Editorial: An Address To San Marcos P&Z On The Unprofessionalism Of City Council

Abraham Lincoln is once quoted as stating, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

I want to commend the appointed members of the Planning and Zoning Commission for their professionalism on the Zoom video conference platform during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Commissioners are polite, engaged, and professional.

On the other hand, elected officials on the San Marcos City Council, who are rendering budgetary and zoning decisions, have repeatedly exhibited numerous problematic behaviors on Zoom, and quite frankly, their behavior would not cut the mustard in a virtual classroom.

One has targeted my speeches specifically, requesting that Citizens Comments be reviewed prior to meetings by city staff.

One appears to be intoxicated on more than one occasion. Some appear to be in chat and texting, as exemplified by the beeps and buzzes and glancing at devices.

One repeatedly vanishes during the meetings. Such activity is problematic with the potential breaking of the quorum or possible coaching from ideologically driven special interests.

If this were occurring with a council in the past, these same elected officials would be horrified, proclaim foul play, and special developer interests.

One is notorious for disappearing for entire agenda items or during Citizen Comments. This individual will cast votes off the camera.

The green box on Zoom is highlighted, meaning someone is speaking. Is this person on the phone? Getting coaching? Is this person fully engaged? Who knows, but as the idiom states, the proverbial “fly on the wall.”

I’ve sent numerous emails about the data of the city staff and contractors infected with COVID-19 to the City Council. In the last meeting, one asked: “Have we had any infections among our staff?”

The Director of Public Safety, Chase Stapp, stated, “We’ve been successful in keeping those numbers really low, and we get updates from Human Resources on our weekly calls, the number continues to be really low.”

He went on to elaborate, “I don’t have the numbers in front of me. I just wasn’t prepared to answer that question. There are definitely fewer than ten at the moment; I think fewer than five at the moment.”

The City of San Marcos received a public information request from me on July 29, 2020.

Public Information Request filed on  July 29, 2020, Reference # W007318-072920

I find it odd that Chase Stapp is giving COVID updates, and yet his city staff does not wear masks; even today, they were in trucks sitting next to each other with NO mask.

See, the city is not giving data on the city staff testing positive. Soon the public will find out.

So, I followed up because I was curious about August, read em and weep.

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Is the city manager at his desk during this pandemic?  Where is Waldo? Where is Bert? Maybe this is why the taxpayers are now paying exorbitant salaries for top-heavy upper city management organizational chains, impacting our property taxes.

We wonder why we cannot afford a parking coordinator. Is it because Bert insulates himself, dividing up work traditionally completed by a City Manager?

And, who knows when we will see those that were elected outside of the Zoom video conference meeting environment. Mark Rockeymoore is sharing his research about COVID-19 and is concerned about an enclosed chamber with poor ventilation.

Meanwhile, the city staff is hard at work up at the city hall, and he seems to have no concern about their health. In this same meeting, Mr. Stapp threw out some figures regarding those back at their desks, “On average, 50% in some departments, 100% in other departments.”

Of course, Mark does not think the rules apply to him anyway. Have you seen his social media post on Instagram or Facebook shooting his announcement video for his re-election bid inside, as he calls it, the inner sanctum sanctorum? This was not a photocopy of the city equipment. It was a video in an area of city hall not accessible to all candidates.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, “sanctum sanctorum noun sanc·tum sanc·to·rum | \ san(k)-tem-sa?(k)-tr-?m  \ Definition of sanctum sanctorum 1: HOLY OF HOLIES.”

Believe me, as a highly active member of the press and public who does not miss meetings over periods of decades, City Hall is nowhere near the Holy of Holies.

City hall is more like a sanatorium, especially during late-night City Council meetings in conjunction with day to day operations of Bert Lumbreras, who is somewhere off with Waldo nowhere to be found.

Take heed, San Marcos, the “dream team” up at city hall we all thought would occur has become a nightmare of accountability.

I do want to thank Mayor Jane Hughson and Councilmember Maxfield Baker for their leadership. I disagree quite often with both of their statements and votes; however, both of these elected officials are engaged and are prepared for the meetings and conducting themselves with high ethical standards on zoom.

In a college or public school virtual classroom, the behaviors I’ve enumerated would never fly. More importantly, this etiquette would be unacceptable in the city council chambers. Imagine an elected official taking a belt of booze, or walking out for 30 minutes at a time and voting from another room, or passing notes, or texting, or engaged in computer chat.

We all know these actions would never ever be allowable.

Thank you to each of the members of the Planning and Zoning Commission for conducting yourself professionally and with transparency. There are no special developer interests, only community members who are placed in a leadership position, acting as such.

The appointed members of the Planning and Zoning Commission are truly the benchmark. Each one of these individuals deserves our utmost appreciation. As true leaders of this community, they conduct themselves with the highest of ethical standards on Zoom.

Quite frankly, I would vote for each one of them for political office, regardless of my disagreement on rendering zoning decisions; it is clear they are listening to residents, principled and downright classy.

Lisa Marie Coppoletta | Guest Commentator

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