Hollister council censures Rolan Resendiz 

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On Oct. 16, the Hollister City Council voted 4-0 to censure Councilmember Rolan Resendiz, with Resendiz abstaining from voting. This is Resendiz’s second censure.

The move came after Mayor Mia Casey added the item to the council agenda saying that Resendiz violated the city’s code of ethics and conduct for City Council meetings. Some in the audience waited for the meeting to begin with “We love Rolan” signs in hand, ready to argue against Resendiz’s censure. 

A councilmember can be censured if they do not follow proper conduct, according to city policy. The resolution supporting Resendiz’s censure states that it is not a form of punishment for speech, but a way to help the city and its legislative body distance themselves from Resendiz’s remarks.

Before the vote, Resendiz addressed the audience and colleagues. 

“I was told that if I kept bringing—in that room back there—if I kept bringing up the fact that Mia Casey and Dolores Morales took money from developers that I would be censured,” Resendiz said. “And I said, ‘It’s fine, you’re not going to silence me from telling people the truth.’”

Resendiz was first censured in 2020 on a 3-2 vote by a previous City Council with four different members. He was recently stripped of his committee assignments during the Sept. 18 council meeting. In May, Resendiz was also given a written reprimand after the council determined he had repeatedly violated the city’s code of ethics and conduct.

Since taking office in 2019, Resendiz has a history of confrontations on the dais and on social media with council members and calling members of the public “cuca,” which he said was slang for cockroach, but others have interpreted as slang for female genitalia. 

According to the council’s resolution, Resendiz was censured because he:

• Failed to follow the council’s rules of order and parliamentary procedure during meetings and refused to acknowledge the role of the chair to maintain order during meetings
• Engaged in behavior that is considered “unbecoming” of a council member, which embarrassed and discredited the City Council
• Engaged in “disrespectful, discourteous and inappropriate” behavior toward the public and other council members
• Instead of engaging in a debate with fellow council members, he breached their trust and confidence by making unsupported allegations

Approximately 16 speakers spoke against the censure and five speakers spoke in support of it.

Barry Katz said punishing and removing Resendiz from committees is a punishment against the people he represents in District 2. 

“Every district deserves to be fairly represented and committees should be fairly distributed to try to do that as best as possible,” Katz said.

Ignacio Velazquez, a former Hollister mayor, thanked Resendiz for speaking out against what he called corruption within the City Council.

“You should not be getting censured tonight,” Velazquez said. “You should be getting an award for being a hero for speaking up and putting an end to this nonsense,” 

Velazquez continued to allege that Casey and Morales took money from developers.

Following repeated claims by Resendiz that Casey and Morales were funded by developers, BenitoLink in May 2023 compiled all their campaign contributions and found members of the Anderson Family of Anderson Homes and Lee family of the proposed Lands of Lee subdivision adjacent to Fairview corners donated to Casey’s campaign. At the time of that report, Casey had returned those contributions.

Dolores Morales received a contribution in 2022 of $250 from Michelle Lee, wife of Bill Lee who is proposing a housing project on Fairview Road. 

Resendiz in 2022 received $250 each from former Hollister Mayor Ignacio Velazquez and his wife, Elizabeth Velazquez. He also reported $6,130 in loans to himself. 

A Hollister city ordinance allows a maximum donation of $250 per individual or organization per year to candidates or elected officials. A California law also requires elected officials to recuse themselves from projects if they received over $250 from the applicants within a year.

Among the residents that spoke in favor of the censure was Clark Stone, who said Resendiz had “undisciplined and attention-seeking behavior.”

“I urge the Hollister City Council to vote in favor of publicly censuring the council person,” Stone said. “I also urge the council person to put aside his personal differences and work cooperatively with his fellow council members to address the needs of Hollister as well as those of its constituents.” 

Hollister Planning Commissioner Carol Lenoir, who was on the council in 2020 when Resendiz was first censured, spoke through Zoom to share her support to censure Resendiz.

“The craziness has to stop and the interruptions and the name-calling and the screaming from the audience,” Lenoir said. 

Before the vote, the council members voiced their opinions.

Councilmember Tim Burns argued that Resendiz makes great comments and has agreed with him in the past, but believes Resendiz’s conduct at the meetings is at fault, not what he says.

“The manner that he pursues it and unfortunately when you attack people—rarely are you going to get their buy-in or their cooperation and so for me, it’s a real problem,” Burns said.

Burns added he thought Resendiz would continue the disruptive behavior regardless of being censured.  

Councilmembers Rick Perez, Dolores Morales and Casey agreed that Resendiz will likely continue with this behavior. 

Casey then explained that Resendiz would not be silenced and will be able to speak during each agenda item. The censure is the result of not following meeting rules and procedures, she said.  

Resendiz did not address any of the alleged violations of conduct during the meeting.

BenitoLink asked Resendiz on Oct. 18 if he thought he violated the city’s code of ethics and conduct. Resendiz did not answer the question but said he would continue to speak out against other council members’ alleged ties to developers. 

On Oct. 17, Resendiz told BenitoLink he wasn’t surprised by the censure. 

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