Fillmore council ready for questions at Tuesday's town hall meeting

Fillmore residents can air their views and ask questions of the city's elected leaders and staff at a town hall that is part of tonight's regularly scheduled City Council meeting.

Tonight's session comes as the city faces a projected $1.4 million budget shortfall in the next fiscal year and as it works to dissolve the Fillmore Redevelopment Agency in accordance with a new law aimed at stemming California's own budget woes.

The city has cut its budget by $2.9 million over two years, resulting in police and staff reductions and pay and benefit cuts for remaining employees.

The idea of a town hall meeting was first proposed by Councilman Brian Sipes during the 2010 campaign.

Sipes, who did not return calls seeking additional comment, had hoped residents would be able to make comments, ask questions and receive responses from council members on any topic. Concerns over potential open-meetings law violations prompted a narrowing of the format, however.

"He wanted to bring the community into City Hall and have a more open, transparent, collaborative community involvement," Mayor Gayle Washburn said of Sipes' idea. "I think the thought was this could be modeled on a New England-style town hall, which I was totally in support of. Then we learned you can't do that in California."

California's Brown Act requires any matter discussed or acted upon by a city council quorum to be noticed in advance in a published meeting agenda.

As a result, topics for the council will be limited to city finances and the budget, attracting businesses to boost economic development, the state economic outlook, flood control measures and the city's participation in the county's Reverse 911 emergency notification system.

City staff members, however, can respond to inquiries on any subject raised, Councilman Steve Conaway said.

The council will take up measures involving the dissolution of the Fillmore Redevelopment Agency.

The meeting is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. with a closed session on litigation with former Fire Department Chief Peter Egedi, who has taken legal action against Fillmore. Egedi was terminated in 2008 amid allegations he misappropriated department funds. He is scheduled to have an administrative hearing over his termination and possible reinstatement in May, according to Washburn.

A criminal case against Egedi, who also filed a wrongful termination suit against the city, was dropped last year due to insufficient evidence.

The open session starts at 6:30 p.m. Another closed session will take place at the end of the meeting, when the council will discuss the performance evaluation of City Attorney Ted Schneider.