City Council Meeting July 15, 2025
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m 15.3 25-0793 COUNCIL DISCUSSION REGARDING THE CREATION AND
DISSOLUTION OF THE AD HOC COMMITTEE FOR CITY MANAGER SELECTION Ma
yor Fugazi: Moving on then to item 15.3 Council discussion regarding the creation and dissolution of the AD hoc Committee for City Manager selection. Now, I know that Council Member Enriquez requested that this be put on the agenda, and that I think it was Vice Mayor Lee who seconded that request. I know that we have some public comments.
Correct? So, I would like to go ahead then and allow public. They've been waiting all night, chomping at the bit to speak on this topic, so I'd allow them to speak first.
Katherine Roland: Yolanda Amen.
Yolanda Amen: Sorry. Okay, made it to this one. I spoke about this last meeting, but I am a little confused. I thought that how this all worked was you put them on the ad hoc committee. The two are two members here so that they could select a firm to come in.
We'll check applicants, they vet them, and then after that, then it would basically go back to, or they would dwindle down. Let's say if you had ten applicants, maybe they would pick top five applicants or the best applicants, then it would come back to all of you to vote on it. That's how I thought this was supposed to work. And it seems like there's been something that's changed. And so maybe I'm not understanding the process, but that's how I understood it. I went back and watched it. I went back and read everything, even the staff report as well, to make sure that I was on the same page. It just seems like somewhere along the line that it's been changed and I don't understand why. As I told you last time we voted for this, you voted for this in front of us, in public, and then all of a sudden it got kind of twisted and people were kicked off. And now I'm not even sure where we are with this now. So, I guess I'm here for answers as to how we're going to proceed with this, to find qualified applicants to fill this seat. And like I said before, to make sure that it is fair and that everyone is represented within that pool of people that you will be looking to hire for this very important position, someone that is qualified and hopefully from Stockton, that understands the people of Stockton and what we're all about and what we need here. So, I would really like and asking for clarification as to what this process really is, because it was told one thing and now it seems to have changed. And my trust level is just really low right now. As I said earlier, it's just really low because I just don't know what's going on. And I'm just not trusting this process anymore.
Katherine Roland: Julie Dunning.
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Julie Dunning: If you know what I've been through with the doctor in the last couple of weeks. Anyway, I want to start off by saying that I fully recognize that there are a lot of emotions at play here, but everyone I speak with in district four truly likes and values and appreciates our council member, Mario Enriquez. He's kind, cheerful, highly involved in our district, and very responsive and effective. He gets things done for us and after years of not having representation, it's a breath of fresh air. So, imagine our shock and sadness when we began hearing public accusations of improper conduct. To make matters worse, the accusations were being made without the disclosure of any supporting facts behind them.
For many of us who interact regularly with Mario on various district issues, it was very difficult to believe. I personally have firsthand knowledge of his high level of integrity, which he demonstrated. Sorry, I'm tired. During his campaign, but if there's merit to these allegations, then we, especially those people in district four, have a right to know if our councilmember is actually engaging in misconduct. I fully believe the only way to resolve this untenable situation is to initiate the appropriate investigation into the allegations, because the way it is now, he's guilty in the court of public opinion without any way to clear either his good name or apologize and learn from any misstep he may have made, I'm sure of this. Were any of you, you would want the respect of your colleagues in the handling of the matter, and to be offered the same opportunity to restore your reputation, reputation to good standing, left unaddressed, matters such as this erode public confidence in the entire council. So please do the right thing for the sake of our city. Open the wound. Air it out and provided an opportunity to heal. Then move on. Thank you.
Katherine Roland: Gabby Gonzalez.
Gabby Gonzalez: My name is Gabby Gonzalez, and I serve as a charter review commissioner for district six. I'm here tonight to respectfully ask for your support in helping the Charter Review Commission move forward. Right now, we have no meeting calendar or work plan. I've been told that the city manager's responsibility, but even after requests, we're still waiting. It's now July, and the interim city manager has yet to act as a new commissioner. I'm ready to serve, but without direction, we're stuck. I'm respectfully asking that the city manager's office provide the work plan and calendar immediately so the commission can do its job for Stockton. Now, speaking as a resident, I was shocked and disappointed to learn that Vice Mayor Jason Lee and Councilmember Mario Enriquez were removed from the city manager ad hoc committee, especially because it was done by the mayor alone, with no council vote or public discussion. These council members were doing exactly what they were elected to do, asking hard questions and pushing for transparency.
