Board of City Service Commissioners Discharge Appeal Hearing for Omar Barberena - March 13, 2026
Board of City Service Commissioners Discharge Appeal Hearing for Omar Barberena - March 13, 2026
The Board of City Service Commissioners held a hybrid meeting on March 13, 2026, to hear the discharge appeal of Omar Barberena, an Equal Rights Specialist in the Department of Administration's Office of Equity and Inclusion. The hearing included testimony from department witnesses, evidence review, and closed session deliberation. The board ultimately upheld the discharge by a 4-0 vote.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of March 10, 2026, meeting minutes: A motion by Commissioner Steve Smith, seconded by Commissioner Heidi Wick Spoerl, carried 4-0 (Commissioner Janet Cleary excused).
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments from non-parties. The hearing consisted of testimony from the appellant and department witnesses.
Discussion Items
- Opening statements: Mary Reed (interim supervisor) outlined the department's case, alleging prolonged misuse of city property, including over 28,000 non-work-related URLs, personal browsing during work hours (e.g., 35 of 40 hours in one week, 87.5% of work time), and failure to process ERC complaints. Omar Barberena argued lack of progressive discipline, due process, and consideration of mitigating factors (e.g., his father's death the morning of the discharge meeting).
- Testimony of Roberto Sarita (ITMD): Confirmed that the 28,000+ URLs on Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome were from Barberena's city-issued device. He testified that he generated the reports at Reed's request and that the city does not monitor all employee internet use but responds to departmental requests.
- Testimony of Ramona Ramos (Equal Rights Complaints Liaison): Testified that she observed inappropriate content on Barberena's screen (e.g., a woman in a blue bikini, South Park) and that she had to clean up a backlog of 13 complaints from October to December 2025 that were not processed by Barberena.
- Testimony of Mary Reed: Detailed the investigation, including a sample week (December 8–12, 2025) showing Barberena browsed non-work-related sites for 35 of 40 scheduled work hours. She also noted 37 job searches, 17,000 Facebook URL occurrences, and other personal browsing. She argued that Barberena was warned via emails and a recorded Teams meeting (Exhibit D5) and was provided training, but performance did not improve.
- Testimony of Omar Barberena: Disputed the characterization of his browsing, stating some content related to his work (e.g., racism, discrimination topics) and that he used relaxation music to focus. He claimed he was not given a performance improvement plan and that the discharge process was predetermined (termination effective at 9 a.m. on the day of the meeting). He also noted that he had taken on additional duties and had no prior discipline.
- Cross-examination: Reed highlighted that Barberena requested a second postponement of the pre-disciplinary meeting (documented in Exhibit D8), and Barberena clarified his interpretation. Reed also questioned the relevance of his browsing to his job duties.
- Closed session: The commission deliberated in closed session from 1:43 p.m. to 2:08 p.m.
Key Outcomes
- Motion on cause to discipline: Commissioner Miller moved, seconded by Commissioner Smith, that based on a preponderance of the evidence, the department had just cause to discipline. Passed 4-0 (Cleary excused).
- Motion on cause to discharge: Commissioner Miller moved, seconded by Commissioner Smith, that based on a preponderance of the evidence, the department had just cause to discharge. Passed 4-0 (Cleary excused).
- Appeal denied: The board denied Barberena's appeal, upholding the discharge.
- Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 2:10 p.m.
Meeting Transcript
My name is Frank Bach. I serve as the president of the board. The first item on today's agenda is a call to order. This March 13th meeting of the Board of City Service Commissioners is called to order. The next item is a roll call. Would the executive secretary please call the roll? Commissioner Miller, present. Commissioner Cleary. She's excused. Commissioner Smith. Present. Commissioner Wicksburrow, present. And President Bach. Present. Or present. Next item, please. Item three, file number 251743 communication for the approval of the March 10th, 2026 meeting minutes. Do commissioners have any comments or questions regarding the proposed minutes. No, I move approval. I second. Been moved and seconded to approve the proposed minutes of the March 10th meeting. I'll pull the commissioners. Commissioner Miller. Yes. Commissioner Smith. Yes. Commissioner Wicksporl. Yes. The minutes are approved as submitted. The next and only item on our agenda is item four. It is the continuation of the discharge appeal of Omar Barbarena, who was an equal rights specialist with the department of administration. I see the parties are both present. Today, the state statutes and our rules allow a city employee to appeal a discharge action. Today we're hearing an appeal from Omar Barbarena concerning his discharge, which was signed on January 21st, 2026. The commission will decide whether or not there was cause to discipline the appellant. And if we find there was cause, the commission will decide the appropriateness of a penalty. The court reporter who is with us today will swear in the witnesses just prior to their testimony. I want to remind everyone that only one person can speak at a time because the court reporter has to be able to hear the speaker in order to make a record of the hearing. The parties stipulated to certain exhibits and other matters, including the fact that Mr. Barbarina filed a timely appeal. Now the hearing is this hearing itself will be conducted as follows. Second, we'll have opening statements by each of the parties. Third, we'll hear direct testimony from witnesses. Each witness will be subject to questions from the members of the commission and cross-examine by the other party. Fourth, we'll have closing statements by each of the parties. And finally, the commission will deliberate on the matter. Typically, our deliberations occur in closed session. Of course, is announced in open session. At each step in the process, the department goes first, the appellant second. Staff will work with the parties to select an additional hearing date.
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