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Santa Barbara City Council adjourns to closed session; Council Member Santa Maria recuses from firefighters' labor negotiations
Summary
The Santa Barbara City Council announced it would adjourn into closed session to consider anticipated litigation, two public-employee performance evaluations and labor negotiations, and Council Member Santa Maria said she will recuse herself from the labor-negotiations item while awaiting a Fair Political Practices Commission determination.
The Santa Barbara City Council announced it would adjourn into closed session to consider anticipated litigation, two public-employee performance evaluations and labor-negotiation talks, and Council Member Santa Maria said she will recuse herself from the labor-negotiations item while awaiting a determination from the Fair Political Practices Commission on a possible conflict of interest.
City staff read four closed-session items: anticipated litigation under California Government Code Section 54956.9; public-employee performance evaluations under Government Code Section 54957 and Santa Barbara City Charter Section 604(a); a second public-employee performance evaluation under Government Code Section 54957(b)(1); and a conference with the city's labor negotiator on labor negotiations. Mayor Rouse said, "On all of these items, we do not anticipate a report out, so we will be going to closed session."
Council Member Santa Maria said she would recuse herself from item 4, the labor-negotiations matter involving the Santa Barbara City Firefighter Association, and cited current and recent employment with an AFL-CIO–affiliated union while noting that the city firefighters also are under the AFL-CIO. She said she was "awaiting determination from the Fair Political Practices Commission on whether I have a conflict of interest," and added, "I will be recusing myself for item 4."
The council adjourned to closed session and said it would reconvene in the chambers at 2:00 p.m. Mayor Rouse noted that no report out was anticipated on the closed-session items. At roll call, Council Member Harmon and Council Member Gutierrez were recorded as absent; Council Member Santa Maria, Council Member Sneddon, Mayor Pro Tem Friedman and Council Member Jordan were present.
Because the matters were placed on the closed-session agenda, no additional details about the litigation, personnel matters or labor-negotiation subjects were discussed on the public record.
