Lea este artículo en español aquí.
Hollister City Councilmember Rolan Resendiz was stripped of his vice mayor position Dec. 2 because he did not submit a signed form acknowledging he had received the latest version of the council’s code of conduct. Outgoing councilmember Rick Perez was appointed for the remainder of Resendiz’s term, which officially ends Dec. 17.
For the second time, Resendiz was removed from his assigned committees for one year. He was previously ordered by the council to undergo training to prevent harassment, gender-based violence and bullying.
Outgoing Mayor Mia Casey said she was never notified that Resendiz had not signed the acknowledgement form for the code of conduct that was adopted in January.
“Mr. Resendiz knew he had not signed the document and was ineligible, but he kept the vice mayor title anyway and really he shouldn’t have been serving as our vice mayor this year,” Casey said.
Resendiz has faced multiple censures and investigations by the City Council over conduct violations which include not abiding by meeting processes and rules. He has verbally attacked council members and disrupted meeting proceedings. Censure, as defined by the U.S. Senate, is “a formal statement of disapproval in the form of a resolution that is adopted by majority vote.”
Casey quoted the city’s rules of debate, which state that council members should practice civility and decorum when debating issues.
“This is Mr. Resendiz’s fifth disciplinary hearing that has occurred in his six years in office through two separate sets of council members,” Casey said. “His abusive behavior, which has been very disruptive to meetings, has continued.”
Resendiz was not present at the meeting, but on Nov. 12, when the council discussed considering sanctions, he did not defend or apologize for his behavior. Instead, he used his time to call Casey a liar.
“December 17th could not come soon enough,” he said. “Goodbye and good riddance to all of you.”
Seven members of the public spoke in favor of sanctioning Resendiz.
“Rolan, you have done nothing to represent the people in your district,” Hollister resident Jacqueline Hickerson said. “In all of your time in office you never asked for a special investigation for your district on the west side to fix the sewer smell there. It was Councilmember [Tim] Burns who did that and things are finally getting worked on.”
Though no members of the public defended Resendiz in the meeting, in previous disciplinary hearings a group of community members have voiced support for him.
Three public members spoke in favor of Perez, who lost his seat in the Nov. 5 election.
“I believe this is a really good move for the council,” James Whitebear Conner said. “I think it sends the right message to the community. Rick, we call him ‘Mr. Hollister’ because he loves this community.”
Though it did not use council members’ names, the Civil Grand Jury highlighted the City Council’s dysfunction in its 2023-24 report. The Civil Grand Jury is convened annually and made up of 19 citizens who are sworn to serve as grand jurors and investigate the operations of various government departments and agencies.
City Attorney Mary Lerner said Resendiz has not responded to her request to schedule the harassment training.
The sanctions come as the City Council prepares to seat three newly elected members, all of whom align politically with Resendiz. Mayor-elect Roxanne Stephens and councilmembers-elect Rudy Picha and Priscilla De Anda will be sworn in on Dec. 17.
City Clerk Jennifer Woodworth said resolutions, like the one to sanction Resendiz, can be reversed by a majority of the City Council at any time.
The San Benito County Election Department certified the election results on Dec. 3 and will present the results to the Board of Supervisors on Dec. 10; the secretary of state will do so on Dec. 13.
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. Producing local news is expensive, and community support keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service nonprofit news.
Related BenitoLink articles:
The post Hollister Councilmember Resendiz stripped of vice mayor title appeared first on BenitoLink.