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homelessness in our community of Santa Ana. Despite voting to proceed with litigation, the city decided only to serve 3 <br />cities (Orange, Tustin, Anaheim) and the county. Subsequently, the cities have been released due to prior settlements in <br />the Catholic Worker case and only the county remains. By not serving the other cities, I believe that the city is allowing <br />South County cities to continue to do what they have been doing which is to continue to disproportionately impact our <br />city with quality of life issues as well as fiscal obligations. It has been almost 20 months since the city council voted to <br />proceed with litigation yet no service of the suite on any South County city has occurred. It is time for the council to <br />follow through on its vote to sue or to have a public discussion in an open forum on its decision not to proceed. This is <br />even more important now in light of the 7 cities' comments about operating a shelter in another jurisdiction. <br />There likely are reasons for the council to not follow through on its prior vote... some of those reasons may be valid while <br />others may not be in the public's eye, but the residents and businesses have a desire to know what is going on. I would <br />say that we have a reasonable right to know what is going on since it has been almost 20 months since this vote <br />happened. <br />Additionally, the city has chosen to delay indefinitely the responses from the county in the case. So essentially, we have <br />spent the time and resources to prepare the suit, serve 4 jurisdictions, not serve any of the South County cities, released <br />3 of the cities (likely rightfully so) and even chosen to allow the one jurisdictions that was served, and not released, to <br />not even respond to the lawsuit. The timeline for these matters is as follows: <br />• April 25, 2018: During Closed Session, city council voted unanimously (6-0, 1 absent) to file a cross complaint <br />against all cities in Orange County and the County of Orange over the impact of homelessness in our city of <br />Santa Ana <br />• April 26, 2018: The filing actually happened in federal court. See attached document #158. <br />• May 1, 2018: The county of Orange and the cities of Tustin, Anaheim, and Orange were served the lawsuit (no <br />other cities including those in South County have been served). See attached document #232 indicating the <br />service date of May 1, 2018. <br />• May 17, 2018: The cities of Santa Ana, Tustin, Anaheim, Orange and the county of Orange agree to a response <br />date of July 23, 2018 for the defendants to respond to the Santa Ana cross -complaint. See attached document <br />#232. <br />• July 11, 2018: The cities of Santa Ana, Tustin, Anaheim, Orange and the county of Orange agree to delay the <br />response date indefinitely until such a time that the court issues an order that a responsive pleading must be <br />filed. See attached document #246. <br />1 urge the council to consider serving the suit against South County cities in order to protect the interests of Santa Ana's <br />residents, businesses, and visitors. There may be concerns about whether Judge Carter is able to preside or whether <br />serving the suit will allow other cities and their leaders to look down upon our city or its leadership, yet that is not what <br />you are tasked with doing. Instead, I ask that you do what is best for the city of Santa Ana. If it is determined to be best <br />not to pursue this course of action, you owe it to the residents to provide an explanation or at a minimum a vote to <br />reverse action on this item because the last vote that happened was on April 25, 2018 where the then current council <br />voted unanimously (6-0, 1 absent) to file the suit which would presumably include serving and progressing forward with <br />litigation. <br />The task at hand is a big one. I trust that you will do what is best for our city. Thank you for the time you devote to this <br />topic. <br />Blessings, <br />Tim Johnson <br />Rosenberger I Pam Johnson, CPA <br />CM.FeJWdie At,... <br />