Archives for category: City Manager Joe Felz
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Where is Mayor Jennifer Fitzgerald? Why no Statement About the Joe Felz Incident?

November 11, 2016 //
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Destruction of public property…

In the early morning hours following election celebrations in downtown Fullerton, City Manager Joe Felz drove his car over a curb in a residential neighborhood, mowing down a young tree in the parkway and leaving pieces of his vehicle there. According to neighbors, he eventually freed the car from the curb and drove it down the street for a short distance, effectively leaving the scene of an accident that involved damage to public property. The police who responded to the call of a concerned neighbor described him as emitting an odor of alcohol. The Chief of Police, set to retire just two days later, was called. He reportedly gave instructions for a field sobriety test, which Mr. Felz reportedly passed. No other test for alcohol inebriation was given, as far as we know, and Mr Felz was driven to his nearby home, evidently without any legal citation.

Although a final report of the incident is supposed to be forthcoming (?), the circumstances raise too many questions for Mayor Jennifer Fitzgerald to remain silent. Residents may reasonably ask whether or not the City Manager was given special treatment by the outgoing Chief of Police, or by the officers at the scene, who would certainly not have called the Chief if just about anyone else had been discovered in similar circumstances. In light of unconfirmed reports that those officers were not happy about driving Mr. Felz home without further action, an independent investigation is needed, including a review of the officers’ body cams.

Now that the story has been picked up by the news media, including KCAL 9 News, who aired a segment about it last night, Mayor Fitzgerald needs to make a statement about what the city intends to do to reassure Fullerton residents that the situation will be resolved in a fair, just, and transparent manner. Four years ago three members of the Fullerton City Council, including sitting Mayor Dick Jones, were swept from office for their inadequate response to a more serious, but similarly disconcerting incident, when a man was effectively beaten to death by officers of the Fullerton Police Department for no evident reason. A perceived lack of action on the part of city officials left Fullerton under national scrutiny while Chief of Police Michael Sellers embarked on a vacation.

As of today, Fullerton has no Chief of Police because Michael Sellers’ replacement Dan Hughes has left the position to go work for Disneyland. His interim replacement will be named by City Manager Joe Felz. This arrangement is intolerable under the present circumstances, and the Mayor and City Council of Fullerton need to communicate what they are going to do about it, now.

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Categories City Manager Joe Felz, Dan Hughes, Fullerton Public Library, Jennifer Fitzgerald, Uncategorized

Library Trustees to City Council: Fund the Hunt or Sell It

February 28, 2016 //
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Hunt Banner

Your public library, closed indefinitely. Will it be funded by the Fullerton City Council, or sold off as surplus property?

Matthew Leslie

The Early March edition of the Fullerton Observer (End or Reopening of Hunt Branch Library?) reports that The Fullerton Public Library Board of Trustees met on February 25, and voted to recommend to the City Council that the Hunt Branch Library either be funded with $ 1.3 million for annual operations or be considered surplus property. Grace Ministries International (GMI) has been leasing the facility for the less-than-princely sum of $ 1,500.00 per month since its abrupt closure in 2013 amidst reports that library staffers did not feel safe so near the then-burgeoning homeless encampment nearby.

According to the Fullerton Observer account, it was none other than retired City Manager Chris Meyer who first proposed selling the library at the Thursday meeting, in response to the city council’s past failure to fund it. The suggestion came during a discussion of an agenda item to provide direction about the Hunt’s future, now that GMI’s lease period is expiring. Rag readers will recall that it was Chris Meyer himself who wrote to this very blog nearly three years ago to repudiate the notion that the Hunt would be permanently closed, and eventually sold. (The Beginning of the End of the Hunt?)

At that time, Mr. Meyer suggested that the Hunt could be utilized to provide a “wide range of services, including a library, and media access center, and whatever the community needs. It is my belief that after the homeless issue at the branch is addressed, and the City’s budget recovers, there will be an opportunity for a renaissance of the facility, and the adjacent park,” he wrote. Mr. Meyer’s attempts to reassure Rag readers concluded with the admonition that, “This is not the beginning of the end, but rather the start of a new, and much more diverse role for Hunt in the southwest community.”

Three years on, Mr. Meyer’s turnabout position to sell a public library he formerly predicted would enjoy a “renaissance” might not even result in a public sale of the facility, however, because current City Manager Joe Felz, who once served as Mr. Meyer’s assistant, is reported to have suggested that the city should “sole source” the sale of the Hunt to the church directly. “They (GMI) have been accommodating by inviting people to see the architecture,”  he is reported to have said in the Observer.