Removing them feels like leadership more and more like retaliating, feels less like leadership and more like retaliation. Mayor Fugazi I was out there walking neighborhoods to get you elected. People believed in your promise of change, but seeing you remove those
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who speak up makes the community question that trust. Let's be honest, Stockton needs a city manager who acts like a yes person, who acts like a yes person. We need someone with backbone, someone independent, someone who works for the people, not just for the mayor, to Vice Mayor Lee and Jason. To Vice Mayor Lee and Council Member Enriquez. I support your leadership and commitment to transparency and to you, Mayor Fugazi, your students, your voters, and your city are watching. Please do the right thing. Restore trust.
Reinstate the council members and lead with integrity. You promised. Thank you.
Katherine Roland: Pat Barrett.
Pat Barrett: Boy, it gets old. It gets hard when you sit around for hours and you're old already. To the ad hoc. You know, I, you know, with with going on with the homeless and the displacement and dogs getting shot and getting arrested and homeless, attempting to take their lives out of, you know, anxiety. It's been really hard for me to really focus on this one, but I just wanted to come back and bring it back. When when, when when the situation happened, I really didn't think much about it because I just couldn't understand why Mario Enríquez would be accused of violating the Brown Act of all people. And when when Councilmember Villapudua said what he said about how he, it was him that got this ad hoc busted up, I was like, you know me, I'm one of those people. I have to reflect later on in life on stuff that I hear. I said, wait a minute, I know this knucklehead didn't go over there and talk about Mayor, Mario Enriquez was breaking the brown act, to make wonder if this what had happened. So, my point is, is that when you stain somebody's reputation and some of us in this room know about that stain because we fight it ten years later, you know, when we're doing what we do, we know about those people. We've experienced it. We've fought for them people. It's a hard thing to come back on. And if this stain isn't brought to light, if this truth is not apologized for, you know what I mean? I just really think that our council needs to step back and either investigate or bring forward the accusation, because it just can't be. Oh, he did it and walk away. That doesn't work. It just doesn't work. And I'm really sorry that this happened to you because I've always trusted you. I'm scared of you and your brand acknowledged. You know what I mean? You know a lot. You've been there, so please look at this.
Katherine Roland: David Sengthay.
David Sengthay: Hi, everyone. My name is David Sengthay, I am a resident of district four and a lifelong Stocktonian. I did have one expressed some concern about the dissolution of the Committee without a council vote. I think that council policy according to my knowledge requires that ad hoc committees are created and extended by resolution. And so, if we are able to dissolve this committee based on an accusation, I think that before that dissolution process should even begin, formal findings and a formal investigation into
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any alleged misconduct should have taken place beforehand. Right? I think it's okay to say, hey, I believe something awry has happened, but I'll try to. I know the timer just started, so I'll stop myself at one minute then. I think that when things like this happen, things can go awry. But a formal investigation has to take place first before we hash out any formal dissolution of a committee. With that in mind, I just want to reemphasize that the process for selecting a city manager to oversee a nearly $1 billion budget. 1,800 city employees and services for over 320,000 residents is quite important. While this process is not going the best it can. Let us not allow this little moment to distract us from the bigger picture. We obviously need a city manager who's competent, qualified and ready to lead. And I mean someone with experience, executive experience, public sector knowledge, and the educational background to manage Stockton and its complexity. Right? We have a narrow window to get this right, so I encourage us to do so from here on out. Let's do it wisely. And if any allegations are brought forward, let's have a formal investigation before we take action to dissolve any committee. Thank you.
Katherine Roland: That concludes public comment for this item.
Mayor Fugazi: Okay, thank you. Each council member we got, whoever wants to speak, will do five minutes for each councilmember and we’ll go from there. And we'll start with council Member Enriquez and anybody else that chooses to speak after that on council.
