Once again, we have council members on the Oakley City Council dais attempting to thwart transparency from City Hall. During the City Council meeting on January 23, 2024, I solidly endorsed the Oakley City Clerk, Libby Vreonis, abilities to provide detailed, valuable information regarding City Council meeting proceedings. I stated I would place the approved minutes on various social media platforms and compare those approved minutes with those created with their biased reporting of the council proceedings.
Sadly, abridged minutes were on the agenda at the February 13, 2024 meeting. I do not believe this was Ms. Vreonis’ unilateral action. The placement of minutes on the agenda is enabled by the City Manager, Joshua McMurray, in the manner he approves. Consequently, it is difficult to ascertain who is responsible for the change. I think a council member, afraid of being outed for false reporting of the meetings, demanded he change the detailed minutes. Mr. McMurray, in a professional manner, keeps confidential communications he has with other council members. So, he says it is what the council approved over a year ago.
One primary concern of mine is the minutes of January 23, 2024, when the council heard an appeal of a code violation. The person appealing the enforcement decision did not speak or understand English. He brought what I perceived to be a friend to translate for him. We had no way of knowing if the translation was correct. I commented on the situation, and our assistant city attorney informed us we could proceed.
During the proceedings, Councilmember Shaw referred to a large blue binder, saying the answer to a question I asked of staff was on a city document. Later in the proceedings, people can see Councilmember Shaw flipping through the pages of the binder. Afterward, I asked Mr. McMurray what those documents were, and he replied that neither he nor the city staff provided the documents. (Councilmember Shaw now denies she had the binder of documents on the dais.)
I voted to sustain the code violation, which cost the owner several thousand dollars and required him to repair the property. A problem of conscience I have is the property owner does not have a substantiated written record, which would allow him to appeal the decision. I do believe in America’s civil rights; people should be able to appeal any governmental decision accurately. We have hindered that civil right by abridging the minutes.
I do owe Ms. Vreonis an apology for my acclaim for her work. Apparently, praising her abilities got her “in Dutch” with other City Hall members.
Below is a link to a video of my comments regarding Ms. Vreonis’abilities and the hearing that took place regarding the code violation.
Below are links to the City Council Meetings of 01-09-2024 and 01-23-2024. I have highlighted the code enforcement appeal of 01-23-2024.
George Fuller, Ed.D. - AKA DrOG
City Councilmember, City of Oakley, CA
