Reso 2026-021 Discipline - Councilmember Aguilar

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13 non-profit that received funds from the City. Robustelli confirmed that Bowen was a Commissioner on the Arts, Culture, and Library Commission, while running a non-profit organization, Community Impact Labs, which received $5000 funding for a program to be held at the library. After Aguilar complained that the event was a political one that promoted fundraising for Bowen’s non-profit organization, Robustelli had to conduct an audit of how the funds would be spent. Ultimately, Bowen’s organization returned the funds to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. Robustelli and Bowen both cite this as an example of Aguilar deliberately scrutinizing the City’s funding of Bowen’s programs and raising concerns about conflicts of interest when he has not done so for the other male members of the City Council. 2. On April 25, 2024, Aguilar Pressured City Manager Robustelli Not to Sponsor or Promote an Event Where Bowen Was Scheduled to Be a Panelist Bowen recounted that during the alarming spike of anti-Asian violent hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic, she was invited to be a panelist to share her experiences as an Asian American woman on the importance of combatting anti-AAPI hate following a documentary screening held by the Vietnamese American Community Center of the East Bay (VACCEB). According to Bowen, the City initially agreed to partner on the event,9 but the day before the event, Aguilar told Robustelli that the City should not sponsor or promote the event because one of the other panelists had allegedly expressed anti-Semitic views that he opposed. Robustelli felt pressured by Aguilar to rescind the partnership agreement with VACCEB, which resulted in the City not promoting the event. Robustelli recalls that Aguilar threatened to blast on social media that Gonzalez and Bowen were supporting an anti-Semitic panelist. Robustelli recalls that Aguilar threatened to bring people to stand in protest of the event, so ultimately, Gonzalez and Bowen participated without the sponsorship of the City. Robustelli cites this as an example of Aguilar’s efforts to undermine an event where Bowen was going to be a participant by using strong arm tactics where he would threaten and “bulldoze” to get his way. Aguilar never addressed this with Bowen or the Executive Director of VACCEB beforehand. Bowen contends, “If Aguilar was worried about the other panelist, he could have raised questions, emailed the organizers, or spoken to me a week earlier about his concerns, but did not do so.” Instead, he deliberately prevented the City from supporting this event and as Bowen contends, he attempted to undermine her behind her back. 3. Aguilar Claimed That the City’s Funding of Bowen’s Attendance at a Harvard Fellowship Program Constituted Favoritism, Which Compelled the City to Pass a Resolution to Fund Aguilar’s Participation in Another Leadership Program Bowen and Aguilar were both accepted into a Harvard Fellowship Program in the same year. According to Bowen, after Aguilar had already received sponsorship through another organization, “Aguilar started a whisper campaign with misinformation about the funding and the program, including rumors that Fran Robustelli was showing favoritism [towards Bowen]. [Robustelli] felt so pressured by Aguilar, telling me that she would be willing to NOT go forward with a discussion about the program if it meant she would be able to avoid the trouble he would cause. One Councilmember should not be able to threaten a City Manager to pull agenda items in such a way.” According to Aguilar, after he was accepted into the program, The Victory Fund agreed to sponsor his enrollment in the program. He claims that when he told Bowen about this, she disclosed she had also been accepted into the same program. Gonzalez and Robustelli proposed a resolution to enable the City to pay for Bowen’s airfare and tuition, but Aguilar was told that he could use his allotted travel budget towards partial payment of his tuition and would 9 The sponsoring organization had been working with the City to foster senior services programs and the City had agreed to partner on the event. It is unclear if this means that the organization and the City were co-sponsors and what, if any, funding was at stake for this event. Exhibit A Resolution No. 2026-021 Page 13