The Los Angeles World Airports terminated the leases of two businesses at Van Nuys Airport to meet an order from the Federal Aviation Administration to keep property for aviation uses only. J.E.C. Enterprises and C & M; Relocation Services received a deadline of Dec. 31 to move off the property at 7743 Woodley Ave. although C & M; has asked for a 60-day extension. With a high demand for hangar and ramp space at the airport, the FAA no longer can justify business tenants such as C & M;, a household and industrial mover, which has no aviation purpose. C & M; needs to relocate to an area with 24,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet of indoor space and enough parking for 12 to 15 tractor trailer units, said its owner Courtland Weber. With a limited number of options in the San Fernando Valley it also must look to the Santa Clarita Valley, Weber said. “That’s a tough nut to pull off,” Weber said of the space requirements needed for the company he founded 10 years ago. J.E.C. Enterprises, a plane storage facility owned by James DeGuiseppi, is an aviation-related business but must leave for other reasons. With the C & M; property slated for aviation use, J.E.C. stands in the way of access to the Van Nuys runways. “They have been asked to vacate in order for a taxi lane to be created that will allow access for aviation use,” said airport spokeswoman Stacy Geere said. Attempts to reach DeGuiseppi, a retired judge, were not successful. The issue of non-aviation use of land has been an ongoing one between the FAA and LAWA. What is taking place is the result of the FAA requesting a comprehensive redevelopment plan for that area of the airport, Geere said. Aerolease West, a tenant at 7949 Woodley Ave. has come up with a plan on how it will redevelop its land so that it can remain at the airport, Geere said. “Since C & M; has no aviation use they have determined they can’t redevelop it,” Geere said. The demolition of the buildings now used by C & M; and J.E.C. is part of a larger project to demolish structures on a former Air National Guard site at the airport. After the structures are torn down, a request for proposal will go out to turn part of the site into a propeller plane center with an aviation office area, tie downs, and small hangar space, said airport manager Selena Birk. The airport will determine at a later time what to do with the area vacated by C & M; and J.E.C. The area could also be used for additional propeller plane space if a need remains once the propeller center on the west side of the airport is built out. “As long as it’s an aviation use and there is access (to the runways and taxiways) there could be other aviation-related buildings put there,” Birk said Although C & M; was not an aviation-related business, its lease started at a time when the FAA allowed such uses on an interim basis. Weber described the building as empty and vandalized when he occupied it in 1996, and later made infrastructure improvements. During his 10 years there, he estimated he paid just less than $1 million in rent and $35,000 in property taxes, Weber said. “Before that LAWA wasn’t collecting anything,” Weber said. While Weber said he was not shocked about having to move his business, he was disappointed for DeGuiseppi. “I have a cadre of people within my operation who are helping me to come to grips with relocating and I have people on the outside working on finding me property,” Weber said. “The judge he’s got some serious things happening there.” Weber’s search for a new location has not been easy. One owner with a building and enough parking wanted to sell his property but Weber prefers to lease. Another property got snatched up just as Weber was about to make an offer.

No one says it’s easy being in the health care business. But these days, it’s even more challenging in the Valley area, where professionals have to wrestle with a laundry list of complex issues from how to care for thousands of underinsured people and address the region’s worsening nursing shortage to where to find the millions of dollars in funds needed for mandated hospital upgrades. In our special health care magazine inside this issue, we talk to those on the front lines facing these troubling issues each day and find what’s being done to address the vital future of health care in our region.

