MIke wrote on Oct 4, 2007 4:11 AM:A perfect example of a bad faith, frivolous lawsuit... There's no risk of liability to her because her e-signature continued to be used by the city inasmuch as city employees cannot be personally liable for city business. The government still uses George Washington's image on dollar bills, and I don't believe George ever gave his permission.-

Roberto1 wrote on Oct 4, 2007 5:43 AM:Wow...350 dollars and all these overpaid payroll leaks attending court over 350 dollars...What a waste of taxpayer dollars.-

Chuckles wrote on Oct 4, 2007 6:12 AM:I think this could go all the way to the Supreme Court!!!!-

Hired an Attorney ? wrote on Oct 4, 2007 6:42 AM:For what? A simple, written correspondance even a high schooler could have written? This should tell the reader something about why she isn't the City's manager any longer.-

GFN wrote on Oct 4, 2007 6:43 AM:Pay the $350... and thank your lucky stars.-

Slow News Day wrote on Oct 4, 2007 6:58 AM:What a waste of newspaper space! Who really cares about this?-

No doubt wrote on Oct 4, 2007 7:40 AM:The $350/hr attorney negotiated somewhere in the settlement aggreement a release of all future liability against her. So why the need in hiring the attorney again? A nickle phone call (from her) would have came to same result.-

Steve wrote on Oct 4, 2007 8:18 AM:People with this much sense running cities?...I must say she has excellent connections!!!-

SaraNSoCal wrote on Oct 4, 2007 8:34 AM:"Just pay the darn $350 and hush up about it. Despite the fact that people think this is a dumb thing to take to small claims court the city was still using her signature when they shouldn't have. Who cares if she was still getting checks Murrieta is full of dang whiners...Officals should be more worried about doing their jobs not this case. Calling this a DANGEROUS practice? They wouldn't know what dangerous was if it sat on there face and started to wiggle!!

agree with No doubt wrote on Oct 4, 2007 8:35 AM:All could have been taken care by her with just a phone call. There is something funny going on for her to get an attorney right away. What a loser she is and she is still running a city office. Thank goodnes I done live in her area!!!

Concerned-1 wrote on Oct 4, 2007 9:33 AM:It seems this action is designed to call public attention to the problems within the City of Murrieta. From my perspective though, things like this are the least of the city's problems.

steve wrote on Oct 4, 2007 10:10 AM:You folks are missing the point. How would you like someone signing YOUR signature to an account over which you had NO control? Liability CAN attach if money is spent wrongfully. Moss has already said she filed this over the principle, not the $350. She has also indicated she willl donate the funds to a charity if she prevails. A better question is why the $300,000 interim city manager and his razor sharp financial wizard Teri Ferro didn't catch this over a five month period. Changing the signature should have been a first order of business. The city hasn't even had the decency to issue an apology.

Dumbstruck wrote on Oct 4, 2007 11:46 AM:I bet the city changed the locks on the door after Moss left. So why didn't they stop using her signature? This could open up the city to a large liability claim or even a fraud claim from Moss and she is only asking for $350. Come on, pay up! A small token for doing something stupid. It will cost the taxpayers more if they continue in court.

What? wrote on Oct 4, 2007 1:42 PM:This is insane. I bet her city network passwords were changed befor she finished clearing out her office. Why were they still using her signature after she was gone? On the flip side why didn't she just write a letter telling them to stop? My last question is how did she find out they were still using her signature after she had left? Was her own signature on one of her severence checks?

Not Worth It! wrote on Oct 4, 2007 2:12 PM:This person is not worth $3.50 much less $350K! What kind of wages are these people getting from the city when there are others out there not even able to pay their mortgage's!!!!! It's time to cut these people's earning down to the real world wages!

GFN wrote on Oct 4, 2007 2:34 PM:Steve, 10:10 got it...nuff said.

Good for Ms. Moss wrote on Oct 4, 2007 2:42 PM:If someone was using my signature, I would sure be asking for more than $350. I don't blame her for using an attorney after how our idiotic city council treated her. She may have received a nice severance package, etc. but the fact remains, she did a fantastic job running this city, despite the morons on the city council who got rid of her. Ask any city employee and they will agree with you. Canyon Lake is lucky to have her.

Unbelievable wrote on Oct 4, 2007 3:22 PM:If you ask me, I think Ms. Moss is being kind. The potential liability that can be incurred when you are signing off on checks using public money is huge. Sending a formal letter drafted by an attorney is appropriate and seems to be an essential element in dealing with the city these days. If something were to happen, and this request was done informally, I doubt anyone would step up to admit that the request to remove her name was made. The real question that people should be asking is why was the City issuing checks with the signature of a person who doesn't even have authority to issue those checks and were all of those checks even valid. The city screwed up, the lady felt compelled to use an attorney to make a formal request over the matter, the city should pay her fee and move on.

92592resident wrote on Oct 4, 2007 3:38 PM:The employees were just happy that their payroll checks cleared when cashed. Pay the money and charge it to civic center budget overage.

Henry wrote on Oct 4, 2007 5:54 PM:I have had the pleasure of working with her on a project and can assure you she's worth far more than the $3.50 referred to. She worked 90 hour weeks, 7 days a week and was always approachable. The point is she walked the walk - not just talked about improving Murrieta. When you make a mistake you do two things (1) admit it (2) make it right. Because of the hostile work environment caused by Councilman Gibbs, attorneys got involved and that's probably why she didn't contact them directly. Can you imagine how they could have twisted that.

Randy wrote on Oct 4, 2007 7:37 PM:You can't get an attorney to breathe for $350!

Fan of Murrieta wrote on Oct 8, 2007 8:32 AM:I love Lori Moss.