Arcadia Council Approves $30K for Officials’ China Trip

No, this isn’t another ‘McMansion’ rising from the ashes of a historic home demolition: It is, in fact, one of the many sites Arcadia Council will visit in Taipei, Taiwan ROC next month – Photo by Terry Miller

Arcadia Council Approves $30K for Officials’ China Trip

BY JOE TAGLIERI

The Arcadia City Council on Tuesday unanimously decided to appropriate $29,000 to cover costs for an upcoming trip to China and Taiwan.
Officials said the purpose of the trip is to foster a better understanding of Asian culture in order to more effectively serve the community, which is currently heavily populated by residents from China and Taiwan.
Establishing sister city relationships with Chinese and Taiwanese municipalities is another goal of the excursion, which is likely to take place Mar. 19 to Apr. 1.
Three companies — Sichuan Arrow Recovery Tech Co., Companhia de Comercial Dingyuan Limitada and Perfect Brothers Development Corp. — each donated $10,000 to help pay the city’s share of travel expenses, according to City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto. Arrow Recovery Tech, a Chinese electronic waste recycling company, and Macau-based international trading firm Companhia de Comercial Dingyuan made donations in January. Rowland Heights-based Perfect Brothers’ contribution came in over the weekend.
Lazzaretto also mentioned a possible but unconfirmed fourth donor that he did not identify by name.
“Neither donor has previously done business directly with the City of Arcadia,” Lazzaretto wrote in a staff report, referring to the two initial benefactors. “However, one or more owners of each firm may have interests in real estate and development companies in the San Gabriel Valley that may operate in the City of Arcadia.”
Regarding the most recent donor, Lazzaretto said via email: “We are not aware of any past business with the city or any proposed business with the city for Perfect Brothers. As far as we know, Perfect Brothers is solely a private development firm. We do not have any projects in the pipeline with their name on it that would be subject to City Council or Planning Commission approval.”
He added that while officials would not be legally required to do so, “If in the next year a proposal does come forward, we will note the donation in the staff report in order to be as transparent as possible.”
Arcadia’s 11-member delegation will include Mayor John Wuo and his wife, Council Member Sho Tay and his wife, Council Member Tom Beck, City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto, City Attorney Stephen Deitsch, Fire Chief Kurt Norwood, Recreation and Community Services Director Sara Somogyi as well as the mayor’s brother and sister-in-law George and Sandy Wuo.
Lazzaretto estimated the trip’s cost to be between $5,000 and $6,000 per traveler, or $65,000 in total.
Council members’ relatives will pay all expenses out-of-pocket, and city staff personnel will be eligible for two-thirds reimbursement from the $30,000 donation pool.
Mayor Wuo, Tay and Beck will each receive a $1,350 reimbursement, the city manager reported. This amount was based on $450 from each of the three $10,000 donations, which falls just short of the city’s $460 annual limit for gifts from a single source.
“Because we are looking at $30,000 in donations right now and the total of expenditures would be about $29,000, this would cost the city nothing to send the … delegation to China and Taiwan,” Lazzaretto said.
Arcadia resident David Arvizu expressed concerns about the donations.
“The vetting process for these companies should be looked into in depth,” he told the council. “We don’t want to put ourselves in the position where we have the appearance of establishing some sort of quid pro quo.”
In an interview with Arcadia Weekly, Wuo dismissed speculation about the donors’ motives.
“I don’t think they’re really looking for anything to achieve,” he said. “They’d just like us to go, they’d just like to help. Why does there have to be a motivation?”
Arvizu also urged the council to “carefully vet both of the cities to make sure the ethical standards that we uphold here in Arcadia are also upheld in those cities as well.”
Lazzaretto’s staff report notes that “the consulate in Taiwan has suggested the Neihu District of the City of Taipei as a potential sister city for Arcadia.”
Additionally, “Taixing, China, already considers …. Arcadia to be its sister city,” Lazzaretto wrote. “It is expected that the delegation will travel to Taixing for governmental office tours and official meetings and may wish to substantiate this relationship.”
Other planned stops on the itinerary include Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Taixing, and Hong Kong.
Recent press reports that implied Arcadia taxpayers would have to foot the entire $65,000 bill, inspired vigorous responses from council members.
“People paint a very ugly picture,” Wuo told Arcadia Weekly. “It’s like the [Pasadena] Star-News that says ‘Officials’ Trip,’ it sounds like it’s the city’s $65,000, but that’s not the case.”
During the meeting Tom Beck said: “If you were reading the articles that were written about this China trip, I think they’re misleading and people aren’t coming away with the right impression. I’m a subscriber to the Star-News, read it every day, and I think that they want their stories to be accurate and not misleading. But I think [these] were misleading.”
Council Member Roger Chandler commented, “That’s unfortunate that there’s an implication that it’s some kind of boondoggle.”
Officials also responded to arguments critical of Chinese outreach efforts.
“I think this trip has been unfairly characterized as … something along the lines of ‘well, they’re living here, we ought to teach them American ways. Why are we learning Chinese ways?'” said Mayor Pro Tem Gary Kovacic.
“To be so myopic to think that we’re supposed to ignore that vast group in our city and just assume that they’re going to assimilate without any problems is just ridiculous,” he added. “I think the answer is transparency. It would be best to find funders to pay for everybody’s expenses to go, and then to adequately report those.”
Council Member Sho Tay said in an interview: “Most Asian companies, they like guests to visit them. Especially from China, they want U.S. governments to go visit them. Why shouldn’t we?”
California law requires council members to publicly report all activities subject to reimbursement, according to Lazzaretto’s report. Travel accommodations such as transportation, meals and lodging that are provided by governments or nonprofit organizations may be accepted regardless of amount, but each official will need to report such gifts on their annual financial disclosure documents.

Editor’s Note: Arcadia City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto clarified a couple of questions reporter Joe Taglieri had on Wednesday afternoon – following the council meeting Tuesday:

“The $22,700 would have covered a stipend of $900 per Council Member (2 donations at $450 each x 3 Council Members = $2,700) and about 2/3 of the cost of staff going (about $4,000 per employee x 5 employees = $20,000).

The $29,000 gives me flexibility to add a 3rd and possibly 4th donation reimbursement for Council Members (up to another $2,700 total), up to $1,000 for small give-away items (City pins, City flags, business cards with our names/titles in Mandarin, etc.), and any other legitimate expenses that may arise. I don’t think we get anywhere near that $29,000 number, but the allocation keeps things below $30,000 to guarantee that no City money is used for the trip (even if we stay at 3 donations) and it keeps me from having to go back to the City Council for another allocation should some surprise come up in the next few weeks as we continue to plan things.”

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