San Leandro City Council censures two members after complaints from former city manager

San Leandro City Council censures of Vice Mayor Fred Simon and Councilman Victor Aguilar will force them to give up half of their travel budgets for the city’s homeless programs and take mandatory classes after former City Manager Fran Rubestelli took accused of harassing and interfering with her. duties.

Rubestelli was hired as San Leandro’s city manager in 2021. She resigned on April 23 and filed a complaint with the mayor and city attorney on May 8. The City Council hired Southern California Workplace Investigator Carl A. Botterud to lead an investigation and conduct an investigation. ruling on her claims.

In his final report, Botterud wrote that Robustelli “alleges she was subjected to discrimination, retaliation and harassment during the three years she served” as city manager. He found that two of Robustelli’s allegations of improper interference by Simon and Aguilar in her duties could be substantiated, as could another allegation that Simon subjected her to misconduct. He wrote that a fourth allegation, that she was subjected to discrimination based on her gender, could not be substantiated.

Some of the charges stemmed from former San Leandro Police Chief Abdul Pridgen leaving his position on Feb. 20 after an investigation into allegations he violated department policies, according to the city. Although the city has not released details of the charges, Pridgen has been on administrative leave since September 2023.

As city administrator, Robustelli was responsible for finding Pridgen’s replacement. But during the search, she claimed, Simon and Aguilar harassed her and threatened to fire her, according to her complaint.

“Simon threatened to continue his employment if he made the wrong decision,” Botterud wrote in his report, adding, “Aguilar told Robustelli that he should reconsider his decision to avoid public retaliation.”

At the Nov. 18 San Leandro City Council meeting, Simon defended his actions and attacked his city council opponents as well as what he called a “biased” investigation. He claimed that witnesses interviewed by Botterud were biased against him.

“I think some of the witnesses in the investigation are politically biased against me,” Simon said. “Here in the city, (with) so many problems — from crime to homelessness, blighted neighborhoods, businesses, dilapidated streets — I expect more (from Robustelli) than to be comfortable and withdraw when we have all these needs in our city.”

Simon said he disputed the report’s findings.

“To my surprise, and to many in my community, I was charged with two counts of interfering with the city manager’s ability to do her job and misconduct in her decision to fire the chief — our first black police chief in the city of 152 years of history,” he said. “I do not agree with the substantiated conclusions of the investigation.”

Aguilar took a softer approach, expressing his “sincere regret for any misunderstandings” that occurred between him and Robustelli over how to collaboratively reform the police department.

“When Chief Pridgen was placed on paid administrative leave and an investigation was launched, community members expressed strong support for his retention. The feedback from the community has been clear and unequivocal,” said Aguilar. “While I personally disagreed with the city manager’s decision to part ways with Chief Pridgen, I respected his authority.”

Ultimately, the board voted 4-2 to censure Aguilar and Simon, but removed the most extreme penalties proposed for them. Council members were punished with a 50 percent cut in their travel and training budgets — equivalent to $5,000 — for the fiscal year and will be required to take management courses.

“The whole idea here is that we do the right thing the right way. It’s one thing to be a vehement advocate, it’s another thing to threaten your employment,” San Leandro Mayor Juan Gonzalez III said. “Threatening someone with a bad rating because that individual is exercising professional judgment using all available information — that’s out of bounds.”

Originally published: Nov 29, 2024 at 3:52 PM PST