City Council — 2023-07-25

Good evening. Call the order,

public comments but I will be pulling item D just so you know so you don't need to speak on that item during general public comments.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Is

that clear? Yeah.

And when I call your names if you would like to wait or if you need to wait until item D, if you could just let me know and then I'll file it. So thank you. We have no presentations and no commission reports today so we will move on to public communication. And just a reminder to everyone these are items not on the agenda and because they're not on the agenda we cannot discuss them. We appreciate your viewpoint and participation Oh, whoops.

Yep. We need a vote, Madam Mayor.

I know. Right out of the gate, huh? OK. All right, thanks. Motion to approve. Thank you, Rachel. And we have a second? A roll call please. Question?

Could I hear who made that second?

Cesar did.

OK. He did?

All

Motion passes.

Okay, good. What would we do without our team? Thank you. So we will move on to public communication and just a reminder that normally public comment is three minutes. At the end of the three minutes you'll hear a gentle chime and in the spirit of equity please stop talking when you hear the chime. There's no giving away time to another speaker and if you're in agreement with the previous person please just say ditto And just a little note, several members of the public have reached out to me and who've really asked that we work together as a community to maintain decorum and civility at the meetings.

On that note please refrain from side comments and conversations during the meeting. We're all doing our best to listen and it's tough with ambient noise especially up here when there's talk in the audience it's really challenging to hear. So let's all be gracious, regardless of where we stand on a specific issue. And remember that we're all connected and part of the same community. So let's focus on policy and be kind and welcoming to each other.

Let's go onto public comment. First we have Bill Miley. A reminder if you want to speak on item D just let me know. Then we... Oh! You know what? I'm sorry. All right. In the case of another Thomas Fire event, we need to have an evacuation plan. I'm here today to urge you to complete an evacuation survey so we can be better

prepared. Hello, I am Callie O'Connor. I am the executive assistant at the Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council. The Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council has an ongoing project called the Wildfire Vulnerability and Evacuation Assessment. This project is funded by Cal Fire with a budget of $286,000. In 2019, 2022 to 2023 we asked for public feedback from the residents of the Ojai Valley and Ventura watershed. To survey public worries and concerns should we experience another catastrophe like the Thomas Fire?

The number one concern has been evacuation. Which makes sense since the city is limited to three ingress and egress routes, and some of our neighborhoods have only one way in and one way out. During the Thomas fire there was congestion and people management issues in Ojai we have a history of multi hazard concerns highway 33 is closed due to debris flow. and flooding, and is scheduled to reopen at the end of 2023.

Caltrans has proposed lane reductions in Oakview and across from Nordoff High School. All of these situations are motivations underlying the extensive vulnerability and evacuation assessment underway. A goal of the assessment is to understand community vulnerabilities and the capacity of our transportation system during a catastrophic wildfire scenario. Another goal is to develop recommendations to address how to reduce physical and social vulnerabilities, improve evacuation capacity, increase our capacity to respond at individual and community levels, and how to increase collaboration and coordination across involved parties.

Our objective is not to develop an evacuation operational plan, but rather a mitigations and recommendations report that covers public education, roadway capacity improvements, roadside fuel treatments, at-risk individuals, criteria for shelter in place and temporary evacuation points, communications and messaging, and just as importantly securing funding for future projects.

As part of the evacuation assessment, we have an online public survey that is focused on the transit system and evacuation. It is important to get public input as stated one of our goals is to understand community vulnerabilities please fill out this public transit survey it is anonymous and is an important component of this project You can find this information and the survey at our website, www.ohicwpp.org, and click on the orange button that says evacuation survey. Please urge your neighbors and friends to take 10-15 minutes to complete it. The more responses we get, the more statistically significant the responses will be. This applies to those who live in the Ojai Valley and Ventura River watershed.

which includes Upper Ojai, Silver Mountain, Rose Valley, Casitas Springs and all the areas in between. I'll pass this one pager with the QR code and link thank you for your time and participation.

Thank you so much Callie much appreciated just a reminder to everyone we have an evacuation drill at Nordoff tomorrow at 10am.

You know you mentioned The lane reduction at Nordoff and possibly by the time of the next fire in Oakview. I just want to make sure the public understands that if the responders think it's better to open up all four lanes, they can all be opened up during emergencies. I think it's important for the public to understand that if they don't already so thank you. Thank you.

Thanks Callie. Next we have Robin Gerber then Bill Miley and then Ruth Miller.

