Irreconcilable Differences:

Conclusions 12

• CL1 Page 39
  There has not been an employee satisfaction survey since 2019.
• CL2 Page 37
  Councilmembers Becker, Park, and Chahal do not understand and/or do not follow established parliamentary and meeting procedures.
• CL3 Page 38
  Some Councilmembers do not uphold their responsibility to conduct the City’s business professionally and efficiently.
• CL4 Page 38
  Some Councilmembers have become preoccupied by personal and political vendettas resulting in verbal attacks, mocking, and disparaging members of the public and community volunteers from the dais without consequence. Councilmembers have ignored the public’s request to address their behaviors.
• CL5 Page 39
  Councilmembers Becker and Park have engaged in unethical behavior on the dais by insulting, humiliating, and intimidating constituents and volunteers. Councilmembers Becker and Hardy explicitly encourage this behavior by laughing, snickering, or eye-rolling. Councilmembers Becker, Park, Hardy, Jain, and Chahal implicitly encourage these behaviors by failing to call out inappropriate conduct.
• CL6 Page 40
  City staff is exceptionally professional, well prepared, and consistently maintains their composure regardless of behaviors exhibited by the Council. Staff’s behavior is a model for the Council.
• CL7 Page 35
  City residents expect that their elected leadership will exercise their responsibility to work together to achieve consensus when administering City business. The role of leaders is to create an environment that promotes collaboration, an essential component for building an effective Council. The inability of the City Council to communicate respectfully and work together has undermined the effective governance and morale of the City. Councilmembers have shown that they cannot get along, they will not get along, and that their differences are irreconcilable. Responsive and visionary leadership requires an ethical and well-informed City Council that will conduct the City’s business with transparency, openness, respect, and civility. The City Council has not achieved these standards. Instead, some Councilmembers have participated in personal attacks from the dais against fellow elected officials, residents, and volunteers. Additionally, Councilmembers have failed to listen to and understand public sentiment, which has led to the loss of public trust. Such behavior is detrimental to the functioning of City government and divisive within the community, dampening public engagement with local government. Egregious breaches of decorum by elected officials have a chilling effect on the willingness of residents to express their opinions or serve as community volunteers. Councilmembers should understand that compliance with the law is a low bar and should be the minimum goal in their roles as stewards of the City. Councilmembers must prioritize the public’s interests and the City’s financial stability ahead of their own petty squabbles and quarrels. Currently, the City is facing a General Fund deficit and an infrastructure shortfall. The Council is exploring a variety of revenue-enhancing measures for the November 2024 General Election to address the budget deficiency. Whatever action the Council chooses to implement in addressing the fiscal integrity of the City will take a concerted and united effort on the part of the entire Council. It is critical that Councilmembers change their behavior, move beyond unprofessional conduct, and commit to adhering to the principles defined in the City’s Ethics and Values Code.
• CL8 Page 36
  FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS This report points to serious concerns about members of the City Council. The Civil Grand Jury recognizes that the “City” currently has a governing body that consists of a majority of the same Councilmembers that the Civil Grand Jury has criticized in this report. These Councilmembers will be asked to vote to determine if they agree or disagree with the Civil Grand Jury’s findings and whether they will accept or reject the recommendations. (Penal Code § 933.05.) It is the Civil Grand Jury’s charge to investigate government operations, and this report seeks to do that despite the obvious limitation. Finding 1a The working relationships among Councilmembers and the Mayor are broken. Finding 1b Some Councilmembers do not adhere to the City’s adopted ethical and behavioral standards while conducting City business on the dais. Finding 1c Councilmembers Becker and Park air petty grievances and engage in squabbles with other elected officials and constituents from the dais. Recommendation 1a The City should hire a conflict resolution professional and adopt robust conflict resolution training strategies. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024. Recommendation 1b Councilmember Park should attend one-on-one conflict resolution training so he can learn to behave in a manner reflective of an elected official. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024. Recommendation 1c Councilmember Becker should attend one-on-one conflict resolution training so he can learn to behave in a manner reflective of an elected official. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024. Recommendation 1d Councilmember Jain should attend one-on-one conflict resolution training to learn to work more effectively for the good of the City. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024.
• CL9 Page 37