Councilmember Enriquez: Thank you, Mayor. I have a PowerPoint just for the sake that folks are here so you all can see a timeline. I'm a very visual person, so I want to just provide that for the public. It's all been fact checked in terms of documentation of when certain things happened. That way we can guide you from when the ad hoc was created to the to today's meeting, I want to just highlight that, you know, this is a really important decision. You've all heard me say that the two most important decisions this council does is to approve the budget and to select a city manager. So, I know myself, and I know Vice Mayor Lee we’re honored to be selected by the mayor to hand-picked by her, to lead this this committee, to be the three folks that could be selected and also finalize candidates. So, then we can then move forward to present to the council. We take that responsibility seriously. I know I do, and in terms of why I wanted to agendize, this is because we have to be transparent about what we're doing. We can't pick and choose when we're transparent and when we're not.
And if we're saying certain things, then provide factual evidence and information. That way we can provide clarity to the public. Folks have already shared that the trust is a big part of us leading. So, when we act, we have to back it up with what we're saying and mean it. The community was already uneasy from the February oh sorry, from the February meeting, and I wanted to just emphasize that after that, you know, four-three vote. I'm not going to get into personnel matters. That happened and it already left the public unsure. So then to get
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to a point where now we have an ad hoc dissolution, it raises questions. I know I had my own questions, which is what I'll get to. I don't know if during the PowerPoint if I'm still being timed, but. So, on Tuesday, you all will see that this ad hoc was created based on the votes.
This is from the meeting agenda minutes from February to May. The other folks can share it, but there was three months of the mayor's office reaching out and collecting proposals from interested hiring firms, and there was some internal communications between the ad hoc committee members. Tuesday, June 3rd, I announced that to the public at a city council meeting that Pekka McKinney was selected. That hiring firm met with the ad hoc earlier that day. So again, that's when we were able to publicly announce that we selected the firm. Since the ad hoc was created on February 4th. Friday, June 6th is three days later, is when the mayor dissolved the ad hoc committee via an email to the city attorney and copies the vice mayor and myself on the message. The following ten days later. Give or take. Vice mayor Lee is the first one to publicly share that the mayor dissolved the ad hoc at our legislative committee meeting. Tuesday, June 24th, we had a press conference outside of City Hall, mainly focused on DEI. And then that's when the press asked us questions of the dissolvement of the ad hoc committee for the city manager. And here we are today, city council meeting, public discussion of the ad hoc committee dissolvement. I want to just share an email, and I think this is the why for me. We can talk about council policy, charter policy, charter revisions, and they will have some recommendations at the end following further discussion because there are two things that I still want to say beyond these five minutes, because they are recommendations of how we want to move forward. This is the why and the question that I had in terms of why it happened and not having sufficient information on June 6th, as I shared, when she dissolved the mayor dissolved the committee, there was an email sent to the mayor, and I'll say certain things really quick. It said an email that I can share, “It has come to my attention. This is the mayor to the city attorney based on firsthand knowledge, that discussion regarding the current interim city manager and the future appointment have occurred between at least one member of this ad hoc committee and other council members who are not part of the committee. These types of conversations, particularly outside of properly noticed public meeting, raises serious legal concerns. As you are aware, the City Council consists of seven members, one mayor, six council members.” and then lists the Brown Act description. “To further underscore my concern about a lack of transparency and collegial respect, I was made aware for the very first time of a scheduled closed session meeting on June 11th. During the ad hoc meeting, this disclosure was made by Council Member Enriquez, a sitting member of the ad hoc instructed Florence Lo to pull council's availability. I find this to be entirely inappropriate, particularly as it pertains to a process in which the mayor is the sole nominating authority.” And then she mentioned that she has a longstanding prior engagement that prevented her from attending the date. “The pattern of behavior displayed
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reflects a disregard for both process and professional conduct, whether intentional or not, these actions undermine the principles of accountability and transparency. We owe it to the public. The consultant assisting with the city manager recruitment has already been informed that he will be working directly with me. Therefore, I am dissolving the ad hoc.” And the reason why I bring this up because so many of these things still don't make sense.
