From:
Sent: Monday, April 20, 2026 3:13 PM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]>; Lindsay Lara <[email protected]>
Subject: Public Comment for the April 20, 2026 City Council Meeting
FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD
San Rafael City Council Meeting, April 20, 2026
Mayor Kate, councilmembers, Ken Dickinson, San Rafael Meadows. I would like to respond to the Approval of the Minutes, from the last city council meeting, item 3c. You Mayor Kate, dismissed the public's concerns by claiming the former City Manager’s departure was an agreed upon mutual separation that was as you put it “the story, beginning, middle, and end.” That is not leadership; it is a brush-off that treats San Rafael taxpayers like children.
The real story, the one you are trying to bury, is that this Council authorized almost half a million dollars to a resigning official while our city faces a $3.5 million budget shortfall. This massive expenditure of public funds followed a heavily redacted independent report that described your administration’s handling of the 350 Merrydale project as a “symbol of chaos”.
The Marin IJ Editorial Board has now weighed in and made it clear: you are not “off the hook” as they put it. They called your actions an “inner-sanctum strategy” that “intentionally left out” and “blindsided” the very residents you were elected to represent. For nine months, you developed these plans behind closed doors. You allowed yourselves to be what the IJ termed “out-of-the-loop bystanders” while the public deserved to know why you were poised to spend $7.3 million of their money.
I return to insist on accountability. This Council must own its failure and provide full transparency, rather than retreating behind the legal shield of 'mutual separation' agreements.
The Marin IJ is right: it’s time for you to "take a hard look at how the city conducts the public’s business." You were elected to be in the loop and keep the public in the loop also. Shine some light on all of this please.
Thank you.
Ken Dickinson