Okay it's 705 I'm calling the meeting the sound later City Council to order
today's money December 8th. At this point in time I will lead us in the
pledge of allegiance please stand if you're able to. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with the liberty and justice for all.
Madam clerk, would you please take roll?
Council member Aguilar present
Council member Azevedo present council member bolt here
Council member Simon present
Council member Vivieros Walton
Present thank you
Vice mayor Bowen present and mayor Gonzales present the city of San Leonardo conducts orderly meetings to fulfill its mandate
discriminatory statements of conduct that would potentially violate the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and
Or the California Fair Employment and Housing Act
California penal code sections for three or four fifteen are per se disruptive to a meeting and will not be tolerated here
Please see the City Council handbook and say cutting City Council meeting rules of decorum for more information
Madam clerk your announcement if you would like to make a public comment during the meeting you can do so in person or via zoom
If you are present at the meeting, please complete a speaker card and submit it to the city clerk before the item is presented
If you wish to participate in public comment via zoom, you can use the raise your hand tool when the item is called
during the public comment session
Speakers will be invited to speak and will have a set time to share their comments a countdown timer will appear for their convenience
And when the time is up the microphone will be muted. All raised hands outside of public comment will be lowered to avoid confusion
Once public comment is open hands may be raised to speak
Was there so for item number three was there any report will action taken at closed session?
Thank You mayor no reportable actions were taken in closed session, but direction was provided to staff. Thank you
So for our consent calendar, are there any amendments to our consent calendar?
Okay, council Moravirus Walton, please
I'd like to move the consent calendar
and councilmember as Vito
I'd like to second it. Okay, so we do have a motion from council Moravirus Walton
with the second councilman Resavito to move our consent calendar and its entirety forward
but do we have any public comment on this item? Mayor we did not receive any comment
cards there is one hand raised on Zoom. Okay so we'll close public comment in person and
proceed online. Lucas you're the first speaker. Hi can you hear me? Yes. Good evening thank
you council for taking my comment this evening. I see that the consent calendar one of the
is about the travel budget and some of the adjustments that are happening as a
result of past disciplinary actions and will likely there'll be some adjustments
hopefully as a result of the ongoing disciplinary actions before the Council.
I would like to potentially suggest to the Council that any travel money spent
that is improperly spent be reimbursed. I don't think that the Council should be
paying for trips to other countries that result in criminal indictments, that the citizens
should pay for that. I don't think that the people who get to travel to a foreign country
do some corrupt deals. Potentially, allegedly, who knows, the jury will decide. But if it
is found that there was impropriety in some of these trips that the council paid for,
that the people paid for, I would ask that one of the consequences of that is that whoever
I don't like seeing the Council
paying for trips that result in
criminal charges.
Thank you for taking my comment
this evening.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Douglas
Spaulding.
There's the button.
Thank you very much.
Good evening, Council.
Good evening, Council.
Good evening, Council.
Good evening, Council.
Good evening, Council.
Good evening, Council.
Good evening, Council.
Good evening, Council.
Good evening, Council.
Good evening council members. I don't disagree with the previous speaker but like they say,
innocent until proven guilty, I would not want to presume anything before a jury verdict. I wanted
to speak to the the item on board and commission vacancies to point out a couple of things that
occur to me. One is that there is a person appointed as an at-large member to the community
police review board who's practically never goes. I think this person has missed several
meetings in a row. I'm not quite sure what the exact ruling is, but my general sense
is that if somebody is appointed to be served on a board of commission and they don't follow
through for whatever reasons, then replace them so that somebody is representing our
City. The other thing I noticed is on the rec and parks board that there is a
representative from the from the school district San Leandro School District but
there is not one from the San Lorenzo Unified School District that would make
sense to me to to to add someone I'm not sure that Doug Marr wants to add
another night to his his month but you know perhaps they can come up with
somebody to to help us out from over there and I think that was all I wanted
say thank you very much thank you mayor that concludes all of the raised hands
on so we will close public comment thank you and at this point I'm gonna come
back to council is there any additional discussion seeing none please vote on
this item all votes are in and the motion passes unanimously at this point
time we go to item 5a this involves a resolution a potential adoption
resolution to approve and authorize the city manager to execute amendment number
too, with respect to the East Bay, East PCA, SPCA, excuse me, and I do believe
that we have received all in-chambers and updated presentation. Just a quick
question for city manager, will this be shared online in some way? Thank you mayor
good evening council members and community members. Yes we have provided
an updated presentation to council in chambers. We are having an issue with
the Ledgerstar system which is a system that we upload files for council meetings and so
we're asking that everyone pay attention to the presentation that Captain Khan will be giving this evening and
Once we were able to deal with our technical issues. Hopefully tomorrow. We will update the file with the new staff report and
presentation. Thank you. And is it fair to assume city attorney that based on the
Changes that have been made that they're minor administrative ministerial in nature and we may proceed with this item
Yes, you may proceed this item. It is properly agendized and they'll staff will present
Updates to the information in the item. Perfect. Thank you very much with that
We will go to captain Khan if you would please proceed welcome
Thank you. Mr. Mayor. Good evening council members
Mr. Mayor
Madam city manager and city attorney
Pia Rota. As the mayor said, I'm captain Ali Khan. I'm here for the presentation of the Sound Leader Police Department
Animal Control Services with East Bay
SPCA. It's a contract extension.
Just a bit of a background. The Sound Leader Police Department has relied on East Bay SPCA for animal shelter services since
2021
after agreement with VCA Llewelling Animal Hospital and our contract with the city of Fremont and
ended. Prior to FEMA we had a contract with the city of Hayward and the county of Alameda for
animal sheltering services. On July 21st of this year the council, our council approved a six
month contract extension with SPCA while staff evaluated alternate service providers and this
is because of the extreme cost. The police department is well aware that there are two major
budget items at SPCA being one of the largest ones. Staff conducted a multi-county survey
which began in March of this year and found that due to capacity limitations
or staffing constraints in Alameda and Contra Costa counties,
East Bay SPCA was the only viable service provider. On July 14th of this year, Chief
Avery briefed the council on the cost of a six-month contract and advised that a
new long-term contract agreement would be presented later for approval. On
analysis, staff research has concluded
in September of this year and showed that alternatives to SPCA would
increase costs and reduce efficiency by requiring animal control officers to
visit multiple service providers such as medical care before an animal could be
sheltered. At the end of September all viable alternative options have been
thoroughly evaluated and exhausted. Of note and of importance is related to
cost. The salamander municipal code currently requires that SPCA accept and
therefore impound animals found loose in public areas along with allowing
community members to drop off stray at no cost. These requirements have
increased city expenditure for intake and boarding of animals. This slide shows
monthly statistics, activity of intake for the last four reportable months from
July to October. On average we have had an intake of 34 animals per month
accounting for an average of 16 intakes by animal control officers and 14 that
were brought in by public.
This is the total count for animal control stats
up to October.
Most dogs were called in as strays,
and most cats were brought in for minor injuries.
The attached status shows activity shelter
through October.
Of note, animal control officers had 1,972 calls for service
related to animals, which as you can see,
can be a direct effect on how much
the shelter is receiving intakes
and how busy they potentially could be.
This slide shows the total amount by fiscal year
when we first started our contract with East Bay SPCA.
For fiscal year 26 and 27 it is anticipated
it'll cost the city $398,500.
It also reflects the actuals that are paid
for fiscal year 24 and 25,
increases due to the intake exceeding 500 or 400 animals
cost the city additional funds.
So here's what the financial impact is.
For fiscal year 2024, I'm sorry,
2026 will be fully funded
through the adopted budget appropriation
in the amount of 217,500.
And additionally, salary savings
in the amount of $181,000 for a total contract amount
of 398,000 as showed in the prior slide.
