Update: Village Merchant Alleges PBID, City Violations of State’s Brown Act

Updated at 9:55 p.m. Jan. 9, 2012

Nine months after first accusing the downtown PBID Steering Committee and City Hall of Brown Act violations, downtown grocer Bill Jaynes has sent a promised letter to the city attorney detailing his concerns.

“I believe that the only way to cure the numerous violations I have so far discovered and detailed is to begin the process anew,” Jaynes wrote.

His 1,560-word letter (attached) to City Attorney Glenn Sabine and shared with La Mesa Patch is dated Jan. 9 and begins:

I have been asked to relay my concerns to you regarding what I believe to be substantial Brown Act violations that jeopardize the finality of actions taken by the PBID Steering Committee (commonly known; henceforth “SC”), PBID Formation Committee (commonly known; henceforth “FC”), and any future affirmative vote by the La Mesa City Council to certify the so-called PBID.

He cites eight issues or incidents, and concluded: “I demand that the La Mesa City Council, or appropriate sub-unit thereof, cure and correct the illegally taken actions” by a number of moves including: “Invalidate any and all actions taken by” either PBID committee.

Last week, Jaynes has sent City Hall a wide-ranking request for documents, email and other records related to the downtown PBID effort, which he opposes.

In a three-page letter dated Jan. 3 (attached), Jaynes asked City Clerk Mary Kennedy for information related to the property-based business improvement district, its steering and formation committees, city-hired consultant Ed Henning and “logs of official email accounts of [Mayor] Art Madrid, [City Manager] Dave Witt [and city planners] Bill Chopyk and Chris Gonzales” from Jan. 1, 2007, to present.

In a brief exchange of email, Jaynes said he was seeking records to document “Brown Act violations and collusion.”

Jaynes, owner of All Things Bright and British on La Mesa Boulevard, cited the California Public Records Act in his request, which also seeks audio and video recordings of Parking Commission meetings for the past four years.

“I ask that you notify me of any duplication costs exceeding $300,” Jaynes wrote Kennedy, noting that a copy of the letter had been sent to city attorney Glenn Sabine.

At several City Council meetings, Jaynes has criticized the PBID committees and City Hall and accused them of violating the state open-meetings law, called the Brown Act.

On Dec. 30, Jaynes posted a comment on La Mesa Patch:

I've stated several times that I believe this PBID process has been corrupted by Brown Act violations, that no serious effort was made to include ALL stakeholders, and that most of the important decisions were made prior to the public unveiling on January 13 of this year when Parking Commissioner [Jim] Wieboldt told us if we didn’t like what was going on, we were all welcome to ‘move nine miles east.’

In mid-April, Bill Jaynes Jaynes told the council that the PBID Steering Committee didn’t keep minutes of early meetings and even turned away a local businesswoman from attending later public gatherings.

City Attorney Sabine, when asked about possible Brown Act issues, told the council: “I’ve heard this before, but we haven’t looked at details.”

Councilman Dave Allan pressed Sabine to commit to a review of the early PBID meetings, saying: “These are pretty heavy accusations. If this city is in violation, we need to look at that.”

Allan—a member of the council’s PBID subcommittee along with Madrid—said he hadn’t attended any of its meetings.

At the April 12 council meeting, Madrid said: “The allegations of [Brown Act violations] are serious allegations, serious allegations.”

Sabine said he would look into the Brown Act questions and report back at its next meeting April 26, if Jaynes provided specific examples of violations—beyond the assertions on minutes and turning away a businesswoman.