Los Gatos Town Councilmember Marico Sayoc was named Woman of the Year in the 28th Congressional District by the state legislature and the California Women’s Caucus for her service as mayor during a tumultuous year when a group of protestors disrupted several council meetings.
Each year, the California Legislative Women’s Caucus honors one woman from each Senate and Assembly district for their accomplishments.
State Assemblyman Evan Low nominated Sayoc for the honor at the Los Gatos Town Council meeting Tuesday.
“I normally don’t like surprises, but I’m very grateful,” Sayoc said. “We’re carving a path for women, and I have the pleasure of working with strong women in Los Gatos with Vice Mayor (Maria) Ristow and Councilmember (Mary) Badame, and Town Manager (Laurel) Prevetti, and so many others within our staff and within our community, and I just want to acknowledge that together we’re stronger.”
Sayoc served as mayor of Los Gatos throughout 2021 when a small group of protesters disrupted both in-person and virtual council meetings, speaking out against critical race theory, Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ community.
In October, tensions culminated into a shouting match between protestors and Sayoc’s husband, Jeffery Scott, which caused council to move meetings back online. Protestors gathered outside both Sayoc’s and current Mayor Rob Rennie’s homes during a later virtual meeting.
Sayoc “has been a tireless community advocate, and it has been one heck of a year!” Low said at Tuesday’s meeting. “We all know that, but we grow stronger from this and we learn and we heal with deep dignity and a sense of grace.”
Rennie echoed Low’s comments, saying it was an “extremely well-deserved” honor for Sayoc.
“We really appreciate you taking the time to bring it,” he told Low. “I’m happy we were able to surprise her. It kind of brings tears to my eyes also. All the hard work that she brought in is well deserving of this award.”
Low said he is working on legislation to make the definition of “willful disruption” more clear in the Brown Act, which governs public meetings. Los Gatos worked with the state during the disruptions last year, and Low said they are working at a state level to address it.
“The specific issue is how we work on clarifying willful disruptions and what types of consequences can we implement statewide so that we don’t have to have each individual community like Los Gatos have to come up with rules on its own,” Sayoc said. “Because right now, if there is a disruption we take a break, but if its repeated disruptions that ultimately suspend town business, are there things local municipalities can do?”
The Woman of the Year award was founded in 1987 by assemblywomen Bev Hansen and Sally Tanner after they noticed the state legislature had no events to celebrate Women’s History Month. The annual event is put on by the Women’s Caucus.
Source: www.mercurynews.com