For fiscal year 2027 is partially funded
through adopted budget appropriation
in the amount of 217,500
and will require an additional appropriation
in the amount of 181,000.
For total contract amount, again, for $398,000.
The additional budget appropriation will be presented
and considered doing the mid cycle update process.
So why am I here?
This is our recommendation and the police departments ask.
The city council adopted resolution
to approve and authorize our city manager
to execute amendment number two of the contract
and agreement with East Bay SPCA
by extending the term of the agreement
for an additional 18 months through June 30th of 2027
and authorize an increase in the agreement
for an additional 579,000, but not to exceed $1,517,000.
So the ask here is for an extension of the contract.
The funds have been secured.
I'll open it up to any questions,
but if there are any technical questions,
I do have our animal control supervisor at Bell here.
Okay, so at this point in time,
We will take questions from council for clarification, then go to public comment and then come back
for discussion and or motions beginning with councilmember Esavito.
Okay, thank you for your presentation.
I have a couple questions on these statistics.
It says dog versus people, 25, but that there was no animal bites.
So what does that mean, dog versus people?
Just that somebody was scared to go somewhere, so they called the animal control.
to get the animal picked up, the dog picked up, or?
This is exactly why I have my right hand person
who's gonna be at Bill answering those questions.
I was just wondering what that man, dog versus people.
Thank you for the question.
The dog versus people are dog attacks versus people.
They're dog attacks, but they're not bites.
No, they're bites.
Oh, because it says animal bites, and it doesn't matter.
Yeah, so the animal bites is dog versus any other animal.
Or cats versus any other person.
So we have to separate them.
So when we send our statistics to County Health Department,
We have to.
So when it says dog versus people,
that means how many times a person got bitten by a dog?
Yes.
Okay, thank you.
And then another question,
why do we quarantine animals at home?
Do they have rabies or what,
and what animals are we talking about
with quarantine at home?
So with the quarantine of the animals,
it's a quarantine set by the state
that if they are up to date on the current rabies vaccine,
they can be quarantined at home under the,
under the watchful eye of the parents
or the dog owners.
Okay, why?
I mean, why do they got bit by like a scroll
or bit by something?
So we need to make sure that they don't have
any neurological diseases.
Okay, you quarantine if you find them or what's the?
Yes, for when we find them.
If we know the dog that did the bites,
that's when we have to quarantine.
Oh, okay, so that has to do with bites then.
Right, yes.
Okay, okay, okay.
So that's all related to that then, okay.
Yes, and we try to keep them at home.
So, you know, accidents happen.
It's usually it's not the dog's fault,
but if they are not currently vaccinated
or we can't make sure that the dog is secure at home,
then we'll quarantine them at the shelter.
Okay.
And then some of the statistics where it says ACO,
that means that's when you guys picked up the animals
and then publics when the public brings it in?
Yes.
Okay, yeah, that just seems like a really low number
for felines because I get a lot of cat complaints.
Right, right.
But you just picked up one cat in all of October.
I mean, three cats?
we brought in because we're trying not to bring in cats there's no loose law
for cats in San Leandro so some people have outdoor cats so we don't want to
have to cat-nap the animals from the people yeah okay thank you thank you so
we'll get a council member Simon next thank you oh yeah thank you I'm sorry I
called out the wrong name I punched a different name but please proceed okay as
far as the the cats go does it refresh my memory is there a program at the city
for neutering cats to reduce the number of cats that we have to deal with
currently the city does not offer a program the East Bay SPCA does offer
low-cost spanned neutering for San Leonardo residents for feral cats for
all industry cats okay you said it's low cost low cost I believe it's 40 or 50
dollars per animal okay and when you get cats and you take them or dogs to the
SPCA what happens to them once they go there so once they go there they're
immediately there's an intake done on the animal to make sure it's healthy
make sure it has all the shots necessary to house there are set up for a
a quarantine, not a quarantine, a stray hold,
which is usually a five-day stray hold.
Once the stray hold is done,
they're gonna have a behavioral assessment
with the behavioral specialist
to make sure that the dog or cat is adoptable.
Once they are deemed adoptable,
then they go through the rabies shots and spay and neuter,
and then they'll be put up for adoption.
Okay, and if they're not deemed adoptable?
Then at first, if they're not deemed adoptable,
they'll go to the behavioral specialists.
They have an office with kennels there.
They are treated there the best that they possibly can.
And usually, for the most part, they are eventually adoptable.
Right now, the shelter has, I believe, a 93% live release
rate with all the animals that we bring in.
You said 93% what?
Live release rate.
So 93% of all the animals that we bring there
leave the shelter alive, whether it goes to foster or adoptive.
Thank you. Thank you. We'll go to Councilmember Aguilar next. Thank you Mayor Gonzalez. My
question is with regards to the total amount paid to the East Bay SPCA. The 398,500, is
that just a flat fee or does that entail like any type of itemization as to where those
funds are applied to so that is a flat fee up to 500 animals and we did increase that from 400
because there is for every 50 animals that you you go over there is a pretty substantial amount
that is built so we negotiated that into the contract however so since we learned that this
This is a significant ask for the city.
We have substantially changed our protocol for animal control officers and they're heavy
into reunification and they will exhaust every option that they have before they actually
bring an animal to SPCA.
Gotcha.
Thank you.
That's my question.
Thank you.
Councilmember Bolt, please.
Yes, I have two comments.
One, education is real, right?
So I had a call from a constituent and they were really upset with me that they couldn't
just take their animal to the SPCA and I was interested, not their animal, an animal stray
and I was like, what do you mean you can't?
And they said, well, because it comes from the city of San Diego, it has to go to a,
the animal control first.
that what like let them do it why waste time but I get why now because we have
to pay every time someone shows up with an animal whether they were from our
city or not but they claim they were that's our budget so I want to say thank
you I just I once I learned I was like oh well this is why and it makes
complete sense so thank you for that second the beginning of this year I want
to thank you because I don't know if you remember but out here in front of the
school a cat had gotten run over it was right I was picking my niece up and you
were busy I could tell on the phone and I used though the only time I've ever
used is councilmember bolt let me see what it'll do you showed up you picked
that cat up and there was no problems and you did it really with humanity too
it wasn't like there was a big to-do about it but it just felt safe so I want
to say thank you from for that publicly because it made a difference none of the
came out and saw that so thank you. Seeing no other questions we're going to
go to public comment on this item. Mayor we have not received any comment cards
however there are two hands raised on zoom. Please press so we'll close public
comment in person and I'll open public comment online. The first speaker is
Douglas Spaulding. Thank you very much you know it seems whenever I find myself
self-cambusing for candidates or issues or whatever, I invariably run into
neighbors who are very upset about the way that stray animals are dealt with.
Often it's around cats and there are a lot of allegations that have been made
about what happens to the cat that gets picked up, which I think most of which
I've been able to kind of wade through and determine it's not really true. But
I am scratching my head a little bit about about the numbers. I really appreciate the emphasis on
reunification sounds like the
De-escalation of animal control. So, you know, it really seems preferable and and that would be a both an internal and external educational piece
Like I don't think many people in the city
Know that that's the approach and and and sort of how to go about it, but you're saying that okay. We
We're budgeted at 400. We were budgeted 400 animals. We go over by a hundred. That's a 25% increase
Okay, it makes sense. We have to pay a little bit more
But but what you're asking for the the additional hundred and eighty one thousand dollars for both fiscal years 2026 and 2027
Is more than an 80% increase over what was budgeted and I just can't quite understand
and what are we getting for that?
Is that due to some inflationary pressure
in the animal control world
or is that the price of having too many animals go
or are we getting more services, more bang for our buck?
It doesn't quite compute for me, thank you.
The next speaker is Susan Erb.