It's been 39 days since this was sent out and still no answers. The Vice Mayor and I have made intentional efforts to connect with the mayor to understand why it was dissolved. I was more than happy to step down, if need be, but there have not been conversations and it's been 39 days. But I'm happy to again talk about. I know my time is up. I have some two recommendations, and I can say it later on, but I just wanted to say that that was the why.
And I don't go against the charter revision. The authority that the mayor has that I'm not questioning, but I'm questioning the why, which we still don't have answers to, to this important decision. Thank you, mayor.
Mayor Fugazi: Vice Mayor.
Vice Mayor Lee: Thank you, mayor. You know, I'm often reminded when I visit churches or go out in the public or even walk in a Starbucks, like, you don't have to be here because I don't. I chose to return home. I chose to run for office. I paid for my own campaign. I didn't take special interest money. I did a grassroots campaign, and I won on a commitment to people. And so, for me I just want to be very clear that this is a matter of policy, not politics.
Okay? And I wrote what I wanted to say because I want to make sure that I'm very clear. For me, it's always been a privilege when the mayor uses her authority in position to encourage inclusion, whether it's with people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, life experiences, because it's the connective tissue, to the other matters that I've been addressing like DEI, making sure that when people are at the table, they reflect the communities that they serve and adding in Councilmember Enríquez and I to the ad hoc committee, which to be very clear by the charter, she did not have to do she didn't have to create a charter ad hoc, but she did. You know, it was an honor because what she did was she allowed a member of the Latino community, a member of the African American community, to sit at a table with her, and she represents the community that she represents, not saying that she's elected by everybody. But, you know, at that table that she created a diverse platform, female, male, gay, black, Latino. And it really reflects the commitment that we made to the community. And when we were allowed to be there, it was a privilege, because there were a lot of people that have not ran for office that don't have the courage or resources or the strength or courage to face the adversity of of having the privilege that we have. And so, we represent those voices who elected us to make sure that their interests were heard at a policy level and the city manager position, whoever it is, will be responsible to oversee our police department. We know we've had lots of
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conversations about public safety, and we have a chief that's done a phenomenal job in turning the department around, but making sure that we have representation is always important. We had a spirited debate at the last council that led to navigate that. Me and the mayor up here joking about, you know, we've had a lot of conversations privately because we're not Bloods and Crips. We're just disagreeing on how we do a few things. And that's what happens when you are passionate. But, you know, we had a big debate over diversity, equity and inclusion, which I'm going to talk about later. My council comments and this ad hoc represented the very spirit of what the mayor said that she stands for. And so, by creating the committee that she didn't have to, including that diversity was a reflection of that commitment that somehow became a part of now broken process, now disbanding. It came as a surprise to me because it was received via email, and if there were concerns with Councilmember Enríquez and there was an action to be taken, in my opinion he could have been removed and replaced and then we could have continued. But by removing him and removing me, it just it took the process in a different direction, and it was a surprise.
And we agreed as a council to no surprises. And so, when you see me react in a very animated way, it's because I am surprised by something that I wasn't expecting. And I take my commitment to my district and my community seriously. Now, with respect to the allegation that a law can be broken, let me just be very clear on the Brown act. Me, Councilmember Enríquez and Councilmember Blower had a conversation about the direction of the city, and we did not agree on some policy implementation. That's three people. That means there could not be another conversation around other matters related to that topic. If information went to the mayor related to that, that meeting, that then added another chain in the serial meeting, because if a council member has a concern over a violation of the Brown Act, they are to take it to the district attorney or they are to take it to the grand jury. Those are investigatory agencies, not to another person up here, because it then continues the serial meeting and violates the Brown Act. So now this has now morphed into something bigger, because that means two more people may have potentially violated the Brown Act. So, I will be requesting that the grand jury do an investigation. And the reason why the grand jury is because I don't think taxpayers have to pay or should have to pay for this mess. But he deserves closure, and she deserves accountability. If for whatever reason there was or was not a violation, the policy did say two actions finding a helping the mayor find a firm, which we did. And we went through that process, which he just outlined. And to put forward qualified candidates. That second part for me was not done, and therefore I think there's a violation of the policy. And I've asked the city attorney and we've gone back and forth on whether or not there was a violation. So again, it's reduced to, for me, a matter of policy. And so, we will be taking the matter to the legislative committee to, to talk about. But, you know, the challenge now is that in the world of social media, the news and all that, his integrity is at question. And I have an immense
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amount of respect for him, and I have immense amount of respect for the mayor. And I have tried. And I will say this for the record, before we move, the discussion is I have gone to the mayor twice with Mario Enríquez unannounced to sit down and powwow because leadership is about and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told me this. He said it's mathematics, it's addition and multiplication, not subtraction and division. And we are obligated, and I believe, committed to figuring this out. But we wanted to have this conversation in public for the spirit of transparency.
