In a 3-1 vote on May 15 the Hollister City Council elected to give Councilman Rolan Resendiz a written reprimand for what they called repeated violations of the city’s code of ethics and conduct. Councilman Tim Burns, voted no and Resendiz abstained.
Resendiz, who was censured by the council in 2020, is the second council member to be reprimanded in less than 30 days.
According to the code, council members “may be reprimanded or formally censured by the council, lose seniority or committee assignments (both within the city of Hollister and with intergovernmental agencies) or other privileges afforded by the council. Serious infractions of the code of ethics or code of conduct could lead to other sanctions.”
Interim city manager David Mirrione told BenitoLink that Casey will write the reprimand and it will become a public record once it is finalized.
In introducing the agenda item to discuss potential remedial actions against Resendiz for his conduct, Casey said, as chair, it is her duty to “decide on rules of order, and ensure that things run smoothly.”
“Free debate does not require, nor does it justify, however, public officials to make belligerent, personal, impertinent, slanderous, threatening, abusive, or disparaging remarks,” she said, quoting from the city’s code of ethics and conduct. “The last section [of the code] that’s pertinent is ‘conduct of members shall refrain from abusive conduct, personal charges or verbal attacks upon the character or motives of other members of council.’”
She said Resendiz violated the code of ethics and conduct by going “off topic” and not adhering when she has called for a “point of order.”
When Casey asked for comments from council members, Councilman Tim Burns deferred to speak after the others; then Councilman Rick Perez deferred to Morales, who said she wanted to clarify some of Resendiz’s accusations against her at the May 5 meeting when he accused her of taking campaign funds from developers.
She said she received the maximum amount of $250 from family members of two development companies, as well as funds from land-use consultant Victor Gomez, who she pointed out also donated to Resendiz’s campaign. She said many donations came from unions.
“I’m very proud to represent working people in San Benito County and Santa Clara County and Monterey County and Santa Cruz County,” she said. “And that’s who I represent. I represent working families and people who cannot speak for themselves.”
Burns, who said he supported a formal reprimand but not a censure, and ultimately voted “no,” went through the code of conduct section by section and voiced where he thought Resendiz violated the code and where he did not.
Burns pointed out that over $7,000 was spent on Perez’s investigation into claims of inappropriate conduct in closed sessions.
“It’s clear to me that this could be a continual flare-up and I don’t have the energy nor the interest to go down this path in the future, and we do need to figure out what consequences could be beyond ‘shame on you’ or ‘I’m going to publicly embarrass you.’ I don’t think censuring anybody really does anything.”
Even though Casey said that she had returned campaign contributions from developers, Resendiz said “I don’t think it was done out of the goodness of her heart. It was a strategic move.”
Resendiz claimed in a social media video and at the meeting that “politicians,” without stating names, had returned the money because a new state law would prohibit them from voting on a project related to campaign contributors. However, Senate Bill 1439, which now includes local governments and went into effect this year, prohibits elected officials from participating in decisions involving projects from their campaign contributors who donated more than $250. Hollister has an ordinance that limits individual campaign contributions to $250.
At the meeting, Resendiz said, “I told the mayor this behind closed doors, ‘if you’re gonna try to silence me and censure me for speaking the facts then you might as well like agendize it for every single meeting because I will not be intimidated. I will not be silenced, and I will always be true as long as I’m up here.’”
Casey said it was not about silencing Resendiz, rather it was about keeping order.
“As the chair, I have to keep things moving. I decide points of order,” Casey said. “If you’re going to be disrespectful and not listen when you’re called to order you can disagree. You can ask for a vote [and] say ’I don’t think that was fair.’”
More than 15 residents spoke at the meeting with the majority supporting Resendiz.
Many speakers said Casey was attempting to curtail Resendiz’s First Amendment rights by silencing his criticisms of her and Morales. They also said they believed Resendiz’s claims that the two were being influenced by the campaign contributions and were supportive of developments.
Some speakers accused her of hypocrisy because as a private citizen she had often criticized former Mayor Ignacio Velasquez for silencing people and now that she is in that position they said she was doing the same thing. There were three people, including Perez, who spoke about tolerance and moving on with government business.
Casey responded before the vote that this issue was not about free speech.
“Even if I disagree with some of you [in the audience], I still respect your right to come up here and say your three minutes,” Casey said. “I did it myself as a member of the community. I simply have to keep the meetings running smoothly, and I don’t expect to be attacked for that. I don’t expect to be disrespected.”
Other notable actions:
The Hollister City Council unanimously approved the Independence Day Firework Show scheduled for July 1 at Brigantino Park. The event, which will cost the city more than $40,000 includes activities and music from 6 -9:30 p.m. The firework show is set to begin at 9:30 p.m. The Local Transportation Agency is set to vote May 18 to provide a transportation shuttle to the event from The Pauline Valdivia Memorial Community Center or the Briggs Building parking garage.
On a 4-1 vote with Resendiz voting “no,” the city approved the purchase agreement for the property located at 190 Maple Street from the San Benito Health Care District (Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital) in Hollister for $1,625,000. Mirrione said the intent is to use the building as a full service counter rather than using staff offices at various locations. He added the city expects to pay a total of over $2 million with improvements.
On a 3-2 vote with Resendiz and Burns voting “no,” the city approved a salary increase for the City Council from $400 to $820 per month. The mayor’s salary will increase from $600 to $1,020 per month. It takes effect after the 2024 General Election in November. The city discussed this increase in 2022.
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