Irwindale city manager on the outs

Almost a year ago to the day, Irwindale City Manager Robert Griego confirmed he could be leaving his job to take a city administrator position in Woodburn, Ore.

But Griego never left.

Now, city officials say he’s retiring. And the City Council is hosting a closed session meeting Monday at Irwindale City Hall, to discuss “public employee appointment … Title: City Manager.”

Council members are being pretty tight-lipped about the whole thing, saying they are not at liberty to discuss the matter because it is a closed session item.

But Mayor Larry Burrola did say this was not something he anticipated. He said he would be able to comment more freely after Monday’s meeting.

“We are going to have to discuss some issues … Obviously (Griego) wants to retire and he’s at that age to retire. We’re not in the position to fire him.”

Burrola would not elaborate further.

Baldwin Park election candidates dropping like flies

Two candidates in the Baldwin Park November municipal election have been disqualified because of election code violations.

Local businessman Greg Tuttle, who was running for mayor, and Victor Macias, who was running for the council, both had their filing forms rejected today because they were not registered voters in Baldwin Park at the time they pulled their nomination forms, according to Deputy City Clerk Laura Nieto.

Tuttle, who owns Tuttle’s Parts Exchange on Ramona Boulevard, said he recently moved to Baldwin Park from Pomona just to run for mayor. But he filed update voter registration affidavit two days after pulling papers for the open seat.

Anyway, Tuttle said, he didn’t think he “had a chance in Hell” to win. Instead, he’ll now be backing Pacheco in his run against incumbent, Mayor Manuel Lozano.

Tuttle also says he’ll be moving back to Pomona now ….

Dollars and cents

Curious about how much your city will lose under the new state budget?

Check out this database that the Sacramento Bee compiled. It estimates how much cities and redevelopment agencies stand to lose under the state’s plan to borrow money from cities and counties.

So far as I can tell, it includes pretty much every municipality in the San Gabriel Valley, and the state.

The costly stadium fight

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It’s not easy fighting billionaire developer Ed Roski.

And apparently, it isn’t cheap either.

Reporter James Wagner had a story in today’s paper about the price tag of Walnut’s legal fight against a proposed National Football League stadium in neighboring Industry.

The tab was already at $320,000 since September. That was until Wednesday, when the City Council approved setting aside another $150,000 for additional legal fees.

That brings the total to $470,000.

Councilman Joaquin Lim told Wagner the “expenses are very well justified,” especially when you compare it to how much the city stands to lose in the future if the stadium is approved.

Not everyone agrees, however. Some residents argue the city is wasting taxpayer money on a losing battle.

Dyers make an appearance in court

Joseph Dyer and his wife were in court today in connection with an embezzlement case involving the city of La Puente.

Dyer, 53, was indicted last month on charges of grand theft, embezzlement, crimes by a public officer and five counts of filing false tax returns.

He is accused of stealing $501,747.91 in tow fees from La Puente between 2001 to 2007

Dyer’s wife, Lydia, was also indicted on five counts of filing false tax returns, based on allegations she knew about the false money but failed to report on their joint tax returns.

The couple went before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Wesley for a pre-trial conference. They were ordered to return to court on Oct. 19 to set a trial date.

Both were present with their attorneys. Alan Baum is representing Joseph Dyer and Mark Waecker is representing Lydia Dyer.

Both Dyers declined to comment.

Their attorneys didn’t say much either — they seemed like they were in a hurry to get copies of the grand jury transcripts from the 13th floor of the courthouse. That being said, if they did in fact pick up those copies today, the transcripts will be available to the public in 10 days.

Rio Hondo trustee to run for El Monte mayor

You’ll probably all be seeing a lot more of these kinds of posts with election season for local cities drawing close:

Rio Hondo College trustee Andre Quintero has announced he will not seek another four-year term this fall to the five-person governing board.

Instead, Quintero says, he will run for mayor of El Monte.

 

Baldwin Park election forms filed

The November election filing period in Baldwin Park has closed and the names are in.

Incumbent Mayor Manuel Lozano will be running against Councilman Ricard Pacheco and local businessman and gadfly Greg Tuttle for the mayor’s seat.

Incumbents Marlen Garcia and Anthony Bejarano will also be facing off with some new faces for two open council seats. Among their competitors are Cruz Baca Sembello and City Clerk Susan Rubio.

Take a look at the entire candidate filing here:

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The mayor’s race should be an interesting one with Pacheco — who has long been on the outskirts of the Council — going up against this colleague. Also, Tuttle’s presence should mix things up, considering that he’s been threatening to “clean house” for months.

The only thing that’s still unclear is exactly where Tuttle is living. He used to be a Pomona resident and his filing address on his nomination forms link to his business. But he’s said in the past he would be moving to Baldwin Park … All members of the council must be Baldwin Park residents.

As a side note, the filing period of City Clerk has been extended through Wednesday, 5 p.m.

Speaking of La Puente …

Now retired Industry Sheriff’s Sgt. Joseph Dyer is due in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday for a pre-trial conference.

Dyer is accused of embezzling $500,000 in towing fees from the city of La Puente over the course of several years. He was indicted in July on charges of grand theft, embezzlement, crimes by a public officer and five counts of filing false tax returns.

Also charged in the same indictment was Dyer’s wife, Lydia, on five counts of filing false tax returns based on allegations she knew about the alleged stolen money and didn’t claim it.

Lydia Dyer will also be in court on Tuesday. The hearing is supposed to be pretty bland – setting dates and such, according to the Dyers’ attorney.

But it’ll be our first opportunity at meeting couple – all other attempts, including visits to their Chino home, have been unsuccessful.

Hernandez off the hook in Lujan investigation

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Looks like the District Attorney’s Office isn’t going to need Assemblyman Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, in their case against La Puente Mayor Louie Lujan.

Hernandez’s staff was contacted about two weeks ago about setting up a tentative meeting between him and the District Attorney’s office. The meeting had to do with a Dec. 4 campaign fundraiser Hernandez attended in Lujan’s honor.

The fundraiser is now the focal point of a campaign finance violation case against Lujan, in which Lujan is accused of collecting donations but not reporting them. Lujan has said that there were errors in his campaign finance forms, that he has since reformed.

Hernandez said his staff initially set the meeting for Aug. 3, a day before former water board member Leon Garcia was supposed to testify in front of a grand jury in the same case.

But shortly after setting the date, Hernandez said the DA’s office called back and said they didn’t need him anymore.

I put in a few calls to Garcia last week to follow up on his subpoena before the grand jury, but haven’t yet heard back.

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