Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every Every
0:01Read the October 28 meeting.
230 merged speaker turns. Unidentified speech is hidden by default; timestamps open the public recording.
Transcript
Thank you.
0:37so Audio test, audio test.
1:22
I hear you, John.
1:25I hear you as well. Sounds good.
1:28Did the attorney mic check one?
1:35Sounds good.
1:37Dias, mic. Dias, mic.
1:44Sounds good.
1:47Mayor Mike Test, Mayor Mike Test.
1:53Sound good.
1:56Dias Mike, Dias Mike Test.
2:03Sounds good.
2:06Test one, two. Test one, two.
2:11Sounds good.
2:17Mike test.
2:24Sounds good.
2:26Mike test.
2:31Sounds good.
2:32Mike test.
2:33Sounds good.
2:35Mike test. That should be good.
2:46Sounds good. Thank you.
2:49Thank you.
2:54Thank you.
3:31Thank you.
3:54Thank you.
4:24Thank you.
5:24Thank you.
5:56Thank you.
6:24Every day during my during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during during
6:57Thank you.
7:26Thank you.
7:55Thank you.
8:26Thank you.
8:51Thank you.
9:24Thank you.
9:52Oh, my God.
10:42Thank you.
10:53Thank you.
11:23Thank you.
11:50Thank you.
12:24I'm sorry.
12:52Thank you.
13:20guitar solo
13:59guitar solo
14:29Thank you.
14:50
Recording in progress.
15:33
Madam Clerk, please start the meeting.
15:40Yes, Mayor, you can go ahead, please.
15:46Great, thank you. I hereby call the Santa Ana City Council meeting to order. This meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public may access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the city's website. Please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting. As a reminder, this is a meeting to conduct the business of the city. As mayor, I am afforded the opportunity to call for a recess or break or to even clear the meeting room if a meeting becomes too disruptive to properly conduct business. Warnings will be provided prior to any action being taken.
15:48We appreciate your cooperation. For everyone's safety per the fire marshal, please do not stand or place objects in the aisles, in front of the dais, along the back wall of the council chamber, or in front of the entrances or exits. Guidelines for members of the news media or anyone else who wishes to film or photograph the meeting are available in the lobby. Madam Clerk, please conduct a roll call.
16:24Councilmember Becerra? Here. Councilmember Hernandez? Present. Councilmember Lopez? Councilmember Penaloza? Here. Councilmember Vasquez? Present. Mayor Pro Tem Fan? Here. Mayor Mesquah? Present. Six members present, that is a quorum. Madam Clerk, before we proceed to the Pledge of Allegiance, please make an announcement. For members of the public on Zoom or teleconference to request to speak during public comments, You must dial star 9 from your phone or click the button labeled raised hand from zoom now to be in the speaker queue once public comments commence
16:47Thank you, please join me with the Pledge of Allegiance
17:19I
17:27
Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America And to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all
17:28Thank you. I called this special meeting under the authority of the Brown Act, which will be further explained by the city attorney if there are any questions. This matter was originally addressed by an ad hoc committee, and the city attorney advised that we have had the option to return to the ad hoc committee. However, because an ad hoc committee does not meet in public, I call this special meeting so we can have an open, public, transparent discussion of our options to address the findings of the report. City Attorney, do you have any comments, please?
17:49
Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and Council members, you may recall that at the last City Council meeting I had announced that the Council requested investigations were complete and I had given a brief summary of the findings the council directed me at that time to advise you on the city's options to address the findings that i had reported out on and i provided those to you in writing last week you can review the allegations and the findings but for purposes of today my understanding this is a special meeting that is purely directed to these matters and i will just
18:24real quickly once again just to refresh your recollection review the four allegations that I had read to you explain their importance and then I will just entirely leave this up to the City Council to address. This matter first arose as an ethics complaint under the City Charter and was held, was processed in compliance with the City Charter. We consider this to be a matter for the City Council to handle. It is a matter in accordance with our ethics code that you police one another. So City staff will not have any recommendations or be making any recommendations to you, although we will be available to answer questions.
18:58So the four allegations, as you may recall, was whether Councilmember Jonathan Hernandez directed and or interfered with the City staff in relation to any of the City's Juneteenth Festival, Chicano Heritage Festival, or the Indigenous Peoples Day events. Two, whether Councilmember Hernandez solicited donations for the City's festivals that were not received by the City of Santa Ana, whether Council Member engaged in conduct towards City staff relating to the City's festivals that could be deemed to violate the City's Charter, and whether the Council Member engaged in conduct towards City staff
19:39relating to the City's festivals that could be deemed to violate the City's Code of Ethics and Conduct. As I previously announced, items 1, 3 and 4 were sustained, item 2 was not sustained. Briefly, in the memo that I provided to you, we gave you advice on some of the things that you can do, although we did not make any recommendations. You could address some of the workplace issues that arose as a result of the complaint. That might be more for the City Manager to address with his employees. You could admonish the Council Member, simply putting him on notice that his behaviour or
20:15his actions as sustained are not consistent with your code of ethics. You could decide to pursue a censure. You could also look at the potential removal from committees or appointed positions. Or you could look to explore further enforcement options. So with that, I will just turn this over to you, Mayor, and your colleagues to have a discussion and to provide us with any direction if there's going to be direction this evening.
20:55Thank you, Madam City Attorney. I appreciate that. At this time, we're going to go to public comments. This is the time of the meeting for the City Council to receive comments from the public on agenda items only. Madam City Clerk, please explain the public comment procedures and call the first speakers.
21:23Thank you, Mayor. Pursuant to Resolution No. 2023-047, speakers are requested to address the City Council directly and to refrain from profane language, racial epitaphs, and libelous or slanderous statements that disturb the decorum of the meeting. Pursuant to the Brown Act, the City Council may not enter into discussion at this time. Speakers will have three minutes for their comments. Before calling speakers, I'll report the following summary of emails provided as of today. As of today at 3.30, we received five e-comments related to item one on the special meeting agenda.
21:38Those were distributed to the Council and made available publicly on the website. We'll now hear from members of the public that are physically present in the Council Chamber, followed by those on the conference call or Zoom. A reminder again, the only topic to provide public comments on is the special meeting agenda item number one only. Please state your name and the warder neighborhood that you reside in for the record. The first three speakers could please line up. Jackie Cordova, Dwayne Shipp, and Nakia McBath.
