Editor,
I really want to thank the Free Lance for exposing the manner in which the SJB City Manager, Jan McClintock, along with Priscilla Hill (current acting mayor) and Councilman George Dias failed to notify the public or the other council members of the termination of the Economic Development Administration grant for $3.8 million in a timely manner.
Believe me, this is not the first time Hill and other council members kept other city elected officials in the dark. Well, this happened to me in 2005-06.
Remember that secret trip to Seattle by Hill and another city council member along with Mark Davis (grant/project consultant since 1999 at $6,000-plus a month) back in 2005.
These individuals took a trip to see the EDA in Seattle without the prior approval of the City Council and without being requested by the EDA. They just went up there at taxpayers’ expense.
As noted in the Free Lance in 2005, only certain council members knew about this secret trip. Guess what? Hill was also involved in that fiasco. Do you see a pattern?
After months of Brown Act violation finger-pointing in 2005-06, SJB officials did a “do over” council meeting to clean up this mess.
Having read the comments made by the McClintock and council members Dias and Paradice, it shows the sneaky behavior that causes the citizens to lose faith in their government. I wonder if appointed council members Ed Laverone and Rick Edge will challenge Pricilla Hill and George Dias on their actions. We’ll see!
Chuck Geiger, San Juan Bautista,
former councilman
