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The City of Morgan Hill and the Santa Clara County Local Agency Formation Commission still don’t see eye to eye on an unsuccessful effort more than a year ago to annex hundreds of acres of farmland from the Southeast Quadrant into the city limits.The vast difference of perspective is illustrated in the two agencies’ responses to a Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report, published June 5, titled “LAFCO Denials: A high school caught in the middle.” The two parties can’t even agree, as the grand jury found, that there is a “strained relationship” between city staff and LAFCO staff.LAFCO’s response to the grand jury—posted to the commission’s website earlier this week and scheduled for discussion and approval at the Aug. 2 LAFCO states there is “no evidence” for this claim.“LAFCO staff has a professional working relationship with the City of Morgan Hill staff and has worked with city staff on a variety of matters during the city’s (SEQ annexation) application and following LAFCO’s denial of the proposal,” reads part of the response compiled by LAFCO staff. It adds that LAFCO staff is always willing to meet with city staff to discuss General Plan and other service boundary concerns.However, the Morgan Hill City Council’s response, presented at the July 26 meeting, agrees that there is tension between the staffs of the two agencies.“Morgan Hill staff are eager to work collaboratively and proactively with LAFCO for the benefit of our region and community,” reads the council’s response. It adds that the council and city staff are “eager to take immediate steps to improve our working relationship with LAFCO commissioners and staff.”The grand jury report investigated the city’s proposal to LAFCO in 2016 to extend its Urban Service Area around 229 acres of the Southeast Quadrant, in order to develop sports fields/facilities, as well as commercial projects, while preserving farmland through a new agricultural mitigation policy. The SEQ proposal, which also included a private Catholic high school near Tennant and Murphy avenues, was denied by the seven-member LAFCO board in March 2016 on a 6-1 vote.The city has put its SEQ plans on hold while it awaits a broader, regional effort by the county to implement an agricultural preservation strategy.The June 5 grand jury report’s list of 10 findings took LAFCO to task for what its panel perceived as inconsistently and subjectively enforcing its guidelines and applying undefined terminology to their annexation criteria. It also criticized the City of Morgan Hill for not including enough public participation in the SEQ process and ineffective communication with LAFCO staff.By state law, the city and LAFCO are required to respond to the grand jury’s findings that relate to them, and both agencies did so in recent days. The city council responded to and agreed with four of the grand jury’s 10 findings, while LAFCO disagrees with most of the findings and claims the June 5 report is “filled with numerous factual errors.”In addition to the claim of a strained relationship, the council agreed that the city’s ag mitigation program is in need of more funding for the purchase of agricultural easements; the city’s update of the 2016 General Plan, developed separately from the SEQ plans, “gave the appearance of special consideration for the property owners;” and that LAFCO deviated from the commission’s ag preservation policies when evaluating the Catholic high school proposal.The council’s response clarified that despite the appearance, the General Plan update did not give special preference to the property owners. Their letter to the grand jury argues that the city had an “obligation” to process the General Plan amendments and other requests related to the SEQ that dated back to 2008.LAFCO ‘disagrees wholly’LAFCO’s response to the grand jury states, “many allegations (in the June 5 report) are not appropriately substantiated by facts or details.” It further accuses the grand jury of failing to understand how LAFCO operates and what its responsibilities are.In fact, of the nine findings LAFCO responds to, it “disagrees wholly” with seven. The commission further responds that many of the grand jury’s recommendations, listed as a way to remedy the findings, are “not warranted or reasonable.”For example, the grand jury’s “Finding 5” states that LAFCO gained “the appearance of bias” by including incorrect information about the Catholic Diocese' previous plan to develop a private high school in Morgan Hill in 2002.LAFCO replied that the grand jury was suggesting the incorrect historical info was “deliberately or negligently misreported.” But in fact, according to the LAFCO response, nobody stepped forward to correct the error—which falsely stated the Diocese' ownership stake in a former prospective high school site—until the March 2016 LAFCO meeting on the SEQ.“The South County Catholic High School (SCCHS) representative provided testimony at the public hearing on March 11, 2016 about the inaccuracy of the ownership information, which was heard by the Commission prior to the vote being taken, and was documented subsequently in LAFCO’s minutes for the public hearing,” LAFCO’s response states.The grand jury report has drawn fire in recent weeks due to its own perception of bias, and a list of factual errors and omissions. A group of private, nonprofit environmental organizations that argued against the city’s SEQ annexation proposal sent a letter to the LAFCO board July 17 spelling out their “grave concerns” with the June 5 grand jury report. Topping their list is the “appearance of (grand jury) foreperson’s conflict of interest.”The foreman, Wayne Tanda, has been a Morgan Hill planning commissioner for several years, and was chair of the city commission in 2016. He made a motion to recommend submitting the city’s SEQ plans to LAFCO at the June 23, 2015 planning commission meeting, according to the July 17 letter signed by representatives of the Committee For Green Foothills, Greenbelt Alliance, American Farmland Trust, Thrive! Morgan Hill, Sierra Club and others.The LAFCO board will discuss the draft response to the grand jury at its Aug. 2 meeting.The grand jury report, along with its findings and recommendations, is not legally binding toward the city or LAFCO.

