Neighbors protecting neighbors in the Hercules Waterfront.
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Wow, it’s good to finally hear Long’s take on this mess, and awfully damning of Balico’s special interests.
Sign me up for the recall!
Contact Anton Yungherr at HerculesRecall@aol.com. At this point, the City of Hercules is becoming an embarrassment. Recall is too slow. I think demanding the immediate resignations of Balico and Oliva and reinstatement of Long is the only Acton that will help the City at this point. However I would be really surprised if Balico resigns- he is in a state of denial.
The smell from City Hall is palatable.
Thank you Mr. Long and Ms. Hammond for having the courage to speak out.
The web of lies Is getting larger and much more serious than we ever thought possible.
We now are going to field a legal and appropriate challenge from Long but are also bleeding money.
If you thought the Bell mess was bad, brace yourself for a scandal of Herculean proportions.
I’M MAD AS HELL!!!
The City of Hercules termination letter was marked ‘Confidential’ and should not have been disclosed to the press or public. Improper handling of confidential personnel correspondence could lead to litigation.
By the way, Tom Lochner never tried to contact me by email or phone, even though his article indicates otherwise.
Mr. Kuehne, Mr. Long will probably sue the city for illegal termination so are you saying Hercules will now sue him? For what? That he publicized his illegal letter of termination? What’s your intent in bringing this up? It seems to me you want to undermine the credibility of the report. But how can you when the letters are there for us to read. Unless you or the current mayor can dispute what Mr. Long has described. Can you?
@Don Kuehne – Seriously?! You are so out of touch, it’s mind-boggling. I didn’t put you in the same league as Balico and Oliva, but I am absolutely stunned at the myopia of your comment and most certainly will advocate adding you to the recall list but would ask that you also resign to save us the headache. Rome is burning, a man has been burned at the stake and all you can do is stand up and say that this man – a man whom you’ve made into a martyr – didn’t follow proper procedures. Are you not absolutely disgusted by the information that came to light in Charlie’s letter? Can you comment on this please? What do you think of Balico and his business dealings? Are you in on any of them?
Do you get the magnitude of what’s happening here? You guys wrongfully terminated someone who was bringing years of egregious mismanagement to light so that we could proceed with fixing the problem. Then you replaced him with the problem himself. Are you hearing the tax-paying citizens at all?!
correction..it should be “letter of illegal termination” not “illegal letter of termination.”
I encourage all City of Hercules employees and anyone else who has information about any city of hercules shady dealings or mismanagement to come forth with information just as Charlie did yesterday. It’s time we shine the light on all of these dark deeds and clean them up once and for all. Thank you Lisa and Charlie for getting the ball rolling!
Mr. Kuehne,
Thank you for posting. Its good to know you are here and reading. First, how do you know it was Mr. Long who leaked the correspondence? You will have to prove that. It appears other City Staff are disgusted and the leaks may in fact, be wide-spread. Second, even if he did, what is the substance for the “wrongful termination”? So far, there is nothing showing about this. Third, does a single Council Member, operating unilaterally, have the power to direct staff without a vote of the other members of the City Council? I suspect the answer is “no” which means legally both you and Mr. Balico acted improperly at the last City Council meeting. Lastly, why on earth have you placed yourself in this position by defending Mr. Balico? Do you want to be recalled? Are you assuming there will be no Recall and if there is, it won’t work? People are angry – all over Hercules – really really angry! Don’t make assumptions! All of this could have been avoided – all of it – had the Council taken more time, more thought, and acted more prudently. Its too late now and even if you waste the tax payers dollars in a fruitless suit against Mr. Long – you will probably lose. This is our tax dollars at work – please stop the bleeding and reverse the decision, let Mr. Long work to correct the problems, get an impartial audit not connected to Mr. Long OR any of Mr. Balico’s friends and cronies, let Mr. Oliva go ASAP and let’s not waste any more money the City can ill afford to lose.
Mr. Kuhne,
P.S. – Mr. Long has every right to publish his own letter.
