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Home My WebLink AboutSPEAKER FORMS 09-17-01 CITY OF TUSTIN SPEAKER'S FORM CITY COUNCIL AND REDEVELOPMENT .AGENCY IF YOU WISH TO SPEAK TO THE CITY COUNCIL OR REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY, PLEASE COMPLETE THIS FORM AND SUBMIT .TO THE CITY CLERK PRIOR TO SPEAKING. COMPLETION OF THIS FORM IS NOT MANDATORY, BUT IS REQUESTED SO THAT SPEAKERS' NAMES .CAN BE ACCURATELY SET FORTH IN THE MINUTES. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION. PLEASE PRINT: Name:~ Address: City: "t' u, & ~-; ~ Telephone Number: ?! ~' ~ Regarding Subject or Agenda Item No. ~J,,.~,;_ ~, <z ¢' 1: ,,a Are you speaking in favor or in opposition Name of company or group you are representing (if applicable): Date of City Council/Redevelopment Meeting: ~ / / 7 / o I to this matter? CITY OF TUSTIN SPEAKER'S FORM CITY COUNCIL AND REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY IF YOU WISH TO SPEAK TO.THE CITY COUNCIL OR REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY, PLEASE COMPLETE THIS FORM AND SUBMIT .TO THE CITY CLERK PRIOR TO SPEAKING. COMPLETION OF THIS FORM IS NOT MANDATORY, BUT IS REQUESTED SO THAT SPEAKERS' NAMES CAN BE ACCURATELY SET FORTH IN THE MINUTES. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION. PLEASE PRINT: Name:' Address: City: Telephone Number: Re~ardin~ Subject or A~enda Item No. Are you ~peakin~ in favor or in opposition Name of company or ~roup you are representin~ (if applicable): Date of Ci~ Council/Redevelopment Meeting: to this matter? CITY OF TUSTIN SPEAKER'S FORM CITY COUNCIL AND REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY IF YOU WISH TO SPEAK TO THE CITY COUNCIL OR REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY, PLEASE COMPLETE THIS FORM AND SUBMIT .TO THE CITY CLERK PRIOR TO SPEAKING. COMPLETION OF THIS FORM IS NOT MANDATORY, BUT IS REQUESTED SO THAT SPEAKERS' NAMES .CAN BE ACCURATELY SET FORTH IN THE MINUTES. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION. PLEASE PRINT: Address: , city: .'t.,,z Telephone Number: Regarding Subject or Agenda Item No. ~'---- Are you speaking in favor or in opposition Name of company or group you are representing (if applicable): to this matter?. Date of City Council/Redevelopment Meeting: Winc ow on the Wes By Kurt Repanshek Photograph by Douglas Merriam 0NE-0F-A-KIND "I'm sure they all thought I was mad," Fred C. Adams says. He's recalling the day, 40 years ago, when he tded to convince the city fathers of Cedar City that a Shakespeare festival would give tourists a reason to finger in this southwestern Utah town. The initial response was not en- couraging: 'q'he idea went over like a pregnant pole vaulter." Fortunately for Cedar City, the Bard himself might have been describing Adams when he wrote, in Coriolanus, 'Action is eloquence." Adams persevered. The first year's performances were conducted on a makeshift stage on a lawn and drew just 3,276 ~ectators. WESTERNERS , Beehive State Bard Today, it takes three theaters-an outdoor replica of a Tudor playhouse and two indoor venues-to seat all the playgoers who flock to the Utah Shakespearean Festival. The festival generates some $22 .mgti~u f~r the Cedar City area each year. In 2000, Adams and his troupe garnered a coveted Tony Award for America's Outstanding Regional Theatre. "When the call came through, I thought they were joking,'* says Adams. "The first thing I said was, Are you sure you have the fight theater?."' The festival's performance season runs June 21 through October 20. (800) 752-9849 or www. bard. org. # EDMOND M. CONNOR LAURA LEE BLAKE CRAIG L. GRIirVIN DAVID J. HESSELTINE MATTHEW J. FLETCHER CtJNNOR, BLAKE & GRIFFIN LLP ATTORNEYS AT LAW 2600 MICHELSON DRIVE SUITE 1450 mVrNE, CALIFORNtA 92612 TELEPHONE (949) 622-2600 TELEF^CSlM1LE (949) 622-2626 E-MAIL: econnor~businesslit.com September 17, 2001 Mayor Tracy Worley Mayor Pro Tem Jeffery Thomas Councilmember Mike Doyle Councilmember Tony Kawashima Councilmember Lou Bone City of Tustin 300 Centennial Way Tustin, California 92780 VIA HAND DELIVERY Re'. Santa Aha Unified School District, et al. v. City of Tustin, et al. (U.S. District Court Case No. 01-3426 WJR (CTx)) Dear Mayor and Councilmembers: We are the attorneys for the plaintiffs in the above-referenced action now pending in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles (the "Action"), and we understand that Item No. 5 on the Consent Calendar for tonight's meeting of the Tustin City Council involves the proposed adoption of