Okay.

Okay. It's 7.05 and I'm calling the meeting.

The assembly of 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 five of the United States of America

and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Madam Clerk, would you please take roll?

Council Member Aguilar.

Present.

Council Member Azevedo.

Present.

Councilmember Bolt. Here.

Councilmember Simon. Present.

Councilmember Viveros Walton.

Present. Thank you.

Vice Mayor Bowen. Present. And Mayor

Gonzalez. Present. The City of San

Land will conduct 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 403 or

415 are per se disruptive to a meeting and will not be tolerated here please see

the City Council handbook and 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 opened, hands may be raised to speak.

So for item number three, was there any reportable 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.

Councilman Rivera-Walton, please.

I'd like to move the consent calendar.

And Councilmember Acevedo?

I'd like to second it.

Okay.

So we do have a motion from Councilman Rivera-Walton with a second of Councilmember Acevedo to move

our consent calendar in 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.

soon. 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, counsel, for taking my comment this evening.

I see that the consent calendar, one of the items is about the travel budget and some of the

adjustments that are happening as a result of past disciplinary actions, and more 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 broke the law on an official

business trip reimbursed the city and the people all of the funds for that trip. I think this

be written into the handbook. I think this should be a part of the official conduct policy. And 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 members um i don't disagree

with the previous speaker but uh like they say innocent until proven guilty i would not want to

presume anything before a jury verdict uh i wanted to uh speak to the uh the item on uh 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 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 serve on a board of

commission and they don't follow through, you know, for whatever reasons, then, you know,

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 school district, San Leandro School

District, but there is not one from the San Lorenzo Unified School District. And it would

make sense to me to add someone. I'm not sure that Doug Marr wants to add another night to his

month, but perhaps they can come up with somebody to help us out from over there.

And I think that was all I wanted to say. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Mayor, that concludes all of the raised hands.

So we will close public comment. Thank you. And at this point in time, we 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 two 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 uh yes we have provided an updated presentation uh to council in chambers

we are having an issue with the legislature system which is a system that we upload files

for council meetings and so um we're asking that everyone pay attention to the presentation that

that Captain Khan will be giving this evening.

And once we are 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 are minor administrative, ministerial in nature,

and we may proceed with this item?

Yes, you may proceed with this item.

It is properly agendized and the 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.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Good evening, council members, Mr. Mayor, Madam City Manager, and City Attorney Pia Roda.

As the Mayor said, I'm Captain Ali Khan.

I'm here for the presentation of the San Lito Police Department Animal Control Services with East Bay.

SPCA. It's a contract extension. Just a bit of a background. The San Diego Police Department has

relied on East Bay SPCA for animal shelter services since 2021 after agreement with VCA

Llewellyn Animal Hospital and our contract with the city of Fremont had ended. Prior to Fremont,

We had a contract with the city of Hayward and the county of Alameda for animal sheltering services.

On July 21st of this year, 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, 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 Averitt 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 has reached research 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 San Diego 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 will 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, it's 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 a total contract amount, again, for $398,000.

The additional budget appropriation will be presented and considered during the mid-cycle

update process. So why am I here? This is our recommendation and the police department's ask.

The city council adopted a resolution to approve and authorize our city manager to execute amendment

number two of the contract, an 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

agreement for an additional 579 thousand but not to exceed one million five hundred and seventeen

thousand dollars so the ask here is for an extension of the contract the funds have been secured

i'll open up to any questions but if there are any technical questions i do have

our animal control supervisor ed bell here okay so at this point in time we will take

questions from council for clarification.

We'll then go to public comment

and then come back for discussion and or motions,

beginning with council member Azevedo.

Okay, thank you for your presentation.

I have a couple of 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?

And to get the animal picked up, the dog picked up?

This is exactly why I have my right-hand person who's going to be at Bill answering this question.

I was just wondering what that meant, 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.

Oh, okay.

So we have to separate them.

So when we send our statistics to the 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?

We quarantine at home.

So with the quarantine of the animals, it's a quarantine set by the state that if they're up to date on the current rabies vaccine,

they can be quarantined at home under the watchful eye of the parents or the dog owners.

Okay, why? I mean, why do we do that? 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. Okay.