Thank you. Hi, I'm Robin Gerber. Welcome Mr. City Manager. I'm here to talk about the new banners that have gone up for the Ojai Playwrights Festival. This is the 25th year of the festival. One of the founders is our current treasurer Kim Maxwell who many of you have taken classes with and know as a wonderful theater person and someone who really works with our young people in the Ojai Playwrights Conference this year she'll have a youth workshop where they perform that I guarantee will make you laugh and cry and open your eyes to new things. The playwrights who come to Ojai go on to, many of them have gone on to New York, to Broadway, to Off-Broadway.

I myself am a playwright who was in the Ojai Playwrights Conference and I might make it to Off Broadway! Yes, I have another hat Matt. I can see Matt's like what? So please come this year we're under new leadership Jeremy Cohn is the new director, and he has secured for us the Thatcher Theater, which we have never had. It's over 400 seats. Everybody can come. It is pay what you can. We really want the community to be there this year. He wants to connect with our Ojai community and we really haven't had that before so please come these are young diverse brilliant playwrights from all over the country and you'll be happy you did thank you.

Thank You Robin much appreciated next we're Bill Miley then Ruth Miller and then Betsy Van Light

Good evening. My subject is justice for Commissioner Starkweather. I said on July-

Mr. Miley, I'm sorry to interrupt but do you want to wait? That's item D on the consent calendar.

I don't think so. It has to do with the minutes mayor not subject.

Do you want to address that? Well, I can't predict what you're going to say but I did announce that we're going to discuss The issues with what transpired at the last meeting during item D, the consent calendar. But I don't know what you have planned to say.

That would include the minutes also?

Yeah if you're addressing

the minute. I have an item. I presented an item to talk on Item D, which has to do with the correction of the minutes and not the issue of justice for Commissioner Starkweather.

I am pulling

Item D.

It has nothing to do with justice. It has to do with the

minutes. We'll be discussing the minutes on Item D Mr. Miley.

I'm not discussing

the

minutes.

Can I chime in for just a moment? Just one second. You're not

discussing it? I'm not talking about the minutes. I'm talking about justice for Stark. Okay.

Well if you're talking about an agenda, I know Commissioner Stark whether that is item D Mr. City Attorney would you like to

the item d item 1d is just a minute's broader discussion. Mr. Stark weather is not item 1D So I would suggest let's hear from mr. Miley now and then

All right, please continue. Thank you. Okay

How about restarting this place Thank you. As I said on July 11th at the City Council, the ethical and fair option would have been to table this agenda item and set the item for a date when Commissioner Starkweather could be present and have a time to prepare relative to the issues. The majority did not agree, Mayor Stick and Council Member Whitman led the effort to remove Commissioner Starkweather. Justice did not occur.

It was a trial via social media. The mayor detailed the charges. New Commissioner Starkwether was in Europe, prompted local support, failed to give him time or opportunity to respond in person, and deliberately failed to reset the agenda item two weeks later when he could be present. The attempt to label him as a misogynist through social media was a cheap shot, with an out-of-context three word phrase done in a personal way.

To attack his character in a very biased manner and no opportunity to defend himself the city manager was neutral. What is missing all here is failure to recognize real attacks on women with misogynist comments within city government functions by another person who was not brought to account. Where's the justice here? I support Commissioner Starkweather in wanting a proper hearing for these accusations. The present situation is unacceptable. In conclusion, a defendant has a constitutional right to take the witness stand and to testify in his or her defense The right is now accepted to be inherent, part of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment and a compulsory process clause of the 6th Amendment. It was denied here. That's sad.

Thank you Mr. Miley. Next we have Ruth Miller then Betsy Van Light then Barbara Bowman.

Just a brief update on what our Homeless Task Force is up to. I'm too short. Ruth Miller. Speakers don't have to answer that question. OK, first of all, I'd like to say the very cool thing I got to do this morning and that was to attend A meeting of the, are they not hearing me still? Meeting of the Board of Supervisors. We were invited by Kay Wilson Bolton of Spirit of Ojai Homeless Shelter.

I don't know if you know but they were running out of funds and potentially going to need to shut their doors at the end of June thus putting approximately 50 people back out on the street and of them 16 children K and her team went out and rallied and came up with enough money for a month and a half. In the meantime, behind the scenes, the city of Ojai The City of Fillmore, the Board of Supervisors and Kay with Spirit of Ojai along with Jennifer Harkey, Continuum of Care and other players decided to form an alliance a partnership between those entities. City of Santa Paula, City of Fillmore, the county and Spirit of Ojai in order to not only just keep the doors open for now, but to fund them so that it becomes sustainable. So that those people no longer need to worry about being back on the street.

