Editor’s note: This article was updated to correct a sentence that stated that former Councilwoman Lenoir participated in the closed session in which the alleged incident took place. Last updated April 19 at 12:20 p.m.
In a 3-1 decision April 17 the Hollister City Council voted to issue a verbal warning to Councilman Rick Perez after an independent investigation conducted by an outside agency found he had violated the city’s ethics code and conduct policy, which he admitted to doing. Perez abstained and Councilman Rolan Resendiz voted “no.”
The first allegation against Perez, according to attorney Yesenia Carrillo with Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, was that he yelled at and used profanity toward San Benito County Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki on Sept. 6, 2022, which she said the investigator “determined that this allegation was sustained.” The second allegation, she said, was that Perez “raised his voice, used profanity and acted aggressively toward Hollister City Council member Resendiz and former Mayor Ignacio Velazquez, also on Sept. 6, 2022.” The investigator also determined this charge was sustained.
According to the investigation, Perez admitted he did violate the city’s ethics code and conduct policy, though he did not go into specifics about what he actually did. He also admitted to the violation during the April 17 council meeting and apologized to the public and the council.
Mayor Mia Casey and councilmembers Dolores Morales and Tim Burns said they felt the investigation was “flawed and disappointing,” and while they agreed that Perez did violate the code of ethics and conduct policy, they did not go along with Resendiz’s push to censure and remove Perez from his committee assignments.
Casey said the investigation went “way beyond its scope” when the investigator interviewed individuals who had not witnessed either incident and were commenting on issues that did not pertain to the accusations.
The investigator was not in the meeting and the city did not disclose the cost of the study. Interim City Manager David Mirrione told BenitoLink he was still looking into the final cost of the investigation.
“We can all agree that regardless of our differences, aggressive or intimidating behavior towards one another is not acceptable, and while most of us have succumbed to profanity from time to time, it does not allow for real communication and it doesn’t have a place here in our council meetings,“ Casey said.
She added the second allegation stemmed from Perez contacting all county supervisors as a constituent and “grief-stricken father” and that she was disappointed Kosmicki filed a complaint.
Resendiz pointed out that Perez had admitted in a KSBW article April 14 that he had been arrested 79 times and served prison time.
While Resendiz asked City Attorney Mary Lerner about Perez’s arrest record and if it would prevent Perez from serving as a council member, Lerner said further discussion on the topic needed to be agendized.
In regards to Casey saying Kosmicki filed a complaint, Kosmicki said he only emailed county and city officials about his concerns. Kosmicki shared with BenitoLink his Sept. 6, 2022, letter in which he described how the phone call between himself and Perez devolved from a “relatively calm” conversation to an “unruly, very unprofessional tone toward me and the county.”
He said he was later “contacted by an investigator contracted by the city of Hollister and answered his questions on the matter.”
Out of 20 speakers, 18 comments ranged from strong support, which often resulted in Perez visibly crying, to justifying his actions as they said it related to stress over his son’s fentanyl addiction. One opposing speaker accused Perez of using his position to jump ahead of the line to get his son treatment. Another said Perez should not have let his personal life influence his actions on the council.
Among Perez’s supporters was former councilmember and current planning commissioner Carol Lenoir who placed the onus of the council’s dysfunction and Perez’s behavior on Resendiz, claiming he caused Perez to act the way he did during the closed-session meeting.
Lenoir said since she participated in closed sessions she was familiar with the proceedings and said this was a result of Mayor Velazquez’s “inability to keep order in closed session.”
“Maybe you don’t know you do it but you talk down to people and you always thought you were smarter than me,” she said. “If I had known that you could have got[ten] in[to] trouble for saying mean things, I should have come and said what you said on my second-to-last study session: three derogatory comments that hurt my feelings.”
Lenoir said this situation should have stayed in closed session.
Morales then said Resendiz had verbally attacked all council members except for one [Burns].
“It’s been at least two to three years of constant bullying, threats, demeaning behavior,” she said.
She added Perez had to come to City Council meetings only to deal with bullying behavior after his son died and was resuscitated in his arms the previous day.
“At some point, even the best of us reach a point where we just can’t take it anymore,” Morales said. “That is what this is.”
Then she said she read from her cursory search of BenitoLink headlines for what she said were indications of dysfunction on the City Council directly related to Resendiz, addressing his censoring, and an alleged altercation in a local bank between himself and Irma Gonzalez.
“The common denominator here isn’t Rick Perez,” she said. “It’s someone else. It takes a lot to be able to just sit and take a lot of bullying without having the energy to be silent.”
Morales continued, “I am extremely disappointed at the investigation, the process, the principle, the lack of information, the background, and the historical references that lead up to [these] events. I won’t be able to sit here and get slapped 30 times before I can say, ‘You know what, I’ve had enough.’ It is unfortunate that we’re here spending a lot of our time talking about this issue.”
Resendiz asked Casey if he could comment and she turned him down and made the motion to verbally warn Perez. When she called for a five-minute recess, Perez hurried into the audience to hug and thank several people who voiced their support.
Related BenitoLink stories:
Hollister councilmembers accused of violating Brown Act and city ethics code | BenitoLink
Hollister council vote to censure members Richman and Spencer fails | BenitoLink
Hollister council members get into altercation at bank | BenitoLink
Hollister Council censures member Rolan Resendiz | BenitoLink
Public speaks out against comments from Hollister Councilman Resendiz | BenitoLink
COLUMN: Public deserves better than Hollister council member’s slur | BenitoLink
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