After a vitriolic Stockton City Council meeting two weeks ago, Tuesday’s meeting was comparatively calm and ended about two hours earlier than what has recently been the usual.
The 5:30 p.m. open session at City Hall kicked off with Mayor Christina Fugazi reading the City Council’s entire decorum policy to residents preparing to publicly address the council. District 4 Councilmember Mario Enríquez then reminded councilmembers are expected to also be respectful toward the public.
The council’s Aug. 26 meeting ended abruptly after District 1 Councilmember Michele Padilla criticized an attendee for laughing during her closing comments. The crowed jeered Padilla, spurring Fugazi to call order in the chamber.
Attendees then expressed outrage that Fugazi didn’t also chastise Padilla. After a short but tense back and forth between her and several members of the public, including a threat to end the meeting if the crowd didn’t quiet down, the mayor called for a vote to shut down the meeting.
While members of the council did not overtly spar with each other on the dais, as has been the norm in recent months, Tuesday’s meeting wasn’t without conflict.
Councilmembers and the public criticized a vote Fugazi requested seeking to remove homelessness advocate and south Stockton resident Patricia Barrett from Stockton’s Climate Action Plan Advisory Committee.
In July, the mayor had nominated Barrett for the committee, along with six other community members. On Tuesday, several public commenters and some councilmembers questioned Barrett’s possible removal, highlighting her activism and nonprofit work.
No reasons for ousting Barrett were made public before or during the meeting from the mayor, which was the focus for much of the criticism directed at Fugazi, who had requested Barrett’s removal be put on the agenda.
“All we say about transparency up here is all talk, then, if we can’t really give specific reasons and follow up,” Enríquez said.
In response, the mayor pointed to the city’s code of conduct for commission members. However, she didn’t spell out how she believed Barrett had violated the code.
The council ultimately unseated Barrett in a 4-3 vote. Fugazi, Padilla, District 2 Councilmember Mariela Ponce and District 5 Councilmember Brando Villapudua voted for her removal. Enríquez , District 3 Councilmember Michael Blower and Vice Mayor Jason Lee voted against.
Barrett was replaced with Kristine Williams, an associate director of the affordable housing nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners and a member of the San Joaquin Valley Housing Collaborative, according to Williams’ application for the committee and her Linkedin profile.
In response to a question about why she sought to remove Barrett, Fugazi told Stocktonia she believed Barrett’s prior comments about her at public meetings had been defamatory.
“For all of us, our words carry weight. And I don’t mind people putting their thoughts or ideas (out), I don’t want to silence anybody,” Fugazi said. “But you can’t put out stuff that you know is false.”
Barrett didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment late Tuesday evening.
Also on Tuesday, the City Council unanimously approved its final update to the San Joaquin County Grand Jury about changes it’s making after the grand jury’s 2024 report stating that the 209 Times organization had unethically interfered with decisions at City Hall.
The 209 Times is a social media page sometimes presented as an unbiased news source, but which is run by a Stockton political consultant.
The grand jury found that people linked to the entity “consistently attempted to undermine the local democratic process by misleading the Stockton electorate and attempting to affect election results through unethical influence.”
Among the myriad issues the 2024 report highlighted were “constant emails, letters, phone calls, and comments made in public demanding actions from associates of” the 209 Times, directed to city employees and elected officials.
In response, the grand jury recommended that the City Council create rules for dealing with threats to city staff — and that those rules include referring information about any harassing communications not protected by the First Amendment to the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office for possible prosecution.
The update councilmembers approved Tuesday pointed to Stockton’s workplace violence policy as the main avenue for handling such threats. But it wasn’t clear from the policy, or councilmembers’ discussion with city staff, if and when the city would forward information about threats to the DA’s Office.
A city human resources staffer responsible for the policy didn’t immediately respond to emailed questions.
During public comment, residents decried any continued collaboration between councilmembers and the 209 Times organization like that described in the 2024 report.
“When you talk about truth, trust and transparency, I wonder how you align that with that social media site,” Lecia Harrison said.
“I know some of you use them as … campaign management. (But) you can’t have it both ways,” she said. “You cannot speak to trust, truth and transparency, and maintain relationships with (these) individuals.”
The 209 Times’ owner did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the public criticism late Tuesday evening.
“There isn’t just one entity,” Fugazi said following the public outcry. “I could talk about The Cabal (Facebook page). I could talk about the Stockton View (Facebook page). I could even talk about things that are on Nextdoor. I could talk about groups that are in this room that, inaccurate info has been put out.”
The mayor added: “We have, up here, made it very clear who we serve.”