Silverstein, Uhring Call For Independent Investigation Committee

MALIBU, CA — Newly-elected Councilmembers Bruce Silverstein and Steve Uhring have co-sponsored an omnibus proposal that aims to expand the City Council's abilities to investigate city government and increase public transparency.

A 54-page proposal, submitted Tuesday for review at the Jan. 11 Council meeting, calls for “inspection and information rights," scheduling a semi-annual review of City Manager Reva Feldman, and creating an independent subcommittee to investigate corruption allegations from former Councilmember Jefferson Wagner.

The proposal's first section includes a number of proposals designed to improve transparency and ethics. Among other provisions, it would require that any information related to city business provided to one or more councilmembers be provided to all councilmembers and the public, all at the same time, except for rare exceptions, and all interactions, even face-to-face ones, be recorded and transcribed.

It would also ban private communications between the City Attorney and any member of city staff, unless it is in writing and shared with all other councilmembers, and strengthen the ability of councilmembers and the public to obtain city documents.

The proposal would establish an "Agenda Subcommittee", comprised of the mayor and another councilmember elected in the last general election, that would need to approve any agenda item. The proposal also calls for a host of reforms to Council meetings, including more time for residents with dissenting views to speak, and opportunities for residents to comment on councilmember comments.

The proposal also takes issue with City Manager Feldman's closed door performance evaluation sessions, many of which resulted in “no reportable action,” according to the City Attorney, and a subsequent salary increase. The proposal suggests that the City Council conduct a public vote whether to conduct a semi-annual review in public, with opportunities for public comment.

Arguably the centerpiece of the proposal, however, is the request to form an independent commission dedicated to investigating claims of corruption. The proposal argues that the city’s response to the Woolsey Fire was not adequately investigated, because a proposed investigation was downgraded to an “identification” of measures to improve the city’s response to the next fire. The proposal contends that this identification was not given the funds or staff needed, and pushes for an investigation by members lacking any personal or financial relationships to the accused.

A new subcommittee, presumably comprised of Silverstein and Uhring, would be vested with the subpoena powers of the City Council, and would investigate Jefferson Wagner’s Affidavit, which alleged bribery and corruption in City Hall. The proposal argues that the investigation promised by Mayor Pierson should not involve Feldman - who is implicated in the affidavit as having an indirect connection to an FBI raid on Wagner’s home - and Interim City Attorney John Cotti, whose firm Best Best & Krieger is also implicated. Former City Attorney Christi Hogin was part of the same firm, and Wagner alleges that she failed to take action when he told her he had been bribed by a vendor angling for a city contract.

“It is inarguable that there is a significant risk the putative City Attorney’s representation of the City of Malibu with respect matters involving the Wagner Affidavit will be materially limited by the putative Interim City’s Attorney’s own interests in avoiding the civil or criminal liability of a member of his law firm and/or the firm itself,” the proposal states.

The proposal also argues that law enforcement agencies are insufficient to investigate the matter, since some of the issues go beyond the statute of limitation, some may require a criminal trial with a jury, and law enforcement agencies like the District Attorney’s Office - which ordered the raid on Wagner’s home - are also implicated.

Since drafting the report, Silverstein has asked Feldman to post a statement advertising the proposal’s main bullet points and rationale on the city website, arguing that since they published a statement from the Mayor regarding Wagner’s allegations, Silverstein and Uhring should be able to post as councilmembers.

“Because you seem to believe that individual City Councilmembers have the right to speak to use the City’s website, Facebook page, and social media outlets to make personal statements that are held out as a ‘Statement of Malibu,’ I demand that you publish the following statement under my signature,” Silverstein wrote in an email to Feldman, to no response.