Thank you, I appreciate the SPCA,
But I noticed that there's a complete lack of support
for the community members who are doing so much work,
spending so much of their own money,
dealing with particularly the feral cat population.
I would like to see a more balanced approach.
Consider, you know, as Hayward has had contracts
with the animal fix clinic, which does an excellent job.
It just doesn't seem right to me to keep spending more and more for the SPCA and not doing any
support at all for the community that is working so hard dealing with these animals.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Lucas.
Hi, can you hear me?
Yes.
Thank you.
Thank you for taking another one of my comments this evening, Mayor and Council.
Page 19 of the Consulting Services Agreement, the current one, has a beautiful table in
purple that says that our current contract is on a base of 400 animals per year. There's
a said fixed cost, and then after 401 animals to 451, 451 to 500, 500 to 600, there are
additional charges and a total contract cost, please take a look at page 19 of the current
consulting services agreement. At 500 animals and above, it's an extra $22,000, $27,000
cost, maybe $50,000, depending on how these schedules are read. The new agreement that
you're considering signing and approving today on page 2 does something very important. It
it lowers the base, the contracted base to 250 animals.
And now before there were $25,000 extra charge
at 400 animals.
Now there's a $40,000 charge as 251 animals
which we know we already exceeded this year
if we're pulling in 36 animals every month.
And there's an additional $35,000 charge
from 326 animals to 400.
So not only is this contract getting more expensive,
it's also lowering the threshold
at which there are additional charges from 400 animals
down to 250 animals, which we've already exceeded.
Who's getting all this money?
What are we getting for all of this extra money?
Why can't this be negotiated openly or transparently
and in a reasonable way where these schedules make no sense?
Please take better care of our money.
Thank you, council, for taking my comment.
Thank you.
There are no further hands raised on Zoom.
OK, so we'll close public comment.
To that last public commenter, I heard something
that maybe I did not hear correctly,
but there appears to have been some negotiation
about the stair step.
I didn't see a slide on the stair step.
And instead of looking at my tiny phone,
I figured, OK, let's just, we've got the folks here,
talk to us about the change in the pricing.
Right, again, that 250 that the caller
was actually talking about is a six-month contract extension.
So if you add those two six months together,
it does bring it up to that 500.
And again, we negotiated that 500
because historically we were looking to see
and the numbers continued to go up
beyond what our threshold of 400 was.
And if you violate the 400 threshold,
you'd certainly have to pay for it.
And part of this review process also included,
again, I wanna be absolutely clear,
we know what the substantial cost and the ask is
to have this contract.
And so when we actually took a look at it,
we again, changed some of the format
of how our animal control officers were responding.
And doing this research, as Council Member Bolt has mentioned,
One of the things that we learned
was that there wasn't a checks on balance occurring
as far as intakes.
And prior to this change,
there was a substantially higher intake from the public.
And so we've required this requirement
where they have to contact our animal control officers
to give them a little bit more background.
And sometimes it's because they were found
outside of the city limits.
The other element of the question that caught my attention
was just the sheer increase.
Approximately speaking, it used to be $200,000 a year.
And it has gone to $400,000 a year
in terms of what approximately what we're appropriating.
And that's been over about a five-year period.
So that's a big rate of inflation.
What do we know about why it has become
so much more expensive.
I'll give you the specifics on the why,
but I'll give you a bit of context behind that.
As we're looking at other service providers,
we learned that a neighboring East Bay agency
assigned a contract with SPCA,
smaller cities, smaller call volume,
but significantly more money than in their contract
than what we are paying.
So I'm confident based on the negotiation process,
even though it does on paper
absolutely look like there is an increase.
If we compare it to another city
that does have a similar contract,
they're driving from the valley up here,
and so it's far less convenient for them
and they are paying dollar for dollar more than what we are.
And as far as how much and what's changed,
maybe I can kind of give you a comprehensive review
what they provide and why they're unique.
Thank you.
So in my opinion, the numbers have trimmaced
or got larger, a lot to do with COVID.
A lot of people were stay at home, working from home,
they wanna get companions.
Well, after COVID was done, they need to go back to work,
they didn't have time for their animals.
So a lot of animals were dumped, a lot of were strays,
not reclaimed and a lot of surrenders.
So based off of that, we changed the policy
where we're no longer accepting surrenders from the citizens.
They have to go through the East Bay SPCA.
They have to meet certain requirements.
So we're not gonna be getting all these dogs
that were neglected just dumped on us,
that there's follow the proper protocol.
So we're not gonna get the numbers higher.
And also what we forgot to put in the slide,
The SPCA has taken about 300 to 400 neonatal cats or kittens
that is not counted against our contract.
These are all kittens that have to go to fosters immediately
to be hand fed every couple hours
and it's not being counted against us.
So if we are forced to go to another route
with another shelter, those are numbers
that will increase dramatically.
Thank you. We have other questions or comments on this item prior to okay. Council members
Simon. Yes. Thank you. I have a question kind of follow up to one of the public commenters
about the feral cats and I heard you mentioned it's low cost $40 per cat. I'm curious because
I know I do know there's a lot of homeowners that are footing the bill for this themselves
And is there any way to negotiate with SPCA to get a better rate to help our homeowners?
So I looked into that.
I did a big memo to our command staff regarding the feral cats because it's obviously a problem
within the city.
The problem is finding a vet that can do high volume spay and neuters.
A lot of the vets now, they only could do it.
They're used to doing pets, so they're not doing
the high volume of 40 to 50 animals a day.
We can rent the SPCA with the doctors and everything
for about $5,000 around that would handle
about 40 to 50 cats, and that price will still equal
about 40 to $50 a cat.
We have looked into clinics that would do spay and neuter.
The only one that I found within our area is in Stockton,
and they would only handle 20 cats a day.
For that to happen, we would have to trap the cats
the night before, have an animal control officer
take them to Stockton, sit for the spay and neuter,
and then return that night to pick up the animals.
So I haven't found a local vet
that can accommodate the high number that we have.
Okay, are there any any state grants out there that help with this
feral cat situation? A lot of them won't help us since we don't have our own
shelter, but the SPCA does apply for any kind
of grants associated with it and that's how they can provide the
low-income one for our residents. Okay, okay and I and I did want to just say
nice job by your department and I did want to give a shot out to
Jessica from your department and I was involved with animal rescue of a dog
that got loose on the Welling Boulevard cars going by 50 miles per hour around
this dog and she came out quickly your dispatcher Norma police also was
excellent and how you said they try to find the owner rather than just take it
in Jessica even went out her way and drove the neighborhood and the owner was
looking for the dog and then she was able to reunite the dog. So exactly what
you were saying happened and I just wanted to give a shout out to those two
staff. They did a nice job. Thank you very much. Seeing no other questions or
comments, do I have a motion? Council Member Aguilar. Thank you Mayor. I'd like to move
item 5A. Council Member Simon. I'll second. I've got a motion by Council Member
with a second from councilmember Simon. Seeing no further discussion please vote.
Councilmember Simon, thank you. All votes are in. The motion passes unanimously.
So for item number 5B, we've got discussion and possible action to schedule a
disciplinary hearing. For Council members Aguilar and Councilmember Simon, so here to
introduce the item. We have City Attorney Rich Piotroda. Thank you Mayor. Just
wanted to point out in the staff reports for this item that the information
related to, thank you, what occurred at the November 3rd council meeting, regular
council meeting contained an action that was not properly agendized and that the
entire motion invite that because it was not properly agendized the action the
entire motion was rendered null and void under Robert rules of order which the
council follows so to correct that issue the agenda item here before the
council this evening is for the council to discuss and describe whether discuss
and decide whether and how to move forward under San Leandro administrative
Code section 1.13.115 pursuant to Vice Mayor Bowen's request for discipline.
