On Tuesday, City Council will hold its fifth meeting within a month to discuss who should become Stockton’s next city manager.
They’ll also consider new rules that would cap councilmembers’ end-of-meeting remarks at 15 minutes — shortening a window councilmembers use to share news with constituents, but that has also become a venue for jabs at the public and among councilmembers themselves.
These are just two of several noted items headed to City Council this week.
Closed session
Councilmembers are set to meet one hour earlier than usual for their customary closed-session meeting ahead of the regular City Council meeting at 5:30 p.m.
The closed session — which usually starts at 4 p.m., but on Tuesday will begin at 3 p.m. — is about the recruitment of a permanent city manager, according to the agenda.
As is typical for closed-session meetings about city hirings, the agenda reveals no details about possible candidates or where councilmembers are at in the recruitment process. Last month, they met for three special closed sessions and one regular closed session to discuss the recruitment.
When City Council does choose a candidate, that person’s contract will need to be approved in a public vote.
Stockton has been without a city manager since January, when former City Manager Harry Black resigned under pressure from the newly-seated council. Former San Joaquin County fairground CEO Steve Colangelo then served as the city’s interim chief executive, with stints by Deputy City Manager Will Crew as acting chief, who still holds the rule.
Shorter council comments?
Also on the agenda this week, City Council will vote on a proposed change to its official rulebook that would limit councilmembers’ end-of-meeting remarks to 15 minutes, according to a draft of the policy included in Tuesday’s meeting agenda.
Traditionally, councilmembers use their time at the end of each council meeting to discuss their policymaking work, news specific to their districts, public events and other information.
In recent months, that dedicated time has also featured conflict, as in an August exchange between District 1 Councilmember Michele Padilla, Fugazi and members of the public that preceded Fugazi’s decision to abruptly end the meeting.
At the same meeting — already heated amid discussions of multiple investigations into councilmembers and city staff — Fugazi and Vice Mayor Jason Lee clashed about the comment period, after Lee said he felt Fugazi was trying to limit councilmembers’ speaking time.
Under the new proposed rule, councilmembers would be able to ask the mayor for more speaking time before beginning their comments. If the mayor declines, the rule would allow councilmembers to override her through a majority vote.
Safe school routes
The City Council is also scheduled to vote on a roughly $2 million construction contract that would kick off a project aimed at improving sidewalks along kids’ routes to school.
Victory Elementary, Montezuma Elementary, Sierra Nevada Middle School and Jane Frederick High School would be included in the project’s first stage, according to the meeting’s agenda. Fillmore Elementary would be included in a second stage.
Improvements will include installing curbs, gutters, sidewalks, curb ramps and high-visibility crosswalks.
Camp Silver Lake
Councilmembers will discuss whether to reopen a former city-run youth camp in Amador County, following the completion of a report on the state of its facilities.
A copy of the report attached to Tuesday’s agenda says more than 90% of the facilities are in “poor-to-critical condition.”
Located off Highway 88 in Pioneer, Camp Silver Lake is a 14-acre, 50-cabin property which Stockton formerly operated as a family camp under a permit from the U.S. Forest Service, according to the report.
The camp stopped operating in 2022 after the contract of an operator Stockton hired to run the facility expired, and the city didn’t receive any new applications to manage the camp, the report said.
Camp Silver Lake is well-known in Stockton as the location of former Mayor Anthony Silva’s arrest after he allegedly audio-recorded a strip-poker game among minors, and allegedly gave them alcohol. In 2017, Silva pleaded no-contest to the alcohol charge in exchange for prosecutors dropping three other counts.
More coming Tuesday:
- A Stockton Arts Commission member could be removed from his seat after allegedly breaking the panel’s attendance rules.
- The council will vote on whether to refund a man about $53,000 after Stockton police seized it during a search under asset forfeiture policies.