As the Rag noted in its last story, despite assurances from City Hall that the William Pereira designed Hunt library would be the subject of an historic preservation designation, no such protection for the facility has been achieved in the nearly three years since the library was closed. City Manager Joe Felz seems to think that GMI, who continue to lease the property, should now be offered the purchase of the library exclusive of any other buyers. This brazenly proffered triple foul would not only permanently rob the people of Fullerton of a public library, but add insult to injury by selling the mid-century architectural gem with no legal assurances that it wouldn’t be torn down, and without even offering it to the highest bidder.

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Categories City Manager Joe Felz, Fullerton Public Library, Hunt Branch Library

$ 550,000 Paid to Settle Fullerton Police Civil Lawsuit Alleging Coerced Sex

July 26, 2015 //
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550,000-Lawsuit

Last week Fullerton’s contracted City Attorney Dick Jones announced during the Closed Session Report of a City Council meeting that financial settlements had been reached in two legal cases against the City of Fullerton.  The Rag has been waiting for some news about the  first case, Castaneda vs. the City of Fullerton, since we wrote about it last September.

New Lawsuit Against Fullerton Police Department Alleges Forcible Sex by Detective in 2013, September 16, 2014.

The suit alleged that a now former Fullerton Police Detective named Ronald Bair had demanded sexual favors from a woman in exchange for favorable testimony in her child custody case. The details of the case were very disturbing. The plaintiff reportedly felt compelled to comply with demands for sex by Det. Bair, who had investigated a breach of restraining order against her, because he had also offered to testify on her behalf in her child custody case. She later filed an anonymous complaint with the FPD, but claimed that FPD officers mishandled it by inappropriately informing Det. Bair:

“Shortly thereafter, detective RONALD BAIR called the plaintiff and threatened her and said that she was going to die.  It was obvious that he had been told, by the other defendants, about her ‘anonymous’ complaint about his conduct.  He told the plaintiff that he knew that she had a court hearing coming up and that the plaintiff would never see my daughter again.  He told the plaintiff that his police buddies would come after her.”

With a four vote majority, and one abstention, the Fullerton City Council agreed to pay the plaintiff $ 550,000.00. No details were offered about why one member of the Council chose to abstain from the vote, and since it occurred in Closed Session, there are no notes available to public to explain this strange action by a City Council member in a decision that involved over half a million dollars.

On July 23 the OC Register published a story about the case, written by reporter Lou Ponsi.

Fullerton is paying $550,000 to settle lawsuit involving cop accused of sex-for-testimony trade

In the article, Fullerton City Manager Joe Felz makes the claim that the “encounters” between Det. Bair and the plaintiff were “consensual,” and occurred while he was “off-duty.” Off duty or not, does it seem like a good idea for a police detective to be having sex with a crime victim whose case he had investigated and for whom he has provided testimony in a child custody case?

Mr. Ponsi then reports:

‘The police “fully investigated” Castaneda’s accusations against the former detective and then submitted a report to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, the city manager said.’ And then, ‘The District Attorney’s Office declined to file criminal charges because of insufficient evidence…’

Well, there you have it. The police, who are alleged to have improperly informed a detective about a serious complaint made against him, filed their own report with the DA, who couldn’t find any evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

In the next paragraph of the Register’s report, Mr. Felz first states that the ‘“alleged inappropriate relationship” between Castaneda and Bair involved “two mutually consenting adults,” before crossing an ocean sized gap in logic behind settling a case for over half a million dollars to “to minimize legal expenses.”

If there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, and the relationship was consensual, why is the city afraid to continue fighting the civil suit? Sure, lawyers cost money, and in the real world cities settle lawsuits to save taxpayers money all the time, but this time there is a $ 550,000.00 payout. That’s a large sum of money for what is effectively claimed to have been a non-issue.

$ 550,000.00 should also be more than enough to fund a Citizen’s Independent Police Commission. As we noted last September, an oversight board would have received the plaintiff’s disturbing complaints when they were filed, and investigated any alleged mishandling of it. Just having such a commission in place might alone discourage such behavior. Instead, a majority of the Fullerton City Council chose a periodic and incomplete independent audit model, citing the alleged cost of commission investigations.

(The Police Oversight Proposal Committee’s plan for an independent oversight commission can be found at this link:

https://fullertonrag.com/proposal-for-a-fullerton-police-commission/)

As it now stands, we have no independent civilian oversight, and we have to pay over half a million dollars to settle a lawsuit over acts between a crime victim and a Fullerton Police Detective the City Manager claims were consensual. I wonder how the members of the City Council whose campaigns were backed by the police union, and later voted against a Civilian Police Commission, will explain that one to the people of Fullerton?

At press time Police Chief Dan Hughes has yet to weigh in publicly on the case, and it doesn’t seem to have made Behind the Badge’s Fullerton page…

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Categories 2014 Elections, City Manager Joe Felz, Dan Hughes, Fullerton City Council, Fullerton Police Department, Michael Gennaco
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