I'm available to answer any questions. So do we have any questions for city
attorney and if not I'll go to public comment on this item. Council member
Simon. Yes I have a question in the discipline policy you just hand it out
under page four it lists A through D one or more of the combination of the
items that could be considered can it be a alternate item than listed here if the
council comes up and agrees to one or does it have to be one of these A through
D under that subsection 1115 so under the policy these are what the council of
decided discipline short of censure may be certainly a motion by a council
member is something that the council could consider but as far as what a
discipline short of censure could be the council has decided this is the list and
it's a finite list certainly a motion could be made about what action or motion
or an action the council would like to take as to what discipline short of
censure it's up to the council to decide. Okay so that at that time when this is
occurring that motion could be made for something an alternate to A-D. If
that's what the council considers as a discipline short of censure yeah that's
possible. Okay thank you. Vice Mayor Bowen please. Thank you mayor. This question is
for city attorney for the disciplinary hearing and the information grounds for
the discipline what is the process that we have to be able to two questions one
can you clarify why we must have this deliberation in open session publicly
And two, because we are having this deliberation publicly,
how can we, or what is the process for speaking
to the evidence in the case for the discipline?
So under the policy and under common law,
which is case law, all requests,
All disciplinary actions against public officials
by the body itself must be an open session.
There's no valid reason under the Brown Act
that exists for them to be in closed session.
And there's case law that establishes the same,
including any censure of a council member.
As for the facts or the presentation of the facts,
The council can take what was presented by in the discipline request and could take notice
in any subsequent resolution that the facts are as they were stated by the council member.
They can authorize a further investigation or inquiry into what occurred or that I think
that's it as far as what are the facts you can either authorize an investigation rely
upon an investigation or take notice as a counsel that these are we will rely
upon what was provided in the discipline policy in the discipline request and in
this particular discipline process because it relates to the HR complaint
that I filed in January the council the council members who were able to do so
authorized an investigation into the into sustaining the facts of the claim
and now that we have that what is the process to use the facts that have been
authorized in an investigation to proceed with the hearing. So the
investigation of that complaint is an attorney-client privileged document and
that's a separate action that the council must take
in order to release or make public the facts
established by the investigation report.
And so as to not potentially make the same
clerical error as the first time,
what needs to happen to be able to use the facts
grounds for the discipline hearing for the council to be able to deliberate on
it. The council would have to decide as a body to add to a future agenda the
discussion of the waiver of the attorney-client privilege as to that
report. And is that something that would need to happen tonight and also to
schedule the discipline hearing concurrently? So the council could vote,
take action to put an item on a future agenda. Yes. Tonight the agenda item is
allowed for the council to discuss what disciplinary actions under 1.1 3.1 1.5
they'd like to schedule for that discussion. Discussion on discipline
short of censure or to advance censure forward. Okay and just so I am clear
our Council Member Simons' questions around options
A through D, you mentioned that per our policy,
those potential actions are finite.
Those A, B, C, and D are established by the council
under this policy as disciplined short of censure.
Okay.
And to clarify, for censure action,
Um, is censure action the only way that this council could require a fellow council member
who has violated, uh, city policy to attend trainings or, um, where we say direct to be
corrected to subject, correct the results of the behavior that violated the city policy.
That is the only way is to go through the central process.
order to require as a condition of removing a privilege that a council
member has so for example if the privilege of travel on city for city
business or city on city budget in order to qualify to receive that privilege
back you must attend training as a condition then yes censure is the
proper procedure because you're actually taking a privilege away from an
individual on the council. Why does training have to be preceded by the
removal of a privilege? Well what would be I think the corollary to that or the
opposite is that what is the condition that if they don't complete you can urge
training and that would they could just complete it or not but in order to
receive back something that had been removed from them as a condition that
attend training that's that requires some sort of due process action I see so
So it's not that it is to be able to give some consequence
or wait as a requirement to a training.
So if a council member violates a policy,
whatever that policy is, and the council says
we need to course correct this behavior
and require a training, if you don't complete the training,
then some privilege could be taken away,
but it does not necessarily mean
that a privilege is taken away unless,
that's the way I'm trying to understand it.
Okay, so it's just a matter of accountability.
Correct.
Okay.
Okay.
It feels like Groundhog's Day from November 3rd.
It is now obviously December 8th.
So originally December 8th was going to be the day
that we were going to do the discipline hearing.
and I know that I'm over my five minutes,
but I do just want to talk about two things.
One, this process has been incredibly convoluted
and I understand it to be so because we are doing this
for the first time, and it is a new process,
and so I can acknowledge and appreciate
our learnings through that,
and I hope that we can clean it up going forward
and obviously hope that we don't have to continue
to do this process at all, ideally.
I would like for us to be able to,
I would like to move for us to be able to schedule
the disciplinary hearing.
That's the first motion at,
knowing that run stabilization is coming up
on December 15th, which is also going to be
heavy and and long meeting I think to be able to do it at the next meeting after
that so that staff can spend the the time that they need to on that pilot
decision that we have to make that's the first that's the first motion that I
would like to make. If I can take some public comment on this
item and then I'll come back to you for a motion but yes we can I will come
back to you for the motion. I did want to clarify because you had asked some
questions and I want to dig into them a little bit because I don't see any others
in queue but I think you had already on so I'm going to go very quickly. On the
topic of A through D or something else the policy says A through D it doesn't
say or something else. Are you simply saying that we could amend our policy? Is
that what you're saying? Or that it the flexibility is there without an
amendment? The flexibility is there without them without the amendment in
that A through D the councilor is already determined is discipline short
of censure. If there is another discipline that and this is again
discipline short of censure that would not involve the removal or taken away of
any privileges to a council member. Thank you. So the other place that I
just wanted to follow up because I know that council or Vice Mayor Bowman really
dug into this a little bit and I just want to make sure that we're absolutely
clear. We could, for example, say that it is the will of this council by
resolution that a council member must attend training outside of censure. We
we could do that but the problem that you foresee is enforceability is that what I'm
hearing? Correct. Okay. I think that's all I had. Councilmember Simon, question or Councilmember
Simon you have a question? Yes. You clarified the first one that their flexibility is there
so I got that. The other question is for training and I guess you said the concern was
enforcement but if the council members agreed to do it then there would be no
issues okay thank god there's a comment not a question any more questions
council mari Verda Tholton thank you I just I have a question regarding whether
we have to the motion should be for each individual councilmember for a
disciplinary hearing or I guess my concern would be that at this point the
item is agendized as an and so do we have to make a motion to do each one
individually and then say schedule a disciplinary hearing for councilmember X
on consideration of discipline short of censure and then another motion I just
don't want to be back on a parliamentarian issue. Going to city
attorney on that. So if the council wanted to schedule both disciplinary
hearings make a motion that it would be on the same date for both the council
could certainly separate them and bifurgate them. That's my only question.
Seeing no other questions I would like to take public comment on this item before
coming back for deliberation mayor we have two comment cards from in the room
and there are presently five six hands raised on zoom please proceed in person
the first speaker is Sarah Bailey followed by Leo T West good evening you
have not shown us any part of the investigative report into vice mayor
Bowen's complaint against councilmember Simon and Aguilar for harassment,
intimidation, and gender bias. Judging by how hard it has been for you to share
the report, it must be damning. I don't know if you realize how crazy-making
your behavior has been. If the investigation substantiates Vice Mayor
Bowen's claims, then all of you have either participated in or witnessed
attempts by Councilmember Simon and Aguilar to silence her voice. Yet, month
after month and week after week have gone by while you silence her voice. Do
you have any idea what a crime that is? Without releasing the rejected report or
its findings, you can't legally or ethically even schedule a disciplinary
hearing. The public must be able to participate in the process your own
administrative code mandates, and we can't participate without having the facts.
