After having an outburst at a previous meeting, Brentwood Councilman Tony Oerlemans this week was admonished – along with the entire council — in a move to remind everyone to follow the rules.
Councilmember Jovita Mendoza had asked her colleagues to consider censuring Oerlemans for policy violations after he had an outburst at the April 25 council meeting and later had a dialogue with a public speaker at the May 9 council meeting.
Censure is the most severe of three actions the council could have taken in response to unethical conduct, contempt or serious disorderly behavior, while sanctions are less severe and an admonishment the least.
Mendoza on Tuesday laid out her argument, saying she didn’t want to replay the video “because it was too crazy.”
The April 25 exchange with Mayor Joel Bryant happened when Oerlemans tried to pull two consent calendar items while a motion was already on the floor to pull two other items, which then was unanimously passed. Orelemans, hearing that the items he wanted pulled – a contract for a sound wall and expense adjustment for the police dispatch system – had been approved, became upset, accusing the mayor of unfairly pushing the items forward.
“We all saw what happened,” Mendoza said. “We see what happens here. People attack me and I don’t yell at them. I don’t go off on them. And you yelled at us. You call this stupid. You called this disgusting. You went on and on. I thought it was violent. You hit the mic. Pushed your chair away. I’ve never been afraid of sitting here. I was afraid that day.”
She continued that the mayor had repeated the motion several times but Oerlemans had misunderstood it.
“It’s concerning to me because I don’t want to squash my voice because I’m afraid of you but I am afraid of you now and I and we need to correct it,” she added.
Public comment was divided, with some residents responding the issue had gotten out of hand, and others passionately arguing for some type of disciplinary action.
Business owner and longtime Brentwood resident Denise Cosgrove said she was saddened by the frequent personal attacks she has heard from some council members and that she thought Oerlemans’ behavior was born out of growing frustrations.
“I believe showing a little bit of grace in this arena would go a long way,” she said, adding that censuring the councilman would be “overreaching and excessive.”
Olga Vidriales said she was tired of the “tomfoolery.”
“You’re from East Oakland, Councilmember Mendoza,” she said. “Don’t think for a second we think you were scared. OK? You’re a tough lady. You tell us out all the time.”
Vidriales said she was not going to make an excuse for Oerlemans, but “it’s understandable what his reaction was.”
“He had one misstep,” she said. “Let’s move forward.”
Speaking on behalf of the Marsh Creek Democratic Club, Linda Smith said she never witnessed such behavior from an elected official before. She said her club passed a motion to support admonition, sanction or censure of Oerlemans for failing to follow the Brentwood ethics and conduct policy.
Danny Dorhman said Orelemans disrespected his position and should not be given a pass.
“If you allow these actions to go unchallenged, it would be a travesty. What will we accept next?” he asked.
Resident Rod Flohr also urged action to be taken against the councilman.
“I can tell you right now, nobody in the council until that night has ever called anybody disgusting or stupid. It’s just beyond the pale. … It’s really sad that he got mad for nothing at all.”
Michael Pierson meanwhile thanked Oerlemans for his 34 years as a police officer, noting he had never had a complaint about pulling out a gun in stressful situations.
“This narrative now that you are going to shoot someone all of a sudden, this is political spin,” he said.
Vice Mayor Susannah Meyer said the issue was not about a person but a policy.
The councilwoman added she wanted to see Oerlemans take some accountability for what happened.
“Let’s make sure this doesn’t happen again,” she said. “Let’s get a commitment that it doesn’t.”
Councilwoman Pa’Tanisha Pierson said she and Oerlermans have been targeted by the public and other councilmembers.
“I actually feel a lot safer that you and the chief are sitting over there,” Pierson told the councilman, adding the only action the council should consider is the admonition for engaging in discussion with a resident during public comments.
Mayor Joel Bryant said he respected and trusted Oerlemans, but he wants residents and councilmembers to feel free to speak and to feel safe.
“What people do in error, or a mistake in a moment of passion or frustration, that lives on forever. All the good seems to be buried with them at the moment the bad occurs. I don’t want that to happen to any of us sitting up here,” Bryant said.
Orelemans then said that he never meant to make anyone feel unsafe.
“First off, I am going to start off by saying the goal in my life has always been to make the people around me feel safe,” he said. “So, I truly apologize if anyone feels unsafe around me for any reason. I have self-control, that I know it didn’t show that night. My passion showed that night, my ability to ask for a recess before walking out of the room shows that I am in control as opposed to just storming away. …
“I regret that I felt like there were people on this dais that were trying to silence me. I am not the person you want to silence. I was elected by the citizens of Brentwood to speak for them. That is my goal. That night, I felt like I was shushed. I won’t stand for that,” Orelemans said.
He added that people’s fears are unfounded that he would lose control of himself while carrying a gun.
Mendoza said she was glad to hear Oerlemans apologize and she no longer wanted to censure him but she thought there should be some consequence.
Pierson then moved that to admonish the council as a whole and the public to follow the administrative policy on decorum, which Bryant seconded.
City Attorney Damien Brower explained that an admonition doesn’t have to detail what any one person did wrong but rather is a general reminder to the council “what our rules are.”
When asked if he was OK with the motion, the mayor ageed. “I believe what we’ve all said applies all equally to us,” he said.
The council voted 3 to 2 to approve the admonition, with Councilwoman Susannah Meyers and Mendoza dissenting.
Source: www.mercurynews.com