DEBBIE FLOWERS, San Clemente
I find it quite troubling and concerning as to why certain councilmembers are so adamant in constantly trying to remove Laura Ferguson’s Mayor Pro Tem title.
A majority of the councilmembers have been dragging their feet, taking a wait-and-see approach. This has led to many council votes being 2-2 or 3-1, with Laura being the single no vote.
Ferguson has advocated for the reopening of the state’s economy throughout the governor’s stay-at-home order.
Ferguson has publicly stated that her emails requesting information have been ignored not only by the two interim city managers but also by city staff and city attorney. She has questioned their actions on numerous occasions as to violating certain laws.
This behavior is inappropriate, especially since she is an elected official trying to get information so that policy could be set. It appears that she is the only one reading the agenda reports, asking questions of staff and the city manager, who often are unable to provide her with the information in a timely manner. What they are trying to hide?
When she discovered that the sand in the skate park and the fencing at the pier bowl were the decision of the then-interim City Manager Bob Dunek, he refused to remove it. He threw it on council to decide, when it was never a council action in the first place. This dissension between council and residents almost lost us our sheriff’s services.
She has asked Assistant City Manager/interim City Manager Erik Sund for months to move the council meetings to the community center so that the public could participate. How difficult can it be to set up the community center with that technology?
It would appear as though Councilmembers Chris Hamm and Kathy Ward choose to not enable their video except for when they want to berate Laura while she tries to get our city moving. I don’t think they would be doing this if the public was present.
Laura Ferguson is a leader who continues to work for the city’s residents with class in spite of all the apparent harassment and belittling from city management and members of council. She ran as a reformer. She, unlike anyone else on council, knows what changes need to be made because of her 18-plus years working for the city.