You must allow us to hear Vice Mayor Bowen's story. Your actions going forward
must be transparent, have procedural integrity, adhere to adopted law, and to
equal treatment under that law. If you want to be a functioning council capable
of leading San Leandro, you can't be a bunch of bullies who stomp on different
voices. Vice Mayor Bowen has always said she's doing this to change the council's
culture, which you have fashioned into an old boys club. Show us that you want to
change the culture by following the rules of your own administrative code
and release the redacted report. Thank you. Thank you. The next speaker card is
is from Leo T. West.
When I read in the agenda for this item,
and I've been left with a question, where's the beef?
There are no facts mentioned.
We have people here talking today,
but we don't know the facts.
Nobody talks about the facts.
He's saying that some people have written letters
to San Leandro Times, but there are no officials
and Leandro Thain's explanation of the issue here.
What is clear for Akhoyo is that Councilmember Simon
plays the race car, Councilmember Aguilar plays the gay car,
and Councilmember Bowen plays the feminist car.
Meanwhile, Mayor Gonzalez issued proclamation
and recognition to these same groups.
all of these soap opera is of no interest
for the working people of San Leandro.
You can see here.
Nobody's coming here to hear this soap opera.
So all of this is a smokescreen
where a million dollar in expenditures
are being voted behind closed doors.
available revenue. All of the three council members perhaps four should be terminated
in a new election election to be called. We cannot allow three more years to continue with this
city council. New elections now. Thank you mayor that those are the only cards we've received in
in the room.
One more from the floor.
Mr. McGuire.
Yeah.
Hi, Mike McGuire.
I would sincerely hope San Leandro
can return to a time where we settled our differences
by election and civil discussion and not
by lawsuits, recalls, and cancellations.
Did I leave out lawsuits?
No, lawsuits, yeah.
And I would love to see that report.
One thing I have learned working in larger organizations
is that employees who have displeased someone
are often brought up on vague charges.
People who have done terrible things are let go.
Let go allowed to keep doing them.
And that we kind of need to see the facts
and we need to see the specifics.
And I don't think we have in that.
And I would very much like to.
I'd also point out that while I understand Ms. Bowen
has had a truly terrible introduction to public service
in her first year to the point of having
to file criminal charges in another jurisdiction.
And she has my great sympathy for that.
That I have been treated worse on previous jobs
than she has been treated at least publicly on this one.
so I would like to see what has gone on.
I do not, incidentally, include the Sally and her times in that.
I would like to see what went on privately,
and we would need to see the report.
But so far, I've seen some rude behavior in public,
and that's what I've seen.
And anyway, I hope we resolve this without any more
fireworks than we've already had.
I think there's probably some way
to take people to the woodshed, so to speak,
and tell them, cut it out.
don't do this anymore okay I don't think you need to fire people for that thank
you thank you mayor that's our last card there are seven hands raised on so
let us close public comment on person and let's open it up online the first
speaker is Douglas Spalding around and round and round we go and boy is it
I share your frustration Councilwoman Bowen, it is rather like Groundhog Day just not as
much fun.
It's beyond me why the report has not been released.
Clearly there's a general call for it, there's a need for it.
We have this folly of you sitting there for a deliberation about the elephant in the room,
the word gray. You can't really
the word gray, anything like that. I believe that Councilwoman Bohn has experienced sexism,
discrimination, misogyny. I don't know what items A through D are. I'm sorry I don't have
the handbook sitting in front of me, but what should the consequence be? It's kind of hard
to know without having the details. So again, I call on you, council members, to release
the report. And I know there are a couple of yes votes. I believe Councilwoman Bowen
herself indicated she'd like to have it released. Councilmember Simon stated he would like to
have it in unredacted form. I think there was a third member, so who's going to be the
fourth member step up and make it so. And finally this has been such a huge
time and energy suck and you know it continues to be and I do want to
appreciate Councilwoman Bowen your your sensitivity to the agenda coming up
housing protections is a very important issue and I appreciate you honoring that
on the on the next agenda for December 15th. So I guess we'll see what happens
Thank you. Thank you. The next
that behavior alone shows why transparency is essential bullying this
type of behavior is misconduct your own handbook requires respect among council
members staff and the public the administrative code requires that
discipline discussions occur in an open noticed meeting with facts available to
the public but the facts remain hidden on November 3rd this council voted 4 to
to return with a public vote on waiting privilege and to release a redacted full report. That
item disappeared. And without waiting privilege, there is no factual basis that this public
can see. You cannot legally conduct a discipline process under 1.13.115 without the underlying
facts in the public record. Scheduling a date without releasing the information is not compliance.
it is delay. If portions of the report require interpretation, then transparency is even
more essential. Let the public see the findings, not just the spin. Tonight the community asks
for three actions. Agenda is a public discussion and public vote on waiting privilege leading
to release of the report with appropriate redactions. Two, ensure Vice Mayor Bowen is
present for any action involving her own complaint. Three, create a public portal or e-mailed
meeting is closed. We are not
asking for removal. We are
asking the council to follow
its own laws and restore
public trust. Thank you. Thank
you. The next speaker is Rob
Rich. Yep. Hi. Can you hear
me? Yes. Thank you, Mr Mayor
discipline against some members of this Council.
Of course, an important element of leadership
is how you handle mistakes.
When faced with a difficult situation involving issues
like those raised in this complaint,
I think a good approach might be to first ask yourself,
what wouldn't MAGA do?
Well, they certainly wouldn't listen openly and honestly.
MAGA wouldn't consider the possibility
of having unconsciously internalized a bit
of our culture's misogyny.
That would be too woke.
and they wouldn't acknowledge that they might have
unintentionally created any type of harm.
In fact, they would claim to be the victim.
So here's my suggestion to our council members
who my respect, who are named in the complaint.
Just do what Magga wouldn't, please.
Listen with empathy.
Acknowledge that multiple women with similar complaints
are probably onto something.
Grab the opportunity to learn, be accountable,
commit to doing better, and then as quickly as possible,
please get back to the hard work of governing
because we need you and San Leandro deserves nothing less.
The good news is, well, it may not seem easy,
you can totally do this.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Lucas.
Hi, can you hear me?
Yes.
Thank you, thank you for taking my third comment
this evening, mayor and council.
As I said at the November 3rd meeting,
justice delayed is justice denied.
This complaint has been lingering
and hovering over the council since early, very early
in the beginning of this year.
Council member had to make a formal request
for this to be discussed.
Clearly there was delays,
whether those delays were intentional,
whether those delays were a result of a campaign
to obfuscate, to delay, to cover things up.
I don't know, I won't speculate.
But last month, the council voted.
And the council voted under the agenda item
that was said, city council consideration
of Vice Mayor Bowen's request for discipline
against council member Fred Simon,
personally under administrative code session 113.115.
Now, that is a very broad agenda item, right?
City council consideration of the request.
If in the process of considering a request,
the city council can't take actions
to take follow-up decisions and schedule things
and release documents.
What's the point of the consideration?
We're just talking?
What's the point of talking if we can't take concrete steps
to move the process forward?
So now this redacted report that the council decided to vote
to release to the public is again delayed.
Delayed, covered up, hidden, hidden from the public
for another month, maybe another two months,
till January of next year, who knows.
As I said at the November meeting,
release, release, release.
I'm a little angry, release the Simon files,
release the Aguilar file, release them.
Thank you, your time is up.
The next speaker is Gwen Olson.
Gwen, are you there?
The next speaker is Melissa Wong.
Oh, hi.
I've been trying to figure out my thoughts,
but here I go.
After the, or about the November 3rd meeting,
I made comments about following the policy
that was only updated the same day to the public online.
