Lee answers “No” when the Mayor asks if any Councilmembers have had ex-parte communications with anyone involved in the Grocery Outlet project. See Writings for Communications.
- Ex-Parte Communications
- Occurs when a party to a case talks or writes to or otherwise communicates directly with the judge about the issues in the case without the other parties’ knowledge.
- Undermines the fairness of a judicial proceeding by introducing new information to the decision-maker (the judge or jury) without giving the other party an opportunity to explain or respond.
- In the case of Grocery Outlet, Alan Lee sat as judge and jury since this was a judicial hearing.
Lee was included on e-mails from the Grocery Outlet developer on 1/18/2021, 1/19/2021 (to his non-City e-mail), 2/4/2021, 2/8/2021, and had a 1/19/2021 phone conversation (confirmed in 1/19/21 & 6/8/21 e-mails). Lee also lied in response to the Public Records Act request that he had no related e-mails in his non-City e-mail, which he clearly did per CCs below.
In addition to the these communications that involved him, Lee formed a Political Action Committee (PAC) named “Big Bear Lake Together” for the Citizens’ Initiative on Short-Term Rentals AND the first appeal to the Grocery Outlet project is filed by “an unincorporated association of Big Bear residents that oppose the project” named “Big Bear Lake Together.” The PAC uses the same Treasurer, Political Reporting Plus, as Lee’s personal 2020 campaign. Lee opposed Grocery Outlet from the onset, his final vote was NO to approving the project and he never provided any actual findings or grounds for the decision.