Del Mar train horn system moves forward with help from Leslie Devaney

Leslie Devaney said it could take 15 to 25 hours to create the three required forms, for a cost of $4,000 to $6,000...Price said he expected the committee would be required to pay the legal fees, but he was surprised at the amount.

Wayside horn system moves forward
by Bianca Kaplanek
The Coast News
August 11, 2010

DEL MAR — Plans to reduce horn noise from trains as they pass through Del Mar made significant progress Aug. 2 after City Council authorized the necessary steps to move the project into the design phase.

After researching a variety of ways to decrease the noise level at the city’s only crossing on Coast Boulevard, a committee of residents determined an automated wayside horn system would be the most economically feasible solution.

Permanent directional horns strategically mounted at the crossing will provide an audible warning to motorists and pedestrians that a train is approaching. The sound mimics a train horn and stops once the train enters the crossing.

The noise, which complies with federal regulations, is more consistent and not as long or loud as when a conductor sounds the train horn.

With help from Quiet Zone Technologies, a company that provides safe and quiet alternatives to train horns, the committee tested the system at the crossing on April 22. No negative input was received.

The group then sought and received council approval to move the project forward with the understanding that no city funds could be used. At the time, Quiet Zone Technologies told the committee it would cost about $160,000.

But the North County Transit District, which will install and maintain the stationary horn system, gave a preliminary estimate of $276,770, an amount that includes a 30 percent contingency of $63,880.

NCTD officials said the contingency was initially set high because this is the first wayside horn system to be installed. They told committee members a more firm estimate would be available once the design is complete.

“They intimated to us the cost can only come down,” committee leader Hershell Price said.

The group has raised all but $48 of the $17,548 needed for the design, which is expected to take between four and six months to complete. In addition to design and installation, the committee will be required to fund ongoing maintenance, which has been estimated at $3,000 to $5,000 per year.

“I haven’t seen those figures,” Price said. “There may be little or no maintenance.” NCTD said it may eventually be able to absorb the maintenance costs.

The group must also cover city attorney fees to draw up and review all necessary legal documents. Leslie Devaney said it could take 15 to 25 hours to create the three required forms, for a cost of $4,000 to $6,000.

“I haven’t seen any paperwork on this so I’m just giving you my best shot this evening,” Devaney said at the Aug. 2 meeting.

Price said he expected the committee would be required to pay the legal fees, but he was surprised at the amount.

The construction agreement, which would be the final document, would likely be the most time-consuming and costly. Some council members suggested fronting the committee the money for the first two documents so the project could move forward until council meets next on Sept. 13.

“I want to remind everybody that when we started down this road ... we wanted to support this and be involved and help with this as long as there was no cost to the city — period,” Mayor Richard Earnest said.

“Now all of a sudden we’re being asked to participate in a financial way and that was never part of the equation,” he said. “So while I enthusiastically want to support this thing, we can’t go down that slippery slope or pretty soon we’re going to be paying for a lot more than we ever intended to pay and can’t afford.

“I don’t mind doing seed money to begin the legal process,” he said. “But where the rest of it’s coming from I don’t know.”

To help keep legal costs down, Price offered to create the initial donor form and within days had a draft copy for Devaney to review.

“I want to do everything I can so that we can get this project completed as soon as possible,” Price said. “It was easy to raise the $17,500. Another $260,000 — that’s when the hard work starts.”

If the group can’t raise enough money to fund the project, none of the money used to pay for the design will be refunded. Donors will be required to sign a form stating they understand that risk.

A big win for Leslie Devaney and Ray Artiano at Tri-City Hospital

Apparently when Leslie Devaney showed up at a Tri-City board meeting shortly after she and Ray Artiano were hired to represent fired executives, she managed to cause the board members to worry about possible Brown Act violations that, she said, could send them to jail.

See all Tri-City Healthcare posts.

HOSPITAL: Tri-City settles Brown Act lawsuit filed by former executives
Hospital agrees to pay $300,000, but admits no violation
By PAUL SISSON
February 25, 2010

Tri-City Medical Center has settled a lawsuit brought by a group of former hospital executives who alleged Tri-City violated the state's open meeting law, called the Brown Act, when four hospital board members put the executives on paid leave during a hastily called closed-door meeting in December 2008.

Ray Artiano, an attorney for the seven executives, said Thursday afternoon that Tri-City settled the case for $300,000, which will cover attorney's fees. The executives ---- who were later fired by Tri-City ---- have also filed a wrongful termination lawsuit that is still working its way through the courts.

Courtney Berlin, a spokesperson for Tri-City, confirmed the settlement in the Brown Act lawsuit this week. She said in an e-mail that it doesn't admit "any error on the part of our Board or any violation of the Brown Act."

"In order to preserve the company's resources, we felt it was appropriate to settle the matter," Berlin said.

Four of seven Tri-City board members voted during a special meeting on Dec. 8, 2008, to sideline the seven executives and call in an accounting firm to conduct a forensic investigation of the public hospital's books. Tri-City's former chief executive Arthur Gonzalez was put on leave during the same meeting.

In February 2009, the seven sued Tri-City's board, alleging it had violated several aspects of public meetings law.

The suit asked a Superior Court judge to declare the decision invalid, but more than one year later there had been no ruling in the case. Artiano said that when the suit was filed, there was some hope among the executives that a decision would come quickly and could result in them being reinstated.

In the intervening months, Gonzalez settled with the hospital district and found a new job running a large hospital system in Minneapolis.

In the wrongful termination lawsuits, the remaining executives are seeking more than $1 million each. Lawyers on both sides are now arguing whether the case belongs in federal or state court.

Artiano's clients include Doreen Sanderson, Tri-City's former vice president of human resources; Allen Coleman, former vice president of strategic services; Robert Wardwell, former chief financial officer; Daniel Groszkruger, former director of information systems; Ondrea Labella, former director of patient business services; Suellyn Ellerbe, former chief operating officer and chief nurse executive; and Terry Howell, former vice president of performance improvement.

Their salaries ranged from $194,000 to $325,000 per year.

While Artiano acknowledged that Tri-City has admitted no culpability with regard to open meetings law violations, he said the fact that the hospital settled means something.

"We thought the amount was sufficient to make a point, and now we will focus on the wrongful termination cases," Artiano said.

Leslie Devaney and school lawyers Dan Shinoff and Ray Artiano want to put a schoolteacher in jail for mentioning them on her website

I got an email this morning from Stutz, Artiano Shinoff & Holtz telling me that they have scheduled an ex parte hearing for Thursday. They are asking the judge for appropriate sanctions "including jail time" to punish me for mentioning them on my website. It's true that Judge Judith Hayes is extremely fond of the folks at Stutz law firm, but--jail?

To Leslie Devaney, Dan Shinoff, Ray Artiano and Jim Holtz:

We must always be careful about what we wish for. What if the judge were to do as you suggest, and put me in jail? Surely the media would cover the case of the school teacher that went to jail at the request of school lawyers for the transgression of mentioning their name on her website.

Sincerely,
Maura Larkins

P.S. Do you not know that we have a budget crisis in California? How much money do you want the taxpayers to spend to help you silence me? Aren't they already paying enough to your law firm?