At College of the Canyons, the waiting list to enter its nursing program numbers some 300 names. On a monthly basis, the Valencia school processes 1,500 applications of potential students wanting to get into the two-year program. “My school has tripled its enrollment in the last four years,” said Sue Albert, dean of Allied Health. “We are doing our job on this end.” Despite the efforts of College of the Canyons and other schools in the San Fernando Valley area a shortage of nurses in California remains and it’s an issue facing the health care industry that isn’t going away soon, The current shortage is pegged as high as 21,000, a number expected to double by 2010, according to the Center for California Health Workforce. A study by UC San Francisco pushes the number of unfilled nursing positions to 122,000 by 2030. To address the shortage, hospitals have lured local nurses and recent graduates to their facilities through perks and signing bonuses while others pay overtime and hire temporary nurses through staffing firms; expensive options given that traveling nurses can make up to $100,000 a year. You have to look at whole picture, and California has a huge growth rate, births and people moving here from wherever. Albert, a registered nurse since 1970, said that hospitals have worked to improve working conditions and provide reasonable pay measures that help bring in new nurses. The key is the follow up and keeping them on staff, Albert said. According to 2005 statistics, California had one of the highest hourly wages for nurses, with an average of $33.04 for both private and not-for-profit hospitals. At Providence Health System’s two hospitals in the San Fernando Valley, night shift nurses can volunteer for a program in which they work for six consecutive pay periods or 12 weeks and have two consecutive pay periods four weeks off. Hospital administration is looking to bring the program in a modified form to the day shift as a means to retain its nursing staff, said John Saavedra, director of human resources for Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. The biggest draw for the program is that the nurses come out ahead with paid time off, Saavedra said. But it also gives staff a chance to spend more time with family and to prevent burnout from the job. “They have four weeks of downtime they count on just being away from work and getting paid,” Saavedra said. Hospitals had already been facing a nursing shortage when a new state mandate went into effect in 2004 requiring hospitals to employ a certain number of nurses for each patient depending on the ward; from one nurse for every two patients in intensive care to one nurse for every six in psychiatric. While heralded by nurses and patient rights groups, over the past two years the ratios have effectively tapped the local pool of nursing candidates dry. Foreign-born nurses are not necessarily seen as a panacea because hospitals tend to shy away from the time and expense of the hiring process involving these nurses. In education, area schools play their part to address the shortage. Fast track In late 2005, UCLA announced plans to reopen its undergraduate nursing program to freshman after a decade-long closure. California State University at Northridge is awaiting approval from the state Board of Nursing for a 15-month fast-track bachelor degree program for new nurses. Northridge Hospital Medical Center and Providence Health System each contributed $100,000 to start up that program. The program is open to students who have already received a bachelor degree or higher in any subject and have met prerequisites, such as anatomy and physiology, said its director Martha Highfield. Whereas a traditional bachelor of science in nursing takes four years to earn, the new CSUN program collapses it into four consecutive semesters. “It’s a very quick way to graduate new registered nurses,” Highfield said. Community colleges, however, provide the lion’s share of educational and training opportunities. Local schools took a role in meeting the nursing demand by forming a collaborative in January 2005 between five colleges from Ventura through to Glendale and seven hospitals and medical centers. For the first year of the two-year program, students share a common curriculum and then are absorbed into one of the five participating community colleges. The classes are taught off campus through live interactive teleconferencing, with skills labs taking place at the partnering hospitals. The program graduated its first class of 100 students in late November, with the students receiving an associate’s degree, said Albert, of College of the Canyons. Hospital grants The program is primarily funded through grants with each partner hospital contributing $100,000, Albert said. But one challenge on the education front is providing clinical experience for the students, Albert said. College of the Canyons received a grant with which it will purchase nine computerized mannequins costing $300,000 that can be used for nurse training in the place of live patients, Albert said. Highfield lined up hospitals in the Valley to provide clinical placement for the students of the fast-track program expected to start next fall. “An advantage is the student is trained in their environment,” Highfield said. “The students become comfortable with their environment if they go to work there.” Maintaining required staffing levels is just one reason for a low number of nurses. Another is working nurses reaching retirement age. “Nurses are aging; within the collaborative four have retired,” Albert said “That is a lot of nursing leadership to lose.” Officials at Providence St. Joseph do look at internal demographics to make its business decisions, Saavedra said. A big component for the facility is determining if sufficient numbers exist to backfill those positions as retirements take place. “There is a gap there so obviously there is room for improvement,” he said. “We’re also looking at programs that would help identify our existing employees who have high potential to move into management or exec management positions.”

