Anaheim has agreed to pause any work to build a new fire station on the Angel Stadium property to serve the city’s Platinum Triangle in response to the threat of a lawsuit from Angels Baseball.
But, the city will proceed with designing the facility “as it sees fit,” City Attorney Rob Fabela said last week in a letter to the team’s lawyer.
Fabela’s letter, dated Oct. 27, was in response to one that attorney Allen Abshez — representing Angels Baseball and team owner Arte Moreno’s company, SRB Management — sent in September arguing the team’s lease for the stadium doesn’t include a fire station on the property and to build it would breach the agreement.
The fire station dispute is one of two legal issues that stem from the city’s decision to unwind the stadium sale, and they both appear to be at a stalemate. The other issue is whether Anaheim owes SRB Management $5 million in cost recovery because it voided the deal.
The city and SRB were on the verge of closing escrow on the $320 million sale last spring when the news broke that then-Mayor Harry Sidhu was under federal investigation and, in supporting court documents, investigators alleged he may have sought to pass confidential information to Angels Baseball officials in the hope of soliciting $1 million for his reelection campaign.
Sidhu resigned his seat in May. He has not been charged with a crime and his attorney, Paul S. Meyer, has said, including in comments Monday, that Sidhu did not disclose confidential information or ask for a campaign contribution in connection with the stadium sale.
Investigators noted in the court documents that the FBI agent had no evidence the team’s representative was aware of Sidhu’s intention or if Sidhu actually solicited any campaign funding.
Under public pressure over a deal that some considered tainted, the City Council opted to cancel the sale the day Sidhu stepped down.
In June, Abshez told the city SRB would file a $5 million claim to recoup money it spent putting the deal together. The city still hasn’t determined whether it will pay — Anaheim spokesman Mike Lyster said Monday that city officials agreed to pause any site preparation or early-stage construction on the fire station to try to untangle the two disputes.
While the city reserves the right to build the fire station, he said, “We think it is best to separate those two issues and to focus on the claim that has been put forth.”
So why haven’t city leaders decided whether to pay the claim?
It’s still under review, both by city management and behind closed doors with the council, but “questions have been raised” about city documents in the stadium negotiations “that may have been shared without the full awareness of the city’s administrative negotiating team,” Lyster said. “Naturally that gives us pause.”
In other words, if any evidence were to come to light that the former mayor did improperly share information, the validity of the entire deal — including a clause allowing the stadium buyer to recover $5 million if the city defaulted — could be in question, Lyster said.
SRB spokeswoman Marie Garvey has said the company and the team “acted in good faith throughout their dealings with the city of Anaheim.” Reached Monday, she referred back to such earlier statements and Abshez’s letters to the city, and added, “We’re in constant communication with the city on a variety of topics and the claim is one of them.”
It’s unknown when the city might have sufficient information to decide on the claim.
In mid-June, after receiving public records requests for Sidhu’s emails and text messages, City Attorney Fabela contacted Meyer to say his client was “required to search his personal accounts” for any related records and turn them over.
As first reported by the Los Angeles Times, Meyer ultimately responded that because Sidhu is no longer a city official, he’s not required to disclose his personal texts and emails under the California Public Records Act. Meyer also said Sidhu was asserting his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself, although they believe no charges would be filed or proved against him. On Monday, Meyer referred questions back to that letter.
While that appears to make it difficult for the city to get more information on whether any improper activity took place during the stadium negotiations, Lyster said the city’s understanding is that, at least as of a few months ago, the federal investigation was ongoing, and “we would want to see that play out.”