Councilmember Dew Calls for a Point of Order During Community Comments

“‘Keep Your Mouth SHUT!’ – Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine” by gTarded is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Vallejo Councilmember Pippin Dew called for a point of order during public comments made by resident Melissa Swift. The mayor overruled the point of order, but here is the exchange:

Swift: Your new public comment policy is unconstitutional and suppression of free speech… I’ll start by saying that it’s in the public interest to discuss individuals in city hall when their actions affect the community. You can’t separate the individual from the issue when the individual is the issue. And it is despicable that city officials– public servants– would attack their own community and push the false narrative that we are somehow slandering and invading the privacy of staff when we are simply trying to hold them accountable. I’ve watched every city council meeting since the pandemic started and the only personal attacks that have been made came from a council member, Hakeem Brown, accusing both council and community members by name of being “racist.” It is hypocritical for council to censor the community when the only personal attacks we’ve heard have come from council. Not once have I or any other community members made a comment personally attacking staff. We mention individuals by name because their job performance is problematic and we want accountability. For example, it’s in the public’s interest to know that Mike Malone, a candidate for Interim City Manager, was involved in the sexual harassment retalliation lawsuit at his last job in Sacramento. Considering our city is without an HR director and we have dozens of vacancies, we need a leader who is competent in HR and operates with integrity. We should also consider the HR violations of whistleblower lawsuits against acting City Manager Anne Cardwell, who currently oversees HR. Public records show emails in which Gillian Hayes gave special treatment to developers that had pled guilty to the FBI for bribing public officials. Has this been investigated? Especially considering that she’s received two interim promotions since that time…The fact that the public comment policy has already been blasted by the ACLU, it should have you questioning the legal advice you are getting from the city attorney’s office. Remember, that office is in charge of defending us against $50 million dollars in lawsuits. Our Chief Assistant City Attorney Randy Reisner has been sanctioned multiple times for fraud and went to an unaccredited law school. How is Reisner still on the payroll? The fact that he hasn’t been fired should raise concerns about City Attorney Veronica Nebb’s competence and judgement. These are facts–

Dew: Point of order. 

Swift: it’s not a point of order!

Mayor: Our policy will put the clock at 50 seconds. Councilmember Dew state your point of order please. 

Dew: I believe the speaker is making comments exactly as we had discussed prior to that would not be allowed. 

Mayor: the courts have indicated very clearly that the people have the freedom of speech and can speak almost to any extent that does not disrupt the meeting. The meeting isn’t being disrupted, so I will overrule your point of order. 

Dew: Even though there are inaccuracies to the statements being made?

Mayor: The Chair’s rules, Councilmember. 

Dew: OK

Swift: These are facts. Everything I say is coming from media investigations, public records, or these very meetings. No one has provided a single example of something that I have said that is not true. But more importantly, no one has provided a single answer to the questions that I and other community members have been raising for the past year and a half. I am glad that the ACLU affirmed that my comments are protected speech and I will continue to make them without reservation. But I am most disturbed by the fact that what we are saying is not being heard. And that instead of taking action, council is pushing a staff driven narrative that attacks the community. This is Greg Nyhoff’s legacy and the culture that he built inside City Hall. You allowed him to continue as city manager for over a year after the community demanded his firing. Do not blame the public for the toxic culture that you enabled. Do not try to push the narrative that we are the problem, when you, city council, is responsible for the mess that we are in. It is your response– [timer cuts her off]. 

As to Swift’s accusations in her comments, I have looked into them and they are all accurate. Hakeem Brown did in fact refer to members of the community and council as “racists” and he called the mayor a white supremacist. Read my story about it in the Times-Herald here.

Swift also says that Interim Assistant City Manager Gillian Hayes gave a pass to the men behind VMT at the old Sperry Mill site. Hayes repeatedly warned them that they were carrying out activities on their site that were without permits, but in my story from July of this year, the operation had continued unabated.

Interim City Manager Anne Cardwell responded to this with a comment about emails between Hayes and the developers.

“Hayes did not give special treatment to any developers,” she said. “Any meetings referenced in emails are not irregular and its common for staff to meet with developers.”

Swift was not talking about Hayes meeting with developers. She was talking about the developers operating without permits and not being punished for doing so.

Cardwell did correct Swift when she said there is currently no Human Resources director in the city. Cardwell says he Mark Love is HR director. 

Swift also brings up Interim City Manager candidate Mike Malone’s past history with a sexual harassment lawsuit that accused him of retaliation. I covered that here on my page but more information was outlined in a USA Today story that has, strangely, been taken down from the Internet. Interim City Manager Anne Cardwell pointed out at the end of the council meeting that Malone was not accused of sexual harassment. Swift described what happened as a “sexual harassment retaliation suit.” 

Finally, Swift brings up Chief Assistant City Attorney Randy Risner, saying that he had been accused of fraud. This stems from a story in Open Vallejo which reported that Risner had been sanctioned by a federal judge for conduct “tantamount to fraud.”

At the end of the meeting, Katy Miessner said that comments were made during public speaking that “weren’t true” without explaining what she was referring to. She did say that pointing out that Anne Cardwell was hired by Greg Nyhoff and is somehow therefore implicated in anything that he was criticized for doing or saying, to hurt her reputation. She also likened what she described as “spin” to certain facts as what Fox News or QAnon does.

“I hope we (would) be more astute when people say things to us,” she said.

-I have reached out to both Pippin Dew and Melissa Swift for comment and will add it here if they respond. This story has been updated with Cardwell’s response at the meeting. 

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