22:09Thank you. Good evening. My name is Jackie Cordova and as an elder and a mother of Santa Ana, I've been up here since 2017 You all act like you have no clue who I am. I never knew you If any of you have ever called us crazy, if you ever belittled us, laughed at us, if you ever conspired against us If you ever stabbed us in the back, if you ever broke into our house, if you ever stole a penny from us If you ever stole our vehicles, if you ever stole our DNA, if you ever evicted us or tried to kill us, and then will I profess unto them I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
22:44You can resign right now. We are now accepting resignations. It is finished. I would like to say thank you and pay tribute and honor to the voices of OC who has been here for us all along, uncovering the truth in these lies that this council has always tried to feed us. We the people have concluded our own special investigations into the demonic force of nature that had control on this city, the so-called boogeyman. And as an outcome, October 8, 2024, we fired Santa Ana City Attorney Sonia Carvajal. Never was she on my team. Never have I spoken with her. Never did you represent me, we the people.
23:23never did you provide services for me, never did you counsel me or guide me in matters regarding the city of Santa Ana. Valerie Amesqua was condemned here May Day 2024, along with all her contracts and unions, their political donations, and their candidates they bought with our stolen funds. You are repeat offenders here. the county of orange with frank kim as ceo was fired for 11 2024 and ended in disgrace with the downfall of the entire board of supervisors you could keep your comments on the topic of the agenda please millions of dollars in stolen public funds and child abuse charges our corrupt police
24:04force have never protected us ma'am your time is up you can only discuss the item on this agenda thank you investigation the real criminals your time is up ma'am jennifer please call the next one
24:44Santa Ana does deserve an apology from corrupt and compromised politicians and compromised staff. And we also deserve a new start for bearing the burden here in Orange County.
24:54I would like to remind those that are coming up to speak, you can only discuss the current item. If not, then the clerk will remind you, and then we'd have to shut your mic off. Thank you.
25:08Yes. Well, clerk, you might have to remind me. I'm going to read a little something I wrote and I'm going to speak.
25:18Systemic racism. We did not ask to be a part of nothing other than our community. And the minute that someone be a part of our community, there's an issue.
25:26Let me skip to this. The code and ethics. code of conduct as it is crucial to ensure principles of integrity honesty and respect governed 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. This is where it all starts from. We had a conversation with Lisa Rudolph.
25:43Lisa Rudolph said we would have an MOU put in place. The MOU never got put in place. We ended up having a scope of services. When we had the scope of services, at our very first meeting, City staff, Sonia Bottres at the time, first thing she did in the meeting was tell us that the black community, we can't have churches involved with our Juneteenth celebration. So if this is a Juneteenth celebration, and it's about the end of freedom and all of this stuff, first thing you tell us is we can't celebrate this way, we can't celebrate that way. So how Councilman Hernandez gets involved is, at our very first meeting, I checked out,
26:21you can ask Tim Pagano, he was in the meeting. I didn't want to be a part of no more, nothing to do with Santa Ana because it was like we're not here begging for something we've been here we've been in this community for 50 60 years we've been selling our parade for 45 this will be our 45th year coming up but since I only got two minutes a minute left so I remember reaching out to Councilman Hernandez and asking him hey man we don't want to do nothing with Santa Ana he says well, I can't get involved, but if you send an email, send me a link or invite me to the meeting, then I could come in on your behalf.
27:00But other than that, I can't get involved with it. So if it wasn't for us reaching out to him, the very first Juneteenth would have never happened and none of the other events would happen because he was the bridge that allowed us to have communication with the city staff when there was problems. If I come into your office right now and work in your office, I'm gonna screw up until I get things right if you come into my office you're gonna screw up to you get things right but we were able to work things out at the end and so the only thing I could see Councilman and and is being guilty of
27:37is helping black people that's only thing I see straight up into your comic Councilman Penanosa you said that the RFP was put out there for everybody where was everybody when it was created we created it straight up
28:09Nakia Macbeth followed by Fernando Devoros.
28:27Good evening, everyone. I am a business owner, produced and raised in Santa Ana.
28:34And Jonathan has been one of the people who has been in support of me having my business here in Santa Ana.
28:44He's also the person I see in the community out doing the work that a lot of people sitting here should be doing.
28:53Touching families, touching small businesses, and the youth as well.
29:01His conduct that you guys are talking about, that's not him. He's not that man that you guys are trying to portray him to be.
29:10and you need to be honest with yourselves and with this committee, with this city how you guys are trying to portray him is wrong
29:20because he has a love for all people he doesn't worry about your race, the color of your skin your background, your past he just gets to know you and move on from there
29:33He's the type of person that we need in this city to help the city go forward. Because all you guys sitting up there now, I don't see none of you guys doing anything in the communities to help this community and the city move forward the way it should be. We're all a collective part of different races and different people and different cultures, and he brings that together.
29:48and he should still be able to have a voice to do his job and to do what's in his heart with the people of this community and the city. He has a love for this city that a lot of people don't have. He's born and raised and bred here,
30:14and like a lot of us, we'd like to see the city prosper. We'd like to see the city have bigger things and do things and these events that you guys are talking about the Juneteenth, the Chicano day, the indigenous day.
30:30We know that you guys don't want them. It's been said. But why not? These people have been here for years paying taxes in the city, having businesses in the city, having homes in the city, raising their kids in the city. So why can't we have the celebrations that reflect our cultures to share with others and to build upon?
30:45So that's my comments.
31:11Fernando Devoros.
31:20Good evening, counsel. I'll try to be brief with my comments. I just want, this is more of a PSA for the people who are watching at home and are wondering what is this investigation really about? And what I understand it to be is a very transparent political 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 see if I could find the report on this. I don't see any information on this.
31:24The only attachment here is a letter written by your pastor and someone who you praise frequently, Pastor Nati Alvarado, speaking about how effective Councilmember Hernandez was in including the community in the development of the Chicano Heritage Festival, an event that you, Mayor Mescua, are more than happy to stand on stage and celebrate the creation of this event. And here you are trying to demonize the person who brought it to the city, the person who helped bring this vision to light.