So that Kay can go to sleep at night and know that those people are going to be fed and housed and taken care of. So one more group that's showing us how it can be done. We've been in touch with Dignity Moves, as I think most of you know. They provide these 10 by 10 rooms with a door that locks. Think about that. How would you feel if you were sleeping out here with a door that doesn't lock? Kids harass them on the street. They terrorize them from time to time. I've been talking to some of these people These are grown men. These are not weak little children, small people. These are grown men that are afraid. They're afraid for their own safety.

And they struggle to survive every single day. So if we could provide them with a room, with a locking door, they can feel safe. We can then bring in supportive services. This is something else I learned. You can't have a homeless shelter without supportive services so that they can again go on and I'm running out of time. So we've been in touch with Ken Craft down in LA Short he said that once we're ready to that. He's very open to talking to us about supportive services Thank you,

Ruth Next we have Betsy van light then Barbara Bowman and Andy Gilman

Good evening mayor city councillors City staff I'm Betsy van light and I'm a resident of Ojai and I'm here to make a suggestion that I think would be helpful to council discussion and decision making in a general way. As way of background, I'm a retired university administrator and professor, and over the years I've also worked extensively with community organizations in a variety of capacities And I figure throughout my career, I probably have spent thousands of hours in meetings. Maybe thousands and thousands and I'm still here standing.

And I've been involved in organizations that use a variety of systems of governance And what I've come to see is no matter what the governance system you have, the importance and complexity of group discussion and group decision making is incredible. It's the bedrock of how we decide things, and it's very complex. Now, I appreciate the logic of Rosenberg's rules of order that you use.

But I have to say trying to keep track when there's motions followed by substitute motions and amendments of various sorts gets really pretty overwhelming and pretty confusing. I know that's for me and for other people I've talked to. Here's the suggestion. Use visual aids. When you make a motion, type that motion and project it on the screen. Everyone knows what the motion says.

If there's a substitute motion, same thing. If there's important amendments, I know city attorney that you do an amazing job of trying to keep track of all of this But that doesn't help the rest of us who are just relying on what we've heard or we think we've heard. So if you use a visual system, which every educator knows makes a difference, you'll actually be able to track where you are in terms of what motion is before you. And it also will be really helpful for the public, that will help us have trust and transparency and feel like we know what's going on as well.

So I've got a whole lot of other suggestions for group discussion but right now the first one feels like using the screen for written motions. Then we're all on the same page and we know what we've done and we know where we're going So I want to end by thanking you all for your service, because I know how hard you all work for our community. And I bow to you for that. I thank

you for that. Thank you, Betsy. Next we have Barbara Bowman, then Andy Gilman, then William Wyrick. Hi.

I'm going to be on motion

D here. OK. OK, next we have Andy Gilman, then William Wyrick, then Nora Herold.

Good evening council members and I want to especially welcome Mark and Carl here. Nice to have you here, and I want to thank you all for your service as well. I have a general comment about the meeting structure but prior to that three very quick announcements. If i didn't say it Andy Gilman director of the Agora Foundation. I live on Golden West resident of Ojai.

One, this Monday night we continue with our Hitchcock Free Series at the Ojai Brewery and this time it's Psycho. One of the best films of all time at 8 p.m., and I hope you come. It's super fun. Great community gathering that's free so this coming Monday at 8pm. Next a week from today will be our first Brown Bag Lunch in Libbey Park. I know you know about that. A reminder email will go out tomorrow That is 12 to one, near the fountain. I will be bringing chairs and again this is a place for informal colleagues to talk asking questions like what's on your mind? How can we help each other in our work? How can we get to know each other better?

Finally our next Ojai Chautauqua video interview will be with the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy that is about to unveil their five year strategic plan and it's really exciting. It's very interesting so I think it'll be informative so look for that next month. Very fast, I'm going to speak quickly. My main point is the concern with how the council meetings are going and how long they take and I respectfully offer you a few suggestions. Number one after the public comments set a time limit for discussion which is on the agenda. I've been a part of many boards as well and we would do something like set 30 minutes for discussion on a particular item. The clerk would pay attention to that and the discussion can be continued with a majority vote What that does is it gets everybody a little bit closer on their conversation.