It’s the day before Thanksgiving and inside a chilly walk-in freezer near Bob Hope Airport, a cadre of hairnet-donned workers are filling row after row of shiny plastic trays with thick slices of turkey, scoops of a vegetable medley and palm-sized pumpkin pies. The warehouse is the centerpiece of Fresh Dining, a two-year old diet service that prepares and delivers five health-conscious meals a day to hundreds of clients across Los Angeles and Orange counties every day. But instead of slim portions and granola bars, Fresh Dining has taken a different approach: they’ve created meals that somehow taste good while still being healthy. “We delivered today spinach mozzarella low-fat ricotta crepes. We do tuna tartare, we do rack of lamb; food that you get in five-star restaurants,” said Mariana Rossano, the company’ president, who also helps dream up many of its menus. “But it’s all healthy.” For clients, the company creates five meals a day breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack and dessert in the company’s colossal Burbank kitchens. The meals are then packed with ice in blue coolers and couriered by vans to doorsteps and offices overnight for clients to eat the next day. A day’s worth of five meals cost $42.95 if a customer signs up for 14 days or $39.95 for 90 days. Rossano and Executive Chef Michael Bowen dream up most of the menus and draw from hundreds of ingredients. “We have grains from all over the world,” Bowen says. “This is how we really mix the menus up.” That variety also allows the meals to not taste like typical diet fare and underscores the mission of the company, said Fresh Dining CEO Todd DeMann. “We don’t bill our company as a diet service,” DeMann said. “We’re more about healthy eating. And the byproduct of that is weight loss.” Still, the company has made a name for itself for delivering returns and has attracted a celebrity clientele that includes the likes of Janet Jackson, Denise Richards and Tori Spelling and partnerships with local gyms, trainers and even doctors, including Future Physique Westlake and Dermatique Medical Center for Advanced Skincare in Encino. Lance Fessler owns Independent Fitness Consultants, a training center in Sherman Oaks, and said he’s been referring his clients to Fresh Dining as part of their weight loss. “The food is fresh and gourmet,” he said. “Usually after three months, people get sick of most programs. Not with this. It’s much more balanced.” Curious fundraiser The company started in early 2005 when Rossano, who had been working at L.A.-based Zone Gourmet, approached DeMann, a restaurateur with past projects in New York. “We put together a business plan and raised the money,” DeMann said. One of those early financiers was a DeMann family friend, former Chrysler Corp. Lee Iacocca, who in retirement has become a major advocate for healthy eating. “His passion for the last number of years has been health-related,” DeMann said. “He thought it was a good strategic fit for himself.” With a big chunk of cash in place, DeMann went to family and friends “and friends of friends,” he said. The unique product and sound business plan simplified generating the seed money, DeMann said. “It was not hard to raise the money that was the easy part,” DeMann said. From there, the company hired staff and found temporary office space in Encino and a kitchen in North Hollywood. They also launched a direct mail campaign to 10,000 people, which gave the company a first slate of customers. Deliveries started in April and from there, the business was fueled by word-of-mouth and, eventually, published food reviews. Soon, they were in demand. In March, the company moved into a corner of a former Costco Wholesale store just off Sherman Way in Burbank, which DeMann said was attractive because of its central location to several area freeways and its industrial neighbors the airport’s taxiways are just over a chain link fence from the company’s parking lot. “What’s great about our location here is that we can work 24-7. We’re not bothering anyone.” The brightly painted warehouse is divided into four areas: office space, kitchen, shipping and pantry. Given the company’s workload they cooked 600 pounds of turkey for Thanksgiving the bulk of the space is devoted to storage. “We deal with such a volume,” DeMann said. “We can do lots of food out of this space.” The total number of clients at any one time hovers around 524, although many rotate on and off “because of whatever their needs are,” DeMann said. Some people also leave the program because they meet their weight goals and no longer need the regimen. “Part of the goal is educating consumers,” DeMann said. “We’re not looking for our customers to be on for 10 years. If you reach your goals, great.” The business can sustain the rotating customer base because people will still use the service even if they’ve lost the weight or gain it back, he said. “People are always dieting and dieting is cyclical,” he said. Another factor is that about 40 percent of Fresh Dining’s customers also use it purely out of convenience. “People are busy,” DeMann said. “This is a really easy solution.” So far, the model is paying off. The company is expected to bring in $5.2 million this year, which DeMann expects could double by 2007. There’s also a move to expand the warehouse by an additional 5,000 square feet and add more staff. Rossano said she’d also like to explore more dieting options for her clients, which continue to grow each month. “I feel like we haven’t even touched the surface,” Rossano said. SPOTLIGHT Fresh Dining Year Founded: 2005 Employees in 2004: 3 Employees in 2006: 57 Revenues in 2004: $1.2 million Revenues in 2006: $5.2 million (projected) Driving Force: Providing tasty and attractive gourmet food that is also healthy.