31:57I also know that I've seen you at several ribbon-cutting events, the toy drives in La Placita Cinco, you're happy to show up to those, but here you are. I want to just point to what the previous speaker was mentioning. This city was the founding of the Black History Parade through Helen M. Schipp and her family, and that parade was eventually pushed out to Anaheim because the city, for whatever reason, didn't welcome them. And it took Councilmember Hernandez is coming into office to honor her memory Helen M. Shipway. You were there at that street topper
32:25unveiling Mayor Mesquah. So again, what I just really want people who are watching at home to understand, this isn't about accountability. If accountability is to be had, let's see the report. There's no staff report, there's no information other than Council Member Hernandez was overly involved in the planning of these events. What I've seen by following the work that Council Member Hernandez does is his involvement is solely focused on making sure that the community's voices heard because there are too many representatives on this dais who don't care to have their voice heard so again anybody who's watching at home this is
32:56purely political theater mayor mesquite should be ashamed yourself city staff I'm sorry that you had to spend a Monday to come down here and do this whole thing and I'll see y'all on Tuesday November 5th thank you mayor and city council that
33:28That concludes the speakers in person. We do have one speaker on Zoom. Connie J. Jones, please unmute and make your comments.
33:44Good evening to the Honorable Mayor and the City Council members. I am saddened to hear and to watch this on television about how our staff and City Council members aren't working together. We have just been having so much discord. But I would like to say that I'm in support of Jonathan Hernandez and what he's been trying to do to help the black and the Chicano community. I have never seen someone work so hard to have events happen at Southwest Community Center that had a mixed congregation of people that came for meals, that became senior citizens that came for different events and for the homeless population.
33:55I am in support of Jonathan Hernandez, as the rest of you on the City Council, and I think we need to work together to resolve these things. And it's sad that we have this on television for everyone to hear and that there's not another area that we can solve these issues. And I pray for all of you, as I do pray for myself. But the city really needs to get it together and not have so much discord. We need to unite together to build the city. Thank you.
34:32Mayor and City Council, that concludes the public speakers for tonight's special meeting.
35:06Thank you, Madam Clerk. At this time, I call this meeting to discuss the potential remedies regarding the investigators sustained findings regarding Councilmember Jonathan Ryan Hernandez. At this time, we're going to open it up for questions or comments by the Council. It's three rounds, three minutes, so that way we're not spending, you know, over amount of time, please. Three minutes, three rounds. If we need to extend that, please let me know, and we will. So are there any questions or comments by the council? Please hit the button so that I can call on you at this time.
35:10No questions, no comments?
36:02
I have my button selected. I'm sorry, it's not showing.
36:04It's not working.
36:11We're going to come take a look at the tablets if you just want to call us or do the microphone for now.
36:13Go ahead, Councilman Hernandez. In the meantime, if you want to speak, please put your mic up until we can fix this issue and I'll call upon you. Thank you. Councilman Hernandez.
36:19Thank you. First and foremost, I want to begin by acknowledging the public. Thank you for tuning into today's city council meeting. I want to apologize for our city staff for being here today. Our meeting wasn't supposed to be until November 17th. I apologize. This is a blatant display of how our city processes, unfortunately, have lacked consistency. Today, we are discussing the investigation findings regarding the Juneteenth Chicano Heritage Festival and Indigenous Peoples Day event. As a council member, I was elected in 2020.
36:28Santa Ana is a city that is as black as it is brown, and it's important, and although this is a fact that makes many Americans uncomfortable, we are on stolen land. Native Americans lived on this land until they were victims of genocide and were forcefully pushed into reservations. As a Chicano who was proud of his roots and somebody whose identity is also of Native American descent, I was proud to be the council member to advocate to declare August Chicano Heritage Month, making us the first city in the United States to do so. I was honored to advocate for the
37:08creation of the Indigenous Peoples Day event. I was honored to work alongside the black community and bring in a Juneteenth festival to the city. As these events were created, they weren't without challenge. These were first time events, not only for our city, but within the county, and in some cases like Chicano heritage, the country. As a council member, we saw three events be introduced, one about the ending of slavery, one about the humanization of indigenous people honoring those lives. And lastly, the Chicano Heritage Festival commemorates the Chicano Moratorium,
37:48a day that saw a Santa Ana resident murdered by Sheriff Deputy Thomas Wilson, Ruben Salazar. He was a Santa Ana resident. These are the events that my office advocated for. Subsequently, we brought thousands of residents together. As a council member, I advocated for the Chicano Heritage Festival to not be next to a jail on Flower Street the way the city wanted to design it to be. I advocated for it to exist at a park where families thrive, where movements begin, where art can flourish. The park I was raised at, El Salvador Park.
38:26I advocated for the Juneteenth event to be led by residents of our community. I believe that Juneteenth should be led by those who were affected by 400 years of slavery. And I have been slandered and discriminated as a council member because of my advocacy to see black people empowered. And with the Indigenous Peoples Day event as well. And what we are seeing is we are seeing a mayor use the city's platform for political bargaining for the police union. This is blatant corruption in front of our face. whether it's the $600,000 we paid in a recall that was illegitimate and spearheaded by the POA
39:03or whether it be the $600,000 plus that we paid in a settlement where Mayor Mescal was the only elected official named on the claim. It's no secret as to why people may not have picked up that phone.
39:42What's concerning me today is that we are wasting the public's time. when my actions have not costed the city in lawsuits or settlement demands. Contrary to that, they have made neighborhoods like Articia Pilar safer. They have reduced gang violence. It has reduced graffiti. It has inspired school boards to declare August Chicano Heritage Month. It inspired the County of Orange to declare August Chicano Heritage Month. It inspired a Chicano Congress member who's been in office for over 15 years to declare August Chicano Heritage Month. So what we're looking at is some good trouble. In the words of John Lewis,
39:58I believe black, native, and Chicano people belong here in Santa Ana, and I will do my due diligence to make sure you continue to have a seat at the table. Si se puede, si se pudo.
40:37Thank you, Councilman Hernandez. Anybody else? Please put your mic up.
40:48So, I just want to be clear on the reason why we're here. This is not political. This is the conclusion of the investigation of the report that was given to all the council members sitting up here tonight. Because only three of us have read the reports. It says the investigator ultimately found that the preponderance of the evidence supported factual findings to sustain allegations 1, 3, and 4. And the investigator ultimately found that the preponderance of the evidence did not support factual fines to sustain allegation number two. Accordingly, allegations one, three, and four are sustained, and allegation two is not sustained.
