City of Modesto levies stiff penalty on city clerk. Her attorney threatens to sue

The Modesto City Council has reduced the salary of longtime City Clerk Stephanie Lopez after an investigation concluded she had emailed public documents without having the city attorney’s office first review them and included comments critical of city officials, primarily the city attorney, in her emails.

The council reduced Lopez’s pay by 5 percent at a special Monday meeting held to consider the discipline, dismissal or release of the city clerk. Council members voted 4-3 to dock Lopez’s pay. The council will review Lopez’s performance at the end of six months and decide whether to continue the pay cut and-or take other measures.

Lopez’s salary is $141,024 and the salary reduction is effective immediately.

Council members Mani Grewal, Jenny Kenoyer, Doug Ridenour and Bill Zoslocki voted for disciplining the city clerk, while Mayor Ted Brandvold and council members Kristi Ah You and Tony Madrigal voted against it, according to city officials. The vote reflects the division often present in the council.

The council met over Zoom, the videoconferencing platform, because of the pandemic.

Monday was the last chance for the current City Council to consider any action against Lopez, who has worked for the city for about 20 years and has been city clerk since May 2008. Brandvold and Ah You have blocked previous attempts to meet over their concerns that the city clerk was not being treated fairly.

Ah You, Grewal and Ridenour did not run for re-election in the Nov. 3 election and new council members took their place at the Tuesday council meeting. Brandvold will be leaving the council in February. He finished fifth among eight mayoral candidates in the Nov. 3 election as he sought a second term. Ah You also ran for mayor and finished fourth.

Former Modesto City Schools board member Sue Zwahlen and Ridenour finished first and second and will face each other in a Feb. 2 runoff election.

City clerk could sue Modesto

But this matter may not be over.

Lopez is represented by Stockton attorney Mike Dyer, and he said he will sue Modesto on behalf of his client. She filed a complaint in February against the city with the state Department of Employment and Fair Housing, alleging she faces a hostile work environment, including bullying, because of her age (Lopez is 60) and her gender.

Dyer recently filed a $1.5 million claim against the city on behalf of Lopez. Claims are the first step before filing a lawsuit.

This story started last year when the city launched another investigation that looked into Lopez’s allegations against Ridenour, City Manager Joe Lopez, who is not related to the city clerk, and then City Attorney Adam Lindgren. Lopez alleged mistreatment by the three.

A city investigation did not substantiate the allegations but found Ridenour had referred to Lopez and two other female employees as the “mayor’s girls.” The investigation also underscored the mistrust and division at the top levels of city government.

The city clerk has said she never wanted the investigation and claims officials pursued it to retaliate against her because they saw her as a whistle-blower for sharing her concerns with the mayor about city practices and spending, including the cost of using Lindgren’s firm, Meyers Nave, to act as its city attorney.

Modesto hired Meyers Nave in May 2014. While Lindgren is no longer city attorney (he stepped down for reasons unrelated to this story), another Meyers Nave attorney, Jose Sanchez, serves as city attorney.

Though the city says nothing bars them, the city manager and Sanchez have not taken part in the city clerk investigation to avoid any suggestion that they are retaliating against her. But Ridenour has taken part in the council’s deliberations, including Monday’s vote.

That has rankled the city clerk and her attorney, who claim Ridenour continues to retaliate against the clerk. Ridenour has denied that and said there is nothing barring him from taking part in this matter.

NAACP asks for ‘new set of eyes’

Wendy Byrd, the president of the local branch of the NAACP, asked council members at Monday’s meeting before they started their closed session deliberations on the city clerk to let the new council handle this.

She said it was important to have “a new set of eyes” review the matter and make a decision. She said that would be fair to everyone and remove any perception of “retaliation and vindictive motives.” Byrd said for the current council to make a decision would only further erode the community’s lack of trust in City Hall.

Lopez is on medical leave and did not attend Monday’s meeting, but Dyer had asked that the council meet in public regarding the potential discipline or dismissal of Lopez. Though normally held in closed session, these discussions can be held in public at the request of the employee.

Dyer also has said Monday’s meeting violates the city’s charter, which states the council cannot dismiss a charter officer, which includes the city clerk, in the 90 days after the election of a council member. The city has said when the 90 days starts — for instance from the date of the election or when a new council member is sworn in — is under review.

Modesto officials were working on a response Tuesday when asked why council members met in closed session. Their deliberations lasted more than an hour. The mayor then made a public report about the 4-3 vote to dock the city clerk’s pay.

Lawyer: City clerk expressing her frustration

The investigation of the city clerk identified about a half dozen emails she sent to three people that included public documents and-or comments critical of city officials, primarily Lindgren.

While the investigation stated the city clerk sent documents before having them vetted, Lopez stated she was sending documents that clearly were public and in response to requests under the California Public Records Act. And Dyer has said the critical comments were an expression of the frustration Lopez felt in being hindered from doing her job because Lindgren was not always at City Hall. He commuted from the Sacramento area.

The investigation of Lopez’s allegations and the subsequent investigation of Lopez’s emails have been time consuming and costly. Modesto has paid or will pay outside attorneys about $93,800 for both investigations, and that does not include the cost of bringing in another attorney to advise the council at its Monday meeting.

The attorneys’ work includes investigating the allegations and advising the council.

This is the second time a City Council has docked the city clerk’s salary. The council in 2015 issued a written reprimand and temporarily reduced Lopez’s pay by 5 percent after city officials concluded she changed election paperwork that caused a ballot measure not to reach all voters.

This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 5:00 AM.