City Council Special Meeting Minutes – 12/12/2022 Page 1 6 1
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COUNCIL MEMBERS
Amourence Lee
Adam Loraine
Lisa Diaz Nash
Rob Newsom Jr.
CITY OF SAN MATEO
Special Meeting Minutes
City Council
City Hall
330 W. 20th Avenue
San Mateo CA 94403
www.cityofsanmateo.org
December 12, 2022
City Hall Council Chambers 6:00 PM
Special Meeting
CALL TO ORDER – The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m.
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call
Present: Lee, Nash, Newsom, and Loraine
City Manager Corbett reviewed the purpose and process for this meeting.
CONSENT CALENDAR
The following consent calendar item was considered to be routine by the City Council. After the title of the item was read by the City Clerk, the public was invited to comment and there were no speakers. Motion passed 4-0.
Moved: Lee, Seconded: Newsom
Ayes: Lee, Newsom, Loraine, Diaz Nash
Noes: None
1. General Municipal Election November 8, 2022 – Certification of Results Motion to Adopt a resolution to declare the results of the General Municipal Election held on November 8, 2022 as presented in the Certificate and Statement of Results of Votes Cast for the City of San Mateo
Enactment: Resolution No. 142 (2022)
NEW BUSINESS
1. City Council Vacancy - Applicant Interviews and Presentation The Council asked questions regarding the selection process and how the vote would be conducted.
The following applicants for City Council gave a 10 minute presentation and Council asked questions of each applicant:
a) Michael Ragan
b) Mason Fong
c) Max Mautner
d) Rich Hedges
e) Cliff Robbins
f) Pablo Quintanilla
g) Chris Conway
h) John Ebneter
Council recessed from 8:00 pm and reconvened at 8:13 pm.
Public Comment (91) regarding the appointment of the fifth council member and comments on the Mayor appointment:
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In person (59): Linda Bauld; Suzanne Bonilla; Erin Chazer; Raayan Mohtashemi; Rick Bonilla; Stephen Floor; David Heuer; Mareva Godfrey; Marlene Tam; Chris Brousseau; Cindy Hui; Chris Cavigioli; Willa Falk; Peter Yeatrakas; Craig Arnot; Salesh Kumar; Brandt Grotte; Fred Hansson; Caiti Busch; Justin Alley; Peter Hanley; Jack Matthews; Alicia Ong; Connie Weiss; Yiming Luo; Jaci Rigoni; Shelley Kessler; Michelle Hudson; Sue Blockstein; Nancy Schneider; Ted McKinnon; Megan Strain; Jeremy Sonper; Jordan Grimes; Ali Sapirman; David Eligator; Lena Lee; Tom Lease; David Clark; Charlotte Cheng; David Nault; Sarah Fields; Lauren Fitzgerald; Ethan Mizzi; Noelle Langmack; Owen Day; Brian Ponty; Stephen Chen; Jeff LaMont; Melinda Dart; Vikas Maturi; James Coleman; Mark Davis; Dave Cohen; Ray Ticer; Lisa Vande Vorde; Alexis Lewis; and Margaret Lukens.
Remote (32): Wayne Lee; Rev Penny Nixon; Sandy Backman; Jenny Michel; Becky Schaaf; Ron Lind; Michele Brown; Heather Anne; Ed Taylor; Zac Bowling; Tom Barrett; Robert Whitehair; Joel Kohn; David Lim; Brian Kiefer; Ellen Wang; Kio T-I; Michael Weinhauer; H. Hewitt; Linda Hedges; Martha Park; George; Rob Anderson; Virginia McIssac; Mitch Speigle; Dana Sahae; Christine Padilla; Shana Bryant; Gustavo Hornos; Irving Torres; Jonathan Buenemann; and Kai Cassel.
Council Recessed from 9:53 pm and reconvened at 10:06 pm.
Council expressed appreciation for all of the applicants and provided their comments and preferences on their top three or four candidates and explained their criteria for evaluating the candidates. Loraine’s number one was Rich Hedges followed by Cliff Robbins and Pablo Quintanilla. Lee’s number one choice is Rich Hedges, followed by Mason Fong and Pablo Quintanilla and John Ebneter tied for third followed by Cliff Robbins in fourth. Diaz Nash’s number one was Cliff Robbins and number two was Mason Fong. Newsom‘s was a tie for Rich Hedges and Cliff Robbins followed by Pablo Quintanilla.
Council by ballot voted for their top choice for appointee. The City Attorney collected and tabulated the ballots and the Clerk read the vote into the record. Lee and Newsom for Cliff Robbins and Loraine and Lee abstained, 2-0- 2 in a split vote that means no one is chosen.
Council Member Lee announced her decision to abstain from the vote as the process has been tainted by multiple attempts to extort her vote for a candidate in exchange for the mayor seat. She announced she was approached by others to vote for their candidate in exchange for the mayorship and to not remove planning commissioners.
She announced that she was approached by others to vote for Cliff Robbins, and because of this she thought consideration of his application should be set aside. She announced that due to the tainting of the selection process, proceedings should be halted and first elect a mayor and deputy mayor. Council Member Diaz Nash objected to the allegations without any proof or names and concern with the reputation harm to Cliff Robbins.
Much discussion ensued.
Motion to let Cliff Robbins speak for himself. Motion passed 4-0.
Moved: Newsom; Second Diaz Nash
Ayes: Newsom, Diaz Nash, Lee and Lorraine
Noes: None
Cliff Robbins stated “I have never engaged in any sort of vote, exchange, or bartering, nor have I authorized anybody to do so and I find an unsupported accusation subjecting this entire city to the possibility of a suit for defamation. I am appalled. I just want to make very clear. My 18 year old daughter is watching this on TV. I have a reputation I've built up for 60 plus years. If you got facts, you lay them out there, but they are untrue. I've done nothing that anybody is talking about. I'm not aware of anybody. I've done anything like that on my behalf. End of story.”
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The City Attorney cautioned to only take up agendized matters.
Motion to pause the meeting and take up the adjourned meeting to vote on the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Motion failed 2-2.
Moved: Lee; Second Loraine
Ayes: Lee and Lorraine
Noes: Newsom and Diaz Nash
Newsom motioned to do a second ballot for placing the fifth council member. Motion was withdrawn.
Newsom moved to appoint Rich Hedges to the vacant City Council seat. Motion passed 3-1.
Moved: Newsom; Second Lee
Ayes: Newsome, Lee and Lorraine
Noes: Diaz Nash
The City Clerk administered the Oath of Office to newly appointed Council Member Rich Hedges and he was seated at the dais.
ADJOURNMENT –The meeting adjourned at 11:04 p.m.
APPROVED BY: SUBMITTED BY:
Amourence Lee, Mayor Patrice Olds, City Clerk DocuSign Envelope ID: F17F2254-E3F2-4B5E-B10D-BA4F7392A68F