Okay it's 7-0-1 and I'm calling to order the San Leonardo City Council meeting today's a
special meeting it's October 12, 2026. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance and stand if you're
able to. Regents, to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic of America.
Madam Clerk, would you please take our role to establish quorum.
council member James Aguilar present council member Victor Aguilar
Council member Fred Simon is absent
council member Sue Aboej present
Council member Dylan bolt is absent
Council member Viveros Walton present and mayor Gonzalez
Present the city of Saliano conducts orderly meetings with fillets mandate discriminatory statements for conduct that would potentially validate the federal civil
rights act of 1964 and or california fair employment housing act california penal
code sections 4 3 or 4 15 or per se disruptive to a meeting and will not be tolerated please
see the city council handbook and city council meeting rules of decorum for more information
madam clerk your announcement please 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 then wait
for public comment on that item to be called. 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. Okay so we go on to our
only action item for tonight's council we do have the opportunity to adopt a
resolution to call upon the registrar of voters to report on our results for
the upcoming election in a way that is consistent with our charter. At this
point in time I will turn to City Attorney Rich Pierota to introduce our
item. Thank you Mayor and good evening Council. This is a background and summary
of the proposed action this evening knowing full well that what was
published as a staff report has slightly changed and I will describe those
changes this evening and when I say changes it's because staff has been
discussions in discussions with the registrar voters since last Friday and
in including this today this afternoon this morning as well so we're working
closely with the registrar of voters. On June 16th 2025 the council adopted
ordinance number 2025-009 and that changed the city's election
method from a hybrid method where council members were nominated from a
council district but elected at large to a district-based election method in
which the candidate must reside within an election district that is a divisible
part of the city and is elected only by voters residing within that election
district while the mayor is nominated and elected by all voters citywide. In
that ordinance 2025-009 established the city charter amendment process for the
city's transition to a district-based election system. Importantly it adopted a
map describing the boundaries of each district and determine the sequence of
district elections. That map is the map that was adopted in the earlier part of
this decade. It's the current council district map that was also adopted under
ordinance number 2025-009. So on February 2nd, 2026 the council adopted a
resolution to call for a special municipal election for the City Charter
Amendment ballot measure to convert to a district-based election method and that
election was consolidated with the June 2nd, 2026 statewide primary election and
of course that election was conducted by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.
The county proceeded to assign a letter to that measure, measure F, this was the
ballot measure to amend the city charter to change the district-based election
method and measure F passed overwhelmingly with 87.33% in favor to
twelve point six seven percent opposed that registered the registrar set up
certified the June 2nd 2026 election results on June 26 and the city council
declared the results on July 6th by adopting resolution number 2026 dash
zero zero zero nine four excuse me measure F by its own terms went into
effect on July 1st which provided sufficient time for it to be in effect
for this coming November 3rd 2026 general election it is clear now that
the ballots for the November 3rd, 2026 election are for an at-large election and so to address
this situation the council is proposed to pass a resolution and the resolution has been
has changed. There are copies available within the room for those who are here in person.
It will be posted online as well. There are copies in front of the council updated version.
The reason that it's updated is because as we are working with the registrar voters it
It is clear that the registrar voters tabulate and reports results by precinct within the
city.
So when results are reported by precinct, it is clear that we can report out results
by district by the precincts within the district.
And so before you is a resolution that requests the registrar of voters to report results
to the city by individual precincts for one, two, three, and five.
And the results would be reportable both by the district and by each precinct within the
district.
the idea would be to show the results of the votes within the district for the
individual candidate. Of course in the sense of one, two, and five it would be
just for the individual unopposed candidates but for district three would
of course show the votes cast for each member, for each, excuse me, for each
candidate within only district three. And that's the goal of the resolution before
with that I'll the city manager not here to answer any questions we are in
close contact with the registrar's office they've been very helpful County
Council's office is involved as well and they've been very helpful and working
with us on trying to find the right solution okay so at this point in time
we will take questions if we have any seeing none we'll go to members of the
public for public comment on this item mayor we have received three comment
cards from in the room and there are presently two hands raised online.
