Tensions on the Santa Clara City Council flared over how to officially respond to reports calling it “dysfunctional” and suggesting the city did a poor job negotiating its Levi’s Stadium contracts.
Councilmembers met on Tuesday and Wednesday to approve official responses to two reports from the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury. They disagreed on numerous draft responses prepared by city employees, and Mayor Lisa Gillmor and Councilmember Kathy Watanabe rejected the notion that suggested all councilmembers can be petty on occasion.
Officials over two days voted to approve dozens of grand jury findings and recommendations. The city council approved some unanimously, including agreeing there has not been an employee satisfaction survey since 2019 and that the city will aim to conduct one within the next six months. The rest were approved by a 5-2 majority on Tuesday and 4-2 on Wednesday with Councilmember Raj Chahal absent. On both days, Gillmor and Watanabe cast the dissenting votes.
After the votes were finalized, Gillmor said she and Watanabe will be sending the grand jury a dissenting response.
“This council and majority are not self-aware of the behavior and the action and how they treat the public and others, and that concerns me, because I feel like this report is not being taken seriously and it’s a very serious report,” Gillmor said. “I think we should individually and collectively take responsibility for the actions here.”
The two grand jury reports came out in June, with both suggesting councilmembers have failed to support residents. The first, titled “Irreconcilable Differences,” slammed councilmembers for being unable to work together and claimed that lack of teamwork has hurt residents’ quality of life.
The report singled out five councilmembers — Chahal, Anthony Becker, Karen Hardy, Suds Jain and Kevin Park — for “unethical behavior” and other individual allegations.
The second report, “Outplayed,” scrutinized the city’s 2010 Measure J, which approved the construction of Levi’s Stadium. While the report found the original measure did indeed protect the city’s general fund from hefty stadium-related liabilities, it also alleged the contracts limited potential revenues from the stadium. It found the contracts associated with the stadium favored the 49ers.
Becker, Hardy, Jain, Chahal and Park rallied against the two reports, saying the grand jury cherry-picked examples and ignored details about Gillmor and Watanabe.
“There will be some that we disagree on, but I take accountability for my behavior on this dias, I’ve apologized for things,” Becker said. “There’s been abuse of the gavel, there’s been abuses of power, and when we talk about (being) self-aware and accountability, practice what you preach.”
The city is working on implementing some of the grand jury’s recommendations. As part of the presentation, City Manager Jovan Grogan said the city wants to establish an Independent Ethics Commission by 2025 and will begin researching how to create one soon.
The city has already contracted a firm — Liebert Cassidy Whitmore — to review the city’s ethics documents and recommend improvements. The contract’s scope will be amended to include the issues raised in the grand jury report, and the firm is expected to present its findings in October. 
Public speakers were just as divided as councilmembers. At Tuesday’s meeting, Special Advisor to the Mayor Kirk Vartan said the lack of accountability from councilmembers was “disgraceful” and former City Attorney Brian Doyle suggested the five councilmembers called out by the report colluded with the 49ers.
Another resident, Eric Jensen, said Tuesday that he felt the reports were a waste of time for the grand jury and city employees.
The city has until Sept. 10 to respond to the recommendations and findings in “Irreconcilable Differences” and until Sept. 11 to respond to “Outplayed.”
Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at [email protected] or @SakuCannestra on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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