By  Dianne Anderson

How to handle thick tension and avoid a repeat of the January 9 mudslinging at the San Bernardino City Council session was the hot topic at last Friday’s emergency meeting called by local community advocates.

Inland Empire Concerned African American Churches and Westside Action Group

members say City Council meetings have seeped to new lows, and bogged down by slander that will result in lawsuits that the city budget can’t afford to carry.

Sixth Ward Councilman Rikke Van Johnson said all of the arguing and beat-downs are sucking vital energy and time away from city council and staff as they try to take care of the city’s day to day operations.

Worse, he’s afraid that just watching all of the rabid action at the meetings will drive away any potential job- producing business that would even think of coming to San Bernardino.

“It’s a serious issue. Council members as well as the city attorney are attacking staff, department heads, publicly,” said Johnson.

One way to deal with the unethical behavior at city council meetings is to bring the city under monitoring from the Attorney General, and establish a formal code of conduct. Now, with all of the council videos online, meetings could be easily monitored.

About midway through the January 9 meeting, allegations were flying high. City Attorney Jim Penman accused one department head of not following protocol on a legal form and Councilwoman Wendy McCammack accused another department staff of not getting paperwork to her fast enough.

Basically, Johnson said they called the staff liars, and the viciousness is unacceptable.

The slanderous tone and accusations was enough for three council members to call out the FBI, the Justice Department, and the District Attorney’s office for help on a separate case of harassment against another department head last month.

Now with evidence in plain view of the online videos, Johnson and other council members worry that a lawsuit by city staff against the city would mean loss of revenue in the midst of a debilitating budget.

“That’s where the problem lies, we’re so busy dealing with the madness that we’re not taking care of the people’s business. That’s what the people need to be upset about,” he said.

The groups are trying to get the community regularly out to City Council meetings to see how they are being impacted by what goes on at City Hall.

In the weeks ahead, WAG., the pastors, and the Democratic Club will also step up efforts to get the local community ready for voter awareness. The mail-in ballots for city clerk are due February 7.

Walter Hawkins, San Bernardino Democratic Party 3rd Vice Chair, said that city problems, and what happened at the January 9 meeting are just a symptom of a greater sickness. The cure is in getting community to vote in local elections.

“The only way people in public office get away with being stupid is because they know people aren’t going to hold them with being accountable,” said Hawkins, long time member of the Westside Action Group.

From now until the Presidential Election, the Democratic Party, the pastors, NAACP and WAG will will be working with the community, with churches and local volunteers to help get voters registered, ready and informed.

“That’s the problem we have right now, we can’t blame anybody. We have to start generating block by block more interest and getting people to understand that that they’ve got a stake in what’s going on.”

To volunteer with Mr. Hawkins on Voter Registration, whawkins49@yahoo.com or call 909.889.9255.

To see City Council meetings online, http://iemediagroup.com/council_live.php