Council Hears Angry Words Over Orange Police Chief

The City Council’s first meeting of the new year began with angry barbs from residents who said they will launch a recall drive if Police Chief John R. Robertson is fired.

The council members then gathered in a special closed session to discuss reports from attorneys they had hired to investigate Robertson, who has been on paid administrative leave since Oct. 15.

City Atty. David A. De Berry said that the council would have no announcement. If the city manager recommended that Robertson be fired, he said, the chief would be given notice of termination and would have a chance to respond before any final action was taken.

Robertson’s forced leave has been portrayed in widely conflicting terms since he left his office in October.

City officials originally said they were investigating charges made by police officers that Robertson allowed a “hostile workplace” to develop in the department.

De Berry later said the city also was considering charges that Robertson had conducted an improper investigation into the leaking of a court-sealed document to the press.

The chief’s attorneys and his supporters have contended that the forced leave was political retaliation, because Robertson was looking too closely at city officials while investigating an ongoing scandal related to the city’s trash hauling and recycling companies.

That investigation began in April when police began looking into allegations that the companies, Orange Disposal Service Inc. and Orange Resource Recovery Systems Inc., had been misappropriating municipal funds.

In August, the district attorney’s office began handling the investigations of the companies, both owned by the socially prominent Hambarian family. They have not indicated how much longer the investigation may continue. Sources have told police that as much as $6 million in city funds may have been lost.

About 50 residents, representing supporters of Robertson, lambasted the council members before they went into their closed session.

Representatives of a group called CLEAN--for Citizens for Leadership, Ethics, Accountability Now--said they would launch a recall petition against any council member who votes for Robertson’s termination.

“I don’t know how you would explain terminating the chief in the middle of the trash investigation,” said Shannon Tucker, one of the group’s leaders. “I don’t know how you will survive politically or socially. I do not threaten but I take action. When the decision is made, we will all be taking action.”

The group in November presented a petition to the Orange County Grand Jury asking for an investigation to determine if city officials had too many conflicts of interest to fairly evaluate Robertson’s job performance.