They realize that we're going to come to a period, that it's going to be a go or no-go to continue and it focuses the conversation a little bit more. That's a suggestion. I think that there's too much time and passion being spent on things like procedure, and eventually influence. And we miss things like paving and future priorities. So don't let that happen tonight. It could easily.

Next, being brief clear and distinct and on point in your conversations and giving each other a chance to finish. In Agora, we've conducted over 1,000 seminars and something I offer to people when they ask and you didn't ask but I'm offering. If you use the word and more than four times, you've probably spoken too long. Just a suggestion. Finally encourage each other to compromise. I would love to hear things like here is how you and I can find a middle ground. Here's how we can work together on this. And lastly This is for the public comments. I know sometimes we feel encouraged to speak on every item and what I encourage, the same thing as clarity, respectfulness and that attacking just lowers our credibility so dazzle with reason and compassion instead.

So I would encourage that for everybody who comes in the public comments as well as the council. Thank you

Thank

you, Andy. I'm sorry. Am I the only one that doesn't understand what you meant by number 1? It sounded like you were suggesting that we do something for half an hour

after public

comment. Yeah, yeah.

I can tell you sometimes it's called a time certain model and what it is on the agenda you would have an item like you do now And it would say, after public comments there's 30 minutes set aside. So you would be talking for 30 minutes then the clerk would let you know we're at time and a majority can decide we want to continue the conversation or not. So what that does is it gets the meeting down where you decide we're not making headway or it gets people's comments more focused. So it's a structure of a meeting that could work. I've seen it work before and I've been a part of it. Does that make

sense? No. Not yet. OK. That's OK. But is that legal?

The council can set a desire time limit for any given agenda item. The council majority can also modify that time set as desired the one thing is we couldn't use a time set to block public comment so public comment wouldn't couldn't count against that

time I did not mean that was your conversation and i have to say that for me after three hours in any A board meeting, I'm basically wanting to leave after three hours. We were here for five hours last time so we've got to get it shorter and more concise.

Thank you Andy. Next we have William Wyrick then Nora Harold and then Robin Gerber

Yes we work I just wanted to say a couple of things about the effort that I have not had time to go and participate in. And that's the discussions on the minors are minor miners Oaks Park initiative you've seen advertisements for it. I have not had a chance to get there and I wanted to make sure I shared with the council staff The community that there was an agreement in principle with the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy for a little area along the 33 near our world bar to be a parking area that for support of the meadows that could also easily be part of the programming. for support of the Miners Oaks Park proposed park, as well as collaborating with the city and the county on the proposal to do a bike path extension on the bridge area through the meadows.

And I just hope it doesn't get forgotten in everything that there is a willingness on the Conservancy to do that and it would be a natural way to create kind of a community park support area In that land that is controlled by the Conservancy that they're more than willing to work with the city in terms of doing a parking support area for both the meadows and This development, and I regret that. I haven't had a chance to participate But I would hope that that would be part of the institutional memory going forward with those proposed Development ideas Thank You

Thank you bill next we have Nora Harold then Robin Gerber then Chet Hilgers

Hi I'm Nora Harold, not a resident of the city. I live in Miners Oaks. So I want to address what happened when I came up during the last meeting to speak. I wrote a thing but you know it's nerve wracking to come up here like this and I felt bullied. I felt disrespected. I felt belittled and I spent all day working on my statements Getting ready. You know, when I'm here primarily not for me because I can handle it.

I'm here for all the community that sees that, that sees what happens. That sees me and other people being called crazy. That sees me being bullied by council person rule and then feels afraid to come up and speak so I'm here for them I also need to comment on the word crazy. So we've grown a lot as we evolve, we learn and we change our behavior. The word crazy used in the way it was used is ableist.

Is what? Ableist. So ableism is when we look at a disability and we say well that person is less than because of their disability And crazy is about actual mental illness. So to use it in the way it was used, is actually a form of gaslighting. It's a way of saying you don't count what you said is not important and from my lay position I'm gonna diagnose you as mentally ill and that's not okay.

So again, this is our evolution as a species. I used to use the word crazy in the colloquial way that we all use it. I don't use it any longer. So I'm going to end with that. I had a whole thing, but I feel like that's enough. I just want to say though, I know you all personally since I've known you for a long time and to hear you call me crazy when I stepped away hurt.

It hurts.

May I please say that I did not call you crazy?

Sousa, it is on video. I did not direct my comment

at you and I want the public to know that I did not direct what I said at you.

