Laguna Niguel City Council member Sandy Rains stepped down from the position of Mayor.
Rains was facing backlash for attempting to investigate City Manager Tammy Latourneou after then City Attorney Chris Neumeyer was put on the agenda by other council members who wanted to replace him with someone with more ‘experience’.
In a heated meeting on 2/21/27, council members Stephanie Oddo and Ray Gennawey publicly called for the removal of Sandy Rains from the role of Mayor in what they called ‘retaliation’. Neither Oddo or Gennawey acknowledge what reasons, if any, Rains had for calling for the review of Latourneau.
Citing a violation of contract, Ray Gennawey point that that Sandy Rains was not allowed to initiate a termination proceeding against Tammy Latourneau referencing this clause in her contract:
Gennawey failed to mention that the contract also lists Tammy as an at-will employee which stating that nothing can interfere with the city’s right to terminate, without cause or reason, the employment of Letourneau.
The spectacle ended with Sandy Rains apologizing, but not after Stephanie Oddo, the newest member of the city council and only democrat, threatened to retaliate in scorched Earth fashion by removing Sandy Rains from ALL positions of representation in the entire region labeling Rains’ actions as “misconduct”.
No on addressed what issues Sandy Rains had found with Tammy Latourneau. Perhaps Ray Gennawey’s employer Todd Spitzer at the District Attorney’s office will be prosecuting Sandy Rains.
More to come.
