More details are emerging for what Anaheim leaders want to do to reform City Hall following the release of a city-funded independent investigation into allegations of corruption.
The City Council on Tuesday, Aug. 29, is set to schedule a priority list for what to address at council meetings throughout the end of summer and into the fall. These discussions will go over many of the same reform recommendations from the JL Group report the city had commissioned.
The proposed calendar from Mayor Ashleigh Aitken and Councilmember Natalie Rubalcava that the council will be considering includes:
- Sept. 12 – Lobbying policy
- Sept. 26 – IT electronics and ticket disclosure
- Oct. 10 – Creating an ethics/public affairs officer
- Oct. 17 – Whistleblower protection
- Oct. 24 – Campaign finance reform
- Nov. 7 – Partnerships with nonprofit, advocacy, business groups and the city manager’s signing authority.
Subject matter experts could lend their knowledge at these meetings, too, according to the proposal.
At the last council meeting on Aug. 15, councilmembers asked city staff to explore if it was possible to halt funding to Visit Anaheim, following the allegations that the agency may have surreptitiously diverted $1.5 million in coronavirus pandemic relief funds to an Anaheim Chamber of Commerce nonprofit in 2020.
Included on Tuesday’s agenda is an Aug. 24 letter City Attorney Robert Fabela sent to Visit Anaheim, demanding it returns $1.5 million of the $6.5 million the city gave the agency in 2020 to help with the city’s pandemic recovery efforts. Fabela asked Visit Anaheim to also halt all payments to the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce until a state audit is finished.
The California State Auditor’s website lists the Anaheim audit as having begun, with an estimated completion date of winter.
A memo from Visit Anaheim’s CEO Jay Burress sent to Anaheim’s city manager in April 2022 boasts that the Anaheim Community and Economic Recovery Plan approved in 2020,…
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