Remarks by Lee
191 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 3 of 8
- Play at 3:21:09
“need to be held accountable all of you because remember you work for us you have said so we have no other public comments thank you um and to that end you're correct we we do work for all of you and part of our job or at least one of our jobs that i find extremely critical is the preservation of taxpayer resources and this conversation isn't going to cost us anything but the time here to have it. But it is a conversation that needs to be had. First, I want to acknowledge the mayor recusing herself and allowing us to have this conversation because she and I have been working on our…”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:34:11
“Thank you. In the spirit of transparency, Council Member Enriquez, you and I have had conversations about the Mayor's PIO's post on social media with wrong dates, inappropriate dates, wrong information. So I don't want to have private conversations that we're afraid to have in public. And you know I have an immense amount of respect for you, but I do believe in us all still being accountable to the conversations we have in private that we also have those in public. The second thing is I do want to ask the city attorney if, and I worked 11 years in labor, so I just want to be clear because…”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:35:38
“Well, I'm saying woman versus man, male versus female, gay versus straight, Latino versus black.”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:35:55
“So I joked and gave you an analogy. I guess let me ask you a question. When you have When you decide on personnel matters in terms of giving people their rights or, say, under FMLA, do you get to decide who you give FMLA to or not?”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:36:11
“OK. When there's a FIHA claim or an investigation where somebody says, or Johnny may call up and say, I'd like to put this manager on leave for something because I'm doing an investigation, could someone make a claim if one person is treated differently than another?”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:36:37
“So the last question, I appreciate that. If the city clerk makes a claim that staff are interfering in the election and asking her to do things that could be illegal or nefarious, would that be something you would think? One would say, we should probably take this serious.”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:37:03
“Interesting. Well, Section 2.36.180 around political activity talks about cities' competitive service while on the clock. Can staff, while they're on the clock, be engaged in political activities here at the city?”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:37:29
“Oh, I know. I'm reading it. And so if an employee says at 1237 that an employee was asking them to do things and changing, hold on, don't interrupt because you didn't even hear the question. If the person is asked to modify a candidate statement at 1237, wouldn't that be taxpayer time?”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:37:52
“We're getting into hypotheticals. The point of bringing this up is, one, now it's a matter of historical record. The second thing is that Everybody that's watching and participating can do two things. One, wait for the mayor to make a decision now that she's well informed of at least the concerns and that the public knows. And two, wait to see if we offer a quarter of a million, a million, two million, three million, because at this point, it's your taxpayer resources that are at play. Now, we do have the option, I think I understand, to rescind the, tell us what we have the right to do.”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:39:22
“And so if we make the motion to rescind the resolution, it's a symbolic gesture of where we're at on the matter. but not a one that would rescind the appointment.”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:39:34
“Okay. Well, listen, I have no – anybody else have anything else to say? No. You know, I have no problem being the only person that believes that the mayor's PIO shouldn't be attacking constituents online, shouldn't be going into our city clerk's office, and shouldn't have us now having to determine whether or not we give a quarter of a million dollars away. and so I have no problem since I can't decide the decision on who is appointed, and I appreciate the guidance there because we see the charter. There are a couple things that we do have. We have the ability to take this back to the Charter…”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:40:15
“And then we do have the right as the, people who create the budget for the city to decide how we fund positions, correct?”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:40:30
“And then we can rescind the resolution, although the employee would still stay in the position and go through whatever process the city deems fit. but it will be a matter of record our position on the matter.”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:40:51
“Well, my vote to approve the appointment matters to me because my vote represents the district that put me here. And although I don't have the authority to remove the individual based on the charter, I am going to ask that we make a motion to send the mayor's PIO position to the Charter Review Commission to review the guardrails that need to be put around a position that can help preserve moments like this where we have no council oversight. So if I can get a second for that, that'd be great.”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:41:22
“Okay. The other thing is, or do I have to vote on that, or do I have to make a motion?”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:41:42
“Okay, thank you, okay. But I can make a motion to rescind my, to reconsider this appointment.”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:41:58
“Okay, and then the referral to the Charter Review Commission happens, or we put this on the agenda for a future item. Okay, well, I make the motion to remove Tony.”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:42:10
“Okay, well, he can abstain from voting. Hold on, hold on, excuse me. For people who didn't hear, Council Member Villaputo. Okay, one second. First, since I'm chairing this discussion, let me acknowledge the Council Member Villaputo. Go ahead.”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:42:33
“Yeah, and Councilmember Villapuerte says he's gonna abstain from voting which is fine but I guess the the question I have is we can refer this to Agenda to this to a future meeting, correct?”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:42:55
“Okay. So do we wait for him to come back?”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 3:43:05
“But it's okay. Wait. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. This is the process playing out for the public. You all will be the final arbiter in that. We'll wait for council comments, and then I will put it on the agenda for a future meeting later. But I'll go ahead and end this discussion and bring the mayor back to move the agenda. Thank you. Let's take a five-minute recess to bring the meeting back to order with the mayor. Five minutes.”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 4:21:12
“Okay. How much did we pay for this survey? Or how much did we pay for this process? How much? $189,000. Earlier, there was a comment made about going to a Cardi B record or store or album, whatever. I don't know what that was about. But I think of it like, We're going to go to a Cardi B concert. It's going to cost us $180,000 to do that. And when I get there, I better have a good experience, or else I'm going to feel gypped. I don't know, in a city of 326,000 people, a result of data from 810 people is sufficient for me. The reason why I bring that up is because when I look at Joelle, who's…”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 4:23:42
“It's okay. So let me ask you specific questions. How much more work do we have to do in partnership with you as it relates to this work?”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 4:23:57
“Okay. And so we have two more years left or three more years left?”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026
- Play at 4:24:06
“Yeah. Unlike my colleague who is the only dissenting, I support data because we have to be less emotionally driven and more data driven. But if you can't come back with eight at least 8,000 people that tell you something, then I wouldn't support us continuing this project. I think that the people of the city deserve to have community outreach that includes partnerships within city and our established community leaders who are on the ground doing the work. They're all in the room and you'll see them shortly when they come for this other item. But I do think that we have to go further than 800…”
City Council and Authorities · Aug 18, 2026