Okay let's go ahead and take in-person public comment first we open public
comment in person. The in-person commenters are Joseph Trujillo followed
by James Mays followed by Lee Thomas. Hello my name is Joseph Trujillo. To the
members of the San Leandro City Council as a candidate for City Council District
three, an 18 year resident and someone who has dedicated two decades in managing critical
public infrastructure, I understand the absolute necessity of system integrity. When a breakdown
occurs in public infrastructure or public administration, the immediate response must
be total transparency, absolute accountability and swift corrective action. The recent ballot
distribution error by the Alameda County Register of Voters which mistakenly
utilized the old system and printed incorrect city council races on voters
ballots presents a serious challenge to the democratic process in San Leandro.
Thanks to the passage of measure F our residents fought for the right to vote
exclusively for their own district representatives. This ballot mistake
directly undermines that system and creates unnecessary confusion
particularly in district three. I'm formally calling upon the San
Angeles City Council and the city clerk to work collaboratively and aggressively
with Alameda County election officials to secure an immediate transparent and
legally sound remedy. We must ensure that one, every eligible voter receives clear
unambiguous instructions on how to handle their ballot. Two, a definite
definitive fix is executed so that no eligible vote is marginalized,
miscounted, or disqualified due to administrative errors. Three, the final
election results completely and accurately reflect the true will of our
independent districts. To the voters of San Leandro, I urge you
do not let this administrative failure silence your voice. I remain actively
engaged with city leadership as this issue is addressed and now we'll
continue to fight to protect the fairness. Thank you the next speakers are
James Mays followed by Lee Thomas. All right good evening City Council mayor
and members of the public so my name is James Mays 15 year resident of San
Leandro and I'm just here tonight to express my disappointment and share my
concerns about the the bad ballot, the incorrect ballot that our voters
received for the upcoming election. So you know going to our district centric
elections that was a big milestone for our city and now we're at risk of losing
all the progress for the one contested race in San Leandro. What it seems clear
to me is that we failed to understand the process to get this through to
completion and to honor the wishes of everybody that voted on measure f so a
couple questions so one is you know how does the city plan to communicate the
remedy to the citizens to those who are already starting to vote and suit to
those who may be confused especially in district three where we have a very wide
range of cultures and people who are trying to decide right now what their
decision is and how they get to that decision. And finally what's the
contingency plan if this doesn't work? If the county can't get it corrected, if the
tabulation isn't working, and how do we restore confidence in our citizens that
we can manage an election properly? So thank you, thank you for moving swiftly
on this and I encourage you to take action tonight, tomorrow morning do as
fast as you can the remedy with the county so that we can get this taken
care of you that through a remedy ballot or through back-end computer fix. Thank
you. Thank you. The next speaker is Lee Thomas. Good evening council mayor. Let's
just say we can't cry over spilled milk anymore right. So we've got to be able to
just fix this resolution fix problem. I appreciate the resolution here tonight.
I think the most important thing that you could do right now is make sure that
you keep your lines of communication open with the candidates right and with
the candidates, making sure that we know what is exactly going on and that we can
make sure that it's a fair and transparent process, also making sure
that the county communicates with us as well. So as you talk to the county, make
sure that the county is communicating with the candidates as well. I think the
most important part about this process is that you need to do whatever you need
to do on your end to make sure that you continue to communicate with residents.
It's already hard enough for us as candidates when we've got our own
constituents and our own support people asking us, are we going to get a fair
vote are we gonna make sure the votes gonna be fair for you when they're
already backing and supporting us and the only thing that we can say is we are
waiting to see what the city is saying we are waiting to see what the county
that says and that doesn't still enough trust and confidence in the voters here
in the city of San Leandro so it's very important so as you communicate this to
the city and so residents here in the city to the voters here in the city that
you also make sure that you're communicating that with us the candidates
especially the candidates are impacted by this because we are the ones that's
to answering the day-to-day questions on the ground
because people are rooting for us individually
and hoping that their vote goes towards us
and we just don't want to do anything to discourage that.
Thank you.
Mayor, there are no more comment cards from the room,
but we do have three hands raised online.
So let's go ahead and close public comment in person.
And let's open up public comment online.
