SA PulseSanta Ana Council Record
28October
2024
Special City Council Meeting · One key issue

This special meeting was called to decide what to do about an investigator's sustained findings against Councilmember Hernandez.

Check this moment · 35:27
1.4 hours 1 agenda items 1 located in video 81% attributed to a named speaker
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Brief

What happened

Monday, October 28, 2024

  1. 01

    The findings concerned the Juneteenth Chicano Heritage Festival and an Indigenous Peoples Day event.

    36:29
    Governance
    Explore this issue
    Related agenda item 1

    Discuss and Address Potential Remedies Regarding the Investigator’s Sustained Findings Regarding Councilmember Johnathan Ryan…

    Open agenda item →

    Member positions

    Phil Bacerra
    Phil BacerraVoted no

    The only vote against postponing, having said the meeting was necessitated by one councilmember violating the charter.

    47:27
    Valerie Amezcua
    Valerie AmezcuaVoted yes

    Said the matter was not political but the conclusion of the investigation.

    40:48
    Johnathan Ryan Hernandez
    Johnathan Ryan HernandezVoted yes

    Said the meeting had been brought forward and that the city's processes lacked consistency.

    36:29
    David Penaloza
    David PenalozaVoted yes

    Apologised to the public for the meeting being held at all.

    43:23
  2. 02

    Hernandez said the meeting should not have been held until November and called it a display of the city's inconsistent processes.

    36:29
    Governance
    Explore this issue
    Related agenda item 1

    Discuss and Address Potential Remedies Regarding the Investigator’s Sustained Findings Regarding Councilmember Johnathan Ryan…

    Open agenda item →

    Member positions

    Phil Bacerra
    Phil BacerraVoted no

    The only vote against postponing, having said the meeting was necessitated by one councilmember violating the charter.

    47:27
    Valerie Amezcua
    Valerie AmezcuaVoted yes

    Said the matter was not political but the conclusion of the investigation.

    40:48
    Johnathan Ryan Hernandez
    Johnathan Ryan HernandezVoted yes

    Said the meeting had been brought forward and that the city's processes lacked consistency.

    36:29
    David Penaloza
    David PenalozaVoted yes

    Apologised to the public for the meeting being held at all.

    43:23
  3. 03

    Mayor Amezcua said the meeting was not political and was simply the conclusion of the investigation.

    40:48
    Governance
    Explore this issue
    Related agenda item 1

    Discuss and Address Potential Remedies Regarding the Investigator’s Sustained Findings Regarding Councilmember Johnathan Ryan…

    Open agenda item →

    Member positions

    Phil Bacerra
    Phil BacerraVoted no

    The only vote against postponing, having said the meeting was necessitated by one councilmember violating the charter.

    47:27
    Valerie Amezcua
    Valerie AmezcuaVoted yes

    Said the matter was not political but the conclusion of the investigation.

    40:48
    Johnathan Ryan Hernandez
    Johnathan Ryan HernandezVoted yes

    Said the meeting had been brought forward and that the city's processes lacked consistency.

    36:29
    David Penaloza
    David PenalozaVoted yes

    Apologised to the public for the meeting being held at all.

    43:23
  4. 04

    Councilmember Bacerra said he would not apologise for the meeting, calling it the action of one councilmember who violated the charter.

    47:27
    Governance
    Explore this issue
    Related agenda item 1

    Discuss and Address Potential Remedies Regarding the Investigator’s Sustained Findings Regarding Councilmember Johnathan Ryan…

    Open agenda item →

    Member positions

    Phil Bacerra
    Phil BacerraVoted no

    The only vote against postponing, having said the meeting was necessitated by one councilmember violating the charter.

    47:27
    Valerie Amezcua
    Valerie AmezcuaVoted yes

    Said the matter was not political but the conclusion of the investigation.

    40:48
    Johnathan Ryan Hernandez
    Johnathan Ryan HernandezVoted yes

    Said the meeting had been brought forward and that the city's processes lacked consistency.

    36:29
    David Penaloza
    David PenalozaVoted yes

    Apologised to the public for the meeting being held at all.

    43:23
  5. 05

    The council voted five to one to continue the item to 19 November, with Bacerra against and Councilmember Lopez absent.

