The Travis Credit Union car passes down Texas Street with a large inflatable eagle during the Veterans Day parade in Fairfield on Saturday. (Chris Riley/The Reporter)
Fairfield Mayor Cathrine Moy may face a Quo Warranto challenge for allegedly living outside Fairfield city limits.
At Tuesday evening’s Fairfield City Council meeting, Councilmember K. Patrice Williams moved to agendize a discussion about beginning the process “as soon as possible.” Williams referenced a June article in the Fairfield Daily Republic headlined “Question arises on Moy’s Residence.” That article indicated that, at the time, the Solano County District Attorney was looking into whether or not Moy lives within city limits.
Moy has repeatedly claimed that she lives in Fairfield with family and has dismissed the concerns as a “political attack” from California Forever, which she has long opposed.
“That gave me a lot of concern,” Williams said of the article. “According to the law we need to live in the City of Fairfield. “I feel like we need to preserve trust and confidence in the government and explore this to see if this is true and if we don’t, any one of us who has read this, I feel like we are complicit.”
Quo Warranto, Latin for “by what authority,” outlined in the California Code of Civil Procedure Sections 803-811, is intended to ensure that those who seek public office are abiding by the rules and thus have the right to seek the office. In this instance, Moy has faced public scrutiny for months over whether or not she lives within Fairfield city limits.
“Quo warranto is used to test a person’s legal right to hold an office, not to evaluate the person’s performance in the office,” a statement reads by the California Office of the Attorney General. “For example, a quo warranto action may be brought to determine whether a public official satisfies a requirement that he or she resides in the district; or whether a public official is serving in two incompatible offices.”
Under the process, according to City Attorney David Lim, the city council would prepare a complaint and submit it to the California Attorney General to begin the state-level process.
Moy opened the meeting by asking the audience to refrain from outbursts.
“We are doing the people’s business so we don’t want a bunch of rowdiness, no clapping, no booing, those kinds of things that happened at our meeting two weeks ago, and it was disruptive.” Moy said.
Moy asked those who share the dias with her to uphold decorum as well. She also reminded the council to read the council handbook, and said that they have all made mistakes on the dias.
“It’s important that if there is any issue that you’re having with something that I’m doing or how I’m running the meeting, that you raise your hand, get my attention and we will take a break and step out and talk about it,” she said.
Williams asked the council to agendize the discussion of an action against the mayor for not living in the City of Fairfield as soon as possible.
“I’ll go ahead and agendize that and have you do that,” Moy said, “And this is something that you could have talked to me about and I am happy to do it. The district attorney was looking at it, and did you see there was no follow-up? Why is that? Because I do live in the City of Fairfield. So, there you go, but if you want to discuss that we can, and happy to do it.”
Lim said he could agendize a discussion of possible action and could bring further action as a result of those discussions if necessary. He said he may need to retain outside counsel to avoid a conflict as he represents all six Councilmembers and the Mayor in his capacity as City Attorney.
“I think I have enough to get you a preliminary report,” Lim said, “but anything further than that and I may need to declare a conflict and have outside counsel handle the matter.”
Lim said he would work with the City Manager to schedule the agenda item. Asked if Williams needed a second, Moy said the second was not necessary.
“I put it on, I make the agenda so, yeah, I’m happy to do this,” the mayor said.
Moy asked Lim if he had been asked about this issue in advance.
“I was prepared when the Daily Republic article came out. I had a conversation with the Solano County District Attorney,” Lim said. “I was advised by the Solano County District Attorney that he advised residents who were interested in the process to seek the Quo Warranto Process.”
Councilmember Doug Carr apologized for his conduct at the previous meeting during Councilmember comments.
“I must apologize for uncharacteristically lashing back at a person, and I should not have done that,” Carr said. “I have learned a lot from this mistake, and it will not happen again.”
Vice Mayor Pam Bertani read into the record a section of a letter from Pastor Anthony Gilmore of Bethel Community Church. The letter alleged that after a “middle-aged African American resident” spoke at the November 18 council meeting, Carr said “f*** off,” toward the speaker as he walked away.
“A member of the audience, a Caucasian gentleman, immediately stood and asked, ‘Did you just tell him to F-off?’” The letter read. “Yet, despite this clear disruption and despite such an egregious violation of decorum, dignity and public trust, the matter was ignored, overlooked and brushed aside by the city council and all city leadership. As a pastor, a community leader and a taxpayer in this city, I must express my deep disappointment, disgust and moral outrage.”
Gilmore’s letter argued that there is never a justification to direct profanity at a constituent in a public meeting. He also said the comment carried “an unmistakable undertone of racial disregard.”
“What occurred was not only unprofessional, it was beneath the dignity of public office,” the letter read. “It communicated a blatant disregard for the people who stand before you, especially residents from historically marginalized communities.”
The letter requested a formal public apology from The City of Fairfield, a written commitment to higher standards for elected officials’ conduct, and a clarification on how violations of decorum will be handled moving forward. Moy said she planned to speak to the city attorney about the issue.
“I did speak with councilman Doug earlier; we had a good conversation, and there are things already in order,” she said. “And I’m going to do a better job at policing, if you will, up here.”
Originally published at Nick Mcconnell