First online speaker is Douglas Spaulding.
well, uh, I would say good evening, but it's an evening anyways, counsel.
Um, it's ironic that you had the option of passing a similar resolution, uh,
before you decided to send this to the ballot, uh, on the, on the June primary.
But here we are again, faced with a resolution.
And, um, my, my, my first and foremost plea this evening is to, uh, fellow
with voters in San Leandro, to not become cynical
and allow that to have you throw your hands up in the air
and just say, ah, phooey, I'm not gonna vote.
Please vote.
It's the most important thing you can do.
It's important at our local city level,
at the state level and the federal level, of course.
I don't think anybody's interested here
in casting aspersions or blame,
but we're all looking for a solution.
Unfortunately, the error that was made undermines the integrity of the electoral process, at
least here in San Leandro.
And whatever the solution is, it's already affected the character of this District 3
campaign, which, of course, was billed as a district election and people made their
campaign strategy up on that basis.
I think the resolution you made is written this way,
but I think it would be important to make sure
that the ballots in districts one, two, and five
are also counted on a district basis.
And that's an important data for future elections,
for future candidates to be able to know,
okay, well, you know, I got a plan to get this many votes.
And since I have a little bit of time left,
I just want to say, I think we really need
to fully embrace district elections.
I have heard some of you politicals, you know, saying how wonderful our large system is and
how other people have remarked how unique it is. It's not unique in a contravene.
Thank you, sir. Your time has elapsed. The next online speaker is Robert Boletow.
Oh, hello. Sorry, I didn't realize I had to unmute. Can you guys hear me okay?
Yes, okay, hi, good evening, Mayor and City Council. You know, I appreciate the city taking steps
to address the ballot issues surrounding Measure F, you know, which passed with about 88%
positivity. So I still believe that there are important questions that need to be answered.
You know, first, where did the breakdown in communication occur? Was this an administrative
error by Alameda County registrar of voters? Or did the city fail to properly communicate or
or transmit the necessary information
following the passage of Measure F.
That distinction matters because if the problem originated
in the city's procedures,
what safeguards are being put in place
to ensure it doesn't happen again in 2028?
Second, why does the proposed resolution
specifically address the November 2026 election?
If additional direction to the registrar is necessary
to implement Measure F correctly,
We shouldn't establish a permanent procedure
that applies to all future city council elections.
The voters approved measure F with the expectations
that district-based elections
would be implemented properly.
They deserve some transparency, accountability,
and confidence that their votes
will be counted as intended.
I urge the city council,
not only to correct the immediate problem,
but also to identify its cause,
establish clear safeguards
and ensure we're not having this conversation again
in two years.
You know, and mistakes happen and it's okay.
As long as we address them.
You know, I'm not calling it as a slight to anybody,
but yeah, we passed with 88%.
So let's go.
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you.
The next online speaker is Alvaro Ramos.
So November 3rd is election day and there will be voters who did not choose to receive mail-in
ballots and instead those voters are going to go in person to vote at the polls. Will the same
issue that we are here tonight appear on an in-person ballot on election day?
Please check this with Alameda County and the Registrar.
We, the people, demand transparency and communication for District 3 voters and transparency and
communication with voters in all the other Districts too.
As a voter, what am I supposed to do with this ballot?
It's not up to me to figure that out.
I need instructions that clearly explain to me.
What am I supposed to do?
The city and the county have had months to coordinate since Measure F was passed in June
2026.
The city and the county are at fault for negligence in the implementation of district-based elections,
knowing that this was the first district-based election for the city of San Leandro.
These important issues like this that should be on city agenda.
We had so much time to deal with this and prepare.
We should have been preparing for this and treating it as a real city priority.
And yet it feels like it's been a last priority and now this issue is eroding trust in government.
Take responsibility.
No finger pointing.
No scapegoats.
Fix the problem.
How do we prevent this issue in future elections?
End it there.
Thank you.
The next online speaker is the name Urban Res Life.
Hello.
Hi.
Great.
Good evening, relatives.
First, I would like to acknowledge the Loni's people whose territory that we occupy.
