At a special meeting of the Rancho Cordova City Council, members voted to reassign the city’s regional board, commission and committee appointments and remove Councilmember Joe Little from most of those positions. The motion passed in a roll-call vote after Mayor Pulapati read a list of new appointees and alternates.

Council members said the changes were necessary to protect the city’s regional relationships and to limit contact after a period of internal and public conflict involving one council member. Mayor Pulapati framed the motion as a step to preserve the city’s reputation with regional partners and to ensure consistent representation.

The clerk read the changes into the record before the vote. Among the revisions recorded by the clerk were: the Capital Southeast Connector Joint Powers Authority alternate will be Mayor Pulapati; a change to the alternate for the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District to Vice Mayor Gatewood; a change to the Sacramento Area Sewer District alternate to Vice Mayor Gatewood; the Sacramento Public Library Authority appointment to be Councilmember Budge with Vice Mayor Gatewood as alternate; Lower American River Conservancy appointments with Councilmember Sander as appointee and Vice Mayor Gatewood as alternate; and the Sacramento Homeless Policy Council appointee listed as Budge. The clerk enumerated several additional name changes and alternates in the motion.

The council conducted a roll-call vote after a second was indicated. Voting “yes” were Councilmember Sander, Councilmember Budge, Vice Mayor Gatewood and Mayor Pulapati. Councilmember Little was recorded as absent for the vote. The motion carried.

Council members who spoke in favor described repeated conduct they said had damaged relations with regional agencies and created a hostile environment internally. Several said the action was taken reluctantly and for the stated purpose of protecting staff, residents and regional partnerships.

No ordinance or disciplinary penalty against an individual council member was issued during the meeting; the action was limited to appointment reassignments. The clerk confirmed that some appointments (for example, the Criminal Justice Cabinet) are typically attended by the mayor or the mayor’s designee and that operational attendees such as the chief of police often represent the city on those panels.

The council directed staff to update the city’s appointment records and to notify the affected regional agencies of the new designees.

The council adjourned the special-meeting portion of the agenda and continued with the regular meeting.