RICHMOND — Richmond City Hall is in turmoil, with the city attorney resigning, the city manager leaving and the council agreeing to consider censuring the mayor — all within the past week.
In a contentious meeting, the City Council approved a “separation agreement” with its city manager and voted to consider censuring the mayor for publicizing what some of them considered confidential information from the departing city attorney.
The votes followed months of clashes among Mayor Tom Butt, council members who won election as a slate as the Richmond Progressive Alliance, and City Manager Laura Snideman, who was hired less than a year ago. And they came roughly a week after City Attorney Teresa Stricker announced her resignation, leaving the city with two key openings.
After an hours-long meeting that was closed to the public, Stricker announced that the council had directed her to bring them a resolution that would censure the mayor for “exposing confidential attorney client-privileged information.” The resolution would also direct her to refer the matter to a civil grand jury and the Contra Costa County district attorney’s office.
At issue is information that the mayor shared in his newsletter from Stricker about a lawsuit against the city over the controversial Point Molate development on the site of a former military base.
Last month, a majority of the council directed Stricker to file a legal brief supporting the group suing Richmond over the development of housing and commercial space there instead of defending the city. The four council members — Gayle McLaughlin, Claudia Jimenez, Eduardo Martinez and Melvin Willis — all oppose the project, which was approved last year before some of them were elected.
The suit, filed by environmental groups, alleges the City Council violated the state’s open meetings law when it agreed to settle an earlier lawsuit over the land. That earlier case was filed by developers after the city rejected their housing and casino project for the site.
Last week, Butt shared in his newsletter that Stricker emailed the council to alert them that filing a brief in support of the people suing the city would violate federal regulations for civil court procedures.
Stricker, who was appointed city attorney in October 2020, said in her resignation letter that her last day will be Jan. 3. She did not provide a reason for leaving and did not respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, according to Butt, the council voted 6-1 in closed session, with Butt dissenting, to approve a “separation agreement” with Snideman, the city manager. Though Stricker did not mention the separation agreement in her public report of closed session actions, Butt did.
In its public meeting Tuesday, a majority of the council passed a separate resolution condemning Butt for repeatedly criticizing Snideman’s job performance in his newsletter.
Butt in a July newsletter criticized both the city manager and city attorney for spending money on outside legal firms for contracts in excess of $10,000 without City Council authority. The legal firms were hired to investigate Butt, he said, for allegedly accepting city work for his architecture firm, which would be a conflict of interest.
The investigation has not been made public, but according to Butt, there were allegations that he was paid for design work of the Richmond visitor center development. He has denied the accusations and sought to fire Snideman and Stricker in June — a motion rejected by the rest of the council.
On Wednesday, Butt declined to go into detail about why he took issue with Snideman’s management, instead letting his newsletters stand for themselves.
Nevertheless, he said he declined to support a separation agreement for Snideman because he did not like the way the other council members “handled it” by combining it with a vote to condemn his making public what some council members and the city attorney considered confidential.
In an email after the meeting, McLaughlin said, “Over the course of his time as mayor, Tom Butt has increasingly confronted a growing progressive movement determined to move the city in a healthy, sustainable and justice-oriented direction. As he lost political ground, he also lost basic civility and became obstructionist and vindictive.”
Butt, who will term out as mayor next year, was first elected mayor in November 2014, after being on the council for two decades.
Like Stricker, Snideman did not respond to a request for comment. It’s unclear when she will leave. She was hired in January to replace interim city manager Steven Falk. Falk was hired after the council fired former city manager Carlos Martinez in July 2020, less than a year after he was hired.
The city is facing other problems with another of its top officials — the police chief — on leave. Richmond Police Chief Bisa French was placed on administrative leave after she and her husband, an Oakland police sergeant, were accused of abuse by a family member who they maintain is being manipulated by her pimp.
Councilmember Nat Bates, who in recent months has often sided with Butt on city issues and voted against condemning Butt’s emails, urged the council to let go of the turmoil.
“I was hopeful that my colleagues would recognize the serious problems we have in this city,” Bates said during the meeting. “We’re losing a city manager, losing a city attorney, and continued infighting among ourselves, with the mayor, does not bode well for a city that calls itself ‘the pride and purpose.’”
Source: www.mercurynews.com