I would also like to acknowledge Indigenous People's Day today.
previous speakers have said some really valid points I am with them especially
this last speaker 100% with my what one my concern is is I would like to know if
AI played an issue with this issue that we have right now or if it was a human
issue thank you very much thank you mayor there are no more hands raised
online. Okay so we will close public comment and I think I just want to pick
up some of the themes from the public commenters and I'll start with city
manager but you can pass along so I just want to make sure that we address
certain things up front at the beginning. We know that there was a
misunderstanding between the county and the city. Are you aware of any connection
to AI with respect to that miscommunication. Thank you Mr. Mayor. I am not aware of any
connection to AI at this point. And one of the comments had to do with potential
finger pointing or scapegoating based on what you have seen in the interactions
between the county, the city, etc. Have you seen, are you aware of any finger
pointing or scapegoating I have not the county staff registrar voter and our
staff has been had them working collaboratively to find a resolution okay
thank you I don't know the answer to this one you the answer the first two
the for the folks that show up in person do we have any indication at this point
in time whether the ballot will be modified and if we don't know we don't
I don't know, but just Mike goes to you.
We do know the answers to that question.
The registrar will have informed us
that the ballot will not be modified.
Okay.
The process that has been proposed in the resolution,
does that apply to each of the districts?
One, two, three, and five.
We'll go to city attorney.
Yes, Mayor.
Okay, now I'm going to council member questions
or comments, discussion, et cetera.
Just as a matter of executive privilege as a chair,
I will be moving this item.
I've spent a lot of time working on this item.
So I will be making a motion to move this item,
but I'm definitely open to all discussion and amendments
if there is interest in making amendments.
We'll begin with council member Victor Aguilar.
Thank you, mayor, I would second your motion.
Thank you.
As that is it, okay.
So please proceed, Council Member Bowen.
Thank you, mayor.
And I just wanna clarify a few things.
I know there's some outstanding questions still.
Just so that the public understands and to clarify,
in adopting this resolution,
can you, city attorney, share what this process
does in terms of versus like sending an email to the county registrars and say
can you just do this why are we putting this resolution on now so this
resolution really does call upon the registrar voters to report results for
the election in a way that is clear to all that it follows measure F which is
the Charter Amendment. It also, also importantly, authorizes your city manager
to work with, continue to work with, but also really makes it explicit to work
with the County Registrar to effect the needs or the requirements, the intent, the
purpose of this resolution. And that could involve negotiating an agreement or
some under some other memorandum of understanding, an MOU, to memorialize and
make clear what the procedure will be for the reporting of the results and
that will also make sure for the city manager that she has the direction not
only for entering the agreement but negotiating how this is going to
communicate it negotiating all the other terms in coordination with staff city
clerk and myself okay and to follow up on that it does this resolution that
only apply to this election? Correct. It only applies to this election. We will
have an all-new resolution for all future elections. Of course, when we use
the registrar voters as our elections provider, which we will foresee
doing in the future. And yes, there'll be a separate resolution and there are
safeguards, guardrails, etc. in place to ensure that this does not happen again.
Great and
Just to clarify
I've had questions around whether or not the ballots that folks have received are the ballots that they should use and this idea of
A good ballot or a bad ballot. So two questions one
Confirming that residents should be using the ballots that they have received
Yes, use the ballots you have received and if you do not live in district 5
But you vote for somebody in district five would that disqualify your ballot. It will not disqualify your ballot
We are working with the registrar to ensure that the ballot is counted in accordance with the Charter
Wait, I think in a sense for it counts just for district five. Okay, great
and
the
Question comment really is something that obviously the public commenters in general the population has brought up but around
ensuring that over the next few weeks and in the media that we the city
proactively gets information out to the community that the ballots they have are
the ones they should use that they will not be just got the ballots will not be
disqualified if they vote for somebody a different race that only the voters in
the district according to measure F will be voted will be counted towards that
candidate that race, whether potentially figuring out what we can do, but
certainly the San Lionel Times, ads in language newspapers, general social
media outreach, and possibly mailers to postcards to the one district
three especially because it is a contested race. Yes, thank you. I think I
will look to the senior manager to ensure all of that was captured, but yes
that is absolutely the intent for communications as soon as we know and
understand that the reporting can be the way that is necessary for us to ensure
measure F is followed. Thank you and I'd also like to acknowledge city attorney,
city manager, mayor and staff who I know once we found out that this was an an
issue that you've been working really proactively to figure out a resolution
We were able to meet tonight. So thank you for the effort that you've been putting in
Thank you. Just really quickly city attorney. I'm assuming the other reason just
That we do a resolution is to confirm for city manager that whatever's in there is the will of the whole council
That is correct. Okay
So thank you coming device. Are you said I did punch you in there you go. Vice mayor
Thank you, I have
four questions
We talked a little bit about and these all focus on process the next steps
So we did see some communications via social media and I just want to be explicit about the communication and outreach plan
Councilmember Bowen touched a little bit on it as well
I'm specifically asking if there's going to be a dedicated web page
to when something of note happens
This we usually have like items of concern or something along those lines
I'm just wondering if there is a
What is the communication plan and does it include a webpage does it include multilingual communication ensuring that?