Sherman Oaks By SHELLY GARCIA Senior Reporter Driving along Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks it is hard to miss the gleaming steel and glass studio that is the newest tenant at the Galleria. It is Paul Mitchell The School, the latest of about 70 beauty schools founded by John Paul DeJoria, a stylist turned legend in the beauty industry. The Sherman Oaks school is the first in the Los Angeles area, and it occupies a 15,000-square-foot space in the Galleria designed to train as many as 400 students at a time. Paul Mantea, co-owner and director of the school in Sherman Oaks, said he chose the space to fill a gap for a school in Los Angeles because of its central Valley location and the layout and design opportunities that the Galleria space afforded.> DeJoria started opening beauty schools in 2001 and now has locations across the country. Including the new Sherman Oaks location there are five schools in Southern California. Are there enough potential students to fill so large a school? “If I can quote John Paul, this is like filling the Grand Canyon,” said Mantea. “The beauty industry has been neglected for so long. The quality of the schools doesn’t match the quality of the salons.” Beauty school, where students get a certificate in cosmetology, have long been mom and pop operations, not much different from the salons they supplied with talent. But while salon demographics have changed, now with large corporate owners, multiple locations, nationally known brands and marketing efforts, the schools have remained small, often shoestring operations. “John Paul is larger than life,” said Mantea. “Everything that he does is pretty much global, so looking at his persona, I had to build something that would get closer to who he is. I could not just throw a place randomly together and put his name on it, so I had to build a space that would be comparable to what he stands for.” About 20 students are enrolled in the first program offered at the school, which takes about 11 months to complete for full time students. And there are close to 30 students already enrolled in the second program that starts January 9, Mantea said. But that pales compared to the number of would-be clients for the school’s low cost haircuts, colors and such. Already Mantea said there is a waiting list of about 200 customers. Paul Mitchell the School is still accepting applications for students for its Jan. 9 course. For a cut and/or color, clients can call (310) 801-9918 (Mantea registered the phone number before settling on a location). “Or if they’re in the mall, they can walk in and see if there are any openings,” Mantea said. ANTELOPE VALLEY Lancaster Kudos: Antelope Valley Hospital has been recognized for improving performance measures in patient care. Texas-based supply chain management service company VHA awarded the 379-bed hospital for improvements to heart attack, congestive heart failure and pneumonia. Palmdale Renamed: The City Council has voted to change the name of a local park to honor a longtime civic leader and war veteran. Palmdale Plant 42 Heritage Airpark will be renamed Joe Davies Heritage Airpark at Palmdale Plant 42 to honor Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Joe Davies, who served on the Palmdale City Council from 1988 to 1999. Davies, 83, was also mayor pro tem for four years and is currently serving as a commissioner on the city’s aviation and aerospace commission, which administers the five-acre park. The five-acre facility, which opened in 2004, features nine planes on display. CONEJO VALLEY Camarillo Award: California State University Channel Islands Foundation is seeking nominations for the 2007 Business Community Leader of the Year and 2007 Technologist of the Year awards. The awards will be presented at the 2007 Business and Technology Partnership dinner scheduled for Tuesday, April 24, at 5:30 p.m. at the Mandalay Beach Resort in Oxnard. The partnership promotes regional collaboration between the school and Ventura, Santa Barbara and L.A. county businesses and promotes technological excellence. For award criteria and to submit names, visit csuci.edu/about/btp/ or call (805) 437-3271. The deadline is Dec. 15. Westlake Village Tech Award: Inphi Corp. was recognized for its outstanding financial performance by the Fabless Semiconductor