40:57And I appreciate Councilman Hernandez's comments. I really do. However, this was conducted by an outside investigator. This was not done by the mayor's office or the city manager's office or the city attorney's office. This investigation was conducted by an outside investigator. And what happens is sometimes you ask for investigations and you're not happy with the results. This is not political. This is we as a council have a responsibility to address these type of things. And so that is why a special meeting was called. And of course people will believe what they want and they will say what they want.
41:32That, you know, the mayor, because of the mayor, the city council paid $600,000 to the city manager. manager, six people up here voted to pay that city manager $600,000. Let me say it again, six people. There was only one who abstained, and that person's not here tonight. The rest of us all voted to pay the city manager. So no, it was not the mayor, it was all of us. Just like comments about, oh, the budget, we all unanimously voted for the budget. So this is not politics. something happened an investigation was conducted and I have I would hope that all of you would want city staff to be treated fairly to be treated with
42:08respect and courtesy and that our job is not to intervene and step in where the city manager or city staff or city directors have a responsibility to conduct their business that is not our job up here only three people work for us the city manager the city attorney and the city clerk and I just want to remind people of that because yes we all have conversations with city staff but we can in no shape or form direct them to do anything that goes through the city manager's office are there any other comments or recommendations or
42:49motions councilman panelists go ahead Thank You mayor mesquine I want to also apologize to the public that we're here tonight unfortunately we're here yeah wasting our time and that is not to our fault but that is simply following our city charter and our ethics codes a violation which we have a process for and you know just right now I listen to Councilmember Hernandez and he keeps saying that this recall election cost $600,000 that right there is a lie earlier this year our city clerk told us that the final amount billed by the Registrar of Voters was $350,000 they keep saying these amounts because they
43:23want to be able to give that wow factor whenever they're stating facts that are not true. As pointed to the last page of the investigative report, credibility analysis of the subject, Council Member Hernandez. On balance, the investigator did not find Council Member Hernandez to be credible. Hernandez's explanations in defense of the allegations were self-serving, sanctimonious and he displayed an apparent bias against city staff. To start, Hernandez would often evade the investigators questions and go on long tangents causing the investigator to have to
44:04re-ask the question on multiple occasions. Hernandez continuous attempts to skirt the investigators questions and frame the narrative in a manner favorable to him greatly undermined his credibility. And this is something that we've been seeing for the last four years. I want to apologize to the Orange County Heritage Council because you're also here wasting your time. This has nothing to do with Chicano heritage. This has nothing to do with Indigenous Peoples Days. This has nothing to do with Juneteenth. The fact of the matter is that that's just the top layer of this time and time again of interference in administrative matters.
44:40I wish that somebody would do public records requests on all the numerous emails that were going back and forth between Councilman Hernandez and our city staff on multiple occasions whether it was shutting down illegally shutting down Bristol Street for a concert or or having negotiating with musical acts to perform at these at these events when he should not have I'm sorry but that is an interference of administrative matters I sat in a meeting with with Mayor Mesquo once about fiestas patrias about two years ago and the first time that she posed the question that in my eyes interfered with
45:16administrative matters I was like mayor Mesquo that is not appropriate and she was like oh and she was only here for about a month at that time so she was like I didn't know that good to know thank you I called her out this isn't about picking on somebody this is about following process and the job that we were elected to do so I'm sorry if the councilmember feels that way I'm sorry if he feels that this is politically motivated, but guess what? Follow our city charter, follow the rules, and this wouldn't have happened. But unfortunately, we're here because of your constant
45:55interference with administrative matters. Ask all the parks and recs and staff that are, that have told us that there was a hostile work environment created. That is a fact. That isn't a political attack. Those are real employees that are represented by various bargaining groups here our city that have come to us that there was a hostile work environment created and guess what this investigation proved that to be true so this isn't a political attack this is following process as we should for decades the city of santa anna has ignored council members acting and stepping
46:24out of the role and mayors for that matter but we shouldn't it's time that we start following the law. It's that simple. We have a city charter for a reason that the voters of Santa Ana voted for and voted into law that we all should follow. Mayor those
47:02are my comments. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments? Councilmember Serra.
47:18
Thank you Madam Mayor. I'm not gonna sit here and apologize for what's happened here tonight. This is the action of one councilmember who violated our charter. It's pure and simple. It's not about racism. In fact, when we talk about Juneteenth and the fact that it went out to an RFP, the OC Heritage Council deserves a lot of credit for the history of that parade. Absolutely. But when you're spending city dollars, whether it's on Juneteenth or any other event, I would like to believe that we all want equity and transparency. And so that's what our rules provide for. They provide for that.
47:27So when you want to understand accountability on what we are doing, we have three employees, city manager, city attorney, and city clerk. Councilmember Hernandez was found by an independent investigator to have violated city charter section 408, which states, except for the purpose of inquiry the city council and its members shall deal with the administrative branch of the city government solely through the city manager or their designated deputy and neither the city council nor any member thereof shall give orders to any subordinates of
48:04the city manager either publicly or privately so this isn't about whether we should hold an event or not. This is about whether he followed a process and an independent investigator said he did not based on interviews, based on evidence presented. This all came to an ad hoc and the ad hoc said let's give it to an independent investigator which this independent investigator came back and said Council Member Hernandez was found to be in violation not only of our city charter but our city code of ethics so tonight we're not here because of racism because
48:40of any other fabricated reason it is a very clear and simple thing council member Hernandez violated our city charter and our city code of ethics and for anybody that wants to claim that this is political let me just say this I don't care who it is on this council if they were found in violation of our charter found in violation of our code of ethics and a meeting was convened i would be here saying the same things we cannot have that if you want your city government to function in a way that you could be proud of then you need for this charter and for the code of
49:18ethics to be followed and unfortunately council member hernandez has seen that the charter and code of ethics somehow don't apply to him and that's not the way we should be conducting ourselves up here we ran for office to be policy makers not to avoid policy not to skirt policy but to follow policy so it's only fair that we hold ourselves accountable up here today and i would say that in this instance here i think it's city charter section 1501 talks about whether we should look at this i'm sorry this is deemed a misdemeanor and should be punishable
49:53upon conviction in the same manner as provided in the penal code of the state of california the code of ethics also provides that we could censure councilmember hernandez or remove him from committees i would like to open that up to my colleagues to discuss because we need to hold ourselves accountable i don't care whether this is before election day or after election day whether it's an even number year or not number year we need to hold council members accountable because if not, our staff is not going to be able to perform the functions that we need them to do
50:30to provide you, the residents, the excellent services that you deserve, especially when they're being bullied. In fact, I've even heard from various members of the SEIU that they may consider removing the endorsement that they gave Council Member Hernandez. And frankly, I wouldn't blame them if they did because they're supposed to be looking out for their members who are city staff who were bullied by Councilmember Hernandez and were given direct orders when they should have gone through our city manager again in violation of our city charter thank you madam mayor thank you Councilmember Hernandez thank you
50:59it's important that we that we are transparent anytime that we're talking about how these investigations came about the root of where the investigations first began was when Mayor Valerie Mescal was elected in 2022. She and I sat down at Avila's and when we sat down she elaborated a very detailed strategy on how she was going to get rid of our city manager Christine Ridge and if the only way we could get rid of the police chief was to get rid of the city manager first. When I saw this strategy unfold before me I filed the Brown Act complaint. I immediately sent it to our city attorney. That complaint was never
51:35investigated by the city. Our city did not follow our charter and investigate it the way that we should have. Our mayor pushed it to our district attorney's office and he investigated that without our city ever taking a look at my complaint. It isn't until I came forward with that complaint that Mayor Mesquah acted and created an ad hoc committee. The truth of the matter is this was investigated twice. It was investigated by an ad hoc committee. And after the ad hoc committee could not find any wrongdoing with monies, they pushed that out to an internal private investigation.
