Members of the public had a clear message for Stockton’s City Council this week: knock it off.
Councilmembers have been publicly at odds for months over a host of issues, including hurling myriad accusations across the dais and calling for investigation after investigation into alleged wrongdoings at City Hall, with some involving their fellow councilmembers.
The public has repeatedly called for decorum, accountability and transparency throughout — as well as for councilmembers to just stop fighting with each other.
Many of council’s disagreements have stemmed from or included former interim City Manager Steve Colangelo, who had steadily been losing public support since May when Stocktonia broke the news the longtime event planner had hired another city manager in the county to coach him in his new duties. The council opted at its last meeting not to extend Colangelo’s contract with the city.
The community has regularly been advocating during public comment at council meetings for unity on the dais, reminding the newly-elected councilmembers of the promises they made on the campaign trail and when they were sworn in.
And for a moment this week, it seemed like the public may get their wish.
Tuesday’s council meeting started off relatively quiet, a stark contrast to the majority of meetings in recent months. There was neither public comment before closed session, nor a long line to get into Council Chambers when the public portion of the meeting reconvened. Councilmembers even promptly returned in a timely fashion from closed sessions to a noticeably calmer and smaller audience.
Council meeting regular Yolanda Amen noted during public comment the “very nice” quiet atmosphere in the chamber. Amen said she hadn’t realized how stressful its been and urged council to return its attention back to Stockton.
“I can’t imagine what it’s like for you. I don’t want to talk for you, but I just know me as a citizen sitting over here, we’re drained. We’re very drained, and I hope that this is going to be a turnaround,” Amen said. “Let’s move forward, and let’s do the work of the city, and let’s turn this around.”
Pat Barrett, another frequenter of public comment at council meetings, said she also noticed a difference.
“Y’all look like you’re in harmony tonight. I’m so happy. You just don’t know,” Barrett said early in the night, though she also criticized council’s behavior. “I’m so tired about the victory. I keep hearing. We have done so much in eight months, and I’ve seen very little, but a whole lot of division.”
Vice Mayor Jason Lee also said he and Mayor Christina Fugazi, who have often found themselves at odds lately, had a conversation “specifically about decorum” after council’s meeting Aug. 12, where council extended closed session to nearly five hours, leaving many of those in attendance frustrated and saying they felt disrespected.
“We, too, are tired of all the drama,” Lee said. “And yes, we are, you know, getting back to business.”
But with three investigations on the agenda, Tuesday’s council meeting once again turned into a bit of a brouhaha. Fugazi ultimately ended the meeting early following a confrontational exchange between Councilmember Michele Padilla and the public.
The moment was just a nightcap on an evening that saw accusations and infighting abound across the dais, including some particularly tense moments between Lee and Fugazi, leaving some in the audience disheartened and many angry.
Some of Lee and Fugazi’s most heated moments were over meeting procedure, with Lee at one point calling Fugazi’s handling of the meeting “a joke.” Lee repeatedly expressed frustration over what he viewed as Fugazi’s attempts to stifle him throughout the meeting, while Fugazi said that she was only following council policy by allowing time for every councilmember a chance to speak on a given issue.
Fugazi had initially told the clerk that each councilmember would be limited to five minutes for comments. Lee regularly pushed those limits during the meeting.
“I got more than five minutes. (The mayor) told me to wait for council comments, and I’m gonna use every one of my minutes tonight,” Lee said as the speaking timer began to buzz at him for the final time at the end of the night, shortly before the meeting was abruptly ended by Fugazi.
“I will be kicked out of this meeting if you try to stop me from talking during the time that you told me to wait to have my word. And you did it in front of the public, you can play the tape back,” he said.
Public expresses continued frustration
Toward the end of the meeting, Amen found herself unexpectedly back at the podium during a final round of public comment, both out of disappointment for the council’s overall behavior and what she perceived as bullying on the dais toward the vice mayor.
“I wasn’t going to speak on this tonight, but I’m just in awe right now of how this meeting has gone tonight,” Amen said. “I just am a totally different person when I came in here today than when I’m standing before you. Now, half of you aren’t even looking.”
“And I don’t have any ill will toward any of you, but I am feeling it big time right now. You just don’t care about us,” she added.
Regular commenter Julie Dunning aimed her frustrations directly at Fugazi.
“I understand there was a request to turn the noise down, and I was excited, willing, ready and able. I still have a little bit of faith left, and I want us to move forward,” Dunning said to the mayor during the last opportunity for public comment. “But it seems like the people that have control of the volume knob keep cranking it back up every time we decide we’re going to move forward.”
Dunning also seemed to suggest it was outside interests causing problems on the council, though she didn’t provide any names.
“Madam Mayor, Christina, only you can stop this, only you, only you can take back your power,” Dunning said. “Real friends don’t use friends. They don’t manipulate you. They don’t take advantage or capitalize on the success that you’ve attained, and they certainly don’t leave you compromised. I want you back to who you were, and I want this council back.”
Mayor abruptly ends meeting amid spat between Padilla and member of the public
Around 10 p.m., Councilmember Padilla was in the middle of her council comments, a moment at the end of meetings reserved for each member to talk about whatever they like. Padilla had been defending her actions on council when she suddenly paused to chastise a member of the audience for laughing.
“I don’t know why you’re laughing because this is serious to me. This is very serious,” Padilla said to someone in the audience, stopping mid-sentence. “Don’t act like you’re not laughing.”
The public in attendance at the meeting started to criticize and jeer Padilla as Fugazi wrapped her gavel and called for order. Instead of quieting, however, audience members pushed back and openly argued with the mayor, questioning why she didn’t address what they viewed as Padilla’s lack of decorum, something the mayor had advocated for on both sides of the dais earlier in the meeting.
“All y’all can go outside, how about that?” Fugazi said to the audience as people continued to talk over her. “We’ll just adjourn the meeting. How about that?”
“Adjourn it,” several people in the crowd said defiantly before Fugazi called for a motion on just that. Fugazi and Councilmembers Padilla, Mariela Ponce and Brando Villapudua then all voted to end the meeting.
Despite the tensions, Lee said at one point during the meeting that the discourse the public was witnessing was actually a good thing.
“I want to say that this is democracy working even though we’re disagreeing or whatever. This is actually how it works,” he said. “So I don’t want people thinking we’re fighting. This is not a fight. This is a debate, right? This is good that it’s happening in public.”
Councilmember Mario Enriquez, who was not given an opportunity to speak during council comments due to the meeting being ended early, had a different view of the meeting.
“I am frustrated — this is time that belongs to you, the constituents I proudly represent. I represent nearly 55,000 people, and your voices matter,” the District 4 representative wrote of social media Wednesday. “Meetings like this, ending abruptly and dominated by political maneuvering, do a disservice to our community.”