Colusa officials continue to grapple with social media and transparency, despite a workshop with their city attorney just a few months ago.
While the council passed a social media policy on April 5, Colusa Councilman Daniel Vaca, during his July 20 report, asked for the policy to be revisited at the next public meeting on Aug. 3.
Vaca specifically asked if a member – on his or her own government social media page – can speak for the City Council as a whole or only as an individual.
Although Vaca did not name the council member, he was referring to a post from City Councilman Greg Ponciano on June 22 that created a firestorm around the lack of transparency on a city-sponsored music festival.
Because of recent legislation (AB 992) that strengthened Ralph M. Brown Act prohibitions to prevent serial meetings on social media, Colusa council members could only read the post but were prohibited from responding.
While the First Amendment of the United States defends most speech, the citys new social meeting policy does offer ” ethical recommendations” that members of the City Council should be ” mindful about the effects a post may have on city staff and operations.
Poncianos post was in regard to the city sponsoring the Country in Colusa Music Festival, a closed, admission-only festival that was planned without the City Councils approval of expenses and permits, and with no public discussion or opportunity for input, a requirement of the Brown Act for the conduction of the publics business.
Vaca, at the July 20 meeting, said while he enjoyed the concert, he was cornered with questions by members of the public and criticized for the lack of transparency.
” One of my major concerns when I got into this (election) was transparency and how to do this – and Im new at it,” Vaca said. ” But there were comments made on Facebook that the Council had no idea what was going on and hadn’t been briefed on some of those subjects. I myself cannot say that. I myself do not appreciate when someone else puts out there that the council was not briefed on something. If you dont know whats going on, you (have) to ask questions. I knew what was going on.
While Vaca said he would like the next agenda to include the discussion on social media, he did admit that his information came from private telephone conversations with city staff and not from a properly noticed meeting that was open to the public. (See Editorial: Sunshine).
The City Council and the public officially learned of the concert on May 18, when Economic Development/Tourism Director Kristy Levings presented the citys new recreation guide during a staff report. Although the guide included a variety of both city-sponsored and nonprofit-sponsored community events, there was no specific discussion about the event or an agendized request for approval of the $40,000 concert budget authorized by City Manager Jesse Cain for the event, nor was there 30-day advanced notice to the public of a street closure in the agenda packet, which requires a permit in which the Chief of Police, the City Manager, and City Council must sign off.
Yet, despite legal requirements that prohibit discussion and action on non-agendized items, in addition to prohibitions on serial meetings, at least three council members have admitted to being in the know – as was the spouse of Councilman Tom Reishe, who first made public on social media that ” donations” had been collected to help fund the concert and provide amenities, although that, too, had not been discussed by the City Council in an open meeting.
In response to a California Public Records Act request, Colusa officials have admitted the city does not have a donation policy, and that current policy actually prohibits employees from soliciting gifts from any individual company or organization doing business with the city because gifts can be viewed as ” unethical attempts to influence City operations,” even if offered with the best of intentions.
Some city officials have tried to point to an agendized discussion on net-neutral recreation programs during the April 20 City Council meeting (which approved $25,000 for expenses through the end of the year) as a possible way to explain the lack of public transparency about the city-sponsored music festival. But while the city has not responded in full to the Pioneer Reviews public records request, initial records show expenses of around $27,000 for performers for both the Country Music Festival and Watermelon Festival, were paid from a general fund budget for Economic Development – not recreation.
According to Finance Director Ishrat Aziz-Khan, Economic Development and Recreation are two separate departments with separate general fund budgets.
Colusa Mayor Josh Hill, who serves as the City Council’s liaison to the Colusa County Chamber of Commerce, was also very much in the know about the concert.
Hill told the Chamber Board of Directors in early June the City Council not only approved the concert, but established a Colusa Tourism Fund, although the city cannot produce an agenda, recording, or meeting minutes in which a public discussion was held.
Cain, in a June 23 email to all five members of the council in response to questions by Ponciano (obtained by public record request) defended the lack of disclosure and public input by claiming he is entirely ” transparent” because council members (and people in town) have his phone number.