52:16I'm going to read you allegation number two. The root of why I was initially investigated by our mayor was the concerns that she had related to the finances of the event. The investigator found that a preponderance of evidence did not support a finding that Hernandez solicited donations for city events that were received by the city of Santa Ana. While the preponderance of evidence did establish that Hernandez spoke with potential sponsors, this alone did not evidence that he solicited donations. The investigator relied on documentary evidence and statements made by the complainant and Hernandez in their interviews.
52:57Hernandez denied solicitations. The complainant explained that their belief of Hernandez solicitation was based on speculation rather than fact. This is a clear example of systemic racism. At any time an elected official champions Native Americans, black people, and Chicano, there has to be mishandling of monies. When there wasn't, they want to penalize me for being an elected official that was willing to listen to the Heritage Council after they sent a complaint about systemic racism. and after they created two Juneteenth festivals with no memorandum of understanding,
53:30they were never heard until Tom Hatch, an interim city manager, was in our city. They provided two Juneteenth events before they were listened to. Furthermore, why was I advocating for their flyer for Juneteenth? Our city manager at the time said that the Juneteenth flyer was too Pan-African, too black. I was an elected official who was appalled at those words. I advocated for my constituents, just as I've advocated for constituents in this chamber when our mayor wanted to incite violence and have the police escort members of the public out who had a difference of opinion.
54:05Just the way that she recently used our police department at the Fiestas Patrias and directed them to remove Fernando Delgado, somebody who has been a critic of her. That's an example of a policymaker abusing their power. It doesn't look like bringing thousands of people together. It looks like this.
54:44Does the mayor have that jurisdiction? She's asking that freedom leave. I don't know what happened in there.
55:06That is a cop on record saying the mayor asked me to have you leave. Our city manager is the only person outside of our police chief who can direct our police officers.
55:18Point of order, are we still talking about the item on the agenda or are we still talking about everything else?
55:29We are. We're talking about inconsistent practices.
55:34I'm not sure, Councilman Becerra. I'm trying to figure out, follow him. City attorney, this is not the topic.
55:36My question to the city attorney is, Madam City Attorney, you sent a memo which is provided to all of us here in that memo you make it quite clear this was investigated by both an ad hoc and an external investigation can you tell me is this a matter that the city considers closed
55:40and investigated I just want to be clear because you know for me words matter so the ad hoc committee reviewed the ethics complaint I don't know that I would call what the ad hoc did a full investigation they evaluated it or assessed it I just Just using words, I just want to make sure, unless the members felt differently. I don't know that we did any, they didn't do any individual interviews or requests. They did get some documents and they did talk to some employees, but I would leave that to them. I don't know that I would call that a full-blown investigation.
55:58It was an assessment and review, which led them to ultimately make a recommendation to the full council that we do the investigation, which the council upheld. When I sent out that correspondence, yes, I absolutely own and will say to this council, from our staff perspective, we consider the matter closed because it came in as an ethics code but we've finished our work and we've given it to you to say, this is for you all. You please each other, we cannot please you. That's why we're not making a recommendation this evening.
56:26Thank you, Madam City Attorney. I just wanted that on the record because unfortunately, this is a decision that is entirely political. The people who are advocating for this unfortunate city council meeting today are largely funded by the POA. And in this case, you have somebody in the mayor's seat who I filed a complaint against, and that was never investigated. This is a retaliatory investigation. It is rooted in criminalizing black, Chicano, and Native American people. And the residents of Santa Ana are starting to become aware. and they're starting to see our elected leaders true colors here at the dais.
56:56Thank you, Councilman Hernandez. Councilmember Becerra?
57:39Thank you, Madam Mayor. So in this fantasy that's being painted up here today, the investigation against Councilmember Hernandez wasn't rooted in actual complaints brought about by city staff who were then given to the city manager who then gave it to the city council, as all prescribed in the city charter and the city's code of ethics. he paints it as retaliation. So if you were to follow his version of the story, that means the mayor somehow was able to get a bunch of city staff to all agree to some sort of timeline that they all perfectly recited to an independent investigator, right? So that all happened, right?
57:42I think there was some air traffic controllers involved, maybe a book depository building. I'm not sure what else is in his conspiracy, but I can tell you right now, that's a fantasy. Second of all, Mayor Pro Tem Fan has been a very strong advocate in the Mid-Autumn Festival, yet this council has not received a letter alleging that Mayor Pro Tem Fan overly advocated to the point that she circumvented the city manager, the city attorney, and the city clerk to go directly down to staff to tell them how to run the events and what to do. She was able to work through the city manager. She probably had some meetings with department heads.
