Resident Says Council Action Was Inappropriate

When City Council members discussed  of last week, they were breaking a state law, a resident says.

Because the item wasn’t on the agenda, Clint Worthington says the council should not have discussed Sierra Soil and Sod during the Dec. 6 meeting.

“After reviewing the City Council agenda, there was no mention of Sierra Soil being on the agenda.  If it was on the agenda, I would have attended the meeting,” he wrote Wednesday in a letter to City Manager Karen Brust. “I have been harmed.”

Worthington says the council has violated the Ralph M. Brown Act, a state law that requires, among other things, that public agencies discuss only items on an agenda that have been properly posted.

At the meeting, the council discussed Sierra Soil as part of an agenda item called:  “Consideration of an Equestrian and Sports Field Access and Use License Agreement for Use of the City’s Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park at San Juan Capistrano (Blenheim Facility Management, LLC).”

Sierra Soil subleases from Blenheim its corner of the riding park where it transforms the horse manure into soil amendment.

However, the city bought the property in 2010 with money from Measure Y, which mandates all lands purchased with its bond proceeds feature only recreational uses.  So the city is requiring Sierra Soil to leave.

Because the agenda item was about the city’s lease with Blenheim, which includes a clause to vacate Sierra from the property, the City Council did nothing wrong, City Attorney Omar Sandoval wrote back to Worthington. The council did vote Dec. 6 to allow Sierra Soil a few more weeks before it must go.

“I am not able to identify Brown Act violations pertaining to the matters you have raised,” Sandoval wrote in an email to Worthington on Wednesday. ”The Sierra Soils issue was directly related to the Blenheim license, and it was appropriately addressed in that context. The City Council did not consider or approve a sub-license with Sierra Soils and only changed the Sierra Soils vacation date included in the Blenheim license.”

Worthington remains unconvinced and is demanding the city “correct and cure” its violation of the Brown Act, language often used as a precursor to litigation.

“There is an easy way and a hard way to correct mistakes,” he wrote back to Sandoval. “The city is being offered an easy way to correct and cure this violation by placing it on the next City Council agenda and be done with it.”