Additional Documents

CITY OF SOUTH PASADENA ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2024 AT 12:00 PM AMEDEE O. "DICK" RICHARDS JR. COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1424 MISSION STREET, SOUTH PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91030 ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS Additional Documents to the July 2, 2024 City Council Meetings. The attached documents include submitted written public comments and amendments to the agenda. Submit by no later than 12:00 p.m., on the day of the City Council meeting. Correspondence received after this time will be distributed the following business day. ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS TO THE JULY 2, 2024 CITY COUNCIL MEETING CS. A. - Watchdog - July 2, 2024 – Closed Session Agenda Item A, C, D, E CS. A. - Alan Ehrlich - 7_2_24 Special Agenda Item 1 1

From: LocalGov Watchdog To: City Council Public Comment Subject: July 2, 2024 – Closed Session Agenda Item A, C, D, E Date: Tuesday, July 2, 2024 12:10:08 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the City of South Pasadena. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Dear Mayor and City Council, Please let the massive failure of Armine Chaparyan’s tenure as your City Manager serve as a lesson to you when you hire a new City Manager. Having “relevant municipal experience” and an “ICMA-CM credential” mean absolutely nothing when it comes packaged in a totally narcissistic and incompetent bureaucrat like Armine. Here is what you bought when you hired Armine. 1. She is totally self-promoting. She used South Pasadena as HER career platform and ATM. Next time, hire someone who puts South Pasadena ahead of their career aspirations. 2. She had no public finance/budget experience and was totally incompetent when managing your city’s finite resources. She spent South Pasadena’s money like it was printed on Monopoly paper. 3. She had no Human resources or labor relations experience. She is totally inept in this area of great importance. As an example, look at the staffing decisions she made and the internal strife and dysfunction she is leaving you with. Armine spent South Pasadena's money on hiring a “management team” of sycophants she brought over from her prior experience. She created and filled a slew of new positions that added no value to the organization other than to provide her with more sycophants. The “team” she hired was also totally incompetent, lacked credibility, and was unable to give her proper business/management advice when she needed it most. This “team” has also created a “mean girl” environment in your city hall having chased off several good employees in the last 3 years. In ridding yourself of Armine, you should also consider a total cleansing and dismiss Dom Merdician (No. 1 Henchwoman/Sycophant), Angelica Fausto, and any other inept lackey she brought over with her. All of them are toxic LEACHES who have used South Pasadena as a personal career platform and ATM. Bottom line is that Armine inherited a very difficult situation, but she is leaving it FAR worse than she found it. This is what bad, incompetent, narcissistic City Manager’s like Armine do. They screw the community’s they are sworn to serve. Please open up your eyes to your next City Manager and hire someone who isn’t a “retread” and who has the management acumen, the finance acumen, the human resources acumen, the public service ethic, and the LEADERSHIP it takes to be successful in a great City like South Pasadena. In the service of the public good, 2

Watchdog 3

From: Alan Ehrlich To: City Council Public Comment Subject: 7/2/24 Special Agenda Item 1 Date: Tuesday, July 2, 2024 2:40:41 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the City of South Pasadena. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Honorable mayor and council members, I know today's action is not an easy one for any city council member to take, but I want to acknowledge you for fulfilling your obligation to the residents and community you were elected to represent. For the past 3 years, the number one task for each of you elected, or reelected, was to restore sanity and normalcy to the Finance department. While the issues in that department are a lingering reminder of the prior city administration, this council provided the city manager with more than enough time and the resources to fix them. Armine proved ineffective in cleaning up and restoring confidence in the operations of the finance department. Perhaps the job was just too big for her. Notwithstanding the continued breakdown in the finance department, loss of key staff in recent months, and bungled 2024-25 budget process are not the only examples of the city manager's failed leadership. Under Armine'sr watch, the city hall electrification project is more than a year behind schedule. That the Tesla police fleet is still not fully deployed two years after the vehicles were acquired is another blemish. Continuing errors in cleaning up, synchronizing the Housing Element and general plan and submitting the housing element have damaged the city's reputation with HCD. The illegally split finance consulting contract with PHD presented to the council at your most recent meeting just further demonstrated the city manager's contempt for the council, community and rule of law. Your vote last week for a continuing budget resolution was a vote of no confidence in the city manager and the right decision to make. I like to believe that I was once one of the city manager's biggest fans, so I am as disappointed as the next person. If Armine had spent as much time managing the city as she did managing her image on social media, perhaps there the outcome might have been different. In closing, I applaud the action the council is taking this evening to replace the city manager. best, Alan Ehrlich "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants." - Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis - "Openness in government is essential to the functioning of a democracy." International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, Local 21 v. Superior Court California Supreme Court, 42 Cal.4th 319 (2007) 4