Mayor Fugazi: I don't know if any other council members would like to speak before I start mine. Councilmember Blower.
Councilmember Blower: Thank you, mayor. I just have a question for Lori. Could you kind of tell us your opinion on. I think what confused me about this whole thing was the fact that we as a council did vote on establishing this ad hoc and the fact that the resolution was pretty clear that there were two things to be done. The City Council desires to establish an ad hoc committee to interview and recommend candidates to the full council for potential appointment. So, I feel like I know an ad hoc usually has a purpose, and once that purpose is done, it's then dissolved. And I agree that it seems like only half of the purpose was fulfilled in picking the search committee, but not then ultimately doing the interviews and presenting. So that being said, I mean to dissolve this thing that was established by a council vote, would it need to be taken apart by another council vote? What is your opinion on that?
City Attorney Lori Asuncion: So, I can understand the confusion because there are most ad hocs operate differently. So, I myself had to take a really hard look at this to understand sort of what happened once I received that communication. So, where I came down was this, the charter gives the mayor the nomination authority for the city manager candidates. It does not mandate that council play a role in that nomination process, though it has historically been done that way. The mayor chose to use an ad hoc to assist her with her in carrying out her charter obligations. So, the purpose of the ad hoc was not the tasks that were assigned to it, which is what you were referring to. It was to assist her, the assistance that she was requesting was the purpose of the ad hoc. So, what happens is generally like you mentioned a minute ago, ad hocs end when either their purpose is fulfilled or when the passage of time occurs. We have about a paragraph in our council policy that says how council ad hoc committees are created and it talks about, you know, it says who appoints.
It doesn't say anything else other than they last for one year only, unless extended by a resolution of council. So given those, you know, very, you know, the brevity of rules in that council policy here, as I understood the mayor's email, she no longer wanted help, no longer wanted that assistance in carrying out her charter obligations. Therefore, no more
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purpose for the ad hoc. The resolution doesn't say, neither does the council policy, which I just talked about. But at the end of the day, we're balancing two sets of laws. We're talking about the charter and or policy and Reso and the charter is going to Trump every single time. The charter is the constitution for the city. You've heard us say that many, many times in other contexts. And so, if there's no obligation by the charter, you know, then the council can adopt policies to address it. Here, if you want to change that process, if you don't like, you know, the process for coming up with your nomination and candidacy for city managers, you have to change the charter, and that has to go to the voters.
Councilmember Blower: Thank you.
City Attorney Lori Asuncion: You’re welcome.
Mayor Fugazi: Councilmember Villapudua.