58:23I'll let Mayor Pro Tem speak to that. But the point is, I don't have a complaint. None of us have a complaint about Mayor Pro Tem's conduct. So it can be done. We can, as council members, advocate for the things that we want by following the city charter. And I'd like to conclude by just asking Council Member Hernandez, do you believe that you violated the city charter?
59:00Are you done with your public comment?
59:24I'm asking you a question.
59:26If I'm going to get an additional three minutes to speak, I'll wait for my... No, it's okay. It's okay. So obviously he won't answer.
59:28Thank you.
59:33We get three minutes. I'll take my round.
59:34Well, you've all gone over three minutes, so it's okay. Councilman Becerra, do you have anything else?
59:35Councilman Peña-Losa?
59:41Thank you, Mayor.
59:44Another excerpt from the credibility analysis of subject Councilmember Hernandez is that another critical factor in assessing Hernandez's credibility was his refusal to acknowledge the city's role with the Juneteenth Festival, Chicano Heritage Festival, and Indigenous People's Day events. The investigator went through several emails with Hernandez in which Hernandez would introduce an entertainer to the city, explain the city's needed to work with the entertainer, and provide the entertainer's performance rate. While Hernandez denied any involvement in reaching out to
59:47entertainers or negotiating their rates, it was simply not plausible to the investigator that this was true given the wording of the emails. Hernandez also relied on his responsibility to to advocate for his constituents as an excuse for getting involved with the events. And he also told the investigators he believed it was this advocating for a group of constituents that I feel the city did not care for that caused them to be attacked and targeted. The investigator found this to be an attempt to sidestep the allegations and deflect, which further diminished Hernandez's credibility, which is exactly what we're seeing right now.
1:00:19The point is that I attended the first Juneteenth event and like we do with numerous city events I go up to city staff who are running the show. City staff are we going to go up on stage what does the schedule look like what time should we be here what time do you want us where let us know. When I first showed up to the first Juneteenth event staff was just furious they had no idea what they were doing. And they're like, oh, we wish we could state a schedule, but your colleague keeps jumping up on stage before every act, taking over the stage time, controlling the performers,
1:00:56and performing the run of the show. That is interfering with administrative matters. That's not advocating for your community as we're trying to paint. Councilmember Hernandez is great at painting this narrative of playing the victim and painting a narrative and making everything about race and this is simply follow the rule of law follow the charter that we're all took us oath to abide by that's it don't step out of your role as a council member as a policy maker and don't go over your city manager and direct staff as council member sarah mentioned i haven't
1:01:34heard any complaints about mayor pro tem fan when i went up to her and say hey do you know what She's like, oh, I don't know, talk to staff. I'm just here enjoying the festival. Because she knows her role. And staff isn't intimidated and doesn't claim to have a hostile work environment under Mayor Pro Tem Fan. There's a difference. So those are my comments, Mayor. Again, it's about credibility. And I see that Councilmember Hernandez is doing what the investigator said in his final page, that he is doing this to deflect and change the narrative
1:02:10and to what he wants, the audience, and I'm sure a newspaper or two tomorrow will have the headline to paint his narrative. And that's the end of it. It's disappointing, but I hope that we could look to the city attorney on guidance on how we do this, because I know the city of Santa Ana for decades has never held elected officials accountable. So it's time that we do it. So that is it.
1:02:42Thank you. Councilmember Vasquez. Thank you so much. First, I want to say I'm just worried about
1:03:03
the scope of this investigation to support what Councilmember Hernandez has said. There's no mention of the Heritage Foundation being interviewed or any indigenous people or the Chicano festival people that included the support of the community to build such events. If he was there to champion them and he said explicitly that he was championing the words of the community, then they should also have been investigated to support the work that he was saying.
1:03:09So I'm a little bewildered and I'm really upset that the scope is very limited just to the council member and the employees. for if he's saying he was asked to come and there was issues within this investigation I would say we'll bring in the support the evidence would be that support that needed to be there and it is lacking so for this I say this investigation is lacking where we need more witnesses where we need more interviews to be done to support the words of Councilmember Hernandez as
1:03:45this being politically motivated an emergency meeting it's an emergency meeting called on solely by the mayor this is of course is politically motivated we could have waited until November and we could have had this meeting in November if this was not politically motivated. So there's a lot to be done on how we create. We look for the types of investigations we have and the scope of investigations. I find it lacking and I'm upset that we took this long and we made this much of an issue
1:04:28about it and to it to come just not complete. So those are my words for now. Thank you. Mayor Prochem. Thank you. Thank you to my
1:05:08colleagues for your comments. It's super unfortunate that we are here tonight for a special meeting. I do agree that, well first I want to apologize to staff for adding the special meeting. I don't think that this is the right time to do it. So I have to say that when it comes to holding people to highest levels of ethics, I would like to believe that I hold myself to the highest levels of ethics. When, for example, former supervisor Andrew Doe was investigated by the FBI, was the first council member of Vietnamese American descent to call for his resignation, and I am happy to hold anyone responsible for violating the law,
1:05:20violating the charter, or doing anything that would hurt our staff. The second thing I want to say is I am staff too. I am staff too. I staff cities. I work with staff every day. So I understand the pressures and how difficult it can be if there is a lack of respect for the bureaucracy and the hierarchy that we have in a city manager form of government. However, I received this, well, I received a request for a special meeting out of the blue, and then I received the redacted report tonight on the dais. I have not had time to review it. I have not had time to look through it. I have not had time to review the
1:06:00provisions of the Charter in conjunction with the allegations in this report. I will do that, but I'm not ready to make any such decision tonight, especially when it comes to something so high-profile and so important. Please don't clap because I don't know where I'm at with that. But I want to say that the thing that I did get ahead of this meeting was from the city attorney who talked about the four allegations and the one that I was most concerned about frankly is relating to the soliciting donations that the city never received and that was the one allegation that was not sustained as of the three other
1:06:42allegations I want to say that the first one regarding directing and interfering with city staff in relation to the three events that was sustained but again I have not read the report on it I don't know who exactly were interviewed and I don't know the full scope of that the other two questions whether city council member Jonathan Ryan Hernandez engaged in conduct towards city staff relating to the city's Juneteenth Chicano heritage or Indigenous People's Day events that could be deemed to violate the city's charter was sustained. Keyword, could.