@Don Kuehne – So what would you have said to Lochner if you had connected? Please tell us now for all to see and show us that you have integrity and honesty. Tell us what Balico is up to from an insider’s view. I’m sure you have many stories to tell.
Kuehene, Lochner said Long didn’t respond to the Times, even yesterday.
By the way, there’s nothing illegal about the press writing about information they have, no matter where they got it. Where in God’s name do you get that thinking from? Think Watergate. The Pentagon Papers. (And now we have Wikileaks; while controversial, the hundreds or thousands of media outlets writing about the leaks aren’t breaking any laws.)
Freedom of the press, under the first amendment, is meant, in part, to allow a society to criticize its government.
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/about.aspx?item=about_firstamd
I also think you’re on shaky ground thinking anyone can sue anyone about these letters, just because they’re marked “confidental.” Long was already terminated. Why are you so upset that the truth about the use of taxpayer money is being made public?
Check out the Red Barn website. The only project they have, according to the site, is Hercules New Town Center. No wonder they are billing us for east coast car rental and pitched a fit when Mr. Long canceled their only apparent source of revenue.
http://www.theredbarnco.com/project.html
Don Kuehne, I am personally going to insist that you be on the recall list, as you have failed to defend the good citizens of this City when the truth came to light.
Once the termination letter was received and the deed done, Mr Long, in the absence of a clause in his contract preventing him from doing so, can publish the letter in any form he sees fit. This goes for his response to the miscreants in City Hall as well. If such a clause exists, enforce it, as he is going to enforce his contract.
As for “By the way, Tom Lochner never tried to contact me by email or phone, even though his article indicates otherwise.”, Tom Lochner reported the following: “The other three council members and two past council members did not immediately respond to e-mails.” No mention in the article about a phone. This is the same email system that filtered out most all emails from anyone but the chosen few. Read this blog to find out more about that and stick with the facts. Don’t put words in Tom Lochner’s mouth or articles.
I find it laughable that you are concerned about litigation involving the letters. You should be very worried about litigation involving your activities as a council member. I look forward to your earliest termination for “cause”.
Balico is the mayor again, or should we call him sir dictator, or king, or general, or should we do what is correct and recall him gone???
Mr. Kuehne, I shook your hands and looked you in the eye, a few weeks back, like a real man and asked if you can fight fairly for the people of Hercules and you said “yes.” I don’t think you are doing that right now, my friend. You’re seat in the chamber is not for the people but your colleague in the middle seat and his misdeeds! Shame on you all. It’s ok, words on the street are we won’t be tolerating this anymore. I am only one but I will take part in every effort of the citizens of Hercules, who are angry and tired of what’s going on behind closed doors in that city council, to clean all the scum that needs to be removed. Also, removing those who are involved will not be enough for me. I always loved seeing corrupt public officials go to jail especially thieves and nepotists.
Let me clarify my previous statment since it is being misinterpreted by some people. First, I do not know who released the letters to the press. Mr. Long sent his letter, with the City of Hercules letter attached, by email to the new council, outgoing council members, the city attorney, and his attorney. I assume these people were the only intended recipients of his letter. Mr. Long’s communication was for discussion by the new council in closed session on Tuesday. Confidential documents and closed session discussion of these documents are supposed to be kept confidential.
Regarding Mr. Lochner, he has both my personal email, which is not filtered, and my cell phone number. I did not find any evidence that he tried to contact me yesterday. I called him and left a message but he did not call me back.
Dear Dr. Kuehne: With the taint of scandal hanging over the city, all you are concerned about is “who leaked the letter?”
What of the allegations raised in the press, by city staff, and by Mr. Long? Have you nothing to say about that? Have you anything to say in your defense for bringing back Mr. Oliva?
Mr. Oliva? The architect of all the city’s current woes?
You best realize that any attempt to divert the topic from “why is the city going to hell” to “who leaked the letters” is bound to fail.
Wake up. YOU HAVE BECOME PART OF THE PROBLEM. You have been a poor substitute for Charleen Raines, who at least had the gumption to ask questions and vote her consicence.