Association at an awards ceremony on Dec. 7 in Santa Clara. The association honored the privately-held electronics component company for achieving doubled revenue or net-income with no negative quarters over eight consecutive quarters ending in June 2006. Being nominated for the award is a testament to the company’s commitment to provide the market with innovative, high-performance products that meet the needs of our customers as well as to its sound financial and management practices, said Inphi Vice President of Operations Bill Forster. “We are honored by the nomination and recognize that it is not only a tribute to our company but to the passion and dedication of our employees and the strong relationship we have with our partners and investors.” Inphi was founded in 2000. SANTA CLARITA VALLEY Santa Clarita Build: The engineering and environmental consulting firm Dudek has opened an office in Santa Clarita to serve northern L.A. County and Kern County. The office at 25152 Springfield Court will offer environmental planning, biology, habitat restoration, urban forestry and engineering to developers and municipal agencies. It is the Encinitas-based firm’s fifth Southern California office. Rich: Specialty chocolate maker Chocolates & #341; la Carte has opened a new store at its Valencia factory. The store at 28455 Livingston Ave. offers the company’s full line of desserts and chocolates. The company moved into the 111,000-square-foot production facility in January 2000. Saugus Bank: A new Washington Mutual branch has opened in Saugus. The facility, at 26500 Bouquet Canyon Road, will offer personal and business banking, a loan center and a business-planning center. It is the sixth Washington Mutual location in the Santa Clarita Valley. Santa Clarita Ride: A new limousine service has opened in the Santa Clarita Valley. KLS Limousine and Transportation provides chauffeurs to transport clients to area airports or events. Alan Keffer, who spent 15 years as a limo driver, opened the company in October. Film: Santa Clarita saw movie and television productions in the city continue to increase in November. The city’s film office recorded 80 film days and 32 film permits issues for the month, both records for the city. For July through November, film permits also jumped 7 percent from the same 2005 period to 140 permits. The five-month period also saw 387 film days, 30 percent more than last year. The increase in production is expected to generate $10.03 million for the regional economy for the first five months of fiscal year 2006-2007, the city said. SAN FERNANDO VALLEY Canoga Park Amusement: Westfield partnered with Paramount Pictures to create a kids’ interactive venue at the company’s Topanga shopping center among others. The center will feature a recreation of “Zuckerman’s Barn: Charlotte’s Web” with displays of the animals that appear in the movie along with games, videos and other elements. The experience includes a lifesize replica of Wilbur, and Charlotte will appear on video. Glendale Move: PCL Construction Services has moved its offices to 700 N. Central Ave., Ste. 700. The new digs, a 17,619-square-foot space, were designed by Gruen Associates. Panorama City Center: Crews have wrapped construction on Casa Esperanza, a new 5,700-square-foot community center. The facility at 14705 Blythe St. features a computer lab, kitchen and library. It will host community events and activities. Van Nuys Take Off: Hollywood Aviators offers for the holiday season a chance to fly a plane from take-off until the time of landing. The Deluxe Discover Flight has the citizen pilot meet with an FAA-certified flight instructor to take a half-hour flight from Van Nuys Airport in a 4-seat single-engine plane. The package also includes a photograph and certificate. The flights are FAA-certified and each plane has dual controls.

Angelo Mozilo, chairman and CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp., exercised options for 70,000 shares of the company’s common stock at $9.60 per share and sold them for $41.46, the company said. The stock sale was part of a pre-arranged trading plan that establishes dates for such transactions in advance and allows participants to conduct the transactions whether or not they come into possession of material non-public information during that time.

