San Bernardino, Calif., has a “work plan” to prepare its bankruptcy exit plan, and it’s been reviewed by the entire City Council — not just the small team that previously was allowed to know details of the confidential mediation where much of the city’s bankruptcy plan has been ironed out, the San Bernardino Sun reported today. City Attorney Gary Saenz, who revealed those two changes in a statement Monday, said that the council will now meet regularly with the bankruptcy team. “That order (by mediation Judge Gregg Zive) has now been revised so that Council will now be part of those negotiations and will significantly become a part of bankruptcy team discussions,” Saenz said. Previously, the majority of the council was unable to know firsthand what the city had to work with. That hamstrung those who were asked to trust the bankruptcy team, said Councilman Henry Nickel. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Jury, who’s overseeing the city’s case, has expressed increasing frustration with mediation and suggested that she will begin to loosen its confidentiality requirements. Although she has spoken with Zive, she too has been outside the gag order. In November, Jury gave the city a deadline of May 30 to come up with a complete bankruptcy exit plan, known as a plan of adjustment.
