At the November 21, 2022, City Council meeting, I requested and Mayor Pro-Tem James Noble seconded my request that the City Council consider a resolution for a vote of no confidence in Mayor Courtney.
In order to follow the proper procedural process please see my following request:
I am requesting in writing and asking for Mayor Pro-Tem James Noble, to second this request expressing a resolution for a vote of no confidence in Mayor Courtney in his leadership ability as mayor. There have been numerous allegations of ethical misconduct, in particular the results of the third-party investigator findings as prescribed below. In addition to the third-party findings, I am requesting that the council also consider in part, the mayor’s failure to lead by example in respect to unprofessional conduct in his continuous violation of the Parliamentary Rules which results in highly dysfunctional, chaotic, and opaque Council meetings. Bullying, patronizing, and cutting off Councilmembers during discussion if he disagrees with them and chastising, patronizing, and even calling a public speaker a disparaging name when he disagrees with them is a form of abuse of power. Mayor Courtney has gone as far as referring to councilmembers and those who oppose him as having a mental illness.
As elected official of the City of Barstow, we are held to a higher standard and in order to restore trust between city employees, the residents of Barstow, and its government, I am requesting a resolution for a vote of no confidence in Mayor Courtney because we cannot ignore the ethical misconduct of the mayor of past and more importantly we should not condone his current ethical misconduct.
Third-party Investigation:
On December 20, 2021, the City Council for the City of Barstow initiated a third-party investigation into allegations that Mayor Courtney was or had been interfering with the administration of City personnel and threatening the employment of several City employees. The City arranged for an outside third-party investigator to conduct the investigation, under the supervision of outside counsel. The Investigator interviewed the Mayor and 19 other individuals and reviewed relevant documents.
On November 7, 2022 the City released a public summary of the results of the third-party investigation of Mayor Courtney’s conduct. The public summary stated that the Investigator made the following findings based on the preponderance of evidence standard:
1. Mayor Courtney engaged in inappropriate behavior regarding the hiring of a City employee and provided false information to the former interim City Manager about the matter.
2. Mayor Courtney also engaged in intimidating behavior, threatening to terminate the employment of several City employees who he did not favor or who were connected to his political rivals and/or opponents. Of the several City employees who alleged having their jobs threatened by the Mayor, the Investigator found that only one of the employees did not have their job threatened by the Mayor.
3. Mayor Courtney engaged in inappropriate operational activities and direction on matters that are reserved for the City Manager.
4. Mayor Courtney attempted to elicit the City of Barstow Chief of Police to arrest and/or issue citations to Mayor Courtney's political rivals and to arrest those who spoke out against Mayor Courtney at City Council meetings.
5. Mayor Courtney revealed confidential and sensitive City Council Closed Session Meeting information to others who had no need or right to know the information.
6. Mayor Courtney made inappropriate comments concerning City employees.
7. Mayor Courtney used various manipulation tactics on employees to pit one employee against another to engender loyalty to himself.
8. Mayor Courtney employed heavy-handed communication techniques with various employees leaving the employees feeling that their jobs were in danger.
In response to these findings, in closed sessions the City Council took the following steps:
Directed the Mayor to refrain from communicating with any City employees, except for the City Manager, the 911 system, or as allowed by the First Amendment or other applicable law;
2. Directed that the Mayor be barred from City Hall except as his physical presence is legally required by applicable law, such as for Council Meetings;
3. Directed the Mayor to not provide any direction to any City employees other than the City Manager, and then, only as part of a City Council majority vote in a lawful meeting;
4. Directed the Mayor to not retaliate against any individual who he knows or who he may reasonably anticipate made a complaint, was a witness or otherwise participated in this investigation, nor to attempt to influence any individual who he knows or who he may reasonably anticipate made a complaint, was a witness or other person who otherwise participated in this investigation; and
5. Referred the matter to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.