Meeting canceled after Patterson councilwoman proves residency

Patterson Councilwoman Sheree Lustgarten provided evidence of her new place of residence, prompting officials to cancel a special council meeting Friday set to determine if she had vacated her seat.

City Manager Ken Irwin said Lustgarten provided proper verification earlier Friday of her new residence inside the city. She was evicted March 17 from a home she and her late husband had rented on Kern Creek Lane, raising questions about whether she still lived in Patterson.

Lustgarten said the city attorney asked her to provide documentation, including an affidavit, as proof for her new place of residence. The elected official said she gave the city a rental agreement, voter registration and the signed affidavit.

She said she is renting a room from a friend.

“They asked me to provide (information regarding) every person living in the residence,” said Lustgarten, who maintains she’s being harassed by fellow council members. “I don’t think that is a requirement.”

City Attorney Tom Hallinan reported at Tuesday’s regular council meeting that Lustgarten had made conflicting representations about her residency. According to his report, Lustgarten told the council at a March 30 meeting that she had not moved, which did not square with court records indicating she was no longer a resident at 1347 Kern Creek as of March 17.

At an unlawful detainer hearing in Stanislaus Superior Court last month, Lustgarten was ordered to pay $7,360 in legal fees and leave the home by March 17.

Hallinan also said Lustgarten had not complied with a government code requirement that she update the city with her new address.

Lustgarten, who has missed four City Council meetings this year, said she was absent from Tuesday’s council meeting because of a family emergency. She stressed that the city had not sent her a formal request asking for information about her residency.

Lustgarten claimed city officials overreacted to statements made at the March 30 meeting on council district election boundaries. During a discussion of where council members live, Lustgarten said she had not finished moving her belongings from the Kern Creek home as the landlord had given her an additional 15 days.

The past few months have been a difficult transition since her husband committed suicide in December, she said. Jeff Lustgarten provided the primary income for the household, and the tragedy required her to move, seek employment and find a new place to live, she noted.

“They are making mountains out of molehills,” Lustgarten said. “We can do a better job with the public’s money than spending money on attorneys for petty things like this.”

Lustgarten, who comes up for re-election in November, has struggled through a bumpy first term in office. In July, an investigation concluded she intimidated people at Patterson’s senior center. In September, a Superior Court judge granted a restraining order that requires her to stay at least 100 yards away from Councilman Dennis McCord because of threats she made to him.

The judge recently extended the order for two years. Council meetings are the exception.

Lustgarten counters that fellow council members and political foes have targeted her for raising hard questions about city spending and mismanagement.

Mayor Luis Molina said Friday that questions from council members and members of the public prompted the city attorney to inquire about Lustgarten’s residency.

“We needed to go through the process of having her provide an address that says she is living in the jurisdiction,” Molina said. “I understand she turned in the documents today, and then the meeting was canceled.”

This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 6:56 PM with the headline "Meeting canceled after Patterson councilwoman proves residency."