Yes, and we try to keep them at home so accidents happen.

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.

Oh, okay.

And then some of the statistics where it says ACO, that means that's when you guys picked up the animals and then Publix 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 just just picked up one cat in all of october i mean three cats that we brought in

um because we're trying not to bring in cats there's no leash law for cats in saint leandro

so some people have outdoor cats so we don't want to have to catnap the the animals from the people

yeah okay thank you thank you so we'll go to 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 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 span neutering for San Diego residents for feral cats, feral and stray cats.

Okay, you said it's low cost?

Low cost.

I believe it's $40 or $50 per animal.

Okay.

And when you get cats and you take them, or dogs, to the SBCA, what happens to them once they go there?

So once they go there, there's an intake done on the animal to make sure it's healthy,

make sure it has all the shots necessary to house.

they are set up for a quarantine or not quarantine a a stray hold which is usually a five-day

stray hold once the stray hold is done they're going to 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 the span 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 it.

You said 93%? Live release rate. So all the animals, 93% of all the animals that we bring

there leave the shelter alive whether it goes to foster or adopt enough okay thank you thank you

we'll go to council member aguilar next

uh thank you mayor gonzalez my question is with regards to the total amount paid to the east bay

SPCA the $398,500 is what is that is that just a flat fee or does that entail like any type of

itemization as to you know 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 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.

Council Member 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 Leandro,

has to go to the animal control first.

And I, 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, 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 the the only time I've ever used is council member

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 for that publicly because it made a difference. None of

the kids 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 proceed. So we'll close public comment in person and we'll open

public comment online. The first speaker is Douglas Spaulding.

Thank you very much. You know, it seems whenever I find myself canvassing 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 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 that would be

both an internal and external educational piece.

Like I don't think many people in the city know that that's the approach and sort of

how to go about it.

But you're saying that, okay, we were budgeted at 400, we were budgeted 400 animals.

We go over by 100, that's a 25% increase.

Okay, it makes sense we have to pay a little bit more.

But what you're asking for, the additional $181,000 for both fiscal years 2026 and 2027,

is more than an 80% increase over what was budgeted. And I just can't quite understand

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

thank you

I appreciate the SBCA

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 at 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.

So 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 set 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 according to, depending on how these schedules are read.

The new agreement that you're considering signing and approving today on page two, on page two does something very important.

it lowers the base, the contracted base, to 250 animals. And now, before, there were a $25,000

extra charge at 400 animals. Now there's a $40,000 charge at 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 and transparently 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 okay so we'll close

public comment um to that last public commenter i 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 okay let's just we've got

the folks here talk to us about the change in the pricing uh 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 certainly have to pay for it and part of this

review process also included again I want to 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 during this research, as Council Member Bolt has mentioned,

one of the things that we learned was that there wasn't a checks and 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 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 signed a contract with SPCA.

Smaller cities, smaller call volume, but significantly more money 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 Ed can kind of give you a comprehensive review of what they provide

and why they're unique.

Thank you.

So in my opinion, the numbers have got larger, a lot to do with COVID.

A lot of people were stay at home, working from home.

They want to 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 going to be getting all these dogs that were neglected just dumped on us.

Follow the proper protocol.

So we're not going to 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.

um that is not counted against our contract um these are all kittens that have to go to

fosters immediately to be hand fed every couple hours um and it's not being counted against us

so if we are forced to go to another another route with another shelter those are numbers that

will increase um dramatically or drastically thank you we have other questions or comments

on this item prior to okay council member 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

in 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

a round that would handle about 40 to 50 cats, and that price will still equal about 40 to $50

dollars 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 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 did want to just say nice job by your department.

And I did want to give a shout out to Jessica from your department.

And I was involved with the 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 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 Aguilar with a second from Council Member

Simon. Seeing no further discussion, please vote.

Council Member 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 Aguilada and council member Simon.

So here to introduce the item,

we have city attorney, Rich Pierrotta.

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 and by that,

because it was not properly agendized,

the action, the entire motion was rendered null and void

under Robert's 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 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 handed out, under page 4, it lists A through D of one or more of the combination of the items that could be considered.

