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MyspaceThe controversial Mr. Julian Assange of Wikileaks wrote, “Every time we witness an act that we feel to be unjust and do not act, we become a part to injustice.”
When I ran for public office, I was committed to leaving our community in a better place than before I left office.
In the 20 years since leaving office, I find our community has changed a great deal. From my perspective the changes has not been positive. Regretfully, some of the negative changes can be the result of our past decisions.
Toru Miyoshi
We changed the office of City Administrator to City Manager. This change authorized the city manager to hire and fire any department head in the city. When Tim Ness discharged Police Chief John Sterling, who had the support of his police officers and, most importantly, the support of the community, it sent an unfortunate message to all department heads that they needed to get his approval before submitting recommendations to the City Council.
This procedural change compromised the independent and professional input which is vital to the decision-making process.
City Manager Tim Ness replaced Chief Sterling with Chief Danny R. Macagni, who had no experience as a department head and [according to a court deposition and numerous anecdotal accounts] used racial slurs (“wetbacks,” “chinks,” “niggers”) and made no apology for such demeaning conduct. Tim Ness was aware of this conduct and ignored it, implying it was not an important criterion to disqualify a person from being the chief of police.
There were two significant complaints made against the chief by members of his staff. One, related to biased hiring practice, was settled in court resulting in the city’s paying over $100,000 in settlement costs and an additional $40,000 in legal fees. The plaintiff was willing to settle for $25,000 to cover his legal fees, however, because the city chose to fight the charges against the chief and the city manager, it cost the taxpayers in excess of $115,000.
The other charge was one of alleged misconduct by Chief Macagni. The Santa Maria City Attorney retained an “independent” private investigator from the Los Angeles area to investigate the misconduct. I was informed by two sources that the “private investigator” worked for the law firm that is defending the chief. I inquired about this possible conflict of interest with the City Attorney office and was informed the private investigator had no association with the law firm defending the chief. I requested a copy of the private investigator’s resume under the Public Information Act, and was informed by the City Attorney office that they had no file on the “private investigator” they had hired.
The city attorney, Gilbert A. Trujillo, in response to the complaint, wrote, “…the investigator determined that your allegation of misconduct on the part of Chief Macagni was unfounded.” The misconduct allegation was that Chief Macagni did not properly refer to the Internal Affairs Department a report that a Santa Maria police officer stole prescription drug during the SWAT raid of a home in Nipomo. It is unbelievable, but a city councilman implied that since the alleged crime occurred outside the city jurisdiction, it was not their concern.
Now the rest of the story. I was informed that the police officer who witnessed the alleged drug stealing was not even interviewed by the “private investigator.”
It seems possible that our city bureaucracy is engaged in a cover-up. Under these circumstances, a thorough investigation of all the allegations should be conducted by the State Attorney General to preserve the integrity of our local government.
It is worth mentioning that there is yet another lawsuit against Chief Macagni pending. This one involves denial of civil rights.
As for the very recent shooting of a Santa Maria police officer, during his arrest on charges of having sex with a minor who may have been a participant in the Police Explorers program: That’s a topic for another day.
The high standards of law enforcement maintained by the late Chief Sterling must be reestablished to reverse the corrosive trend corrupting our city.
I welcome all comments through my e-mail: torumiyoshi@yahoo.com.
Toru Miyoshi is a former Santa Maria City Councilmember and former Santa Barbara County Supervisor.
Previous Month
Comments
Toru. Gotta disagree with you on this one. While this example is valid. It's more the exception than the rule. One only has to look at how the County Board of Supervisors conducts business to see that having the Department Heads report to 5 bosses (or in this case, an inept majority of Carbajal, Wolf and Farr) creates an atmosphere of fear, and professional decisions based on keeping your department (fiefdom) away from the threat of budget cuts or your termination. Since going away from a strong CEO to a weak CAO, things have gone from bad to worse in a very short period of time, less than 3 years.
If this chief was so bad, it's up to the City Council to step up and demand of Neff "Fire him or you are gone". Which they do have the power to do. As voters in Santa Maria, you can also get rid of Councilmembers that condone such behavior.
