a request to consider charges against a Town Council Member must be presented in writing to the Executive Committee . . . ” A written request to consider charges against me was never furnished to myself or other council members present at the closed session meeting.
These actions have undermined the elected officials in the census tract, and demand immediate attention and should be looked into as a matter of urgency.
Respectfully,
Herbert Simmons