These days, it seems everyone wants to get on Amgen Inc.’s good side. Just last month, the Pennsylvania legislature pushed through tax breaks and other incentives intended to attract biomedical companies and drug makers to that state. Lawmakers weren’t shy about what company they wanted first. “Amgen is exactly the type of company that we want in Pennsylvania,” said Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, after signing the legislation. “It’s our hope this (investment will) be able to persuade Amgen to put more and more of its manufacturing and its (research and development) into Pennsylvania.” The effort by the Keystone State is a prime example of the growing number of municipalities looking to lure the blockbuster Thousand Oaks drug maker to their areas. Among those reportedly wooing the company are such unlikely areas as St. Louis, Florida, Wisconsin and Buffalo, in addition to more established biotech centers like North Carolina and Seattle. For many, the prospect of bringing in a big name, big-earning biotech firm like Amgen is seen as a ticket to future financial stability, setting off a domino effect in which more biotech companies move into the area. Amgen is a good company to start with: the company has the money it earned $3.7 billion last year on revenues of $12.4 billion and an urgent need to expand outside its 26-year-old Thousand Oaks campus, where space is increasingly tight. As a result, the company in recent years has steadily ramped up its expansion efforts by acquiring operations and expanding into Rhode Island, Seattle, South San Francisco and, most recently, Longmont, Colo. It now has 11 U.S. and 30 overseas operations. With such a track record of multimillion-dollar expansions, it makes sense that municipal governments are more than willing to step in and play host to future Amgen projects, said Ahmed A. Enany, president and CEO of the trade group Southern California Biomedical Council. “The assumption is that you’re attracting industries that play a measure in economic development,” he said. “Life science is one of the industries that everybody is after in the United States.” Enany said municipalities are drawn to the biotech industry because it is clean, offers high-paying jobs and brings in an educated and often affluent workforce that will spend money. Biotechs, meanwhile, are attracted to less developed areas because they are often cheaper to construct projects in than in California, traditionally the hub of the biotech industry, and have eager governments willing to shell out tax breaks. The lower cost of living can also be a draw to the highly specialized pool of workers usually favored by the companies. “That may provide them access to resources they don’t have,” Enany said. Meal ticket Tax incentives were one reason Amgen opened its first production facility in Puerto Rico in 1993. Today, the plant employs 2,500 workers producing the bulk of the company’s Epogen, Aranesp and Enbrel drugs and is credited with bringing $2 billion in investments to the local economy. It has also helped turn Puerto Rico, which had a nascent pharmaceutical industry in the early 1980s, into a major biotech center, with Eli Lilly and Abbott Laboratories both staking claims on the island. “That is a credit to the workforce,” said Enrique Mirandes, director for life sciences of the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Corp. “We’re seeing a transformation on the island.” Of course, Puerto Rico has the benefit of being both a U.S. territory while being situated outside of federal tax jurisdiction. On top of that, the government, like Pennsylvania, has put into place an aggressive tax incentive program. “These companies can use the money saved to fund other operations around the world,” Mirandes said. “This has helped to grow the interest of these companies. Operations that used to be conducted in California are now going on on the island.” Pennsylvania is hoping to mimic such success through its own tax programs. “This is a major tool in our arsenal in attracting companies like Amgen to the commonwealth,” said Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. “We’re at a point right now where we’re positioning ourselves to become a life sciences hub.” Too early to tell Despite the growth, Amgen has been in a rough spot lately. A pair of research reports last month revealed that those who took higher doses of Amgen’s anemia drugs were more prone to strokes or heart attacks. And this month, Amgen officials are testifying before Congress about safety issues related to Epogen and Aranesp. For the moment, though, Amgen appears poised for further expansions, although spokeswoman Sarah Rockwell said the company won’t comment about specific plans, “The company is always looking for continued growth,” she said. Rockwell said the company has a long list of standards a site must have to attract an Amgen operation, including the business climate, infrastructure and, most importantly, the correct type of workers. “It’s got to be a skilled labor force. What we do is pretty specific,” she said. Areas that have those elements will have a leg up, Rockwell said. “We have to look where that criteria is easier to fill,” she said. While Rockwell would not pinpoint exact sites, she did confirm that among those under consideration was Pennsylvania because, she said, the company already has a distribution plant in Louisville, Ky. When asked about whether the tax breaks signed by Rendell had any influence, Rockwell acknowledged the incentives are eye-catching. “Tax breaks certainly make Pennsylvania an even more attractive state to be doing business in,” she said. She was clear that no decision has been made. At the same time, Rockwell was adamant that Thousand Oaks would remain the company’s headquarters. The previous expansions have ignited fears that the city’s largest employer was pulling up stakes. That’s not the case, Rockwell said. “Even though there’s been a lot of talk about expansion and certainly most of the growth the company does will be outside Thousand Oaks, we are still committed to the Thousand Oaks community,” she said. “It’s our headquarters and there’s no plan to change that.” Enany, the official with the biomedical council, was less charitable, saying that such expansions only make sense for a company the size and complexity of Amgen. “It is natural as they have alliances all over the place to branch and have operations where it suits the business. It’s becoming a multinational successful company,” he said. “Of course, not all of them have equal chances of attracting a company like Amgen.”