BeachFan (anonymous profile)
February 9, 2012 at 4:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The City Mayor is elected, everybody else is on the payrole and if they value their jobs will tote the line of the Mayor. The Police Cheif is either a leader and advisor to the Mayor or a follower and flunky to take the fall of the Mayor. It appears as though the Mayor's cheif modus operandi is to hire an inept fool to deflect criticism and investigation's to rather than to hire a champion for the people; I would start sniffing around the Mayor's Office and mualing over the boxes of Mayor documents to find the truth. The old, "Smoke and Mirrors" routine.
dou4now (anonymous profile)
February 10, 2012 at 8:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Where there's smoke...
LegendaryYeti (anonymous profile)
February 10, 2012 at 2:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
In Santa Maria you get a dog and pony show with your smoke and mirrors.
Ken_Volok (anonymous profile)
February 11, 2012 at 11:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Toru is right: when elected officials give power to a hired executive, they not only abdicate their responsibility as elected officials, but also grant the exec powers that elude public accountability until a scandal erupts. Witness what happened at the county when a "conservative" BoS granted M.F. Brown sole authority over hiring and firing all department heads and, in turn, their hand-picked middle managers, and on down the line, making a travesty of the Civil Service merit system. It was a disaster.
GregMohr (anonymous profile)
February 11, 2012 at 5:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Actually Greg. During that time that department heads were able to hire people for their skills, not connections to the elected officials. In the private sector, you pick the best people you can work with. What's wrong with doing that in the public sector? Since the board has gone back to directly hiring and firing staff, you've lost department heads because they refused to tow the company line and try to do the right thing.
One example that comes to mind is how the Parks Director was removed a couple of years ago for refusing to alter records related to the killing at Arroyo Burro Beach under the guise of "going a new direction". This according to current Park Commissioners. From what I remember under his tenure, the rangers were happier, things got done, new programs started and according to staff at Waller, no layoffs unlike other departments. Hired in his place was a man that tried to defraud his previous agency at Lake Casitas of over $40,000 in mileage reimbursement with pending "hostile work environment" claims against him. He was hired directly by a deputy CEO who is best friends with this guys wife and she works in the City of Ventura. So Greg, you think this is better? Then they got rid of Deputy Direct Axelson for no reason. That department is a wreck, as is HUD. Good Luck to Mr. Carter. He has his work cut out for himself with a deputy he shouldn't trust. I hope you can bring the department back to what it once was. Unfortunately, you have a lot of micro managers in the BOS to deal with.
BeachFan (anonymous profile)
February 12, 2012 at 10:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Dear BeachFan: You said, "He was hired directly by a deputy CEO who is best friends with this guys wife and she works in the City of Ventura." Isn't that exactly what I said was wrong with the reign of M.F. Brown and all the branching cronyism that went along with it? When personal connections take the place of hiring on merit, we all get shafted!
GregMohr (anonymous profile)
February 12, 2012 at 4:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Generally speaking, it's a myth that private industry always has better practices and results than government. Both are capable of poor practices and results - you just don't hear about the ones in private industry as much because, well, it's not public info.
EastBeach (anonymous profile)
February 12, 2012 at 7:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
EastBeach: Generally it's true that private industry has better practices and results than government. Both are capable of poor practices and results - the ones in private industry go broke, and the ones in public industry rationalize bigger budgets by claiming that poor practices and results are an artifact of budget constraints.
We need AG oversight in the county - Santa Maria and Santa Barbara have similar problems, and, at least in SB, the DA and county counsel are as important in allowing problems to persist as city government.
14noscams (anonymous profile)
February 13, 2012 at 6:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Greg. That hire was approved by the BOS. Terri Maus-Nisich recommended this person. The board was asleep at the wheel when it came to reference checks. The board policy of hiring and firing senior staff was in effect when Mr. Roney was hired. Not Mike Brown. Brown was powerless by this time.
BeachFan (anonymous profile)
February 13, 2012 at 8:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Centralizing power is never good.
billclausen (anonymous profile)
February 16, 2012 at 2:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)