A person speaks at a podium.
Mayor Christina Fugazi speaks during a press conference about the Stockton Crusaders at the Stockton Adventist Health Arena in Stockton, California on June 10, 2026. (Photo by Annie Barker/Stocktonia/CatchLight Local/Report for America)

Mayor Christina Fugazi doubled down in a Saturday town hall in calling for the city charter to be updated.

“The things that we’re dealing with in 2026 need to be updated,” Fugazi said during the event at Troke branch library. “We can’t be working on things that haven’t been updated since 1907”

Fugazi addressed the charter while discussing her plan for a “governance reset,” which she first announced in May.

While Stockton City Council policy could be altered with a simple majority, any changes to the city charter would require a vote by the council to put them on the ballot, either in a general or special election.

A small group gathers in a community room, where a seated man gestures while speaking to a woman standing up.
Stockton Mayor Christina Fugazi takes a question from an audience member during a town hall event on Sept. 12. (Photo by Zachary Kirk-Newton/Stocktonia)

“Our charter is a vote of the people, so we council can’t arbitrarily make the changes to the charter.” Fugazi told the crowd. “It has to be something that is written, gets put on a ballot, and then the people vote on it.”

The mayor first announced her “reset” plan after the results of a grand jury investigation were revealed in June, highlighting issues of what was described as “public conflicts among council members” that undermined the public’s faith in local leadership.

“The biggest concerns were with decorum and public trust,” Fugazi said at the meeting.

Data centers were also a focal point of the conversation at the town hall, which came just over a month after the council voted on Sept. 2 to remove them from the city’s economic plan, following 40 public comments from residents concerned over their presence; these types of facilities have garnered opposition around the US.

While the mayor made it clear that there are currently no proposals for data centers, she did say that the pushback was an opportunity to have a discussion regarding them.

“We want to be able to say this is the process,” she said. “We want to make sure that the community is involved in that. That’s ultimately the long and the short of it.”  

Fuagzi also announced that she will be part of a panel discussion at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Oct. 28, which will include several members of the tech industry, saying she would serve as a voice for the public.

“I’m representing the people, so I’m going to be coming with the questions I’ve been asked, I’m going to be coming with the opinions, and the desires of the people from my community,” she said.