Relationship between Weste, Lite goes south; planning commissioner calls it political retribution
Santa Clarita Mayor Pro Tem Laurene Weste made an unusual request of her colleagues during council member comments Tuesday: She asked the City Council to agendize the removal of her planning commissioner, Denise Lite.
The request came toward the beginning of the meeting, after the course of her regular council comments on items like the recent opening of the Pioneer Oil Refinery Park.
“I am asking the City Council to agendize the removal of my planning commissioner, and I am just asking for two of my fellow council members to put this on the agenda,” Weste said.
Lite called the move a “stunning display of political retribution” during public comment and in a statement emailed to The Signal on Tuesday. She denied claims from Weste at Tuesday’s meeting that she had not been communicative.
Mayor Bill Miranda then put the request to the council.
“No comment, but I wouldn’t support that,” Councilman Jason Gibbs said first.
“Well, this is asking for something kind of unusual — and, I don’t know, is there a reason for this?” asked Councilwoman Marsha McLean.
Weste said she was just asking to agendize the discussion, so it could be had at a future council meeting.
“But I have had no communication, at all, with my commissioner, and I do not feel like I can do justice to my job and the constituency without communication,” Weste said. “And it’s not anything personal, it’s just something I need to do so I have a better handle on doing my job, with the support from a commissioner who wants to talk to me.”
Councilwoman Patsy Ayala said the discussion might be necessary to get more clarity on the topic.
Miranda said a decision doesn’t need to be made now, but there’s probably more
discussion forthcoming. He also said he didn’t want to set a precedent of shutting down a council member’s request to have a discussion without knowing why. He later said the decision to agendize the discussion was not any kind of an indictment against the commissioner.
Later during public comment, Lite spoke up and provided her theory on why Weste asked her to resign in a letter Friday.
Lite said the move was the result of her questioning two deals that were brought to the Planning Commission without any transparency: the first, a controversial deal in March regarding a $750,000 historical mitigation fee for Newhall condos that Weste later said she negotiated on behalf of the city; the second, a developer “donation” of $325,000 for William S. Hart Park that equaled what the developer would have paid in fees.
Lite’s email Tuesday to The Signal stated after she questioned the second deal, during a June 17 Planning Commission hearing on the Newhall Avenue Mixed Use Project, she was sent a letter the following day “‘requiring’ her resignation.”
“I believe her demand for my resignation is retaliatory,” she said during public comment, adding if the action is allowed to proceed, “this is a problem, and this should concern every Santa Claritan.” She added that she had responded to all of Weste’s communications over the past nine months, which amounted to one email since Weste appointed her in September.
Weste declined to respond to Lite’s claims in a phone call after the council meeting, stating there would be a future discussion.