I specifically pointed out the four options,
the A through D that was now mentioned,
that was short of censure.
I don't know why the city allowed last month's discussion
at all because a regular citizen like me knew better.
The problem is that it gave people time to fill up gaps.
And that's so unfortunate.
I would say that last month meeting was very damaging
because residents reacted based on their life experiences.
And unfortunately they continue with their positions
as each day goes by.
I know we don't have many people in the audience
or online.
So I would like to think that I speak for a number of them
who maybe don't know what to say.
So I plead for the mayor and the council to remember
what I said November, not last November,
not last month, but last year.
Maybe not council member boat
who wasn't a council member yet.
But I said that if anything happened inappropriately,
we need to know why people did not say
or do anything at the time of occurrence.
I said that it last year.
So a year later, if somebody did,
we could have corrected the issue.
And I said issue because I don't know
what is being done that's inappropriate.
So after a year, please,
I think the city council and even the residents
all need training because it appears
we don't know what's going on
and we are going to repeat
and we're gonna talk about it next November too.
you. Thank you. The next speaker is Laura Blumenthal. Good evening, Laura Blumenthal, District 5.
I'm also with the League of San Leandro voters. I first, I just wanted to thank the city attorney
for outlining the ways that the council's process over the last month has gone afoul and has led
that. Um you know, it led to
have. I am excited, or we're
just. All tired. This needs to
be released. I think everyone
knows that the delays have
caused more problems for
everyone. Um not just those who
are being investigated, but I
think the entire city council.
I hope this is a lesson to the
to this actually completing having the meeting about the waiver of client privilege and having
the meeting to determine whether to release the report. I hope it is regardless of whether it's
redacted or not. Just we need to get this done. Thank you. Thank you. The next speaker is Whitney
Thank you. Mr. Walker. Hi.
Thank you. I was very relieved
to hear your admission that the
council messed up and that you
are going to correct it. Uh it
is really frustrating that this
is taking so long, most
especially undoubtedly for
Councilmember Bowen. Um but
please know that this public is
watching to see if the city
Council takes allegations of
We're asking for transparency
and we expect accountability
from our city leaders. And I
would echo the excellent advice
that Rob Rich gave to Council
member Simon and Aguilar. Please
release the report. Thank you.
Thank you, Mayor. There are no
more raised hands on zoom, so
close public comment and bring
it back to chambers for
discussion. You're welcome.
Thank you, Mayor, Mayor. Thank
Your motion if you'd like vice mayor, please
Thank you. Um, I do before I make the motion and I have to correct my motion because it wasn't complete
And then I think you need to make two motions
because the original
discipline hearing had each council member
Separated out and so I just want to be extra cautious of that
I have said this before since the beginning and
And I'll continue to say it
When I finally filed an HR complaint in January of this year, Jan. 6, 2025, it was because
it had been almost eight months of what felt like sometimes relentless misconduct that
did not get course corrected despite efforts to call out or try to correct.
In fact, the last interaction I had with Council Member Simon
was to attempt to call out false statements
and I never received a statement.
And so, I have never filed an HR complaint before
and did so in order to stop the behavior from occurring.
And so, it's not been just one year,
but it's been almost two years.
I have only been on this council for three years,
and I want to speak to why it is so important
to be able to speak up,
because two things continue to happen.
One is that when people speak up in an effort
to be able to share their experience
and what is happening to them,
I will speak for myself.
When I have done so,
it has been incredibly difficult to do so,
not only because I have to try to convince the council
that misconduct is occurring, but that the misconduct in general is a misconduct.
That we do not lie about one another, do we not bully, that we do not retaliate,
that we do not participate in misogyny and discrimination.
Those things across any organization that I've ever been a part of,
any professional development book that I've read, any organizational like, you know,
of best practice does not occur.
And the fact that as a public entity,
we've had to spend so much time saying,
this is what our code of ethics is,
this is behavior that is becoming of a public official
or not is incredibly frustrating.
And the second piece of that is to be questioned
about my experience in a way that is very public
and incredibly vulnerable, but I am willing to do it
because I want there to be a next person
that sits up here that feels more supported,
that does not feel discriminated against,
that feels like they can speak up.
And two things about that, on November 17th,
I wanna address something that Council Member Simon shared
that is terrible to hear.
He said that a colleague previously
had said something awfully offensive and racist to him.
Those types of comments is exactly,
in trying to protect one another from that,
is exactly why I'm doing this,
so that we don't have any type of discrimination
and misconduct.
I don't know if we set those comments.
I hope that if something like that occurred to you now
or any of us now by any of us, we would call it out.
And that is the expectation.
When I decided to run for city council,
it was during the height of anti-Asian hate.
Seeing Andrew experienced 250% increase in anti-Asian hate.
As someone who has organized
and helped facilitate their programmatic workshops,
understanding implicit bias and racism.
I've served on the C's equity committee
and I'm on the NLC race equity
and leadership policy committee.
I wanna make it very clear that I do not condone
any racist or discriminate comments,
and that is the part of what we're trying to do.
We're trying to be better.
The second piece that I really want to acknowledge
that has been really difficult,
and I appreciate a public comment that mentioned it,
but on numerous occasions,
since I spoke about this experience,
public commenters or people in the public,
and I believe some council members
are trying to conflate another very difficult experience
that I had.
And I want to bring this up, because at the same time
that survivors of the Epstein and his accomplices
horrific exploitation and violence
against countless women and girls,
and at the very same time, the middle school here, our city,
is dealing with the fallout of disclosure
of the sexual predator on staff.
I really want to speak to the public
and to every woman and girl and man
that has ever reported or experienced
any sort of sexual harassment and violence,
that you should feel safe being able to report it
and you should feel supported to speak
and no assault, harm or violence is acceptable.
One of the biggest reasons why I was hesitant
to come forward to report the crime was because I knew,
I knew that I would be put on trial.
I knew that I would be questioned.
And that is not okay.
And again, I'm doing this so that the next person realizes
that they are not alone,
because I have felt that support from the community.
There's not been one woman who has not come up to me
and even men that have not come to me
and shared their experiences.
Nationwide, 81% of women and 43% of men
have reported some sort of sexual harassment
or assault in their lifetime.
So this is not something to be taken lightly.
I do not, and I'm asking for any member of this council
to please try your best to not use a terrible experience
that I had to try to deflect or conflate the other,
what I am trying to do here with this disciplinary hearing.
And so the two motions that I would like to make is to,
again, for the purpose of being able to change behavior,
direction to correct, direction to tend training.
I do not want this, I want this to be restorative.
I do not want this to be punitive.
I don't want to take away a council members ability
to be able to advocate for their community.
I am just simply asking for council members
to treat one another respect
and follow our own city policy.
So that being said, I would like to move
to hold the disciplinary hearing on the first Monday
or the third Monday of January.
I'm not, maybe we could, the first,
the first meeting is fine.
I do really just want to be able to get this over with
and include disciplinary up to center
because we do not, to the public's point,
we have seen now or have been given access to the report
and knowing the findings of the report,
want us to be able to have a discussion about the facts of the report and what
was or was not sustained and be able to make appropriate action take appropriate
action to ensure that the behavior does not continue again and I would like to
do that in two separate motions once for Councilmember Aguilar and once for
Councilmember Simon. Okay so let's take them one at a time. So the first motion
is to hold a disciplinary hearing on January 5th, 2026. Is that correct? If that's the first...