a new record retention and disposal policy for the City of Tustin (the "City"). The draft Resolution to be adopted by the City is based on a 41-page "Record Retention/Disposition Schedule," and, since we just obtained a copy of that document earlier today, we are still in the process of reviewing that Schedule to ascertain what documents the City intends to dispose of once the Schedule is approved. Hopefully, the City has not already destroyed, and is not planning on destroying, any documents which are relevant to the subject matter of the Action, i.e., any written materials, e-mails, or other electronically stored data which relate or refer in any way to the disposal or reuse of all or any portion of the Marine Corps Air Station at Tustin, California ("MCAS-Tustin"), including any related federal, state, or local administrative, legislative, or judicial proceedings or activities occurring at any time during the subject time period from January 1990 to the present. RSCCD/MCAS-LandTransf/Corresp/Worley.Doc September 17, 2001 Page 2 ONNOR, BLAKE & GRIFFIN L Such documents would include, but would not be limited to, the records and files maintained--either at the City or at any private location, such as a home or office--by any councilmembers, commissioners, employees, attorneys, or other agents or representatives of the City regarding any fact, matter, or issue pertaining to the disposal of surplus land at, or the redevelopment of any portion of, MCAS-Tustin, including the efforts of the Santa Ana Unified School District and the Rancho Santiago Community College District to obtain land for use as school sites at the former base. Under federal law, the City and its officers, employees, and agents are legally obligated to preserve all documents and materials they know, or reasonably should know, (1) are relevant to the Action, or to any potential litigation (such as any lawsuits relating to AB 212, for example); (2) are reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence; or (3) are reasonably likely to be requested during discovery in the Action. See, e.g., Thompson Co. v. General Nutrition Corporation, Inc., 593 F.Supp. 1443, 1455 (C.D. Cal. 1984). See, also, Kronisch v. United States, 150 F.3d 112, 126 (2nd. Cir 1998); Winters v. Textron, Inc., 187 FRD 518,520 (M.D. Pa. 1999). Any violation of this duty can result in sanctions against the City, including (a) evidence exclusion or a jury instruction permitting a negative inference to be drawn from the destruction or spoliation of evidence or (b) striking the City's Answer and permitting the entry of a default judgment against the City. See, e.g., Thompson, supra, 593 F.Supp. at 1456; Unigard Security Insurance Co. v. Lakewood Engineering & Manufacturing Corp., 982 F.2d 363,368-69 (9th Cir. 1992); Glover v. Bic Corp., 6 F.3d 1318, 1329 (9th Cir. 1993). Indeed, if our clients are prejudiced by any destruction or spoliation of evidence by the City, sanctions may be imposed against the City, regardless of whether the destruction or spoliation was intentional or negligent. See, e.g., Trull v. Folkswagon of America, Inc., 187 F.3d 88, 95 (lst Cir. 1999). In addition to the dictates of federal law, section 135 of the California Penal Code makes it a crime to destroy or conceal any documents or materials "... to be produced in evidence upon any trial, inquiry, or investigation .... "Of course, we do not mean to imply that the anyone associated with the City would knowingly destroy evidence which was relevant to the pending Action or to any potential lawsuits relating to AB 212, but we thought that it would be prudent for the City Council and the City Attorney to instruct all City staff members and commissioners that they should not discard, destroy or dispose of any documents or materials which could possibly be relevant to such litigation, notwithstanding the adoption of the proposed Schedule to authorize the destruction of certain City records. RSCCD/MCAS-LandTransf/Corresp/Worley.Doc September 17, 2001 Page 3 ONNOR, BLAKE & GRIFFIN L Thank you for your consideration of our request that the City take special care to ensure that all documents and materials which are in any way relevant to the claims asserted by our clients in the Action or to other potential litigation are preserved and not destroyed. Very truly yours, cc: Lois E. Jeffrey, Esq. Daniel K. Spradlin, Esq. Craig G. Farrington, Esq. M. Lois Bobak, Esq. Gregory E. Simonian, Esq. Bradley R. Hogin, Esq. Magdalena Lona-Wiant, Esq. RSCCD/MCAS-LandTransf/Corresp/Worley.Doc