General (28)
Susana Barrios
From:Stephanie Mercadante <burglin.stephanie@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday, July 14, 2026 6:07 PM
To:Public Comment
Subject:\[EXTERNAL\] On Behalf of Dave Duran, District 1, Councilmember Ryan Balius
Warning: This email originated from outside the City of Anaheim. Do not click links or open
attachments unless you recognize the sender and are expecting the message.
For public comment on July 14, 2026:
Let’s take an inventory of the real State of the City without the presentations, motivational speakers,
and taxpayer-funded free food:
Residents have repeatedly raised concerns regarding the safety of our drinking water. We know
flushing happened. We know millions of gallons of water were flushed before state compliance
testing. We know the City knows about it. Yet residents still have no answers.
We have also raised concerns about repeated Call Before You Dig violations during excavations—
violations that endangered workers and the public. To date, no one has been held accountable.
Residents have repeatedly asked about perchlorates from fireworks and their impact on nearby
neighborhoods. This Council has responded with deafening silence.
Then there are the City's financial issues: contracts being awarded to family members, no-bid
procurements without Council approval, and $17 million charged to City credit cards in just two years
without an audit. Time after time, transparency has been replaced with silence.
Former City Manager Vanderpool resigned following scrutiny surrounding the Lake Havasu retreat,
yet this Council refused to publicly confront the issue or demand accountability. Anaheim residents
were embarrassed by your response.
And now, another scandal.
Police officers have earned hundreds of thousands of our taxpayer dollars in questionable overtime
usage, and instead of standing behind those leaders who were tasked with investigating these
concerns, those same leaders were retaliated against.
Anaheim is not operating like a functional government.
Government should expose wrongdoing and correct it—not bury it. It should protect
whistleblowers—not isolate and punish them. It should welcome independent investigations—not
resist them.
This isn't The Godfather. Public servants aren't supposed to behave like a crime family—protecting
insiders, punishing those who speak up, and expecting everyone else to keep quiet.
Your continued silence speaks volumes to the residents of Anaheim.
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