More details are emerging for what Anaheim leaders want to do to reform City Hall following the release of a city-funded independent investigation into allegations of corruption.

The City Council on Tuesday, Aug. 29, is set to schedule a priority list for what to address at council meetings throughout the end of summer and into the fall. These discussions will go over many of the same reform recommendations from the JL Group report the city had commissioned.

The proposed calendar from Mayor Ashleigh Aitken and Councilmember Natalie Rubalcava that the council will be considering includes:

Sept. 12 – Lobbying policy
Sept. 26 – IT electronics and ticket disclosure
Oct. 10 – Creating an ethics/public affairs officer
Oct. 17 – Whistleblower protection
Oct. 24 – Campaign finance reform
Nov. 7 – Partnerships with nonprofit, advocacy, business groups and the city manager’s signing authority.

Subject matter experts could lend their knowledge at these meetings, too, according to the proposal.

At the last council meeting on Aug. 15, councilmembers asked city staff to explore if it was possible to halt funding to Visit Anaheim, following the allegations that the agency may have surreptitiously diverted $1.5 million in coronavirus pandemic relief funds to an Anaheim Chamber of Commerce nonprofit in 2020.

Included on Tuesday’s agenda is an Aug. 24 letter City Attorney Robert Fabela sent to Visit Anaheim, demanding it returns $1.5 million of the $6.5 million the city gave the agency in 2020 to help with the city’s pandemic recovery efforts. Fabela asked Visit Anaheim to also halt all payments to the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce until a state audit is finished.

The California State Auditor’s website lists the Anaheim audit as having begun, with an estimated completion date of winter.

A memo from Visit Anaheim’s CEO Jay Burress sent to Anaheim’s city manager in April 2022 boasts that the Anaheim Community and Economic Recovery Plan approved in 2020, which received help from the $6.5 million city infusion of funding, “exceeded expectations and today, serves as an industry model for future economic downturns,” but doesn’t mention the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce.

Also on Tuesday’s agenda is an update on how the city’s trash contractor, Republic Services plans to improve service. Republic Services, according to a staff report, told Anaheim officials that labor shortages and fleet reliability have been causing trash to go uncollected.

The waste company is hiring more technicians and drivers and adding more trucks to service in Anaheim. Republic Services’s recent efforts “have resulted in a slight decrease in customer service complaints,” according to a staff report.

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