Question: An employee of ours recently accused a member of our management team of sexual harassment. We know we are obligated to investigate. Can you provide any guidance? Answer: Thanks in no small part to some notable American leaders (read, United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and past United States President William Jefferson Clinton), sexual harassment is a household term. In corporate America, executives are keenly aware that sexual harassment complaints cannot be taken lightly. Most are even aware that the law requires companies to promptly investigate complaints. However, many executives and managers are still less than clear on exactly how to go about satisfying this duty. Although your question speaks to sexual harassment complaints and investigations, the following tools are useful in investigating any complaints of alleged wrongdoing in the workplace. The California Supreme Court has held that employers must conduct a “timely” and “adequate investigation of all alleged workplace sexual harassment complaints. Timely typically means commencing the investigative process as soon as practical. I suggest that companies commence their investigation within 72 hours after first notice. The first threshold issue you confront is who should conduct the investigation. Most popular options include in-house HR personnel, outside counsel, or a third party investigator. The choice depends largely on a number of factors such as the skill, experience, and training of in-house personnel; the nature and extent of the alleged wrongful conduct; the nexus between the accused and the in-house personnel; and budget, to name a few. If you choose to conduct an internal investigation, I encourage you to consider the following approach. However, remember the investigative process is dynamic, and the investigator needs to be open to a certain degree of improvisation. Having said that, the following are certain tried and true do’s and don’ts to keep in mind. 1. Interviewing the alleged victim. Subject to very few exceptions, this is the first step in the process. I advise that you keep the following suggestions in mind: – Choose an inconspicuous time and place to conduct a confidential interview. – It is best if the complainant is interviewed alone; however, if he/she demands to have a friend or counsel present, it is better to grant the request (even though there is no legal right to counsel) and interview a more comfortable complainant then to take a hard stance, perhaps further isolating the complainant. – Try and put complainant at ease; – It is critical to seize this opportunity to gather all of the critical facts. Ensure you get answers to the basics of any investigation such as: What happened? Are we talking about one or multiple incidents? If multiple, for each, ask When? Where? With who? Any witnesses? Any documentary evidence (e.g., e-mail, personal note, pictures)? It is generally better practice to start off getting a general description of events, than to circle back and drill for more detail. Remember, the devil’s in the details. Blanket accusations alone, absent specifics, are of little investigative value. It is the interviewer’s job to always ask Could you please provide me an example? Exactly what did he/she do to make you feel uncomfortable? This first interview is often the best opportunity to get information. Be prepared and take copious notes. – Memorialize your interview. Many experts suggest that the company ask the complainant to sign a document capturing the details shared in the interview process. 2. Make a list of others involved and outline the sequence of interviews. If there are others besides the complainant and the accused who are critical to the events, I generally suggest interviewing the third parties before the accused, assuming these can be arranged without delay. In third party interviews, be mindful of the following: Make the witness comfortable. Inform him/her up front that he/she is not the target of the investigation. – Do not offer specifics. It is better practice to generally inform the witness of the purpose for the meeting and then ask open-ended broad questions and await responses. For example, As you perhaps already know, Jane has complained about some of Joe’s recent behavior (or comments as the case may be). What can you tell me about it? – If the witness ultimately claims no knowledge, then ask if they know anyone else with whom it may be helpful for you to speak. If the witness is familiar with the events/circumstances, probe for more information by asking open-ended questions such as: “What can you tell me about that? How did you learn about that? Can you provide me with some examples so I can better understand?” The objective is to get them to start talking and then just let them go. 3. Interview the accused. This is a critical step. It also calls for a different approach than interviewing third party witnesses. We suggest you consider the following: – Although you may choose to start off broadly (e.g., perhaps you’re aware that Jane has complained about your behavior or similar comments relating to the incident. Do you know what I’m referring to? What can you tell me?), it is critical that you provide the accused with an opportunity to respond to all the relevant details of the complaint. – Inform the accuser it is the company’s legal obligation to investigate any allegations of wrongdoing. Giving the accused an opportunity to hear the allegations and respond accordingly, is an essential part of that process. 