PE:11TION TO TERMINATE Tr-IE CURRENT CITY ADMINlSTRA'TOR

To: Mayor Burnett and City Council Members of the City of Cannel-by-theSea:
The undersigned resident'), property owners and business people of the Citr of Cannel bythe-Sea, after giving careful consideration to the policies and practices currently being created and
implemented by the City Administr.UOr, Mr. Jason Stilwell, urge that the City Conncil request
and accept Mr. Stilwell's resignation. \Vith your receipt of this petition and the
required subsequent hearing, the proposed action should be taken in the best interest of the City
;md its residents at the September Council meeting.
The concerns which have led the undersigned to this action are because we believe the
current policies and practices have not only imposed a significant financial burden on the
communicy, but have caused our community to sillier a loss of Carmel's history and an
international reputation which has taken decades to est1.blish.
THEREFORE: rl11e undersigned request that the above referenced action be taken as
soon as pcm1iHcd under the Brmvn Act but no later than the September Council Inccting:

ADDRESS

NAME (Pis print}

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PETITION TO TERMINi(fE THE CURRENT Cl'TY ADMINISTRATOR

vV c identif)' below but a

!(~~.v

actions \Which we believe have been coHlrary to both the iong-tcrrn

financial stability and international reputation of this corrununity:

!.The creation of policies rd1ccling; a b<:k of transparency regarding disclosure of pubtic

inronnalion as demonstrated by:
a. The Tefusal to produce document<> in a tirndy fashion and. in the format prescribed by
law. (Resut!ing in the community being identified as having lhc "most recalcitrant
goven1ment o!llcial'\ in the: State").
b. The hiring of lawyers outside the co:m.muniiy, at great t<Lxpayer expense, to
handle requests for public information that have been handled by City staff for decades.
2.Thc terminations or resignations of the newly hired City Cleik and about a dozen City
employees "~<Vith hundreds of years of institutional and historical knowkdge, rnost of whom have
been replaced hy out-of-town individuals who h.we no vested interest in the eommumty, at
suspiciously high salaries and benefits, two of whom cornmutc weekly from their homes in
Redondo Beach and Ventura.
:i.The fkaeccssionmg of City art valued at more than a quarter million dollan; and sold for $9,548.
l.Actions that have resulted in a number of lawsuits and tmasserted pending causes of aclion,
<vhich e.xvose the community to signiJic.mt financial loss and litigation expense.

5.Tbc: spending of approximately $27-t,OOO on computer experts (including a forensic expert) to

suppor! daims of employee misconduct tvithout any identified vvrongdoing, despite a.ssurances
from the Mayor that such reports would be forthcoming no later than January 2014,
6. Violation of Municipal Code 3.12.530 rc splitri11g of contr&cts to avoid the necessity
of complying vvith the requirement tk-1.t contracts in execs~ of $25,000 dollars, reccive City Council
approval, e.g. the Mark Alcock contracts.
7. Failure to set priorities for 1lu~ repair and reopening of the lristoric Forest Theater and the
disposition of Flanders.

g_ "The City budget has paid out funds to 4 out-of~tmvn law {inns when "1-Ve lnvc a City Attorney.
This docs not adho-c to the City's local hiring policy. The new fiscal year budget of $24,000,0()0
appears top-heavy as it includes an Exee11tive Assistant fo.r the Mayor and City Ad.ministrato.r (a
first), and since April20 12, an increase of 10 F..fE's and pn~jcckd 1~ar the new Fish /Cal ye;.u of
<lbout $.500,000 for rr upgrades,
9, Tite projected costs of $900,000 tn build a new two stall restroom at the south end of Car:md
Beach at Santa Luciao

1)The secrecy is totally inappropriate for the Carmel govemrnent (or any govt} We
residents should be seen and treated as part of the team, not as the enemy who cannot
have information about the city workings.
Fur1hermore it is taxpayer money that ls paying an out of the area !ega! firm to keep the
truth from us. Jason B. had said that the Council had not meant for the firm to be so
secretive but nothing has changed because that is the approach that Jason S. and Sue
Paul seem to be wed to. There actually seems to be a mental health issue here.

2)The arrest of Steve M. more than a year ago should have been resolved before.
Again the taxpayer is paying double salaries for IT as well as for the apparentfy
unsuccessful investigation of Steve's work. Much wasted money here, as wei! as a
very delinquent and poorly handled result, or lack of result Jason Burnett had
announced that the result would be forthcoming in Jan., 2014!!

3)Employees and !oss of history in the work force.The choice of staff has not been in
Carmel's interest First JS and Sue Paul accused and I or fired most of the employees
with important historical knowledge. Those who were not fired have left, presumably
because of unpleasant work conditions, ie. Heidi and Cindy and the brand new city
clerk, who had been a valued employee at Monterey.
The worst new hire has been Sue Paul, who came with a record of firing workers, one of
whom successfully sued, receiving $400,000 against her. Now we have 2 Cam1el
workers who have initiated suits and 2 more are very possible, The work atmosphere
;ls reported to be suspicious and tense.
2 of the main hires still live in So. CaL thus have not become part of the community.
Few , if any of the hires have a history with CarmeL Although the head Planning
Commissioner from another Monterey County town, who also lives in Carmel after just
building a home ;here, applied for our Planning job, he was not even interviewed.
Instead JS hired a much less experienced person from So. Cal who had no special
knowledge of CarmeL

4)Finances. JS has said that there is too little money to work on Forest Theater and do
a repair at Sunset, both very important to our enjoyment, as weB as the local economy,
he is spending $900.000 on the 2 stall bathroom at the beach, hundreds of thousands
on attorneys although he seldom uses our municipal attorney, The budget has risen
reportedly to $24 m.ii!ion from about $14 million 2 years ago_

The main point to me is that the large money being spent is not what is good for Carme!
and us residents, but what the 2 Jasons want or need because of their bad judgment
(attorneys) and lack of real understanding and feeling for our culture.

5)Forest theateL At the very weH attended workshop on Forest Theater, EVERYONE
said that they wanted to 2 main safety items to be repaired so that the summer program
could contlnue .. There was an electrical issue that PG&E indicated they could fix by
doing something temporary. We all !eft: the meeting with Jason Burnett saying these
would be handled right away. So far, it appears that nothing has been accomplished.