Politics & Government

Petrilla Puts Council at Odds with the Military

Reservist still wants City Council colleagues to allow him to govern by teleconference, though the military hasn't offered any assurances it can happen. Mayor says Petrilla is 'asking us to do something that the military does not permit us to do.'

Jesse Petrilla, the Rancho Santa Margarita city councilman who on Tuesday began  nearly four months of active-duty military training with the U.S. Army National Guard, has put his colleagues in a tough spot.

Going into the council meeting tonight, 7 p.m., the remaining four councilmen will determine whether 2nd Lt. Petrilla will continue to participate in city government through teleconferencing while being stationed in Fort Knox, KY.

If they determine that he will not continue to govern, then they are expected to determine whether to replace him in the interim—which might be particularly helpful in developing a budget that is to be approved shortly after Petrilla's return—or leave the seat vacant.

Find out what's happening in Rancho Santa Margaritawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Petrilla's last official remark to the council two weeks ago was that he wanted to pull double duty—govern while completing tank school. Since then, have been that it would not facilitate compliance with the open-meeting Brown Act on the base, which is a likely deal-killer.

Additionally, the military has not yet offered any guarantees that Petrilla would have time available to participate in the meetings, even though Fort Knox operates on Eastern Standard Time.

Find out what's happening in Rancho Santa Margaritawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The city has determined it could execute the feat technology-wise, but it's incumbent upon Petrilla to produce some assurances on his end.

Even though it appears teleconferencing is not a viable option, Petrilla has not withdrawn his request. He seemed to acknowledge that potentiality when he told the Orange County Register on Monday that holding his seat open "respects the will of the voters."

Petrilla did not respond to a message from Patch left on his phone early Tuesday evening, EST.

"We've cleared the legal and technical issues," Mayor Tony Beall said Tuesday. "The only thing that hasn't been satisfied is that councilman Petrilla has failed to obtain permission from the military to do what he has asked the council to allow him to do.

"I want to accommodate councilman Petrilla, the entire council does, but he is—as of now—asking us to do something that the military does not permit us to do, which puts us in a very difficult position.

"If he really wants us to authorize him to participate by teleconference, he must obtain permission from his superiors in the military. I encourage him to do so as soon as possible."

Although Petrilla will miss six regularly scheduled meetings during his 115-day service, of greater concern to councilmen is his absence  at budget development meetings that are separate from council meetings. The three councilmen who have been part of the process before, Beall, Jerry Holloway and Gary Thompson, have indicated that it's a complex process and not easy to keep pace while missing even one meeting. Beall called the budget arguably the most important task of the year. Holloway said the more ideas, the better.

"Jesse has made it clear he has some ideas and wants to be an integral part of evaluating the budget," said Steve Hayman, the city manager who has vowed to keep Petrilla "up to speed so that when he gets back he can make informed comments before the budget is adopted."

However, Hayman has indicated nothing has changed in the last week.

"The situation is consistent with where we were at before he left," Hayman said. "He's leaving it in the hands of his colleagues to make a decision based on the information they have."

Right now, they don't have the piece of information as they want.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here