Can it be an 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 has 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 what action the council would like to take

as to a discipline short of censure.

It's up to the council to decide.

Okay, so at that time when this is occurring,

that motion could be made for something,

an alternate to A through 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 into 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 under the policy and

and under a common law, which is case law,

all requests, all disciplinary actions

against public officials by the body itself

must be an open session.

It's 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 council

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 members who were able to do so,

authorized an investigation 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 counsel 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 as 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.

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 a item on a future agenda yes

tonight the agenda item is allowed for the council to discuss what disciplinary actions under 1.13.115

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,

Council Member Simon's 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 discipline short of censure.

Okay.

And to clarify, for censure action,

is censure action the only way

that this council could require a fellow council member who has violated city policy to attend

trainings or we state direct to be corrected to subject to correct the results of the behavior

that violated the city policy. That is the only way is to go through the center process.

In order to require, as a condition of removing a privilege that a council member has, so for example, if the privilege of travel 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 requires some sort of due process action.

I see.

So it's not that, it is to be able to give some consequence or weight 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.

Yes.

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, we as, 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 rent stabilization is coming up on December 15th, which is also going to be a

heavy and long meeting, I think, to be able to do it at the next meeting after that,

so that staff can spend the time that they need to on that policy decision that we have to make.

that's the first that's the first motion that I would like to make

yeah if I can take some public comment on this item and then I'll come back to you for 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 the flexibility is there without an amendment?

The flexibility is there without the amendment

in that A through D, the counselor has 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 taking 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-member 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 could do that but the problem that you foresee is enforceability

is that what i'm hearing correct okay

um okay i think that's all i had council member simon question or

Councilor Mercer, 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.

I think there's a comment, not a question.

Any more questions?

Councilman Rivera-Tolton.

Thank you.

I just, I have a question regarding whether we have to,

the motion should be for each individual council member

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 Council Member 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 bifurcate them.

So we'll take two motions then.

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 Council Member 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 redacted 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 is 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 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 said that some people have written letters

to the San Leandro Times, but there

are no official San Leandro Times explanation

of the issue here.

What's been clear for a while is that Council Member Simon

placed the race card.

Council Member Aguilar placed the gay card.

and Councilmember Bowen plays the feminist card.

Meanwhile, Mayor Gonzales issues 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, the soap opera.

So, all of this is a smokescreen for a million dollars in expenditures

are being voted behind closed doors, well above revenue.

All of the three council members, or perhaps four,

should be terminated and a new election to be called.

We cannot allow three more years to continue with this City Council.

New elections now.

Thank you.

Mayor, those are the only cards we have received in the room.

One more from the floor.

Mr. McGuire.

Yeah.

Hi, Mike McGuire.

I would, I 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 large organizations is that employees who have displeased someone are often brought up on vague charges.

People who've done terrible things are let go, allowed to keep doing them.

And that we kind of need to see the facts.

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

Sallie Under 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 and I

you know 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 and 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

Spaulding. Round and round and round we go. And boy, is it frustrating. I share your frustration,

Councilwoman Bowen. It is rather like Groundhog Day, just not as much fun.

uh i i it's beyond me why the report has not been released uh clearly there's a there's a

a general call for it there's a need for it we have this folly of you uh sitting there

for a deliberation about the elephant in the room but you can't really describe it because

I can't use the word elephants, tusk, trunk, the word gray, anything like that.

I believe that Councilwoman Bowen 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, you know, 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 sensitivity to the agenda coming up housing protections is a very important

issue and I appreciate you honoring that on the next agenda for December 15th. So I guess we'll

see what happens. Thanks. Thank you. The next speaker is Deborah Acosta.

Good evening, Mayor Gonzalez, Vice Mayor Bowen and Councilmembers.

My name is Deborah Costa with the League of San Leandro Voters.

At the November 3rd meeting, Councilmember Simon described the accountability process

as a public lynching and then, astonishingly, demanded that the city reverse his prior censure

and issue him an apology.

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 4-2 to return with a public vote on waiving privilege and to release a redacted full report.

That item disappeared.

And without weighting 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 a way to be privileged, 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 where emailed comments on agenda items are published.

We are not asking for removals. 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 and Ms. Vice Mayor and each and every council member.

