Lea este articulo en español aquí.
An independent investigation has found that Hollister City Councilmember Rolan Resendiz harassed another council member, causing her discomfort.
During a June 18 meeting, City Attorney Mary Lerner presented to the council and public the results of the investigation which upheld two of four allegations made against Resendiz by Councilmember Dolores Morales, who said they occurred last year.
In her complaint, Morales said Resendiz harassed her on four occasions. She told the investigation that he threatened her during a lunch meeting; and in a separate incident he followed her, intending to confront her. In addition, she alleged that he twice invaded her personal space, towering over her, blocking her movement and yelling at her in a “confrontational manner,” Lerner said.
The investigator upheld two of Morales’ claims, Lerner said.
Resendiz spoke at the meeting via Zoom. He made a motion to waive attorney-client privileges and release the report, but that motion failed.
Resendiz argued that the public has a right to see the report. “When they read the report,” he said, “they will see that councilmember Morales corroborated with two other people on the dias and lied about what happened. Completely made-up lies.”
Later Resendiz said Mayor Mia Casey and Councilmember Rick Perez were the two witnesses. He also claimed Councilmember Tim Burns told the investigation he did not think Resendiz’s action warranted harassment claims.
“You can sit there and you can censure me time and time again,” Resendiz said. “I’m going to continue to be honest and I’m going to continue to serve my constituents the best way I know how.”
Morales also commented: “I can’t say that this is not hard. This is very challenging for me to speak about. I would have never brought these things forward, but I have to think about not only the position here, but the future and the young women that are sitting there, the young men that are sitting there wanting to serve for their community.”
Casey, Perez and Morales agreed to issue a resolution to censure Resendiz at a later meeting.
Casey said a censure is a formal process, not a means of silencing a peer.
“Censure means that this council does not agree with the behaviors of the council member in question and we are distancing ourselves from that behavior,” she said.
Burns said he did not agree with Resendiz’s behavior, but did not vote to censure him.
“The behavior is unacceptable and I’m just fed up with it,” he said. “I think we have far more important things to deal with, yet this is a recurring thing.”
In 2020, Resendiz was censured by the council after he used a “gender-based slur and for suggesting there was a sexual and promiscuous relationship between council members,” then-councilmember Honor Spencer said.
In May 2023, Resendiz received a written reprimand for violating the city’s code of ethics and conduct. Casey said the violation occurred because Resendiz repeatedly took discussions off topic and would not comply when she called for a “point of order.”
In September, 2023, Resendiz was stripped of his committee assignments. At the time he held seats on four committees including the San Benito County Water Resource Association and the Animal Control Council Ad Hoc Committee.
In October, 2023, Resendiz was censured in a 4-0 vote for failing to follow the council’s rule of order; engaging in behavior “unbecoming” of a council member and engaging in “disrespectful, discourteous and inappropriate” behavior toward the public and council members.
Following his censure, the council agreed to alter its code of conduct policy that set harsher penalties for council members who are found to have violated it.
Council members who violate the code of conduct may lose travel funds and discretionary funds and the ability to be appointed mayor pro tempore or vice mayor. They may also face financial penalties.
Within a 12-month period beginning from the date of the first offense, an offending council member would be fined $100 for the first infraction; $200 for the second; $500 for the third and $500 for any additional infractions.
During the meeting, the council agreed to follow its prior code of conduct rules because the incidents occurred before the harsher penalties were adopted.
There were 12 public speakers during public comment; eight of them spoke in favor of Resendiz.
Mary Hsia-Coron questioned why the council did not want to make the investigation’s findings public.
“Maybe you don’t want people in the public to know that those allegations were the fact that two of them were dismissed,” she said.
Four commenters spoke in support of Morales. Rod Smalley said Morales simply expressed concern about her colleague, which led to the probe.
Claudia Rossi said that to women, a man following them to their car is seen as a “menacing situation.”
We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news! BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website that reports on San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. It is expensive to produce local news and community support is what keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service, nonprofit news.
The post Probe cites misconduct by Resendiz appeared first on BenitoLink.