especially in the district
Where we have a contested race where we have a large population of folks that speak can't Cantonese Mandarin Vietnamese
Spanish, English, if there is a multilingual communication that
is paired with what is already planned to go out.
And then my other question is around, have we costed out?
Actually, I'll stop with that, because the other question
has a budget implication.
So was it our process?
What is the outreach plan
to communicate the issue with the ballots?
City manager, please.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor, thank you, Vice Mayor.
So right now, as of Friday on the city's website,
the main page, if you go on to sanlienja.org
for any purpose, whatever page you're going to,
even if it's specific page,
like recreation or library or something,
splash page pops up letting you know that we are aware of the situation we
are working with the register our voters to on a resolution we also it also says
that there's tonight's meeting so that's where we are as of right now to get
through tonight we are also going to update it tomorrow so the city does have
an elections page what I had staff do today is the update how you get there so
So right now what it was this morning was sallyangel.org forward slash 1442 forward
slash district slash elections.
That's hard to just remember and tell someone.
So now there is sallyangel.org forward slash district elections, which is the new page
and so our information will update with that we're having that page updated so it tells
you what happened to get to June's election and has not been updated post that.
we are going to be updating that web page and our information will say and
because this will be continue to evolve as we work with the registrar voters
that for more information updates you can refer back to the district election
web page on the city's website but to your note on communication and
different languages yes we will work on that as well. Thank you and I know that
this is a really short runway being that we're just a few weeks away from the
November election, but have we costed out what it would cost to send a letter explained
like a physical letter to folks citywide so that people are thinking about either by household
or by registered voters, but then people don't have to register to show up to vote on the
day of the election anymore. They can just show up and vote. So I'm just wondering in
order to capture it have we cost it out or do we know what it would cost to send an eight
and a half by 11 certified mail letter we have not okay I don't know that that is something
that I I think that would one require an emergency action I don't know if it's necessary but
I just wanted to kind of understand the the options and those are all my questions and
I'll save my comments for the end.
So it is a time for comments.
So any comments that you'd like to add
or anyone would like to add now, please proceed.
So, because I'm ready to make my motion in full.
Okay, so I, for some reason as Mike is still on,
but that's fine.
So, I'm gonna go ahead and move the item.
I'm gonna move that we adopt the resolution as proposed.
And Council Member Bregular?
I'll second.
Okay, any further discussion?
Seeing none, let's go ahead and vote.
Mayor, I have a clarifying question.
Yes, please.
The resolution that we're adopting
is the one on the screen, as proposed.
Correct.
Just to be clear, we have brought a slightly amended
with greater clarification.
It was distributed to the public today,
and it was distributed to the council members,
and it reflects the specific approach
that we are recommending to the county.
That method is consistent with a method
that the county already uses.
So it should be easy for the county
to implement this method.
So with that, let's go ahead and vote.
All votes are in.
And the motion carries unanimously.
But it will take one moment to display here.
And there we go.
Thank you.
And so I'm assuming the people online can see that.
Correct?
OK, perfect.
Thank you.
So the time is 6.36.
And we are adjourned.
7.36.
And we are adjourned.