Mr. Branstrom, I suggest you should take another look at my October 11 Sierra Thread editorial. It was not, as you described in your October 21 article in The Union - Other Voices, “focused on whether Measure B should have been a general tax or a special tax.” You and the other council members decided to move forward with Measure B as a general tax. Fair enough.
The fact is Mr. Branstrom, my editorial catalogs the councils’ many attempts to mislead the voters into believing that Measure B was something other than a general tax. These were fairly straightforward assertion on my part. I am not surprised that you found it necessary to redirect the reader.
I also find it interesting that you chose not to respond directly to even one of my four documented assertions. Instead, you opted to elaborate on the benefits of extracting approximately $2,760,000 every year from Grass Valley shoppers.
For me, your obfuscation and unwillingness to address the facts implies culpability.
Mr. Branstrom, moving further into your editorial, you identified the reason for the council’s decision to move forward with a general tax rather than a special tax. You wrote in part, “a general tax allowed the city to state its broad intentions for the tax . . . . without tying it to a list of specifics”. A very astute observation, telling me that you are capable of, at least on occasion, applying common sense.
However, three weeks prior to the election, you conducted a public hearing and adopted Resolution No. 2024-09. This official council action put in place a list of very specific expenditures, a predetermined budget for future Measure B tax revenues. Again, this occurred three weeks prior to the election!
Here’s the rub Mr. Branstrom. We now know that you understood the proper course of action, i.e.: as a general tax, the Measure B ordinance could not be tied to a list of specifics. Yet, to ensure a majority vote, you, as a sitting council member, took official action to create a specific list of expenditures. You did this BEFORE the election!
At that point, you effectively turned Measure B into a special tax which should have required a two-thirds vote. Instead, we all know Measure B barely passed with a simple majority.
In the past, I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt; however, now I am of the opinion that it must have been a total lack of integrity that compelled you to prematurely adopt a list of specifics even though we now know you knew this would be improper.
This entire deception, as documented in Resolution 2024-09 and staff supporting documentation, was predicated on the false premise that Measure B REQUIRED the city council to act.
The ordinance that was before the voters does indeed direct the council to hold a public hearing and develop an expenditure plan for the tax revenues. Any thinking person understands that first the voters must approve the ballot measure, the ordinance must then be adopted in order for it to become effective, and then, and only then, the city council may hold a public hearing to adopt an expenditure plan.
For me, this absurd official act by the city council was the pinnacle of deception and showed total disregard for voters.
My opinion remains that you achieved your overall goal of passing Measure B through innuendo, misdirection, and the use of falsehoods. With each example in my editorial, I questioned the lack of both common sense and integrity of a person willing to, in my opinion, perpetrate such deception on the voters.
You finished up your submission by stating: “As always, I am available . . .” During the Measure B process, I expressed my concerns that voters were being misled. I wrote several letters to the council and appeared in person twice. My in-person pleas received blank, unemotional stares from the daises. My letters went without response or follow up. I would have appreciated a conversation at the time. Now, your offer rings hollow.
For those following the ongoing Measure B process, the city council has yet to hold the public hearing as promised the voters in order to develop an expenditure plan now that Measure B has passed. I broached this fact at the Measure B Independent Citizens’ Advisory Committee hoping for a recommendation to the city council, but to no avail. I was instead invited to sit privately with the then City Manager, Tim Kiser and Mr. Ruderman, contracted City Attorney. It was a short, unproductive meeting. Mr. Ruderman, getting in the final words, volunteered as we were standing to leave that the people needed to see the list. At this point, the public hearing promised the voters by Measure B has been denied.
It all makes sense now, in a perverted way. Defy logic by telling the public that Measure B requires a hearing. Hold the hearing prior to the election in order to assure the voters that there actually is a list of specific expenditures. Then deny any request to hold the hearing required Measure B because that would be admitting that the hearing held prior to the vote was either a mistake or a pure deception. It is never easy to cover up a lie.
One might envision our Federal government, or even our State government conducting themselves in this manner, but it infuriates me to know that our local government is capable of such deceit towards its own citizens.
Lately, I have been contemplating some recent news, all taking place following passage of Measure B and some taking place after my questions to the advisory committee. The then contracted city attorney, Mr. Colantuono, retired. The then city manager, Mr. Kiser, resigned. Two city council members involved in the Measure B process did not declare their candidacies for this election cycle. All coincidental, no doubt.
As for your Measure B Independent Citizens’ Advisory Committee, the words sound very reassuring to the voter. The committee is indeed made up of very sincere, dedicated individuals. However, be assured that the committee is not “Independent” nor does it belong to the “Citizens” as the apostrophe implies. The city Code of Conduct simply does not allow formation of such committees. The title of your oversight committee is just another reminder of the deception aimed at the voters and perpetrated by our most trusted positions of authority.
Voters must now decide the level of common sense and integrity they require in a candidate for City Council. Please make your vote count.
Disclaimer: Mr. McCall resides in Grass Valley. He is a member of the Measure B Independent Citizens’ Advisory Committee. The views expressed here are his alone and not intended to represent the views or opinions of other committee members.