There is an internal complaint requesting discipline against some members of this council.

Of course, an important element of leadership is how you handle mistakes.

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, whom I respect, who are named in the complaint. Just do what MAGA wouldn't. Please, listen with empathy. Acknowledge that multiple women with similar complaints are probably on to 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 per San Leandro 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 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 files.

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's 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 Bolt, 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 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, the council, 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 going to talk about it next November, too.

Thank 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 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 to more delays.

I think it was really helpful to hear that from, you know, an official's mouth and didn't require someone from the community to parrot back what the code for the city is.

So thank you for sharing your knowledge.

This has taken almost a year.

I feel so terribly for everyone involved.

I'm excited or I'm we're just all tired this needs to be released I think everyone knows that

the delays have caused more problems for everyone not just those who are being investigated but I

think the entire city council I hope this is a lesson to the council that this is not how future

you know complaints should be handled and I look forward to this actually completing having the

meeting about the the waiver of client privilege and having the meeting to determine you know

whether to release the report I hope it is regardless of whether it's redacted or not

um just we need to get this done thank you thank you the next speaker is whitney walker

hi thank you um 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 council member bowen but please know that this public is watching

to see if the city council takes allegations of sexual harassment bullying and misconduct seriously

an investigation was conducted and the public deserves to know the results of that investigation

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 members simon and aguilar

please release the report thank you

thank you mayor there are no more raised hands on zoom so we'll close public comment and bring

it back to chambers for discussion uh 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 I 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, January 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 each about one other 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 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 want to address

something that Councilmember Simon shared that is a terrible to hear he

said that a colleague previously had said something awfully offensive and

racist to him those types of comments in 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 who said 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.

C.L. Leander experienced 250% increase in anti-Asian hate.

As someone who has organized

and helped facilitated programmatic workshops,

understanding implicit bias and racism,

I've served on the CIS equity committee

and I'm on the NLC Race Equity and Leadership Policy Committee.

I want to make it very clear that I do not condone any racist or discriminated comments,

and that is 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 girls and at the very same time the middle school here in our city is dealing

with the fallout of disclosure of 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 up 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 attend training I do not want this I want this to

be restorative I do not want this to be punitive I if you if I don't want to take away a council

member's 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 for the 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 can 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 I 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 council member aguilar

and once for council member 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 just

I'm just, 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, et cetera.

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 council member 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...

Hold a disciplinary hearing on January 5th, 2026 for all possible discipline.

Yes.

Thank you.

Yes.

Thank you.

Councilman Vittes-Walton.

If it includes censure, then doesn't that trigger...

It triggers the release of the report.

So I'm going to go to city attorney for that.

So in order to trigger the censure,

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.

So for example, if you go on December 5th

and say we'd like to move towards censure

and we want to 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 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.

I just need clarification on what the city attorney has shared.

I'm looking at the discipline policy right now.

The discipline policy states that the evidence that will be used in discussing whether there's an up-to censure has to be provided.

But if the vice mayor is requesting that discipline hearing be on the 5th, that gives us plenty of time to have the discussion next.

I'm not asking for this, but gives time to have the discussion of waiving privilege at the next meeting for that 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 if we're moving forward with censure, if the

council decide the matter for censure hearing, it shall schedule a hearing no sooner 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?

Is that what you're saying?

No, no.

Please point to the item, the text you were referring to.

Section 1.13.120.

It shall schedule the hearing no sooner than two weeks after its determination to hear the matter.

So 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 Council Member Bolt.

Please proceed.

I'm sorry, more questions?

Yeah.

Okay, please proceed with your questions.

um i if we are going to include a possible to for all of the uh all of the um discipline

all of the um options up to and including censure i would like it to be on january 20th

because of the holiday and to allow us time to...

That would be my request.

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 we're 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 okay that's what I'm saying do I need to

second it so that we can actually discuss it let's go if would you like to second it yeah so I'll

second it just for the sake of discussion. Okay. Council Member Bolton. Yes.

This is a change because we talked and we said it wasn't going to be sent. We were going to

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 we'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

of those privileges and that was where the report would be the basis for that

due process and 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 however 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 um if we go down this path and we don't we're just going to 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.

