Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/leon-page/)
OC officials may have found a way to continue to immediately destroy many public records of their government communications, despite a court ruling that it’s probably illegal to do so.
Orange County officials likely are breaking the law with a policy allowing immediate destruction of public records and another rule banning public commenters from asking questions of county supervisors or addressing supervisors by name unless they have permission, a Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday.
Residents, some with signs that read “STOP JWA Noise and Pollution,” packed the supervisors’ hearing room and overflow room and at times shouted their opposition to board actions.
The program faces staunch opposition from the county and the four cities where the state authorized it to operate. A court hearing on whether to block it could come later this month or next month.
“The public gets very suspect, and sometimes rightfully so, that…the board is formulating policy behind closed doors,” said Supervisor Todd Spitzer.
The hearing is in response to the closure of armory shelters, which pushed over 200 homeless people into local communities where it’s illegal to camp in public.
An appeals court blocked the Esperanza Hills project because supervisors approved it without minimum evacuation standards.
Do’s mailers to voters in his district later prompted the state Legislature to ban local governments from sending out government-funded mailers featuring elected officials within 60 days of an election.
Orange County supervisors were planning to privately discuss Tuesday whether to explore using county-owned land for a veterans cemetery, but changed their agenda after Voice of OC questioned its legality.
The judge, David O. Carter, pointed to Santa Ana and Anaheim residents and businesses who, he said, are grappling with hundreds of homeless people who formerly lived at the Santa Ana riverbed but now are in their cities due to a shelter shortage.