    1:23:22
    Governance
    Explore this issue
    Related agenda item 1

    Discuss and Address Potential Remedies Regarding the Investigator’s Sustained Findings Regarding Councilmember Johnathan Ryan…

    Open agenda item →

    Member positions

    Phil Bacerra
    Phil BacerraVoted no

    The only vote against postponing, having said the meeting was necessitated by one councilmember violating the charter.

    47:27
    Valerie Amezcua
    Valerie AmezcuaVoted yes

    Said the matter was not political but the conclusion of the investigation.

    40:48
    Johnathan Ryan Hernandez
    Johnathan Ryan HernandezVoted yes

    Said the meeting had been brought forward and that the city's processes lacked consistency.

    36:29
    David Penaloza
    David PenalozaVoted yes

    Apologised to the public for the meeting being held at all.

    43:23
How this brief was made

The current summaries were prepared during an in-session review of the transcripts. This prototype shows only sentences with a timestamp citation. 0 uncited sentences were withheld from this page.

Focus

Where they differed

Splits in votes or reasoning

Split voteon “Discuss and Address Potential Remedies Regarding the Investigator’s Sustained Findings Regarding Councilmember Johnathan Ryan…”1:23:22

The council voted five to one to postpone deciding what should follow the sustained findings against one of its members.

Phil Bacerra
Phil BacerraVoted no47:27

The only vote against postponing, having said the meeting was necessitated by one councilmember violating the charter.

Valerie Amezcua
Valerie AmezcuaVoted yes40:48

Said the matter was not political but the conclusion of the investigation.

Johnathan Ryan Hernandez
Johnathan Ryan HernandezVoted yes36:29

Said the meeting had been brought forward and that the city's processes lacked consistency.

David Penaloza
David PenalozaVoted yes43:23

Apologised to the public for the meeting being held at all.

Public voice

Recurring resident concerns

Repeated themes only

This section omits one-off remarks. It appears only when several separate public-comment voice tracks return to the same topic, or repeated comments connect a councilmember with criticism or calls for accountability. It is not a representative survey of residents.

Comments involving Hernandez2 recurring voice tracks

Multiple public comments paired Hernandez with criticism or calls for accountability.

  • …between the city officials and the community I believe Councilman Hernandez involvement was conducted within these guidelines as it is disheartening to observe the emerging from his, you know. So let me get to this. This is a Juneteenth thing.…

    25:18

  • …attack on the eve of election trying to target Representative Hernandez so that you can have a public finger-wagging event in hopes that that sways some voters in support of your preferred candidate, Mayor Mesquah. I was looking online to…

    31:24
How recurring concerns are selected

The prototype groups unidentified speech inside the general public-comment block by transcript voice track. A topic must recur across at least three tracks; criticism involving a named councilmember must recur across at least two. Voice tracks are an approximation and may include interpretation of another speaker, so excerpts remain linked to the recording.

Agenda

Every item

1 items in agenda order

1
Business Calendar

Discuss and Address Potential Remedies Regarding the Investigator’s Sustained Findings Regarding Councilmember Johnathan Ryan…

35:23
Governance
Split voteSee member positions →
  • The council met to consider what remedies, if any, should follow an investigator's sustained findings about Councilmember Hernandez.35:27
  • Each member was given three minutes across three rounds to speak.35:27
  • Hernandez said the meeting had been brought forward from November and that the city's processes lacked consistency, and framed the underlying events around the Juneteenth Chicano Heritage Festival and Indigenous Peoples Day.36:29
  • Mayor Amezcua said the matter was not political but the conclusion of a completed investigation.40:48
  • Councilmember Penaloza apologised to the public for the meeting, saying the council's time was being wasted through no fault of its own.43:23
  • Councilmember Bacerra declined to apologise, saying the situation was caused by one councilmember violating the city charter and that it was not about racism.47:27
  • The council continued the item to its meeting of 19 November, five votes to one, with Bacerra against and Lopez absent.1:23:22
Official agendaSupplied summaryClerk timestamp
Full official agenda title

Discuss and Address Potential Remedies Regarding the Investigator’s Sustained Findings Regarding Councilmember Johnathan Ryan Hernandez and Take Potential Action or Direct Staff Accordingly

Full transcript

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