Cain admitted in the email that a quorum of the City Council was not only engaged in the process, but ” supported” his actions, although the Brown Act prohibits serial communications and collective investigations by a majority of a legislative body.
Ponciano, who refused to engage in routine serial communications to conduct the publics business, would not debate Vacas comments last week regarding his social media post because it was given during Vacas report and not an item on the agenda.
He said in an email, obtained by the Pioneer Review, that he tried multiple times before the event to get information. He has also tried since 2020 to have open discussions at the City Council level on economic development activities, but was blocked by Mayor Hill and Cain, who control what is placed on the agenda.
According to documents the Pioneer Review obtained last week, Ponciano, in a June text message to Councilwoman Denise Conrado, asked her if she would ” second” a request to have a general discussion about the Country in Colusa festival placed on an agenda – so the council could review the concerts expenses, safety plan, permits, off-site liquor license, and the citys liability; Conrado agreed she had similar concerns but still suggested a closed meeting with Cain.
The Pioneer Review has not yet received documents on what city officials paid for event ” infrastructure” and Economic Development ” assets,” including staging amenities for the concert and planned festivals, but agendas and minutes do not reflect that the City Council or the public had any input before the purchases were made.
Officials have hinted they plan to recover those expenses from COVID-19 relief funds (American Rescue Plan) although that would also require public input and City Council approval, officials said.
Cain, in his email, also hinted that he only needed three council members to allow him to do whatever it takes to make Colusa great again, and suggested again that closed meetings (two at a time) would be how he handled briefing the entire city council after the July events, which would be illegal.
It was only after the public raised questions on social media about the ” tens of thousands” of dollars being spent on the Country in Colusa festival, that Colusa officials officially announced on social media that the concert was a string of government-organized events, which included the Watermelon Festival, the upcoming Taco Throwdown, a car show, and Tomato Festival. The city is running the liquor sales through the Colusa County Arts Council, a non-profit run by Councilman Reishes wife, according to an email obtained through a public records request.
Although city officials were mum right to the week of the event, they did announce publicly that expenses for the events are being covered by donations from cannabis companies, city contractors, and businesses that have matters before the Planning Commission and/or City Council, including a manufacturing company trying to get its foot in the door in Colusa, although Cain insisted that no promises have been given in exchange for the money.
Some officials now admit that if these ” economic development” activities were discussed in an open meeting and planned in a manner that had been fully transparent, then social media might not have gotten so ugly.
” I saw some threats; some accusations on specific members’ pages and some other pages as well that you can take them as you want,” Vaca said. ” One of them is a death threat; another is an accusation that certain people are benefiting from certain things, (which) should be shut down, although I dont know the legality of it. But I would like it (social media policy) looked at. I would like it brought back up.
Although no death threat was reported to the Colusa Police Department, according to Chief Josh Fitch, the City of Colusas official social media page had also chimed into the frenzy created by Poncianos social media post with a bizarre response to an ” interpreted” sexual innuendo.
The City of Colusas official post included a cease and desist order (although not legally served) and an empty threat that the city would or could file a lawsuit against its citizens for defamation of character. That post, although an official public record, was removed from the feed.
In addition to Vaca asking for the City Council to readdress the social media policy at the Aug. 3 meeting, Ponciano has asked for the city to put a donation policy before the City Council at the next meeting. He has also asked again for a discussion on government-sponsored events.
Most public and social media comments have been overwhelmingly positive about the Country in Colusa Music Festival and other city-organized events ” because it brings in people from out of town who pay sales taxes.
Tourists would have had to spend $2 million on goods and services on the day of the concert just for the city to recoup in sales taxes the cost for the bands.
Kristy Levings, the Economic Development Director, said the purpose for the events are to build Colusa as a tourist destination, particularly utilizing the State Park and Levee Park areas.
The City Council has applied for a $6 million Proposition 68 grant for improvements to Levee Park and a Sacramento River Marina, with access to the downtown.
Levings said the city should receive the State of Californias response in September or October.
Meanwhile, the Pioneer Review will continue to ask the City Council to put an end to serial communications that allow Colusa officials to conduct the publics business behind closed doors. –