Petty theftA man and a woman walked out of Wal-mart, 170 Cochrane Plaza, carrying two cases of beer without paying for them. The couple left the parking lot in a gray Honda Civic “type car.” The theft was reported 4:41 p.m. July 22.Someone stole an iPhone 7 from an employee at McDonald’s, 135 Cochrane Plaza. The phone was stolen from the employee’s work locker at the restaurant. The crime was reported 12:36 p.m. July 23. A woman stole a pack of Marlboro cigarettes and a serving of ice cream from Rite Aid, 16000 Monterey Road. The crime was reported 1:55 p.m. July 22.A thief or thieves stole a tool collection from the back of a pickup truck at an unspecified location in Morgan Hill. The theft was reported 3:36 a.m. July 20.Someone stole a cart full of groceries worth about $100 from Safeway, 235 Tennant Station. The thief left in a black Chevrolet Avalanche. The crime was reported 6:28 p.m. July 20.Two people stole jewelry and other items from Hobby Lobby, 990 Cochrane Road, and ran away from the store on foot. The theft was reported 1:09 p.m. July 21.Stolen vehicleA thief or thieves stole a red Honda Civic from a parking space outside Starbucks, 251 Vineyard Town Center. The theft was reported 3:09 p.m. July 23.A white 1998 Honda Civic was stolen from a parking spot on Railroad Avenue. The crime was reported 10:19 p.m. July 24.BurglaryA resident of Cory Drive returned home from vacation to find a rear window of the home broken, and some jewelry missing from inside. The burglary was reported 4:06 p.m. July 22.All subjects are innocent until proven guilty. Information is compiled from public records.

Firefighters responded to a vegetation fire in north Morgan Hill at lunchtime July 27, but little property damage and no injuries were reported.About 12 p.m., CalFire sent crews to a residential property on Paquita Espana Court, according to CalFire Capt. David Hori. San Jose Fire Department also responded to the report of a vegetation fire.The fire burned about a quarter-acre of grass and other plant matter, and damaged three vehicles on the property before firefighters extinguished the flames, Hori said.The cause of the fire is under investigation.

