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Resident and public commenters press council on policing conduct and city audit practices
Summary
Public comment included a complaint by Brandy Rodriguez alleging mistreatment by police during an incident involving her children, and a detailed public accusation from Brad Newman demanding the firing of city executive Scott Ochoa and alleging the city lacks a functional independent internal audit despite bond issuances since 12/12/2023.
During the meeting’s public‑comment period, two speakers raised issues seeking formal attention from the council.
Brandy Rodriguez said police officers had pulled her children from a vehicle, sought to degrade her and treated her family in a way she described as traumatic. "They pulled my children out the car, tried to degrade me...and there's a baby in the car," Rodriguez told the council. Her comments were made during the three‑minute public‑comment period; no formal staff response was recorded in the meeting minutes.
In a separate public comment, Brad Newman challenged the council to fire Scott Ochoa and accused city executives of misconduct and mismanagement, arguing the city ‘‘cannot credibly claim that we have an internal audit function.’’ Newman said the city established an internal audit committee in 2020 but that the committee lacks independence and objectivity in practice; he also questioned how many municipal bonds the city has issued since Dec. 12, 2023, and whether the city falsely attested to having an internal audit function when engaging with bond markets.
Newman said he had notified the internal audit committee and alleged he was threatened for insubordination after raising concerns, and urged the council to consider the financial and regulatory risks associated with insufficient internal controls. The council did not take action on these allegations during the meeting, and no staff rebuttal or explanatory response appears in the transcript.
Both matters were raised as public comments; the council moved on to the published agenda after the public‑comment period and did not enter a formal discussion or take immediate action on either speaker’s requests during this session.