4. If your investigation has resulted in conflicting information, be sure to circle back with the complainant or critical witnesses, as necessary, and provide them an opportunity to clarify, correct, or challenge the conflicting information provided by other witnesses. This column contains general information and under no circumstances constitutes legal advice. This information is not provided in the context of an attorney-client relationship and nothing herein creates an attorney-client relationship. Readers should not act upon this general information without first seeking professional advice Ira Rosenblatt is a business and corporate lawyer and a co-founder and Director of Stone, Rosenblatt & Cha, a business law firm in Warner Center. Rosenblatt has earned Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating (“AV”) for legal ability and ethics and is listed in Martindale-Hubbell’s National Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. He can be reached at [email protected].

Santa Clarita has launched a new online system to allow residents to check the status of permits and inspection results. E-permits will allow citizens to look up permit history on any city address and request inspections. The city is also working on a system to allow resident to apply for, pay and process permits online.

The 15-year process to receive approval on what will be one of the largest planned communities in Los Angeles County is about to clear another hurdle. Officials for Newhall Land and Farming Co. next month will submit environmental documents to the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission for Landmark Village, a 1,444-residential unit mixed-use project just west of Santa Clarita. Plans call for 308 single-family units and 1,136 multi-family units arranged on a torpedo-shaped plot hugging the Santa Clarita River and Highway 126, just west of Golden State (5) Freeway. The project would also feature a town square housing more than 1 million square feet of businesses over retail, offices and meeting spaces, according to documents submitted to the county. The development will also include a fire station, nine-acre elementary school, 16-acre park and river walk. It is the first in the latest phase of projects by Newhall Land on portions of the vast land holdings the company has held since the 1870s. In the 1960s, the company used portions to develop the Valencia planned community. The company started planning the Newhall Ranch project in the early 1990s on about 12,000 acres it owned from the intersection of the 5 and 126 west towards the Ventura County line and south behind the Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park. The company drew up plans for four villages Landmark, Mission, Homestead and Potrero with a total of 21,000 residential units and shops, office space and parks on the site built over 25 years. The county in 2003 approved a specific site plan for the four villages. Marlee Lauffer, a senior vice president with Newhall Land, said the next phase is for the county to endorse the specific village proposals, starting with Landmark, the smallest of the villages. “Each village is moving through their own approval process to ensure they’re consistent with the specific plan,” she said. The developer has compiled an environmental impact report, which lists the possible affects of the project on the area, and is preparing for a public hearing in front of the commission scheduled for Jan. 31. The county Board of Supervisors must also vote on the proposal, clearing the way for construction to start. “We’re hoping that a groundbreaking could happen in 2008 and homes became available by 2009,” Lauffer said. That timeline worries some in the community around the proposed project, which is today largely undeveloped land. One major opponent has been the Friends of the Santa Clara River, which sued Newhall Ranch during the completion of the master plan alleging the project will hurt the river. Ron Bottorff, the organization’s chair, said the group plans to take an active role in the Landmark approval process as well. He said the group is concerned the project will hurt the plant and animal life downstream or the river will be banked with concrete.