While Morgan Hill officials and members of the public continue to question if the new council district election system will achieve its goal of obtaining more Latino representatives on the dais, one of the residents who threatened to sue the city insists the change will at minimum make it easier for marginalized voters to participate.Armando Benavides is one of three Latino Morgan Hill residents who hired the Oakland law firm Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho, which sent the city a demand letter May 2 informing them that the current at-large voting system is in violation of the California Voting Rights Act.Benavides said one startling revelation brought to light during recent discussions of Morgan Hill demographics is that only 25 percent of the city’s Latino population voted in the 2016 election.“To me that’s a real serious concern,” said Benavides, a former candidate for Morgan Hill City Council and the Morgan Hill Unified School District board of trustees. “We need to find a way to fire up the base.”Morgan Hill has not elected a Latino mayor or council member since at least 2000.He explained that under a district election system—in which the city is divided into four geographic sections equal in population, each one represented by a single council member—candidates for office will have a much smaller area to campaign and get to know the voters and residents.“District elections will make it easier to go out and knock on doors at election time because the districts are smaller,” Benavides said. “It’s easier, less costly and more effective.”The current council voted in June to transition to a district election system, which is starkly different from the at-large elections the city has conducted since its inception. The council is in the process of hosting a series of public meetings and workshops on the district system. The city and demographer National Demographics Corporation—hired by the council to help with the process—created a website, drawmh.org, that allows residents to propose their own maps of the city divided up into four electoral districts.The council is expected to approve a four-district map in late August or early September. The district election system will start with the November 2018 election, when the seats occupied by Councilman Rich Constantine and Councilwoman Caitlin Jachimowicz will be on the ballot.Both these council members voted in favor of the change to a by-district system June 7, but only to protect the city from a costly lawsuit. They have been skeptical that the new system will be more equitable and inclusive of minority voters.Another advantage of district elections, according to Benavides, is that the residents of a particular neighborhood or district might share the same concerns and needs of the candidate or council member running for office within that district.Benavides also argued that since MHUSD transitioned to a by-district election system in 2015—also at the demand of Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho—the board of education has already seen the election of good representatives. Specifically, he was referring to Trustees Tom Arnett (who was appointed to the board before he won the 2016 election), Teresa Murrillo and Mary Patterson. Murrillo is currently the only Latino member of the school board. She ran unopposed in her district in 2016.“I don’t think any of those would have been elected without district elections,” Benavides said.Benavides as well as Morgan Hill residents Sally Casas and Brenda Cayme hired the Oakland firm to send the city the May 2 demand letter, according to a June 19 letter from the firm to the city. Cayme ran for MHUSD school board in 2014, but lost.The initial demand letter explained that the city’s at-large election system dilutes minority representation on the council.Can MH keep citywide mayor?Attorneys continue to argue whether the citywide election of the city’s mayor would be in violation of the CVRA. Morgan Hill officials are planning to keep the city’s mayor position—currently occupied by Steve Tate—elected at-large.Attorney Mike Baller of the Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho firm says such a system—with four council districts and one citywide mayor—would continue to be illegal. The alternative would be to create five council districts, and then those five council members would rotate year-to-year as mayor, or appoint one among them to serve as mayor for a specified term.However, Morgan Hill City Attorney Don Larkin noted that other laws are on the city’s side. Because the voters of Morgan Hill approved the change to a citywide mayor in a previous election, only the voters can change it to another method. Larkin estimated the voters adopted the citywide elected mayor system in an election in the mid-1990s.“The city can’t legally do what we demanded they do, which is to adopt five council districts by resolution,” Baller said. “The best they can do is (four council districts, one citywide mayor) and then have an election where the at-large system for mayor itself is changed by a vote of the people. That’s the bind the city is in, and I understand the position.”

Dub Baseball put another feather in its cap after having three players chosen to represent Northern California at the 2017 National Team Identification Series in North Carolina.

Mike Gemo is already a familiar face around Live Oak Athletics. When he’s not coaching football, Gemo is at basketball games supporting his players and fellow coaches; he’s at soccer matches; he’s at volleyball games and baseball games and at softball games.

