Council readies case against Kawczynski

By Kelly Wilkinson

In a memo issued to all council members on Sept. 3, Mayor Manuel Valerio detailed the process for the upcoming ethics subcommittee probe into Councilman Stan Kawczynski's recent behavior at council meetings.

Council members set up the investigation at the request of Councilman Fred Fowler during the Aug. 17 meeting. Fowler stated that he felt Kawczynski "violated the letter and spirit of the [ethics] code" during previous meetings.

The request followed a public reprimand by Vice Mayor Vorreiter in which she informed council members that she and Valerio had sent a letter to Kawczynski reprimanding him for "disappointing, disruptive, immature and inappropriate" behavior at recent council meetings.

Valerio said the process will begin with a meeting on Sept. 15 following the council's vote to reaffirm the subcommittee at Tuesday's regular meeting. The subcommittee is made up of Valerio, Vorreiter and Councilman Jim Roberts.

Wednesday's meeting will be held in the council conference room in City Hall at 5:30 p.m. The meeting will be open to the public but will not be a public hearing, so citizens who attend will not be asked to give input. If the committee decides a second meeting is warranted, it will be held the following week. The subcommittee will then prepare a report to the council for either the Sept. 21 or Sept. 28 meeting.

At this time, according to Valerio's memo, Kawczynski "will be afforded every reasonable opportunity to refute the allegations and make appropriate statements on his behalf." Members of the public will also be allowed to address the council on the matter.

"I don't envision this as an opportunity for people to come and have lengthy dialogues about Stan," Valerio said. "It needs to be germane to the report. This isn't 'Gee, come on down to add your two cents to anything Stan has ever done.'"

At press time, Kawczynski--who previously stated he would respond to the allegations at this week's meeting--said he would not yet reveal what his rebuttal would be. But he has denied the charges and criticized the subcommittee's approach.

"They're doing this so nobody can say 'boo' until they say so," he said. "And I can't say a word until they say so? Is this not a free country anymore?"

Valerio said he does not feel the regular council meeting would be an "opportune time" for Kawczynski's response, since there is no formal report yet.

Kawczynski will not be allowed to attend the subcommittee meeting, because if four or more council members are present it would be considered a quorum and in violation of the Brown Act--which requires all public meetings to be open to the public. But Kawczynski will be allowed to submit written comments to the meeting.

Kawczynski said he has talked to an attorney already about potential violations of the Brown Act in the council's Aug. 17 actions. But other than saying that he is still looking into the matter with an attorney, he is not revealing any details.

 

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