1:07:22The fourth allegation, whether City Council Member Jonathan Ryan Hernandez engaged in conduct towards city staff relating to the city's Juneteenth, Chicano Heritage, or Indigenous People's Day events that could be deemed to violate the city's code of ethics and conduct was also sustained. Again, keyword, could.
1:07:57That to me is not for sure he violated it. However, I want to look at the report. I want to see exactly what was happened, what exactly happened. I want to make a fully informed decision because I have no problem holding anyone on this dais, including myself, responsible for doing anything that would harm staff or that would violate our charter. And so with that, I would like to continue this conversation to the November 19th meeting, because one, we will actually have a fuller chamber of people paying attention to what is going on in the city. Number two, it would give all of us the full time to review every part of the report.
1:08:15And number three, I think that if there's any action that needs to be taken, should be taken that day. Thank you. Thank you.
1:08:56I second that motion.
1:09:03Councilman Becerra?
1:09:05Just a short comment. it disappoints me the last council meeting we were told by the city attorney that the report well actually before the last council meeting we were told that the report was available unredacted so not even the redacted version but the unredacted version was available for council members to review at that time only two council members had gone up to reviewing myself and mayor mesqua and then we were told that it was only three council members so and i hear council member Hernandez saying that he finally read it. That's great. But for anybody up here to say, oh, they
1:09:06need more time to read it, it's been available to the council. And as far as for the public, Madam City Attorney, is it available for the public to read at least the redacted version?
1:09:41I would defer to the city clerk. Mayor and city council, the redacted versions have been provided to anyone who has submitted a Public Records Act request for them.
1:09:52Thank you. As of tonight, yes. But the city council who is deliberating on this item has had this available for review for weeks weeks and and sadly ethics and holding each other accountable is such a low priority for some folks that they couldn't even be bothered to go read it it's not an eir for crying out loud i mean this is a pretty small report but impactful and worth taking the time to go down to the city attorney's office and read it so it is very disappointing when I hear that people on this dais, only seven of us, that not even a majority of us could go down
1:10:01there and review the report. Thank you. Councilman Vasquez, did you have your microphone up? Okay. Sorry, go ahead, Councilman. Yeah, I just wanted to say disappointing that my colleagues
1:10:40haven't gone down to the city attorney's office to read this, as important as that is, but like I've said a dozen times before, dating back to 2018, when I first got elected and installed to this diocese that's Santa Ana for you. I'm pretty sure that November 19th is gonna come or whatever the next council meeting is and nothing's gonna happen. Why? Because we fail to hold each other accountable and it's the same show for years and years and years and you'll never see an elected official up here held accountable and that's the sad part. So I hope our residents are paying
1:10:53attention to the people up here not doing their job. Secondly, I would like to also just stay for the record because I heard Councilmember Vasquez mentioned that Mayor Mesquo called a special meeting, and she did this independently on her own. And no, at the last council meeting, I asked from this dais, Madam City Attorney, what are the next steps? And her comments were, oh, send it to the ad hoc. And it's like, what for? We got a $100,000 investigation that was sustained, that is clear that there were allegations about investigating our city charter section, I forget the section number, but every time that we approve a budget
1:11:22and we go past that deadline, City attorney and staff says, if you do not approve your budget, you'll be in violation of your city charter, which is a misdemeanor. We get told that every year. And now we're seeing violations of our city charter, which is a misdemeanor. It's plain and simple. It's black and white. It's a process. You know, it sucks that we're here, but those are my comments. And I also emailed the city attorney and the city clerk about a special meeting. It wasn't just the mayor. because we should hold each other accountable. And that's it, Mayor. Thank you.
1:11:59Thank you. Thank you for those comments. So I just want to be clear that exactly what Councilman Becerra was saying, and Councilman Becerra, thank you. This report has been available to the council for several weeks, several, several weeks. And members up here have not taken the time to read it. I get it. People are busy, but this is very important. And as Councilman Penelosa indicated, the history of Santa Ana, we don't hold people accountable. However, politics, every meeting for two years, nobody has had a problem, or a few people have had a problem,
1:12:36but most people that support certain things have not had a problem to sit up here and accuse the mayor of doing things.
1:13:13When nothing was sustained on my allegations. And when we talk about interviewing, who was interviewed, who was not interviewed? Well, Councilmember Vasquez, then I would hope that Supervisor Sarmento was, they reached out to him and maybe he refused to be interviewed because he was part of someone, he was someone who gave money to the Juneteenth event. So I don't know because I don't dig into that. That's not my business. My business is to read the report that the investigator submitted to the city and then take a position on what do we do now. And so Councilman Penelosa is correct.
1:13:22He apparently asked, I did not know that until tonight, that he had asked for a special meeting. And yes, I did ask for one because we have the ability to take care of this tonight. And if the votes are not here, it will come back November 19th and we'll address it again. But as the mayor, I just want to be clear, you know, some people came up here and said, oh, Councilman Hernandez does so much. Everybody up here, I would say the majority of us, are in the community. He has a ward, so he represents some of his ward. This is not a brown-black issue. This is about what happened in that investigation.
1:14:03And so I just want to be clear that the mayor and the only woman, you know, I love how people talk about women and let's treat women right. The mayor, me, I've been attacked every meeting, every meeting. Councilman Vasquez puts that I couldn't pass a budget. Interesting, because we voted on a budget unanimously on time for the last two years. So, and he voted too. So, guess what? It's kind of, it's like a lie, right? We're sitting up here again telling lies. You know, that I caused $600,000. No, we all, let me make it clear again. And everybody voted up here to pay the city manager.
1:14:42I will not share with you what the city attorney directed or recommended that we do. So I don't want to violate anything. But that was not taken. Her advisement was not taken. And we voted on an investigation. And it passed unanimously. Excuse me. Six to one. So if we're going to point fingers, you know, as they always say, there's always four pointing back at you. And it is the season of silly politics. But I'm not going to sit up here and lie to you and say this was politically motivated. The ad hoc committee that Councilman Vasquez and Councilman Becerra were part of, with myself included, we did have meetings.
1:15:20And everybody attended every single meeting. So there was nothing shady about our meetings. And we did say, because money is involved, we don't want to take this any further, Madam City Attorney. So can you take this to a private investigator? And Councilman Vasquez, if you sit here and say that's not true, then truly you are a dishonest person. Because that is exactly what happened in those ad hoc meetings. The three of us agreed to let this matter go to an investigator. So I just want to be clear, this is not politics. This is about holding people accountable.