You said these- Excuse me just a reminder this is we're not having a conversation Nora do you want to finish your-

Yeah I do as I stepped away you said these people are crazy immediately after I spoke Sousa Leslie you did this Like this heart chakra clearing thing and then played with your mirror to redirect the energy or whatever you did, which felt completely inappropriate to me. Right? That's inappropriate. You work for the community, you are elected officials and you could be removed just as easily as you were elected in your positions and if you treat the community this way, you're not going to hold your seats. Thank you

Nora. Next we have Robin Gerber then Chet Hilgers and then Vicki Clark Chet Hilgers and then Vicki Clark and then Jeffrey Starkweather.

Good evening council good evening mayor, council members staff and welcome Mr Scott my name is Chet Hilgers and I'm president still of the skate park but I'm here tonight to talk about building a community pool behind the skate park Today was especially hot to be working outside as I do every day on three ranches in town. It was 104 where I was. People over the years have asked me about building a community pool adjacent to the skate park.

When I was a kid growing up here, there were several great options for swimming. Those places are long gone and even if you're able to build a swimming hole with rocks in There's no great legal dedicated public place to go for a dip, cool off and socialize. The Nordoff pool will be controlled by the school district and have restricted hours. That's OK. The school district needs its own pool.

I think it's a great time to float the idea of a community pool behind the skate park. A public pool could be a really great positive project that might help bring the city, the school district and the community together. The City Rec Department has done a great job managing the skate park. The city could teach kids to swim, give priority to people who live valley-wide, have movie nights, get a bite to eat from the neighboring farmers markets – just some ideas!

A true, purpose-built community pool would benefit the greatest number of people all ages in the Valley. The goal would be to raise enough money to build the pool and donate the facility to the City similar as was done with the skate park. I would only do it if we raised enough money for an endowment to pay for city staffing and expenses associated with operating community pool. I don't want the pool to be a drain on the city.

Let's start a dialogue, see where it goes. If you think this is something we should dive into as a community then email me with your thoughts at ohishaparalpoolatgmail.com That's ohishaparalpoolatgmail.com Thank you.

Next we have Vicki Clark, then Jeffrey Starkweather, then Dee Reed. And then we will take the rest of public comment after the first item. Thank you.

Mayor, may I just say some people seem to be cold. Is it? Yeah. Do you think we can do anything to regulate the temperature? Is that your job to interrupt city manager?

We're all in deep trouble if I have to find the thermostat.

I'll take care of it.

Thank you.

OK. Thank you. Thank you, Weston. OK, Vicki Clark.

Hi, everyone. My name is Vicki Clark and I live on West Matilija Street in Ojai. I've debated speaking before you for weeks Wondering what I might have to offer this body to move past the maddening and frustrating dysfunction that you've been demonstrating for the past seven months. You have had angry shouting people come to you, and you've had compassionate gentle people come to you all asking you to set aside personal differences and do your jobs.

So far, no change has been evident. I don't presume that what I say will change anything but since I can't stop writing comments to you in my mind, I want to say my piece. Mayor, I implore you to stop asking for mutual respect and kindness and welcoming attitudes of your colleagues. You guys are nowhere near that. You're presiding over and contributing to one of the most contentious and hostile bodies I've witnessed in the more than 47 years that I've lived in this valley as an adult If you could start with asking your colleagues to merely be civil to one another, maybe you could move forward from there.

Mr. Whitman I am particularly disappointed in your conduct because when you were running for office you came to my home and you sat on my porch with me and we talked about how this is likely going to be a very challenging council and you assured me that you could work productively with whomever your elected colleagues would be. I told you I would vote for you, and afterward I thought here's a calm guy who knows these systems and can operate effectively within them.

Sadly, you have revealed yourself to be something very different than that. I now see you as an arrogant, disingenuous, petty bully and I'm sorry that I voted for you. I want you to know that while I do live in the district you represent, you do not represent me. You as a council have an opportunity for a fresh start of sorts with the new interim city manager in place You can act as if you're professional adults.

I would suggest that you, as a body, consider following a few simple principles moving forward. Tell the truth, don't interrupt, don't whine and don't demean your fellow council members. If those guidelines are too specific to implement perhaps y'all can just adapt Willie Nelson's Family motto, it's brief and in language that Mr. Whitman will likely recognize their motto is don't be an asshole Thank you

Thank You Vicki And just a reminder to the audience if you could refrain from clapping And just be silent next we have Jeffrey Stark whether then D read and then we'll move on to the agenda

Just like I'm gonna pass something out here And if possible, I'd like to get maybe 30 seconds more than three minutes. I think we should keep it three minutes.

