Ione council orders draft censure resolution after investigator sustains multiple allegations against council member

The Ione City Council on July 8 voted to release an independent investigation into allegations against Council Member Allison Lafane and directed the city attorney to prepare a draft resolution of censure for council consideration at a later public meeting.

The investigator, attorney Mark Miles of McKinley, Conger, Jolley & Gallardo, delivered a report that sustained multiple allegations against Lafane, including negotiating with a party in the Castle Oaks golf-course transaction without council approval, interfering with staff at the scene of a sewer incident and filing a hazardous-spill report the investigator said should have been handled by the city manager, and posting social-media comments the investigator found harmful to staff and council relationships. Miles summarized the work behind his findings, saying he interviewed about 17 people and reviewed “over 500 pages of documents, emails, [and] social media posts.”

Why it matters: The council took two formal steps at the special meeting — releasing the investigator’s file and directing the city attorney to draft a censure resolution — setting a process that could lead to a formal reprimand. The city released the documents to the public during the meeting and scheduled further action so Lafane may respond at a subsequent hearing.

Miles told the council he applied a “preponderance of the…