Costa Mesa City Council, under the leadership of Mayor Pro-Tem Jim Righeimer, is scheduled to give 250 employees lay off notices tomorrow night so their jobs can be outsourced at will. Tomorrow night's action is a long-standing goal of Righeimer, who was one of the authors of Prop 226, which would have severely restricted the ability of labor unions to collect political contributions from their members. Righeimer also helped found the Education Alliance, an anti-public education group which has controlled Capistrano Unified, Orange Unified and the Orange County Board of Education at various times. Righeimer is also on the board of the Family Action PAC.
Download Agenda2011-03-01 Agenda for March 1 City Council Meeting
Download CCStaffRpt-OutsourcingCitySvcs_3-1-11 Staff Report on Outsourcing of City Services
The plan to lay off almost all the city employees as fast as possible was initially rejected by now-leaving City Attorney Kimberly Hall Barlow. There is speculation about why Barlow is suddenly leaving and what is happening at Costa Mesa City Hall. See A Bubbling Cauldron for the stories.
Like Scott Walker in Wisconsin, Righeimer and crew are using the budget as a reason to bust the union. Here is the budget briefing given at the February 8, 2011 meeting. Download 2011_MidYrBudgetReview Go to the page that is titled "12 Year Historical - Revenues vs. Expenditures." Expenditures have been higher than revenues since FY 07-08 and Costa Mesa needs to fix the problem this week by firing every city employee? When Allan Mansoor was Mayor, there was never a problem spending more than what Costa Mesa took in. This problem started under Mansoor and was caused by his failure of leadership during a budget crisis. Mansoor was concerned about locking up allegedly undocumented workers and forcing businesses relocating to Costa Mesa to change their names before they could open up shop.
What to do: Go to the City Council meeting tomorrow night at 6 PM, 77 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa, CA. Get their early, there may be a crowd. Get a card and speak about Item 4 - Outsourcing of City Services under New Business. Let Righeimer and company know you are watching them and know exactly what they are up to. And be ready to help out the workers and residents any way you can.
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