A local man who settled a wrongful arrest lawsuit against a southern California police department in 2015 claims he was illegally detained by Morgan Hill officers earlier this year after he refused to show them his driver’s license, and he thinks he has been targeted due to his history of contentious contact with law enforcement.The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the case against Jesse Katz of Morgan Hill in relation to his Jan. 27 arrest near Del Monte and Spring avenues. But authorities say that doesn’t mean MHPD officers overstepped their bounds by taking him into custody.Civil liberties advocates disagree, and Katz says his arrest in Morgan Hill so closely mirrors an incident in Barstow in 2014—which ultimately forced that city’s police department to adopt a new training bulletin—that he plans to take civil action.On Jan. 27, an MHPD officer saw a motorcycle parked on the sidewalk, leaning up against a fence outside a residence on Spring Avenue, according to police reports found in Katz’ court file. As the vehicle was blocking the sidewalk—a violation of the state vehicle code—the officer stopped and tried to make contact with the owner.Katz, 38, was helping a friend at the home in question, and responded that he was the owner of the motorcycle when the officer called to him over the fence. The officer asked him to move the vehicle, to which Katz replied he would do so.After waiting “a few moments” without Katz approaching the motorcycle, the officer called out to him again, according to the police report. Katz then exited the yard and walked toward the motorcycle. The officer asked him for his identification, but Katz refused to present an ID and declined to identify himself by name.Katz then told the officer he wanted to speak to a shift supervisor, who arrived along with another officer within a few minutes.What is the law?After arguing with the officers on scene—as depicted in the initial officer’s body camera footage obtained by Katz—he was arrested on suspicion of refusing to present his driver’s license to an officer, and resisting police.But Katz argued with the officers and sergeant that he is not required to show his identification upon their request. He particularly took issue with MHPD Sgt. Carlos Guerrero’s statement during the incident that a driver’s signature on a California license “states you shall present your license when asked by an officer.”Katz said this is “100 percent factually inaccurate and untrue.”“That is only true when the person is driving,” Katz told the Times. “There is no law compelling a citizen to provide identification without cause.”California Vehicle Code section 12951, cited in the MHPD report, says “the driver of a motor vehicle shall present his or her license for examination upon demand of a peace officer.” On Jan. 27, Katz told the responding officers that he was the owner of the motorcycle, but not that he had been driving it. He declined to say whether he drove the vehicle to the location where he was ultimately arrested.The MHPD report does not claim that Katz had been driving the motorcycle.“If they wanted to issue a citation, they should have issued a citation to the vehicle,” Katz added.A staff attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union clarified that no person stopped by a peace officer in California has to present their driver’s license unless they are operating a vehicle.But the ACLU attorney, Adrienna Wong, said in general terms—not referring to Katz’ most recent case—the ACLU continues to see arrests of people in California on suspicion of resisting officers just because they didn’t present their ID when asked. These cases are often dismissed by prosecutors, but sometimes they aren’t, Wong said.“That’s a problem, when prosecutors keep filing those charges,” Wong said. “They should very well know that’s not the law in California.”Wong was also familiar with Katz’ 2014 case against the Barstow Police Department, in which he and his brother enlisted the ACLU to file a lawsuit claiming wrongful arrest. That lawsuit stems from an incident in which a Barstow officer asked the Katz brothers for their ID while they were eating at a restaurant, after another customer accused them of theft without presenting any evidence. The brothers refused, and the officer arrested them.The Katz’ each won a settlement of $15,000 from the City of Barstow. But Jesse Katz said the important part of the settlement is that Barstow officials agreed to adopt an internal “training bulletin” clarifying the law.“(A) person who is subject to a police contact or lawful detention is not required to identify himself,” the Barstow Police Department training bulletin reads, in part.Case closed?The D.A.’s office dismissed Katz’ case in April, according to Deputy D.A. Jason Malinsky. However, Malinsky noted there was “circumstantial evidence” that Katz had been driving the motorcycle that was blocking the sidewalk, and MHPD officers had probable cause to arrest him due to his multiple refusals to present his license, thus “delaying their investigation.”“We dismissed the case against Mr. Katz because we concluded the interests of justice would not be furthered by his prosecution for what amounted to a 13-minute delay,” Malinsky said in an email.MHPD Capt. Shane Palsgrove denied the Times’ request for the officers’ body-camera footage of the Jan. 27 incident. He noted that the D.A.’s office has a different standard for prosecution than police have for making an arrest, but he referred follow-up questions to the city attorney.Morgan Hill City Attorney Don Larkin said he has reviewed the MHPD file on the case.“I’m comfortable with how our officers responded,” Larkin said.Katz obtained one of the three responding officers’ body-camera videos—which he shared with the Times—through the evidence discovery process. Among Katz’ remaining complaints is the fact the authorities did not turn over the other videos.Katz also thinks MHPD has had it out for him ever since officers responded to his previous home, on Count Fleet Court in south Morgan Hill, multiple times on complaints of oversized or inoperable vehicles parked in his driveway. These contacts, which ultimately led to a citation for Katz, occurred in 2015.When the Times reported on that case, Palsgrove confirmed that an MHPD sergeant had sent an email to the department asking officers to respond to the Katz home with more than one officer due to the family’s “anti-police” stance. Palsgrove at the time cited Katz’ arrest in Barstow as one reason for the need to respond with numbers.Katz thinks it’s not fair for MHPD to react that way to a case in which he was “completely vindicated.”“There has been a clear pattern of harassment and arbitrary, inconsistent enforcement of the rules,” Katz said. “The only avenue left to me is to sue them in civil court and seek policy changes and police training guidelines, like we did in Barstow.”

