The city of Chula Vista has agreed to not use the same appointment process that seated Councilman Steve Miesen to fill any vacancies on the City Council or Planning Commission without a 30-day notice or until a lawsuit is resolved.
In exchange, Chula Vista Board of Ethics Chairman Chris Shilling, who filed a lawsuit against the city for alleged Brown Act violations in the appointment of Miesen, drops a preliminary injunction that could have prevented Miesen from casting any tie-breaking votes and being included in a quorum.
A hearing for the preliminary injunction was to be held on June 26.
“It was a compromise,” said Shilling’s attorney Livia Borak. “The main thing we wanted was to have the city not use this process again.”
As part of the agreement, both parties issued a joint statement to the media that read in part:
“On May 12 the parties agreed to avoid the expense and risk of briefing and arguing the request for preliminary injunction. Plaintiffs agreed not to seek the preliminary injunction. In exchange, the city agreed not to appoint another individual to a city position by the process used to appoint Council member Steve Miesen unless the city gives plaintiffs notice and an opportunity to renew their request for an injunction. By making the agreement, no party made any concession as to claims or defenses by any other party.”
The city maintains its position that the process used in appointing Miesen was lawful.
Shilling and San Diegans for Open Government, a nonprofit public interest organization which joined Shilling in the lawsuit, contend that council members violated the Brown Act by holding a serial meeting with the city clerk when council members and the mayor sent a list of candidates they wanted for an interview to the city clerk.
They also contend that the city violated the state’s open meetings law by holding “secret votes” in moving the eight candidates to the interview rounds.
Miesen was one of 44 applicants who applied for the appointment; he then became one of eight finalists for the vacant seat.
Shilling threatened to sue the city on Jan. 21 with a demand letter asking the city to release each council members’ and the mayor’s picks for an interview. The letter also asked the city to cure and correct the process or risk being sued. The city released the list of names but did not cure and correct the process.
The letter came after the city denied a records request that had asked for the mayor’s and council members’ nominations for interview.
The City Council appointed Miesen to fill the seat vacated by Mary Casillas Salas, who was elected the city’s first Latina mayor last November.
Coast Law Group filed the injunction after a judge denied a temporary restraining order against Miesen last month.
The agreement, however, isn’t a global settlement as the case is still ongoing.
“The bigger issue if whether council member Miesen should or should not be a council member will resolve that through litigation,” Borak said.
Attorneys for the city filed a demurrer and motion to strike to try to get case thrown out of court.
Charles Bird, outside counsel for the city of Chula Vista, declined to comment beyond the joint statement and said that he “isn’t a spokesman for the city.”
Court papers ask the judge to strike “all allegations related to unseating Council member Steve Miesen and claims for relief related to unseating Miesen from plaintiffs’ complaint.”
Shilling said the city’s demurrer doesn’t hold any weight.
“These are just further attempts by the city to aggressively attack me and distract from the real issue, which is that they voted in secret, behind closed doors,” Shilling said. “Now they are willing to spend tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to defend their illegal process when that money could be spent on so many important things that actually provide a benefit to the public. They should be looking for ways to make government more open and transparent, not writing a blank check to high priced attorneys in a fight to keep the public out.”
Miesen did not return phone calls seeking comment for this story.
