Laurie Alderman
#4 Citizens Business public comment.
Good evening, members of the council,
I am speaking tonight regarding a systemic, ongoing failure in the City of Cotati: our complete inability to provide citizens with a fair, unbiased administrative appeal process. Despite continuous public outcry, the city refuses to learn from its past mistakes.
We saw this structural bias clearly in the George Barich code enforcement hearings, where the line between investigator, prosecutor, and arbiter was entirely blurred. Yet, the city continues this exact same pattern today. A prime example occurred just this past June during an administrative impound hearing regarding my 89-year-old mother’s towed vehicle. Instead of providing an independent, neutral third party to evaluate the case, the city appointed Lieutenant Goodin—a high-ranking officer within the very department and personally initiated the tow—to serve as the "unbiased" hearing officer.
When a police department’s internal review naturally rubber-stamps its own actions as "unfounded," it protects its second and third-in-command rather than delivering justice. It is entirely obvious that a department investigating itself cannot be impartial in such a small police force. . This ongoing reliance on internal insiders to judge citizen appeals proves that the City of Cotati is fundamentally unwilling to give its residents a fair, transparent, and equal process. True reform requires completely independent, outside oversight for all administrative appeals.
Thank you.