Councilmember Villapudua: Yeah, thank you mayor. I want to take a moment to address this matter before us regarding the city manager ad hoc committee, and the concerns that has been raised publicly and privately over the last few weeks. I'm speaking today because of the narrative that no discussion took place or that there were no violations is simply not true. On May 27, I received a phone call from Councilmember Mario Enríquez that lasted approximately ten minutes. During that call, entailed a conversation, especially about terminating interim city manager Steve Colangelo. He expressed his desire to see the change happen and asked for my support in moving that discussion forward prior to that call on May 5th, 2025. Vice Mayor Jason Lee scheduled a meeting with me through our council assistant, and we met the city hall from 10:30 to 11:30. During that meeting, Vice Mayor made it clear that we wanted to move, remove the interim city manager. He told me he had a candidate in mind who would be good for all of us. What came next was deeply troubling, he told me if I support his effort, he would not he would not run a candidate against me and would stay out of my election and would even consider offering manpower and financial support to support me getting reelected. And that same conversation, he issued a threat stating if I didn't go along with it, he would use his platform and his resource to destroy me and the Villapudua name. This included promoting people to speak again, speak out against me, circulating unfounding allegations. This wasn't a policy conversation. There was a political extortion, plain and simple. Both Councilmember Enríquez and Vice Mayor Lee mentioned during their respective conversation that they planned to reach out Councilmember Blower to bring him on board. I can't confirm whether those conversations ever occurred, but the intent to build consensus behind closed doors was clearly stated to me. This conduct directly reflects what a Brown Act is intended to prohibit. A majority of a legislative body coordinating actions on public matters outside of a notice public meeting. For the record, following these events, I notified the
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mayor that I had been contacted, and I shared the general scope of these discussions.
While omitting the specific details, at that time, the public deserves transparency. These are conversations that did happen, and the tactics used behind these scenes should concern anyone who values ethical government. So, I asked that we take this to their district attorney, Ron Freitas. Thank you.
Mayor Fugazi: Okay, so I'm timing myself. You know, I know that there's a lot of confusion clarification that was asked for. You know, the city attorney gave her answer. Her answer was that it was within my authority to dissolve without going back to council. And that's what I did. I had hoped that it would have been squashed at that point, but it wasn't. And so, it kind of put me between a rock and a hard spot. And I do appreciate the fact that people agree that there should be an investigation and that it shouldn't cost taxpayer dollars. I agree with that. I would, I actually printed out the papers, had a conversation with the city attorney. Just saying, you know what? What could we do in this instance? And referring it to the civil grand jury and the district attorney's office, I think is the proper channel for us moving forward, because that's where these matters belong. And then we don't have to worry about anything here poisoning the water, so to speak. When it was, like I said, when it was brought to my attention, I just went and I just said, okay in terms of dissolving it. And I had actually gone again to the city attorney when it was brought to my attention that my concerns and what my options were. Hence, that's where we are today.
With that being said, we also had a meeting with the recruiter just last week and the timeline and process was made very clear to all of the councilmembers. And they can address that. And I don't think it was a private document. It did not say confidential on it, which all the other documents pretty much did, but I'm more than happy to put that out there. Actually, all council members saw that document, had access to that document. So, I'm hoping that this is now something that we can remove from here and move forward as discussed and let the grand jury and the district attorney handle it. But, you know, for the record, this really is about my obligation to the people just as much it is as everybody else's up here. And at no point in time did I think that it would go in this direction. But it did. And I feel like I have that obligation to uphold, you know, the process itself and the process itself is outlined in the city charter, which is our Constitution, which is our law. And in order to not have this blow up to the place where it is today, because the email was sent, there was no conversation outside of that. That is correct. And then there was conversation publicly about it, which then has brought us here today, unfortunately. So, the public deserves transparency and accountability. So, I am fully in support again of having this go to the district attorney and the civil grand jury.
Michelle Padilla: Do we need a motion for that? Or how do.
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Mayor Fugazi: It’s a conversation. It’s a conversation. But we can do by show of nods. If, but I know I'm going to make an opportunity. But everybody gets the opportunity to speak if they want to. Did you want to?
Brando Villapudua: Make a motion?
Mayor Fugazi: No, Okay so we’ll do I guess call it a rebuttal. Vice Mayor.