Sure.

When I...

Yes.

Again, when we had this initial discussion on November 3rd,

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 then to have it.

And what I wanted to be able to do is exactly what we have in 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 discipline.

And so the act of censure is to be able to, as if we choose that path,

again, it's still a censure 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 council 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-Sewalton, 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

the maker of the motion to

agendize it for the

disciplinary hearing for

individual

Council Member Simon and Council Member Aguilar on January 20th.

On Tuesday, January 20th.

Is that...

I just want to make sure.

Yes.

Okay.

Because I know that Monday was a holiday, so I just wanted to triple check.

Yeah, Monday is a holiday.

It's a Dr. King holiday.

So we have an amended motion.

motion if I'm understanding what's happening here I'm just gonna 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

I'm going to confirm by looking at 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 Votus Walton.

Perfect.

So now let's go into 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 my my thoughts i continue to be concerned about the waiver of

of attorney-client privilege at this time.

And I don't want to go into legal advice

that we have received and how,

I mean, those are closed session deliberations.

I was, my understanding that censure was not on the table.

And so I just, I won't belabor the point,

but I am concerned about the disclosure

of attorney-client privilege at this time.

Seeing no other hands, please vote.

All votes are in.

And the motion carries four yeses and three noes.

Yeses being Vice Mayor Bowen, Mayor Gonzalez, Councilmember Bolt, Councilmember Rose Walton,

three no's council member simon aguilar and azimedo

okay so i understand uh city manager that you'd like a little bit of clarification please

thank you mr mayor um now that we have the vote uh 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 will be provided for the century 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 and 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 and 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, Council Member Bolt.

Yes.

So I have a yes from Vice Mayor.

Council Member Bolt.

Yes.

A yes from Bolt.

Council Member Viveros-Walton.

Yes.

And that was my understanding as Mayor as well.

Council Member Aguilar.

No.

Okay, any others?

Yes, I believe it was for Buffalo.

Okay.

Councilman 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 I think 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 direction.

The motion was clear that it was applicable to both Council Member Aguilar and Council Member Simon.

Majority passed.

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 a waiver of privilege if it's the report or some other

documentation on the agenda sometime between now and January 5th.

We will begin with Council Member Rivera-Swalton.

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.

Oh.

Oh, that you see earlier.

Two weeks before the section hearing.

It's Monday the 15th.

Monday the 5th?

Are you saying this December 15th?

No, no, no.

I did not mean December 15th.

I wanted, 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 wanted to hold a censure hearing,

which you've left that option for the 20th,

then we,

the fifth would be appropriate

or the 15th of this month also.

Okay.

Then I would like to push it as much as possible.

So the 5th is the latest.

January 5th.

Second.

Second.

So I've got a motion by Councilmember Vyvotis Walton with a second from Councilmember

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 Councilmember Vyvotis Walton with a second from Councilmember Bolt

schedule a discussion of the waiver of the attorney-client privilege on the

October 31st 2025 report on January 5th councilman

Margotis Walton

sorry 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 okay and so so that's I'm getting the yes and

and Council Member Bult coming to you.

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 it's 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 Vodice Walton,

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

of the October 31st, 2025 report

regarding the concerns raised by Vice Mayor Belvin.

Mayor, point of information?

Certainly.

It keeps saying 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

agendizing 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 um we just took a vote to um have

the disciplinary hearing up until

censure and one of the requirements

of doing so is to have

the information

released and so

is the vote 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?

Is it 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,

another 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, 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 going to rely on related to censure. You already have something. The council could, of course, take a separate action to rely on something else.

So just to clarify, 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 in subsequent hearings and in my statements earlier, I am basing it on 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 center hearing.

That is clear.

Okay.

One of the question is from a policy process perspective,

councilmore 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.

Thank you.

okay so at this point in time we are we have a motion in 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 no's

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,

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 statue, an iconic statue for the city of San Leandro,

is directly the result of his advocacy.

and making sure that art is present in San Leandro.

Revenue measures for the city itself.

Measure VV.

Think about where we would be from a budgetary perspective

without the passage of Measure VV.

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

on 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 8 56 and in honor of Stephen Cassidy, we are adjourned.