By Andrew Hoover Eastvale – Eastvale City Council members have recently held a crossfire about the Las Vegas International Conference of Shopping (ICN) Centers in May of last year. At the City Council Meeting on March 27, a motion was called to decide who would be attending the next International Convention of Shopping Centers (ICSC) RECON conference in Las Vegas again. When a motion was made to have Mayor Ike Bootsma and Mayor Pro-tem Adam Rush go instead of Jeff DeGrandpre and Kelly Howell, DeGrandpre was the first to speak up about it. DeGrandpre stated at this City Council meeting that he did not agree with the way money was utilized during the last event, which was held last year in Las Vegas. “I was at the Ontario Airport Monday morning, not Sunday night. Monday morning heading out there, a lady from the County came up to me … I had my shirt on that said Mayor City of Eastvale, and she said, ‘I’m glad to see somebody from the City of Eastvale is finally coming because nobody was there from the Eastvale the night before’,” stated DeGrandpre. “That upset me a little bit. So, I mean, after all, some people went out Saturday, they came with spouses, it was a nice little vacation there.” DeGrandpre went on to further state his side of the conference by making allegations such as, the booth being empty each time he visited it, and how certain developers who are already in the City of Eastvale were being met. He further stated that it “was a waste of tax payer money.” DeGrandpre was also upset with the developers that Kelly Howell and Michele Nissen met with. “I’m looking at the report from last year and these folks went to places like In-N-Out, Steak and Shake, a bakery, Hickory Farms, Jersey Mike’s, Brunswick Bowling. This is not the purpose of this conference, this conference is not to get another sub shop here in Eastvale, it is to get the development underway, and the developers then go out and get the people that then lease space from them,” said DeGrandpre. “My idea of going to this conference, and I already actually have a couple of appointments set, is to get the big developers in here with millions of dollars to get it going, not to go get another dry cleaners. Sorry, that’s just a waste of money.” Kelly Howell was next to retort back stating that DeGrandpre’s allegations of the trip being a vacation was untrue. “I do like to discount and I disagree with you, regarding the comments you made about going with spouses and making a vacation of it, because that’s completely untrue and unnecessary,” stated Howell. According to a document sent to last year’s City Manager, Robert Van Nort, Howell and Nissen visited 31 retailers and developers during that time, which accounted for the booth being empty from time to time due to lucrative business opportunities and meetings being made. Some of the developers and retailers being met with included In-N-Out, Jersey Mikes which opened recently in September of 2012, the U.S Postal Service, and Brunswick Bowling. At the most recent City Council meeting on April 10, Brian Nissen, the husband of Eastvale Public Information Officer Michele Nissen, and local community activist, Richard “Dickie” Simmons, attended the meeting, where both stated that were appalled at the allegations that were made at the last city meeting. Brian Nissen defied DeGrandpre’s notion that they “had a nice little vacation” at tax payer expense. “This is an outright lie,” Brian Nissen said. “I did not attend the convention.” Dickie Simmons pointed out that meeting with developers is city business, and that council should refrain from such meetings. DeGrandpre then defended himself stating that “at no time did I say they misused money.” However, he felt the $7,700 that council members voted to use for marketing materials “was kind of wasteful.” “I may have gone off the rails,” DeGrandpre added. At the April council meeting, Kelly Howell provided documents clearly stating every expense made at the conference. She wanted to show her side of the story, as well as allow the public to clearly view the amounts spent by each member as well as a memorandum of the event detailing the business and developers that were met with at the conference. According to a memo to then City Manager Bob Van Nort, last year in May, the Eastvale City Council visited the ICSC RECON in Las Vegas to allow them to get better acquainted with new developers for the City, make new connections with new developers, and introduce the City of Eastvale to a larger market of individuals and make our cities presence known. ICSC RECON is the world’s largest real estate exhibit and convention where approximately 30,000 industry professionals attend with hundreds of exhibitors. Councilman DeGrandpre and Councilwoman Kelly Howell attended ICSC RECON last year, as well as City staff member Michele Nissen. The total amount that Eastvale tax payer money was spent during that trip was $7,761.26, which covered travel for the event, lodging, pavilion fee, give-a ways, pamphlets, as well as other misc items such as phone and food, which was all necessary toward the conference trip itself.