Vice Mayor Lee: Thanks, mayor. So, she just put two minutes up here as you watch. And I when we talk about transparency, we just did like 30 minutes on water and a boat. But we're going to do seven minutes on this topic. The political theater. You thought it was over today. It's just getting started now because now you've made an attack on my credibility, my character. Everybody knows. I don’t got, there ain’t, to dirty the Villapudua name is like pouring dirt water down a drain. It's already dirty. So so to so to come here now I'm talking to the public. I'm not talking to anybody up here. And I have the right to speak to the public to to make an allegation that I would somehow out of. If you've been following my run for office and me getting here would go in a room and trust that person with a conversation of that nature is absurd. The second thing is this is what happens whenever you feel like you're going to try to just count your little votes to four. That's why I had a conversation yesterday about talking to Ron Bonta. That's why I have a conversation about going outside of this city and having a conversation with people who can actually look at what I believe is corruption. This is not about a process that's playing out in the public. This is about political theater, and this is about posturing and trying to create a story and narrative that somehow me and Mario went in a back room and came up with this conspiracy to remove the city manager when I was one that voted for him to be here. This is about accountability. This is about the direction and commitment to the city. I'm not going to discuss the managers, employee status and public because that's not proper. I'm going to follow those rules. What I will say is, if I have a conversation with any of the council members about what I am concerned about, but it does not connect directly to what I am making a motion for in a closed session meeting. Those are two different things, and those of us that stay awake during our trainings know the difference. But I will be addressing this tomorrow and every other day until we get real clarity. If you only give me seven minutes in public, I have 24/7 in public on my social media, in the news, press conferences and everything else. That's why we should allow for real, honest, spirited conversations. And let me be clear on just one more thing before we move on and whether we continue to talk on this or not. I came in here. If you listen, go back and read the transcripts of what I said. It was very much about how we come together. Not pointing fingers, not attacking. And then the next direct comment is you came and offered to pay to invest in my campaign if I voted with you. Now, y'all know he wasn't getting no money.
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Mayor Fugazi: Councilmember Enriquez.
Councilmember Enriquez: Thank you mayor, I know I read the email out loud and I again, I said that out because again, the reason is we still don't know the reason why it was dissolved. Right? Some of these things that I said in the email, which was separate requests. So, the media will be able to give more context to it, and I'd be happy to answer that. But I'm not afraid of an investigation. I welcome the chance to clear my name. If you wish to proceed, go seek the proper authorities. I sit on the campaign trail. I'll say it now.
There's two things you don't go after. You don’t go after my mom. You don’t go after my integrity. And I take that seriously because I show up for my district, and I speak up and I will call out the corruption when I see it. I have questions, I will seek answers if things happen, and I don't have a real reason as to why certain things are happening, I'm going to question it. If someone's getting mad because I'm questioning authority or not saying yes to what? Maybe someone is used to yes people. I’m not a yes person. I'm fighting for my district and I'm fighting for my city and that's why I ran. I’m proud to be that, I’m from the region, I didn’t grow up in Stockton, but I grew up in this region. I'm bringing a fresh perspective and a fresh pair of eyes to this city and how we govern. We get tired of Stockton politics. People always talk about that. Yeah, there's a reason why. Because we have people that are doing the same old tactics, the bullying, the political theater. We're tired of it. So, when you have new people come in, mentor them, welcome them in, listen to them, see them as an asset. And all I've been seeing so far has been disrespected. Little boy, stay in your corner and be a good little council member. As I've been told in email communications, I'm tired of being disrespected and I feel like I'm on an island. When I speak to my colleagues to give real, thoughtful feedback and advice, my constituents see it. The people that see me in action see that, and I am mature in terms of how I reach out.
June 24th, we had a meeting about the rumors and the recall and all these things. The next day I request a meeting to say, you know what, let's hash it out as adults. The next day, she sends out a press release, the mayor saying, I'm creating political theater, saying the baseless accusations, saying the rumors that we even deny to her face and still says it in a press release using her mayor logo. And I told her, had we had that meeting, I'm pretty sure you didn't have to send out that press release to the media attacking my character on yet again baseless accusations with no evidence. If you're going to back something up, say it but it's been 39 days and there's still nothing. Again, I welcome I want to clear my name. I know I've done nothing wrong, and I want to continue this process, but I truly mean it.
When I told the mayor last week, I want to work with the mayor, I want to support the mayor. I want to support this council, and I mean it.
Mayor Fugazi: Okay so, looks like it's going to an investigation with the grand jury and the district attorney's office, which then moves us on to city manager's update.
ATTACHMENT A