Correspondence - Closed Session #3E

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Orozco, Norma From: Tim Johnson <tjohnson@jlkrllp.com> Sent: Monday, September 20, 2021 4:16 PM To: Hernandez, Johnathan; Sarmiento, Vicente; Penaloza, David; Mendoza, Nelida; Lopez, Jessie; Bacerra, Phil; Phan, Thai; eComment Cc: Ridge, Kristine; Carvalho, Sonia R.; Funk, John Subject: Closed Session Item 3E Attachments: 158- Santa Ana Cross Complaint suing other OC Cities dtd 4.26.18.pdf, 246- SA ANA Orange Tustin Stip to extend response date to SA Suit dtd 7..... pdf; 232- SA ANA Orange Tustin Stip to extend response date to SA Suit dtd 5..... pdf; 4.25.18 SA Closed Session Minutes (incl Item 2A- Cross Complaint).pdf Council (cc City Manager Ridge and City Attorneys Carvalho and Funk) ... On Tuesday you will be discussing in closed session item 3E (cross complaint- Case No. SA CV 18-0155-DOC (KESx)). This item is where the City has a cross -complaint against the County with regards to the Catholic Worker Case. The purpose of this email is to: 1. Provide information to council members who may not have been around in April of 2018 when this case was initiated by the council (6-0, 1 absent). 2. Encourage the City to provide an update to the residents regarding the status of this case. 3. Encourage the City to actually abide by the closed session vote from April of 2018 where it was approved to sue the county and all the cities of the county (note only a select handful of cities were served and late dismissed while virtually all South County cities were never served). 4. Encourage the City to request that the County respond to the lawsuit. Background The timeline for these matters is as follows: • April 25, 2018: During Closed Session, city council voted unanimously (6-0, 1 absent) to file a cross complaint against all cities in Orange County and the County of Orange over the impact of homelessness in our city of Santa Ana. See attached minutes from this meeting. • April 26, 2018: The filing actually happened in federal court. See attached document #158. • May 1, 2018: The County of Orange and the cities of Tustin, Anaheim, and Orange were served the lawsuit (no other cities including those in South County have been served). See attached document #232 indicating the service date of May 1, 2018. • May 17, 2018: The cities of Santa Ana, Tustin, Anaheim, Orange and the County of Orange agree to a response date of July 23, 2018 for the defendants to respond to the Santa Ana cross -complaint. See attached document #232. • July 11, 2018: The cities of Santa Ana, Tustin, Anaheim, Orange and the County of Orange agree to delay the response date indefinitely until such a time that the court issues an order that a responsive pleading must be filed. See attached document #246. • Nov 2018: Tustin, Anaheim, and Orange are dismissed. Documents excluded for brevity. As I have suggested in the past, I believe that the council is not staying true to what it voted on in April of 2018 when it chose, after public discussion, to sue the other cities in Orange County, and the county itself, over the impact of homelessness in our community of Santa Ana. Despite voting to proceed with litigation, the city decided only to serve 3 cities (Orange, Tustin, Anaheim) and the county. Subsequently, the cities have been released due to prior settlements in the Catholic Worker case and only the county remains as a defendant because other cities were not served. By not serving the other cities, I believe that the city is allowing South County cities to continue to do what they have been doing which is to continue to disproportionately impact our city with quality of life issues as well as fiscal obligations. It has been 40+ months since the city council voted to proceed with litigation yet no service of the suit on any South