When the new council members push to remove Oliva, as I hope and pray they do, I hope to see you voting with them, and not Balico.
You have one last chance to show you have a backbone.
Show us what you are made of, Dr. Kuehne.
This is not about “who leaked the letter.”
Mr. Keuhne,
I think it’s good you’re willing be take part in the discussion. Closed sessions are confidential, but the first ammendment protects the press when revealing information for the public good. The tone of your first message was slightly threatening — whoever let this out could be in big trouble. In criticizing Tom Lochner you are blaming the messenger.
Don’t you think the Hercules tax paying public deserve to know the truth about Mr. Long’s termination, and all that’s been going on at City Hall. Don’t you believe in government transparency?
Mr. Kuehne, this blog offers you an opportunity to clarify where you are coming from. Thus far the impression is you are in league with Balico. If this is wrong please do tell us – what is your position?
David Smith:
Thanks for the link to the video clip.
Very funny, with all the bad news we needed a laugh.
And it reflects the mood of the majority herculeans at this terrible time (excepting JoJo Soriano and the other defenders of the junta who have a financial stake in maintaining the status quo).
I suspect the council meeting on Tuesday might look a lot like the video you posted.
Life imitating art.
Hercules, let’s take back this town and restore honor and decency in local government.
See all of you “mad as hell” folks at the council meeting on tuesday.
@ Mr. Don Kuehne:
Don, It does not matter if Tom Lochner tried or not to contact you, nor who exposed the so called “confidential” document. I don’t see the need to spend time and energy on that. Public expressed anger after reading the chapter where M. Balico tried to not make public the state of CIty finances since it might hurt his businesses. This is where everybody should focus. I understand you can’t address that part, M. Balico might.
Hercules City Council got 2 new members and I was (naively) thinking you may join the new wind, but your communication style indicates otherwise. I respect your right to stay where you are in the “old group” and I am not saying you promote or support misdeeds or conflicts of interests. I’d like to make that very clear.
Don, you can’t ignore what’s going on in our city right now, it’s more than a wave of gossips, and I am sure you are thinking about it.
Have a nice Sunday, Gerard Boulanger
Mr. Keuhne, you just don’t get it.
The Council’s expectation of privacy/confidentiality ENDS when you send out a letter. Do you not understand that? The recipient of said correspondence can post it as they see fit. If there was something in that letter that you wanted held in confidence, you (the council) should not have put it in writing or handed it to anyone.
As for you claiming the Lochner never attempted to contact you, it really doesn’t matter because you will not come clean on the subject at hand. Perhaps Lochner emailed you at your city address to keep things purely business. Your response above suggests that your city email IS filtered. so how do you know he didn’t email you?
This situation is sad beyond words.
It’s true. Once a letter is sent to a “terminated” employee, that letter belongs to the former employee, even if it is marked “confidential.” And unless that employee signed some kind of clause agreeing not to talk publically about his or her appointment for x-number of years (or whatever), the letter isn’t bound by City Hall terms. Plus, whistle blowers are protected under the law. I call making this letter public whistle-blowing.
# Don Kuehne
I can’t speak for Tom Lochner calling or emailing you but I can speak for me. I have emailed you on a few subjects in the past and recently as well. Since my emails were to your city email address I can only assume they got filtered out like everyone else’s I have also left you voice mail messages to call me. Perhaps as a citizen I am not a high enough priority and perhaps there are to many of us trying to communicate with you for you to be able to respond to us all and that is understandable (though both Myrna de Vera and John Delgado have responded to me).
So, it is good to hear from you on this blog. At least we know where you stand on things. We can all act accordingly now.