1:16:00Because if the shoe had been on the other foot, do you think we would be sitting up here? Of course we would. And they would all be screaming, hang the mayor, hang the mayor, hang the mayor. But because they don't like the outcome of this investigation, that's the bottom line here. The bottom line. You don't like the outcome of the investigation, so we have to point fingers at other people. If I had been found, if any of my allegations had been sustained, because I'm a mature adult, I would have apologized. First and foremost, I would have apologized to city staff. And I would have meant it.
1:16:33I wouldn't have hid behind that I'm a woman or that I'm a brown woman or that I'm this or that or chicken fat. I would have apologized because that's what adults do. And not only are we adults up here, but we're elected officials. We're held to a higher standard. So if you want to believe it's politically motivated, nothing we see up here is going to change your mind, nothing at all. But I would just say to you that if I was in those shoes, I would apologize. I would look like I'm an adult and I'm sorry if I offended staff. I'm sorry if I overset my boundaries.
1:17:15But none of that has occurred. What has occurred is that this is a brown or black issue. No, it is not. It is not. We are all held up here to a higher standard. So when you post lies, and you post lies, and you sit up here and say lies after lies after lies, that's who you really are. That is who you are. And so if we cannot make a decision tonight, Mr. City Manager, if the votes are not here, then I would ask that we bring it back on the 19th, and that we address it again on the 19th. So I think Mayor Pro Tem, did you make a motion?
1:17:56I did.
1:18:34And there's a second by Council Member Vasquez.
1:18:35You have one more time, Mr. Vasquez, Council Member Vasquez.
1:18:39Oh, I apologize. Go ahead. Thank you. First of all, I don't appreciate being called a liar. I'm a very honest person and my integrity stands in this community as who I am, a respectful person. Also being mentioned dishonest. I agree. I was one of the three that called for an investigator. I'm nothing dishonest about that. I am very straightforward. This is where I'm at. As far as the budget, our budget is in disarray after we passed it because we also gave the police officer association a raise we could not afford. We couldn't afford. Did they serve it? They deserved every penny.
1:18:42Every one of our staff deserves a raise comparable to COLA to make sure we all should have that 8% the teachers finally got a raise that the district had proposed initially 3% and our union took the 3% and gave the higher-ranking teachers another extra 1% I don't know why but here we are so I I don't appreciate being called a liar when we pass the budget and after we pass it we give a
1:19:21raise that we cannot afford. Deserved yes but not afford. I do not appreciate being called dishonest. I am a man of my word as many people know me to be. I know in this position that I am and who I am I have to be a man of my word and make sure that my integrity holds tight. I know I will be under a microscope more than more people. So that's very troublesome, those words that came from your mouth. Especially when the, you know, I really wished the Chief Valentin would have been part of the investigation for the mayor.
1:19:58When he left, he warned us of the police union's political reach over elected officials in the city. He stated, there's corrupt and compromised politicians, compromised staff, or beholden individuals, groups, and agendas should never impact your integrity, discreetment, or your genuine commitment to doing the right thing in the pursuit of equity, service, and justice for the San Andes community. And for years, the union leadership, the POA, had battle lines, spending heavily on local elections and endorsing select candidates, notably the city's current mayor, Valerie Amesqua, Councilmembers David Penelosa, and Phil Becerra.
1:20:41So when we're talking about being honest, those words are not mentioned about me. Those words have not been put on my name. Let's be clear. Thank you.
1:21:24Thank you. Mayor Procheck. Thank you, Mayor.
1:21:37You know, I guess it's really frustrating, right, because when you're up here, sometimes I think people expect you to be perfect or that you know everything or that you're going to always be someone who's going to be able to make a decision right away. And that's just never me. That's why I usually try to listen to all my colleagues. And I'm just not ready to make a decision today. And I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry that some people up here feel disappointed that I wasn't ready. But you know what? I'm not going to be shamed into making a very consequential and important decision about something on this dais until I'm ready.
1:21:43And so with that, I call the question. I look forward to bringing this item back November 19th. Thank you.
1:22:18Anybody else before I vote?
1:22:25Okay.
1:22:30Let's prepare to vote.
1:22:30A motion by Mayor Pro Tem Fan, seconded by Council Member Vasquez to continue this item to the regular City Council meeting of November 19th.
1:22:34MINE IS NOT POPPING UP. MINE IS NOT POPPING UP.
1:22:55MY APOLOGIES. I COULD DO A ROLL CALL. COUNCIL MEMBER BECERA?
1:23:01NO.
1:23:06COUNCIL MEMBER HERNANDEZ?
1:23:08YES.
1:23:10COUNCIL MEMBER PANEL? Penaloza? Yes. Council Member Vasquez? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Fan? Yes. Mayor Mesquah? Yes. Vote is five ayes, one nay. Nay by Council Member Becerra. The noted absence by Council Member Lopez. Motion carries. Item is continued to November 19th.
1:23:11Thank you. Mr. City Manager, do you have any comments at this time? No, I do not.
1:23:31At this time, it's time for Council Members' comments. Councilman Hernandez, please. You have three minutes.
1:23:38I'll go ahead and wait for the next round.
1:23:44Council Member Vasquez.
1:23:47Thank you very much. It is a silly season, but please, everybody, please go out to vote, regardless if you're going to vote for me or not or who you're voting for. Tell your friends, your family, your brothers. Make sure everybody gets the word out. Let's get everybody here to vote. Everybody reach out to somebody and make sure they are voting. Make sure that the word of the people are respected and bring everybody as many as you can. The more the merrier, I say. So I'm just hoping that we all use our God-given right, our God-given, our country-given right to vote here
1:23:49and make sure that you tell everybody, let's do this and let's just keep these words respectful AND WE SHOULD BE GOOD. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
1:24:28AND I'M SO SORRY, MAYOR, I JUST WANT TO MAKE A COMMENT. I DIDN'T WANT TO INTERRUPT. AS A SPECIAL MEETING, WE ARE LIMITED TO JUST THE ITEMS THAT ARE ON THE AGENDA. SO I DON'T KNOW THAT IT WOULD BE APPROPRIATE TO HAVE COUNCIL COMMENTS ON THE SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA.
1:24:39MEETING ADJOURNED.
1:24:52Thank you.
1:25:05