I'm representing that that is the first Monday of January. I'm
confirming that we're not pushing that for any reason to the Tuesday. Is that
correct, City Manager? Okay so having received that confirmation, so am I seeing
hesitancy and you'd like to pivot on the date. I want to make sure that the
council is present for it. I don't know what the if there are absences that are
I don't want to disclude a council member inadvertently. So we'll make the
motion and then council members can offer their questions comments etc. So
the first motion again I just want to be really tight here. You've made a motion
that we hold a disciplinary hearing for Councilmember Aguilar with respect to
the facts that were found by the investigation report of October 31st
2025. Yes, up to censure. So under 1.13115 short of censure, correct? No, you're
including censure yes the conversation to be able to censure as well yes if we
find that to be the case so all discipline is on all said whole
disciplinary hearing on October on January 5th 2026 for all possible
discipline yes thank you yes thank you council member of this Walton if it
include censure then doesn't that trigger it triggers the release of the
report so I'm gonna go to city attorney for that so the in order to trigger the
censure there has to be there should be some facts that form the basis for
entering into the censure hearing and if that includes an investigation report
then there needs to be a separate action
agendized to waive the attorney client privilege
on the report.
If you, so for example, if you go on December 5th
and say we'd like to move towards censure
and we wanna rely on the investigation report,
then we'd have to have a separate action
and we would agendize it for January 5th
to potentially waive the investigation report of privilege.
That would start the clock
because the censure would not immediately happen
on January 5th, there would be the,
it would trigger the timelines in the policy
regarding moving forward with censure,
which might occur at a later date.
It could be, if the council approved that,
then we would move forward with a different timeline
and it would apply to that council member.
Okay, I think there's a request for a clarification
from the city manager.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
just need clarification on from this what the city attorney is sharing I'm
looking at the discipline policy right now and the discipline policy states that
the evidence that will be used in discussing whether there's a a up to
censure has to be provided but if the vice mayor is requesting the disciplined
hearing be on the fifth that gives us plenty of time to have the discussion
next I'm not asking for this but gives time to have a discussion a way of
privileged at the next meeting for that it to be released and available in time
for January 5th if that is what the council chooses. Is that correct? There are
21 days between the 15th and the 5th. That is correct so I just want to make
sure we're clear that under our if we're moving forward with censure if the
council decides to enter for censure hearing it shall schedule a hearing no
senior than two weeks after its determination to hear the matter. So what
I'm hearing I just want to make sure I interpret what you say correctly so if
we were to say that we want to do a censure hearing then we need to do that
within two weeks so what you're saying no no please point to the item the text
section one point one three point one two zero it shall schedule the hearing
no sooner than two weeks after its determination to hear the mass so so if
if there were to be a waiver on the 15th then January 5th would be compliant
correct okay thank you okay so we've got a motion on the floor but I'm gonna go
to councilmember bolt please proceed well we're more questions yeah okay please
proceed with your questions? I if we are going to include a possible to for all
of the all of the discipline all of the options up to an including censure I
would like it to be on January 20th because of the holiday and to allow us
time to I thought that would be my request if we if if we are going to
include censure to extend the timeline and schedule the disciplinary hearing on
the 20th. I don't know if that is amenable. Do I have to second to start
the discussion on this? No, we're just right now we're discussing. But are you
are you suggesting a friendly amendment? I don't know if I can amend it if
there's no second. That's what I'm saying. Do I need to second it so that we can
actually discuss it? Let's go. Would you like to second it? Yeah, so I'll second
it just for the sake of discussion okay council member bolt yes this is a
change because we talked and we said it wasn't gonna be sent we were gonna
remove censure so it's back on the table now if we vote for that today to
proceed we will have to have a hearing that says release the report prior to
the disciplinary action. If that fails and we don't release the report, where
are we then? Because if we don't release the report, we can't do the censure and
that's what I thought I was hearing before tonight. So that's a question to
whoever wants to take it. So I'll start with city attorney. That is correct. If you
wanted to move forward with a censure it would implicate potential due process
considerations and in the censure the council would decide that we're going to
remove privileges from the discipline council members and that triggers due
process. What is included in that is what is the basis then for the removal of
those privileges. That was where the report would be the basis for that
due process. In my head I'm wrestling with that and I want to go back to the
Vice Mayor on this issue because before we were saying let's move forward with
the disciplinary action minus censure. Through the chair? I'm sorry to the chair
to Vice Mayor and so my question is to Vice Mayor not to the Chair but to Vice
Mayor if you're willing to answer and I'll accept if you're not if we go down
this path and we don't we're just gonna prolong anything and I'm okay with either
one of the answers I just want to hear and make sure we all understand this if
you'd like to answer you may and when we had this initial discussion on November
third the motion was to schedule a vote to release the investigative findings so
that we could use the facts in it and that was before I even knew what was in
the report in terms of the findings to be able to go forward with the
disciplinary hearing so that was already going to be step one step two was that to
have it and what I wanted to be able to do is exactly that we have an A and B
which is a direction to correct direction to attend training direction to
be able to change behavior and that is not included in the first part of the
potential of discipline and so the act of censure is to be able to as if we
choose that path again it's still a central hearing so if the council says
that the behavior based on the facts of the independent investigative report
that has been authorized and paid for by the council and the city that it amounts
to a violation of policy and misconduct,
then censure is the one thing that we can do as a counsel
to say we believe this behavior is not okay
and we want to correct it.
And so that is why I want to be able to do that.
And in terms of enforcement, I would love, love, love
to be able to trust somebody's word.
And the reality is that I cannot,
after experiencing what I've experienced
and continue to experience, it is difficult for me to say
based on somebody's word that yes, I will do something.
I need there to be some sort of accountability.
I don't want to take anybody's budget away.
I don't want to take somebody's ability
to get their work done away.
What I want is for us to do better.
Okay, thank you.
Councilman Rivera-Swalton please.
Thank you, so just as a seconder of the motion,
I would if we are going to include the possibility of all actions and we might at the hearing
even if we agendize it as a censure we could not censure, right?
We can do any of the options.
It just triggers a more elaborate noticing procedure.
Correct.
Okay.
So if we are to include the whole menu of options for disciplinary actions, if it includes
censure I would like to propose to to the maker of the motion to agenda is it
for the disciplinary hearing for individual councilmember Simon and
councilmember Aguilar on January 20th on Tuesday January 20th I just want to
make sure yes okay cuz I know the Monday was holidays I just went to triple check
Yeah. Monday is a holiday. It's the Dr. King holiday.
So we have an amended motion if I'm understanding what's happening here,
I'm just going to get verbal confirmation.
We have a motion that will consider to hold a disciplinary hearing that hearing.
We will consider all discipline options available to us.
That hearing will happen on Tuesday, January.
I just want to confirm by looking out on my own calendar.
This is my double check control.
So Tuesday, January 20th.
And that is your motion, Council Member Bowen.
Correct.
And that is your second, you are seconding that motion.
Council Member Otis-Walton.
Perfect.
So now let's go on to further discussion.
Council Member Simon.
Yes, I just have a question or comment about training.
and I do believe training is valuable.
I think we can all benefit from training.
And like our, I forgot what it's called,
but our council workshop, we have a trainer,
not on the exact topics, but,
is it feasible to set a training session specific
for the council on similar matters
that we're talking about, that we would all attend,
like a regular meeting or a special meeting I guess I would call it is that I
mean I guess there's concern that people won't show up and won't go to training
but I guess I'm asking the question to either city or to the chair to one of
the staff members can we have a special meeting with training so I'll go to city
manager on that thank you mr. mayor thank you councilmember Simon the
Question of can you yes, I can put on the agenda any training that I'm directed to
Other questions or comments on this item
Okay, so then I will just offer Mike my thoughts
I continue to be concerned about the waiver of attorney-client privilege at this time
And I don't want to go into legal advice that we have received and how the meals were closed session deliberations
I was my understanding that censure was not on the table
And so I just I won't be labor to the point but I am concerned about the disclosure of attorney clamp privilege at this time
Seeing no other hands, please vote all votes are in and
the emotion
carries
four yeses and
three nos
Yeses being council vice mayor Bowen mayor Gonzalez council report council member of Eros Walton and three knows
councilmember Simon
Aguilar and as a Vito
Okay, so I understand
City manager that you'd like a little bit of clarification, please. Thank you. Mr. Mayor now that we have the vote
Passing to hold the disciplinary hearing including censure on
January 20th. I'd like direction on a date to schedule the waiver of privilege
for the
Information that would be provided
for the sensory hearing
So before doing that so don't let me forget before doing that I need to pull my council members
Because I interpreted the motion as applying to both council members I glad in Simon
But I'm not positive that those words were used by me when I restated the motion
So is it the understanding of council members that I'm going to need a verbal? Yes
Is it your understanding that the motion that you were voted on voting on involved both council member?
