. City Issues Official Response to Grand Jury

.

UPDATED  7/6/10 – The City of Banning has now filed their official response to the Grand Jury report . The response cover letter (view) states clearly that the City has no intention following the Grand Jury’s recommendations.

In particular, the City indicates that they do NOT concur with the Grand Jury’s finding that the Banning Cultural Alliance has to return $ 162,000.00 to the taxpayer. The same response is provided in regards to the “cease and desist” recommendation which the City indicates they will NOT comply with .

.

CHAIRMAN DON ROBINSON AVOIDS SIGNING THE RESPONSE LETTER

It is noteworthy that the response is signed by City Manager Andrew Takata , not the Chairman of the Banning Redevelopment

Agency, Don Robinson, whose City Agency is  the subject of the Grand Jury probe ; one would think the issue would be important enough for the Chairman, Don Robinson, to step up to the plate and personally sign the response.

But this was not the case.  You may ask : why ?  The answer is simple : the Banning Redevelopment Agency is headed by a Chairman who – according to public record – owes back  property taxes going back all the way to 2005 ( see previous story) . This makes Don Robinson the only elected official in the entire City of Banning who is delinquent on his taxes.

Robinson , being the taxdodger that he is , apparently did not have the guts to sign the document himself ; after all, the agency’s response –  in essence –   paves the way for giving away about $ 300,000 of our tax dollars *, while at the same time Robinson owes somewhere around $ 23,000 in property taxes to the taxpaying community. It seems Robinson did not want for the public to connect those dots.

(* approximately $ 300,000  to the Cultural Alliance are being immediately affected by this response letter : $ 162,000 + interest for 3 years + the recently awarded $ 111,500 for the Alliance) .

Conclusion : Robinson is a coward for hiding behind City staff and for using the City manager to sign the response for him.

.

NOTE: The entire City Response (122 pages)  is available for download here. The City’s position, however, can be easily ascertained by just reading the 2 page cover letter (view).  For the Grand Jury report click here .

.

.

original article by Lyndon Taylor :

It’s official : four Council members defy the Grand Jury

.

5/13/10 – Arrogance, a lack of interest in the welfare of the city, self- serving decision-making, and a lack of stewardship for the financial interests of the city seems to be the hallmark of the Banning City Council. The most recent example of this is the City Council’s decision, cloaked behind the CRA agenda to ignore the recommendations of the recent Grand Jury Report ( click here to view ) and essentially thumb their collective noses at both the Riverside Grand Jury and the citizens of Banning. This is both an insult to the Grand Jury process and an insult to Banning. Understand clearly that the recommendations of the Grand Jury were carefully thought out, carefully researched and in the context of the operations of other similar governmental units.

.

ON 5/11/10 THESE FOUR CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS VOTED TO IGNORE THE GRAND JURY’S RECOMMENDATIONS :

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

By ignoring these recommendations the Council will continue to funnel taxpayer dollars to the Banning Cultural Alliance who will then squander the funds in any way they see fit, without controls and without the oversight of the people!

The Council is also making it clear that they may continue to purchase property without the benefit of a prior appraisal. This is a disastrous way to do business and holds the potential for wasting hundreds of thousands of tax dollars. It also demonstrates the lack of business skills possessed by the Council.

A third response by the City Council to the Grand Jury’s recommendations is to not require the Cultural Alliance to return the $162,000 ( plus interest) in money paid by the city to the Alliance and never rewarded by the Alliance’s service to Banning. One can only wonder where that money went or who might have been enriched by those taxpayer funds!

Citizens of Banning: In an era of tight City budgets, potential layoffs of police personnel, potential closure of the 3 year old,  million dollar municipal pool, the Community Center and the Senior Center because the Council has spent like crazy for the past several years and now have to take drastic measures, and even the closure of our Animal Shelter, can you support a run-away irresponsible Council such as this? The time is right to again fill the Council chamber and voice you concerns and displeasure with Council actions.

The action to totally ignore the recommendations of the Grand Jury by Botts, Hanna, Machisic and Robinson is reprehensible and should give the people in our city cause to question their fitness for public service. These actions should be dealt with now and remembered in the fall elections.