**

I'm okay if you need another minute since you've been gone and a lot has happened. Thank

you. Four minutes, Weston? Is that

okay? Is this one separate?

Are

these

all the same? And Mayor and

Council, in compliance with the

Brown Act this will be available for public review from the clerk's office after the meeting

tomorrow. Thank you.

Thank you, citizen. I was deeply distressed and saddened to learn that despite being promised that the effort to remove me from the Planning Commission would be not voted on upon while I was away on a long-planned 25 day 17 city vacation tour of Ireland, Scotland and England. Obviously it was even more distress stressing to learn that the effort to remove me took on a false character assassination of me as a supposed misogynist.

Even more disturbing was that I was falsely attacked without being given opportunity to defend myself in person. As I've demonstrated in the private emails here, I just provided you From August of last year, the reference to quote weak female opponents was an analysis of their electability and related to their lack of experience in time in Ojai and not that there being women.

As I explained to Mark Whitman, Councilman Whitman's brother This was only a private email to five members of a nonprofit board and was only spread inappropriately beyond that group by Councilman Whitman and his wife, Heidi. Not by me. Also the statement of the mayor that this initial private assessment only came to light 10 days before the July City Council meeting is false.

Rachel Lang and Betsy Sticks were aware of this statement 11 months ago. This is a classic political speech and private, and to retaliate against me now for that speech that was released by the very council member who wants to remove me is clearly a violation of my free speech rights under the First Amendment and the Brown Act. I can be removed for any reason and no reason but I can't be removed for an unconstitutional reason.

None of the accusations were factually correct in terms of my service on the Planning Commission I've given you a copy of the February 27th correspondence with city manager when he asked me to stop sending emails about matters concerning the City Council. As I stated, excuse me... As he stated, that is exactly what I did. Stop sending emails some five months ago. Moreover, I have never had a single private meeting with James Vega.

I've never been in his office. I've never had telephone call. How could I be interfering with his work? Again there was no emergency to extinguish to call for this attempt to remove me when I'm not here. Finally, as to suppose conflicts of interest in my role as president of the Ojai Valley Democratic Club and my role as a planning commissioner that is another false accusation. I've never communicated the city council or the planning commission as it represented the democratic club matters concerning the Planning Commission. The club generally does not weigh in on issues before the City Council Unlike Simply Ojai and its supporters, I have spoken to the city council only once in the last year as a representative of the club. And that was to support Mayor Francisco, Francina excuse me, and to support the city council signing the cease and desist agreement and to record their meetings.

All of the times I have spoken or been to the City Council have been as a private resident, clearly not speaking for the Democratic Club or Planning Commission. Practically done if I can finish. Also, I've never spoken before the City Council or the public about matters that were about to come before the Planning Commission. Unlike Mayor Sticks who has regularly communicated to her supporters to come and back her positions on legislative matters before Public hearings, public comments and staff reports have been heard. Finally what this is really about was trying to silence a strong and consistent advocate for much needed new low impact infill housing but this attempted removal from the planning commission will not slow down my public advocacy on issue it will only enhance it thank you.

Thank You Jeffrey next we have Dee Reed and then we'll move on to the agenda

I have known Jeffrey Starkweather for 45 years and been happily married to him for 38. I'm proud of his advocacy for affordable housing and collaborative policymaking. I don't usually comment publicly on his work, but this time a line was crossed Egregious, unfounded allegations about misogyny generated by the Mayor and Councilman Andy Whitman's family all ginned up to mobilize their base and provide an excuse to remove Jeffrey from the Planning Commission.

You have to know that I'm a feminist. I would not put up with a misogynist for 10 minutes let alone 38 years so you got your story wrong but you already know that I would simply like to set the record straight before our community devolves into a toxic mosh pit that will continue to churn on social media until what we cherish about Ojai is gone. You will hear statements tonight explaining why Jeffrey is not a misogynist, of course and should not be removed from the planning commission. It would have been nice if you listened to what Planning Commission Chair Steve Quillesey said about Jeff's skillful role on the harmonious planning commission and that he certainly does not think he should be removed or resign The mayor has insisted that she had to put this on the agenda while we were out of the country and that she had to vote to remove him immediately because so many people called, commented and showed up to show their concern.