Simon and Aguilar, please punch in and we'll go one by one vice mayor. Was that your understanding?
Okay, Councilmember bolt
Yeah, yes, so I have a yes from vice mayor
Councilmember Bolt. Yes. Yes from Bolt. Councilmember Viveros Walton. Yes.
And that was my understanding as mayor as well. Councilmember Aguilar.
No.
Okay, any others?
Yes, I believe it was for both of them.
Councilmember Simon, did you want to weigh in on this? That wasn't clear,
nor was the
release of the report in what version?
So at this time there is nothing about the report that's been determined
So that's I think that will we will get to that in a second
So given the facts as you have them city attorney do we need to revote?
No, we have we have direction the motion was clear that it was a plaque applicable to both cuts per regular and councilmember Simon
Majority. Thank you. So now coming back to you city manager. Thank you for your patience
You seek clarification, please elaborate on the clarification again
Thank You mr. Mayor
the vote being that the
disciplinary hearing up to censure being held on January 20th would need to have evidence provided
before the hearing and that
Evidence could be the report. I need direction from the council on when to place
The waiver of privilege if it's the report or some other documentation on the agenda sometime between now and January
fifth we will begin with councilmember Rivera's Walton it can't be the 15th
okay I would like to make a motion to agendize that for the 15th I'm sorry
I'm sorry I have the wrong calendar date here on Monday January 12th
Monday the fifth are you saying this December 15th I think no no no I did not
mean December 15th I want it so if we are if the disciplinary hearing is
scheduled was voted on by the council to be scheduled on the 20th you said the
12th is too late we can't do it on the 12th no that is correct if you want it
hold a censure hearing which you've left that option for the 20th then we
fifth would be appropriate or the 15th of this month also then I would like to
push it as much as possible so the fifth is the latest January 5th so get a
motion by a council member with a second from council member bolt to
schedule a meeting to discuss the waiver of attorney-client privilege on the
October 3rd January 5th correction I've got a motion from council member
we've always wanted with a second from councilmember bolt to schedule a
discussion of the waiver of the attorney-client privilege on the October 31st
2025 report on January 5th. Council member, I go to Salton. Thank you. I do want to
clarify that I would like the version of it to be redacted. So it would be to
discuss the release of a redacted version of the report and to be clear are
you asking that staff prepare the suggested redaction before that date and
so so that's I'm getting the yes and councilmember bolt coming to you I if
we're gonna put that as a stipulation as redacted I do not second that I want it
unredacted I want the full report out there so if we're gonna say right now
redacted or not then I won't second that motion. Please proceed. We can discuss it
on the 5th. Okay so just to make sure that our record is perfectly clear we've
got a motion from Council member Iota-Sawaldon seconded by Council member
Bolt that we schedule a hearing an agenda item on the 5th of January Monday
to discuss the potential waiver of the attorney-client privilege on of the
October 31st 2025 report regarding the concerns raised by Vice Mayor Bellin.
Mayor, point of information? Certainly. It keeps in discuss in order for the
January 20th to be good as a date for the disciplinary hearing I would
recommend possible action as included in that motion discussion and possible
action I'm assuming yes from the seconder and from the maker and from the
seconder yes so we're gendizing an action item but I do not want to be
presumptive that the action will be to wave but just that that's what's being
considered on that date thank you for the clarification vice mayor please can
You this is the city attorney. We just took a vote to
Have the display hearing up into up until censure and one of the requirements of doing so is to have
The information released and so is the votes the action item on January 5th
It is a necessary step towards it, but it is already
required as part of a censure hearing, correct?
It is possible, I suppose, that in a censure hearing there could be another basis and the
council would have to decide what other basis to establish that the facts for the censure.
You already have a report that exists.
If the attorney-client privilege is not waived in that report, it would have to be independent,
different basis for the Council to rely upon in order for the censure to proceed
we would have to the council would have to find another independent
investigation to rely on other than the one the city already has in possession
no I think that's one option certainly one option I would have to put another
independent basis or another basis of facts what would you establish as the
facts got it okay council could certainly take notice that these are the
facts that we're gonna rely on related to censure you already have something
the council could of course take a separate action to rely on something
So just to clarify, you know, we might have individually have personal
experience that we've experienced, let's say, as a body independent of whatever
the report says. That is possible. Okay. I just want to confirm that in the
disciplinary hearing notice that I submitted to the City and subsequent
hearings and in my statements earlier I am basing it on the the experiences
that I reported in the HR complaint that was subsequently investigated and I am
basing and spoke to using the findings from this specific already completed
investigative report for the purpose of the central hearing. That is clear. Okay.
One of the question is from a policy for process perspective. Councilman Simon
early asked about items A through D and you said that we could do other things
as well and I just want to be really clear we could if I'm understanding you
correctly we could ask for training as something short of censure that's first
a yes or no question we could ask for training yes okay okay so at this point
in time. We have a motion and a second. I don't see any other hands raised so
let's vote on scheduling a discussion and potential action of the waiver of
attorney-client privilege on Monday January 5th, 2026 with respect to the
October 31st, 2025 report. All votes are in and the motion carries with
five yeses and two nos. Okay at this point in time do you need any additional
clarification? Okay perfect. So at this point in time we are going to move
towards adjournment. I've got my green tie on because Stephen Cassidy was of
Irish descent and he took a lot of pride in that descent. I considered Stephen
Cassidy, a friend, a mentor, a guide.
But in terms of why I want to close this meeting in his honor,
it has nothing to do with me personally,
but the tremendous work that he did
for the city of San Leandro, the community and its residents.
His work will be felt literally for generations.
The amount of time and effort that Stephen put in
as a private, regular citizen to help improve funding
for the schools here in San Leandro,
coming to the tune of half a billion dollars,
the amount of time and effort that he put into
the public-private partnership known as Lit San Leandro,
his dedication to the arts,
standing at that very lectern,
talking to us about 1% for the arts.
And he's done that for a long time.
The truth is beauty statute, an iconic statute for the city of San Leandro is directly the
result of his advocacy in making sure that art is present in San Leandro.
Revenue measures for the city itself, measure of EV.
Think about where we would be from a budgetary perspective without the passage of measure
of EV.
At a very human level, he cared deeply about residents, he cared very deeply about the
success of this city.
He wanted to attract more and more companies to our city
and wanted to make sure that the students that graduated
from our schools could work at those companies.
I am very grateful to have known him.
I've heard nothing but positive things
from diverse elected officials, individuals in the city.
I can't believe that Stephen Cassidy has passed away.
It is such a tragedy, such a loss.
The people from Newark, he was working down there
their Chamber of Commerce said that he had just revitalized their Chamber of
Commerce in the limited time that he had been there. For all that he has
contributed not just in our city but throughout the greater East Bay, I'd like
to take just a moment of silence in gratitude and for those of you that
didn't hear, we have lowered our flags to half staff for one week in recognition
and in honor of all that he did for our city it is 856 and in honor of Stephen
Cassidy we are adjourned