August 11, 2007

City of Rio Dell

675 Wildwood Ave

Rio Dell, CA  95562

Re. Claim against the City

Claimant:  Steve and Sharon Wolff

Claimant address:  3 Painter St. Rio Dell CA 95562

The circumstances and specifics of the claim follows in the general description of damages.

Amount claimed not specified as it exceeds $10,000, as per California Code Section 910(f).  The claim would be a limited civil case.

Claim arises from actions committed by Mayor Richard “Bud” Leonard (Leonard), Rio Dell Police Chief Graham Hill (Hill) and contracted building inspector Arnold Kemp (Kemp).

This claim is filed as a last resort after many years of harassment perpetrated against our family by the City of Rio Dell and its representatives.  The “last straw” was the Mayor of Rio Dell, Richard Leonard, providing a safe forum for the defamation of our family and then thanking Mrs. Kathleen Kemp (spouse of Arnold Kemp) for her defamatory statements.  This was done during the public comments portion of the City Council meeting of  June 19^th, 2007, which was being recorded for public broadcast.  The speaker, Mrs. Kemp, was introduced by Leonard, allowed to make clearly defamatory statements and then offered thanks by Leonard for her statements.  Leonard and Hill both knew of the allegations by Mrs. Kemp prior to the meeting and both were well aware of the animosity of Mrs. Kemp as well as her history of creating incidents to cause problems for our family.  Both officers of the City had the legal and moral obligation to stop the public comments as soon as the defamation became clear, not thank Mrs. Kemp for her statements.  The forum provided by Leonard and allowed by the Chief of Police contributed to a hostile environment and further eroded our civil right to live in peace within the local community. 

There is a long standing history of harassment by Arnold Kemp which the city has knowingly allowed to continue, assisted by Leonard and the police department.  This history will be presented in its entirety to a jury should further action be needed.  This includes the 2004-05 Grand Jury investigation into the Rio Dell First Time Homebuyers program and the subsequent response written by then City Manager Jay Parrish which dismissed the entire report.  The disappearance of the housing money and the lawfully filed complaint is the issue which started this campaign of harassment.  Leonard sat on the loan committee that paid out housing money despite knowing that there were no legal permits for any of the work.  Kemp ignored significant structural code violations and signed an illegal electrical permit as well as false inspection cards.  Both Leonard and Kemp are tied together in the activities investigated and were active participants.  The City was directed to provide the funds necessary to bring our home up to a very minimal level (such as providing a heat source) in order for us to continue living in the home.  In order to facilitate this work, we signed an agreement in which we agreed not to sue the City for the activities that had led up to that point.  We did not, however, agree to be constantly harassed by the building inspector or retaliated against by the City.  The actions of the City and its employees since that date are what bring us to this claim.

We have repeatedly asked the City to help us by asking their building inspector, Kemp, to stop coming to our home and photographing the children, stop following the children home from school, etc.  The City has ignored every plea and Leonard has prevented me from speaking at City Council meetings when the subject of the building inspector has been mentioned.  He has done so by slamming the gavel down and yelling, “What’s your problem lady?”  The actions of city employees, even contracted employees, is appropriate for the City Council forum.  Leonard and then City Manager Parrish both stated that no names could be used and that no personal attacks would be tolerated when I asked for help.  The recordings we have of the pleas for help, Leonard’s responses and Mrs. Kemp’s recent defamation will be presented to the court in any action, if action needs to be brought.  We also have recordings of city council meetings made by City Clerk Karen Dunham, in which Dunham turns down the recording volume as soon as I begin to speak so as to not have any usable evidence of our pleas for help and the City’s response.  Once I was stopped from speaking, the volume returns to its normal level to record the remainder of the meeting.

Kemp sought a restraining order against my husband, Steve Wolff, due to the “false allegations” against him as building inspector and his inability to file a libel/slander suit since we have substantial evidence.  This order was eventually granted and requires Steve to stay 25 yards away from Kemp, his family members and his business.  Therefore Steve no longer goes anywhere on Wildwood Ave. between DJ’s Burger Bar and the Eagle Prairie Bridge.  Since Steve does not go anywhere near the Kemps, they come to our home as well as approach Steve where ever he might be in Rio Dell.  We have talked to Hill about the Kemps being outside our door anytime they wish and the fact that Steve can not be anywhere on our own property without the very real possibility of more false allegations by Mrs. Kemp.  We receive absolutely no assistance from the police and Steve’s civil rights are continuously violated in Rio Dell.  It should be noted that the Chief of Police is the designated representative of the building inspector, as per City code.

