YC fined $6,000 for Hillcrest mailers

Yuba City will be fined $6,000 by the Fair Political Practices Commission for twice breaking the state election code in mailers to Hillcrest Water System users, according to documents for the commission's upcoming meeting.

Under the agreement, which the FPPC will consider approving at its Jan. 15 meeting, the city and former mayor Rory Ramirez will acknowledge that two mailers sent out to Hillcrest users featuring Ramirez violated Section 89001 of the Government Code.

The section says "No newsletter or other mass mailing shall be sent at public expense."

Ramirez declined to comment on the matter.

City Manager Steve Jepsen said the city does not necessarily agree that one of the mailers violated FPPC rules, but decided to agree to the stipulation to move the issue along.

"In order to expedite this, we find it's probably more expedient and way less costly to stipulate to the position of the FPPC," Jepsen said.

The maximum possible penalty for the violations was $10,000.

The City Council voted in September, with Ramirez abstaining, to indemnify the former mayor, who is no longer on the council after not running for re-election, from any legal wrongdoing and paying any fines the FPPC may levy against him for the mailers.

Roman Porter of the FPPC could not specifically talk about this case, but said, in general, when more than one individual is identified as responsible for a violation, it's considered a "joint and several liability." This means the FPPC can collect all of part of the fines from whoever is involved, so long as the fine is paid.

"There in general may be an issue as to whether that's an appropriate use of public funds, but that's outside the purview of the FPPC," Porter said, noting that would likely fall under the district attorney's responsibility.

"The stipulation does not require Ramirez to pay anything," Jepsen said. "It requires the city to pay the fine, and we're doing that."

The mailers were sent out during a hotly-contested debate over switching customers on the Hillcrest system from well water to surface water. The switch will add a $19.80 monthly surcharge to Hillcrest area bills.

At least one complaint about the mailers was sent to the FPPC by an organized group of Hillcrest customers who opposed the city's water switch proposal. Elaine Miles, a leading member of the group referred to as Murky Waters, did not return phone calls seeking comment. She earlier described the City Council vote to spare Ramirez from paying any costs as "a gross misuse of the taxpayer's dollars."

The first mailer was a brochure sent in June that included a short message from Ramirez and his picture, discussing the city's proposal to switch Hillcrest customers from well water to surface water.

The second mailer was an August letter signed by Ramirez accusing opponents of the surface water plan of "misrepresenting facts." It also included a form that would allow residents to withdraw their signed protest of the surface water switch under Proposition 218, or file a new protest.

According to the FPPC documents, Jepsen wrote the letter. Jepsen said, in retrospect, it would have been better to have had him sign the letter rather than Ramirez.

"I wrote the letter, and we felt it would have more emphasis coming from the mayor," Jepsen said.

The city said the violations occurred "because of its reliance on a consultant hired to provide professional expertise in public education through mailers," the documentation said.

Jepsen said the consultant, Jones & Stokes, has already reimbursed the city $3,000 to pay for the fine over the June brochure.

The commission opted for the lower $6,000 penalty rather than the maximum fine because the city cooperated with the FPPC investigation and shown that it "paid for these mailings from revenue-generating sources and reimbursed any taxpayer funds spent."

Also, the commission said Ramirez's violation was not a usual circumstance, since most code violations of this kind are for candidates using public funds to support their own re-election. Ramirez had already announced he was not seeking re-election to the City Council when the mailers were sent.

"The city contends that it used the mayor in the mailings with the intent to more effectively disseminate information to water customers, not to promote the mayor," the documents said.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Robert LaHue at 749-4713 or rlahue@appealdemocrat.com.