The National City City Council took no action against Councilman Jerry Cano Tuesday night stemming from his questionable conduct in failing to address five years’ worth of building code violations at his Mary Lane home.
Results of a July 24 investigative report by special counsel William P. Curley of the Lozano Smith law firm found that Cano did not violate Government Code 87100, receiving preferential treatment in avoiding to pay fees and fines for building code violations.
Despite being sent notice of violations, Cano was never issued fines or penalties. Instead, the city sent him a Recordation of Notice of Code Violations, which interferes with the ability of a homeowner to sell or refinance their home.
Curley made his conclusion without interviewing Cano, who refused to participate in the investigation.
The investigation, however, showed that by Cano remaining out of compliance for half a decade despite several notifications he did not “demonstrate ethical, fiduciary-based conduct by an elected official.”
Curley offered a variety of responses the city council could take against Cano.
One of those options, which Councilwoman Alejandra Sotelo Solis pushed for Tuesday night, was for a resolution to censure Cano.
Her effort failed as she only drummed up support from Councilwoman Mona Rios.
“There were facts that the did not address the situation after having letters from the city, five years until the news media finally brought it to all of our attention,” Rios said.
“Only then, did he comply and that was after the city attorney sent out another letter.”
Mayor Ron Morrison and Councilman Albert Mendivil voted against a resolution for censure. Because the issue surrounded Cano he recused himself from the council discussion, though he did so “under protest.”
Morrison voted against the censure for several reasons, taking issue with Curley’s report.
“I got some real problems looking at the actual facts (of the investigation),” he said.
“I’m not too sure how much investigation the investigator actually did.”
Morrison also said Cano’s code violations were not as serious as they were made out to be since there were no health and safety code violations on Cano’s home.
Morrison added that departmental records show that mostly everything Cano had had on his backyard patio had been permitted by the owner’s previous to him.
He said Cano basically did cosmetic work to his patio and the things Cano were in violation of were “pre-existing” with previous owners.
Mendivil said he stood by the investigator’s findings and said it was time to move on.
“No laws were broken, there was no violation of the government code that was investigated, as far as I’m concerned (all of this) is over.”
Other options the city council could have considered were sending the investigation the San Diego District Attorney’s office, the state’s Attorney General and the county Grand Jury as well as the state’s Fair Political Practice Commission.