We just recently found out that the Rio Dell Police have forwarded eight police reports, all but one filed by the Kemps, to the District Attorneys office for the possible prosecution of Steve for violating their restraining order.  This included a report of violating the restraining order when Steve went to City Hall at a time specified by the City Attorney to make recordings of council tapes.  Steve left for a few minutes to return home and get his medicine and when he returned to City Hall he was prevented from retrieving his briefcase or laptop computer by Hill because Kemp had suddenly shown up.  Steve was told to leave his computer, briefcase and car and just walk away or he would be arrested.  Hill stated to Steve that Kemp was nowhere near his computer but he still couldn’t be allowed in to the council chamber to retrieve it, even if Hill escorted him.  Steve has also been accused of violating the restraining order by attempting to attend a city council meeting, where he was accosted by Mrs. Kemp.  The incident was witnessed by the police officers themselves who stated Steve did not have any contact with Mrs. Kemp until she approached him, began yelling at him and shaking her finger in his face.  This particular police report was not only referred to the DA’s office, but was personally delivered to the DA by the Mayor, the Kemps personal friend.  Each of the eight referrals to the DA’s office have been rejected so far but there is every reason to believe that the harassment campaign will continue.

Since the Kemps refuse to stay away from our family we have been forced into seeking our own restraining orders (orders granted against Arnold Kemp, Andrea Kemp and a pending hearing on Kathleen Kemp).When we have tried to ask the local police for help with enforcing our restraining order against Kemp, which states he is to stay 50 yards away from our home and our family, we were told the court order is “vague and unenforceable.”  This has made the court order a useless piece of paper anywhere within the city limits.  The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department has had no difficulty with the court order and has been very supportive in the past.  The Kemps have been allowed to use their court order as a means to harass our family within Rio Dell.  We have been told by Officer Diaz that Mrs. Kemp is allowed to follow us where ever she wants and if she suddenly appears, Steve has to immediately flee the area.  This is exactly how they are using their court order as a tool for harassment and the police department is fully aware of it.  Mrs. Kemp has blocked in our car at the local park after following us there and then filed a report alleging a violation.  They have tried the same tactic in Scotia when they blocked Steve from picking up the children at school, but the Sheriff’s office told them they were not able to block Steve from going about his daily business. It is obvious that this type of harassment only works within the city limits of Rio Dell.

In addition to supporting the contracted employee, Arnold Kemp, in his continuous harassment of our family, the City of Rio Dell has done their best to create problems for our family.  This includes the filing of a fraudulent 1099 Misc. tax form stating we had received a check for $50,000.  This naturally created a huge problem with the Internal Revenue Service and we received a bill for the taxes they were led to believe that we owed.  We worked with the IRS and provided them all of the evidence showing not only the 1099 Misc. was knowingly false but the tax form was filed as a means of retaliation against our family.  It took a year of investigating and constant stress for our family but the IRS finally exonerated us.  We have received letters from the City Clerk accusing us of running an illegal business out of our home as well.  We never know what the City will come up with next.  When our neighbor cut down the top of the common fence and attached a wooden shed, designed to direct rain water onto our work bench, we notified Code Enforcement Officer Carla Ralston (Ralston).  After much discussion about attaching wooden structures to common fences and the violation of fire code, Ralston stated she “didn’t want to make waves.”  This is due to the neighbor being a close personal friend of Mayor Leonard.  I can assure you that if we tried to cut down tops of fences to attach wooden structures and divert water onto a neighbor’s workbench, the City would most certainly “make waves.”  The treatment we receive from the City has gotten so bad that friends in Rio Dell have asked that we not let people know that they are friends of ours.  They are understandably concerned. 

It is very difficult to put a dollar amount to the constant, daily stress and the loss of our civil rights to enjoy our property in peace within the community.  How do you assign a monetary value to your quality of life?  We can not be anywhere in Rio Dell, including on our own property, without fearing another fabricated incident with the cities employee or their close friend Mayor Leonard.  There is no quality of life for us in Rio Dell and there is no end in sight.  We should not have to live like this simply because we turned in fraudulent activities with the administration of the CDBG money and the building department.  This could easily be interpreted as whistleblower’s retaliation, which is also illegal.

We have never sought any type of lawsuit against the City of Rio Dell in the past as we simply wanted to live in peace in our community.  Our desire to live peacefully has been used against us as the constant harassment continues and escalates.  We are now forced into a position of saying enough is enough.  If the city wants to deny our claim, then it will be up to a jury to view the substantial evidence of years worth of harassment and retaliation and make a determination.  We are willing to speak with City Manager Nancy Flemming about any reasonable settlement that includes putting a stop to the harassment of our family.  The incidents of harassment and the supporting evidence is far more extensive than what could be included in this letter.  We have already had our situation examined by the Grand Jury as well as investigators from Housing and Community Development and the Investigator Generals office in Washington D.C.  The investigations that have been completed have fully supported our contentions based on the same evidence that would be presented to any jury, should the City decide to deny the claim. 

Sharon Wolff                                                                Steve Wolff

3 Painter St.

Rio Dell, CA  95562

707-764-3793

cc City Manager Nancy Flemming, City Attorney David Martinek