Morgan Hill City Manager Steve Rymer was selected as the Rochester, Minn. City Council’s top choice to fill their city administrator position, according to news reports.Rymer, a native of Minnesota who has worked for the City of Morgan Hill since 2006, was selected for Rochester’s top staff position by a unanimous vote of the council July 24, according to a report from the Rochester Post Bulletin. Rymer and the council will be negotiating his salary and employment agreement this week, with the Rochester City Council expected to approve a deal by July 31.Rymer was appointed as Morgan Hill City Manager in 2013, when the city and state of California were in the midst of liquidating the Redevelopment Agency, which the governor shut down in 2011. Resulting from that process was the development and revitalization of downtown Morgan Hill, which was funded by $25 million in leftover RDA funds that the city was able to keep through negotiations with the state.Mayor Steve Tate said the council will discuss how to go about replacing Rymer in the coming days, perhaps by calling a special meeting.Tate praised Rymer—who has received glowing annual reviews and a number of salary raises from the Morgan Hill council over the years—for his ability to rally others to join the city’s efforts and for being accessible to his staff and the public.“He has built a really phenomenal team that is doing fantastic work,” Tate said. “There is a lot of team spirit, a lot of dedication to moving the city forward. Steve is the cause of all that. He’s also been very out in the community, made himself available to anybody that wants to come talk to him. He has set a very high level of performance.”Other high-profile initiatives Rymer oversaw as city manager in Morgan Hill include an update of the General Plan, a voter-approved extension of the city’s growth control measures and the effort—which couldn’t gain the approval of county regulators—to develop the Southeast Quadrant with more sports- and recreation-related uses.Chamber of Commerce Executive Director John Horner said he is a “big fan” of Rymer’s and the business community will miss him. Horner also gave high marks to Rymer for his openness and willingness to talk to anyone about “issues, concerns and ideas.”Horner added that moving forward, he would like to see the council appoint someone internally from City Hall to replace Rymer. Also importantly, the new city manager should have a deep understanding of the Morgan Hill community.“I think continuity, in general, would be positive,” Horner said. “It’s very important that (the new city manager) is somebody that understands the concerns of building a balanced community with housing, jobs (and) public safety.”Rymer’s current salary is about $248,000 in Morgan Hill. In 2014, the council offered Rymer, a Morgan Hill resident, a low-interest $950,000 home loan, plus a $110,000 home improvement loan in 2015.In Rochester, Rymer’s maximum salary as city administrator will be capped by Minnesota state law at about $173,000, according to the Post Bulletin report.Rochester, which is located about 80 miles southeast of Minneapolis, has a population of about 107,000.The Rochester City Council selected Rymer after a nationwide recruitment process, according to the Post Bulletin. He and two finalists were interviewed by the council in public earlier this month.

Auto burglarySomeone smashed the rear window of a 2016 Ford F250 on Burnett Avenue and stole an air compressor and hand saw. The crime was reported 3:54 p.m. July 18.A thief or thieves broke a window on a white 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee, parked in Cochrane Plaza, and stole a purse from the vehicle.  The theft was reported 4:45 p.m. July 18.Someone broke into a vehicle parked at Blue Grass Court and stole credit cards. The crime was reported 5:07 p.m. July 14.Stolen vehicleA white 2016 Kia Optima was stolen from a spot on Hillwood Lane. The theft was reported 6:32 a.m. July 19.Hit and runA silver or gray Infiniti rear-ended a silver Volkswagen Passat at Butterfield Boulevard and Tennant Avenue, and left the scene. The incident was reported 3:54 p.m. July 19.BurglaryA resident of Triggs Lane arrived home to find the door broken open, but nothing was stolen from the residence. The crime was reported 4:35 p.m. July 19.VandalismSomeone broke the side mirror off a vehicle that was parked in the Downtown Garage, 50 E. Third Street. The crime was reported 7:15 p.m. July 19.BatteryA male juvenile about 13 years old assaulted a 15-year-old boy across the street from the Community and Cultural Center, 6:57 p.m. July 14. The assault occurred at Taco Bell, then the victim walked across the street to the CCC. The victim was allegedly kicked in the ribs during the assault.All subjects are innocent until proven guilty. Information is compiled from public records.