Gerard is right. This is off-topic. Who cares who called and when? Who cares how the letter was made public – at this point this is irrelevant and there is no point to further discuss it. What is important, is if Balico told Long that to release public information regarding the City finances would personally hurt him (Balico) and if he did so, he(Long) would be fired. That’s a threat and an abuse of power. Furthermore, if that single councilmember specifically directed Mr.Long by himself without a Council vote, I do not believe that constitutes direction from the Council and I do not believe Long was bound by it. Furthermore, in not providing the information he was discovering, Mr. Long would in fact have become a part of the cover-up. As I see it, he had no choice but to act in the manner he did. I have not seen, read or heard of any defiance toward the City Council. In addition, no notice regarding his forthcoming dismissal in either closed session was provided Mr. Long if I am reading his letter correctly. . If true, that could be a due process violation. The lawyers will work this out. And finally, what if the City Council – as a body – is wrong? Remember Bell? Is it insubordination to refuse to break the law? Food for though.
What did Charlie Long do wrong, the council brought Charlie in to address five items. A complete review of the affordable housing program and solicting competive bids to run affordable housing. Review every consultant contract and determine which should be terminated or replaced. Conduct a full management audit and make recommendations how to improve operations at city hall. Evaluate all proposed projects and assign a negotiating team to speed up projects important to the community. Improve communications between city government and the Hercules community. In six weeks Charlie Long was able to accomplish all these tasks and when the audit of NEO or Affordable Housing Solutions got to close to home he was fired. In comparision to Olivia who had left the city in the dark when he took ill. Signed bad deal after bad deal. Kept the city council in the dark and also several key employees with the city. I ask who would the citizens of Hercules rather have Charlie Long, who was bring out the truth or Nelson Olivia, who had several layers of lies and bad deals for the City of Hercules.
There was a list poted here a few minutes ago… Quite a few names and entities. What of City Council member Ward, exes Valstad and Mcdonald. Have they already gotten legal representation? They sure have clammed up…
The Times article in Sunday’s paper was incredible. Apparently, Mayor Balico resents being suspected of wrongdoing, because it may impair his ability to continue his corrupt spree of favoritism…
Long’s Weekly Reports were unbearable for some obviously, and yet I bet ALL his suggestions will be sooner or later transformed into reality by our City Council, whoever might be Mayor or Council members.
Councilman Kuehne’s comments are but another cause for concern. The council has experienced and competent counsel and should use him.
The legal analysis goes like this. Step One is that the Brown Act requires open meetings except for expressly defined reasons. Step Two is that “personnel matters” are one of those reasons and the council can therefore legally discuss such things other than at an open meeting — this does not in and of itself mandate closed meetings for personnel matters. Step three however does mandate the meetings be closed unless the employee waives the confidentiality because a wide range of personnel records are made confidential by statute in California. Thus the council discussing personnel matters in private is OK; and it is true that the Council Members are barred from public disclosure of what happened BUT the employee is not. That means that Mr. Long has an absolute right to tell anybody anything he wished to disclose about the situation. It also means that since no law makes the events of a closed session confidential per se, beyond barring release of information by a council member, that anyone who becomes aware of the events may disclose them. No one violated any law by publishing Mr. Long’s letter.
Don Kuheune’s comments make it abundantly clear how misinformed and naive these council members are.
First of all Long was not bound by a confidentiality agreement.
Once he was terminated that letter was his to do with as he pleased.
There is real cause for concern when a sitting council member opts to protest this information yet not one of the three has done or said anything to censure Balico or Oliva.
I am very disappointed in Ward as she shoukd know better and should take a stand or she will be tossed out with the bath water for her part in this huge cover up.
Mr. Balico is appalling in his ignoranceof basic principles of democratic government. Government is intended to served the interests of the governed. It is not intended as an opportunity for self enrichment. If Balico actually told Mr. Long not to disclose city financial information we are entitled to know because it might hurt his personal interests he does not deserve to be in office because he does not understand the basic obligations of an office holder in a democratic government. Yes he is not the only person in history to abuse the public trust but he may be one of the dumbest if he actuallly made such transparently self serving statements. where can sign the recall petition and when.
Mr. Kuehne, the hole you have been digging for yourself just became a bit deeper because of your idiotic comments. As you have spent the last couple of years rubber stamping items on the consent calendar, it’s no wonder you have an obsession with the “Confidential” stamp on Mr. Long’s letter.