  Recommendation 1e Councilmember Hardy should attend one-on-one conflict resolution training to learn to work more effectively for the good of the City. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024. Recommendation 1f Councilmember Chahal should attend one-on-one conflict resolution training to learn to work more effectively for the good of the City. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024. Recommendation 1g Even though Councilmember Watanabe has shown appropriate meeting decorum, the Councilmember should attend one-on-one conflict resolution training to learn how to work effectively in the current challenging Council meeting environment. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024. Recommendation 1h Even though Mayor Gillmor has shown appropriate meeting decorum, the Mayor should attend one-on-one conflict resolution training to learn how to work effectively in the current challenging Council meeting environment. Additionally, as the meeting chair, the Mayor should receive training to facilitate effective meeting flow. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024. Finding 2 Councilmembers Becker, Park, and Chahal do not understand and/or do not follow established parliamentary and meeting procedures. Recommendation 2a Councilmember Becker should pledge to attend trainings in parliamentary procedures so that his behavior is more reflective of an elected who is dedicated to the electorate. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024. Recommendation 2b Councilmember Park should pledge to attend trainings in parliamentary procedures so that his behavior is more reflective of an elected who is dedicated to the electorate. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024.
• CL10 Page 38
  Recommendation 2c Councilmember Chahal should pledge to attend trainings in parliamentary procedures, so he can demonstrate a better working knowledge of the parliamentary process. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024. Finding 3 Some Councilmembers do not uphold their responsibility to conduct the City’s business professionally and efficiently. Recommendation 3 The City should adopt the formal resolution for Meeting Management Procedures developed and presented by staff to the Governance and Ethics Committee meeting on December 4, 2023. This resolution would tie meeting procedures to the City Code of Ethics and Values, and Behavioral Standards for Public Meetings, codify rules regarding respectful and professional language on the dais, and initiate more productive meetings to keep the Council and public focused on City business. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024. Finding 4 Some Councilmembers have become preoccupied by personal and political vendettas resulting in verbal attacks, mocking, and disparaging members of the public and community volunteers from the dais without consequence. Councilmembers have ignored the public’s request to address their behaviors. Recommendation 4a The City should establish an Independent Ethics Commission to oversee the behavior of Councilmembers and to ensure they model positive engagement with the public and reclaim the public’s trust. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024, and should be ongoing. Recommendation 4b The City should hire an Independent Ethics professional and adopt robust ethics training strategies supported by policy. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024. Recommendation 4c All Councilmembers should participate in regular training and counseling with an established outside entity that specializes in government ethics to implement training seminars and workshops for Councilmembers to learn how to maintain collegiality on the dais by using proven techniques
• CL11 Page 39
  and best practices to avoid tense exchanges, bad behavior, misconduct, and incivility, and how the rest of the Council can positively influence the behaviors effectively. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024, and should be ongoing. Finding 5 Councilmembers Becker and Park have engaged in unethical behavior on the dais by insulting, humiliating, and intimidating constituents and volunteers. Councilmembers Becker and Hardy explicitly encourage this behavior by laughing, snickering, or eye-rolling. Councilmembers Becker, Park, Hardy, Jain, and Chahal implicitly encourage these behaviors by failing to call out inappropriate conduct. Recommendation 5a Councilmember Park should pledge to train with an ethics expert from an established outside entity that specializes in government ethics. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024, and should occur annually. Recommendation 5b Councilmember Becker should pledge to train with an ethics expert from an established outside entity that specializes in government ethics. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024, and should occur annually. Recommendation 5c Councilmember Hardy should pledge to train with an ethics expert from an established outside entity that specializes in government ethics. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024, and should occur annually. Recommendation 5d Councilmember Chahal should pledge to train with an ethics expert from an established outside entity that specializes in government ethics. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024, and should occur annually. Recommendation 5e Councilmember Jain should pledge to train with an ethics expert from an established outside entity that specializes in government ethics. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024, and should occur annually. Finding 6 There has not been an employee satisfaction survey since 2019.
• CL12 Page 40
  Recommendation 6 The City should conduct an annual employee satisfaction survey, administered by a third party, which can be answered anonymously. This recommendation should be implemented by October 1, 2024, and should occur annually. Finding 7 City staff is exceptionally professional, well prepared, and consistently maintains their composure regardless of behaviors exhibited by the Council. Staff’s behavior is a model for the Council. Recommendation 7 The City should commend City staff for their exemplary work ethic and professionalism. This recommendation should be implemented by August 1, 2024.

No Responses Found 1

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.