City Council members appear to be at such odds with each other
that they cannot even agree as to whether they can bridge the gap
that separates them.
City Council members appear to be at such odds with each other that they cannot even agree as to whether they can bridge the gap that separates them.
At a Feb. 2 meeting, Gilroy City Council members voted 4-2 against spending $6,400 on a team-building consultant because – as Councilman Dion Bracco said – the council could not work as a team.
“If I thought there was any hope of seeing this council work together, I would vote for it hands down,” Bracco said at the Feb. 2 meeting. “But I don’t see that ever happening, and I don’t think we should waste $6,400.”
Some council members see the sometimes divisive nature of the council as a natural result of diversity of opinion, but others say it ultimately is unproductive.
“I’m fine with diversity of opinion, but when it’s almost blatantly obvious that some council members go in with their mind made up, that’s different,” Councilwoman Cat Tucker said.
Tucker was one of the council members who supported spending money on a consultant to help facilitate team-building. She noted that the council regularly has 4-3 vote splits, and she believes an outside consultant may have been able to help the council work together.
Likewise, Mayor Al Pinheiro said he believed that hiring a consultant may have been helpful, although he inadvertently voted against doing so because he misunderstood the motion.
For Pinheiro, this is an issue he has long pondered. He hung a cut-out of the Dispatch’s November “Community Pulse” survey that questioned whether the council is doing what’s best for the city on his wall. He felt one particular response hit the nail on the head: “It’s difficult to trust a ruling body that doesn’t trust itself or each other.”
The previous council got along better and seemed to accomplish far more, Bracco said this week. By contrast, the current council has accomplished far less, while personal attacks have been on the rise, he said.
“It changed after the last election” – which pitted Pinheiro and Councilman Craig Gartman against each other for the mayoral spot – Bracco said. “The council just doesn’t work together and respect each other.”
Other council members say the need for agreement is overrated. Gartman felt this council has been productive overall, he said.
“I think stimulating conversation is always a benefit to everyone because you never know what comes out of those conversations,” Gartman said. “You’ve got seven strong personalities, and I’d rather have seven strong opinions than people who nod their heads and agree for the sake of agreeing.”
He also said he was appalled at the idea of spending $6,400 on a consultant. In the past, he said a consultant analyzed personality types and the way in which members interact with other personalities on the council.
“Other people may have gotten a great deal of use out of it, but I personally did not,” Gartman said. “I thought it was kind of a waste of our energy and our time. I thought there were probably better ways to spend the day than doing that kind of stuff.”
Councilman Perry Woodward said communication could improve with better relations, but he did not think a consultant could help things at this point.
“The system isn’t intended for you to be up on the dais with your six best friends,” said Woodward, who was absent Feb. 2.
Council members also disagree as to the origins of the rifts within the council.
Woodward said the 2007 election race between Gartman and Pinheiro, along with accusations made last that Gartman had mishandled funds for the annual Memorial Day parade, caused the largest break. Woodward has said he felt those accusations were politically motivated.
Last year, a committee that included Pinheiro and Bracco’s wife took over a fund for the parade from Gartman. Some members of that committee then alleged that Gartman erred in how he raised funds and that he misused money to pay for a dinner for parade volunteers. While the Santa Clara County Office of the District Attorney did question several people in relation to the alleged scandal, it declined to file charges, saying there was a lack of evidence of wrongdoing.
While Pinheiro agreed that the current council has had tense relations in the past, he said they seem to be improving. He said Woodward seemed more interested in pushing through sidewalk legislation and the city’s Open Government Ordinance at first rather than trying to build consensus through dialogue. He also acknowledged that relations between him and Gartman have been “up and down” over the years.
“I think right now what we need is a council that can deliberate in public and that doesn’t go in with such an entrenched point of view that we can’t work it out together,” Pinheiro said.
Recently, it seems council relations have improved, he said, although he noted there is an upcoming election.
“Today, I could probably say it’s much better than it ever was,” Pinheiro said.
Art Barron, a former city planning commissioner who was surveyed for the Dispatch’s Community Pulse, said he was surprised by the council’s behavior when he attended the meeting in which Tucker, Woodward and Councilman Bob Dillon were sworn into office.
“I just saw a lack of respect more than anything,” he said. “There were personal attacks on people, toward the mayor and other people.”
By contrast, he said there have been disagreements on the planning commission, but they never result in personal attacks.
He also has heard people say that having council members represent individual districts within the city would force them to be more accountable, he said.
Former City Administrator Jay Baksa, who worked with many city council over they years, said the most productive ones contained members that worked well together, regardless of whether they agree on issues. He noted that council members are elected because of their individual traits and views, but those that have a team-based approach tend to get the most accomplished.
Baksa could not comment on how this council stacked up against past councils because he hasn’t been to many recent meetings, but he offered some general advice.
“Council members are usually elected because they are saying something that’s ‘I-oriented'”, Baksa said. “But the most successful councils are those that don’t do things for ‘I’, they do things for ‘we.'”
Even if many people in the community think the current council could use some work, Gartman said things could be worse. He said the council that contained former Mayor Tom Springer and council members Lupe and Peter Arellano was far more contentious.
“You want see some fighting, we’re nothing compared to that council,” Gartman said. “That’s entertainment.”
