Reso 2026-021 Discipline - Councilmember Aguilar

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14 be responsible for the rest of the costs of attendance. Ultimately, Water Education for Latino Leaders (“WELL”) paid for the remainder of his expenses. Despite this, he complained to Robustelli that Bowen was receiving preferential treatment by the City. However, Gonzalez and Robustelli recalled that Aguilar did not apply for City funds to participate in that program. Aguilar told them that The Victory Fund was paying for him to attend the Harvard Fellowship program, so they assumed he had already secured funding for his participation. After Aguilar learned that the City would be sponsoring Bowen’s attendance at the Harvard program, he raised concerns that the City was funding Bowen’s participation in the program. Robustelli then sought a City Council Resolution to approve sponsorship of any Council Member’s participation to support their ongoing leadership development and education since there were no clear guidelines on funding tuition and expenses for attendance at these programs. The proposed Resolution initially included language specifically to sponsor Bowen’s participation in the Harvard Fellowship Program. But in order to placate Aguilar, the Council revised the Resolution to enable the City to both fund Bowen’s attendance and also provide additional funding to enable Aguilar to attend a different leadership program offered by WELL.10 In the end, Aguilar was not deprived of the opportunity to participate in both programs and both Aguilar and Bowen were funded by the City to participate in programs that they each sought to attend. Consistent with her and Bowen’s perceptions that Aguilar engaged in gender bias, Robustelli observed that Aguilar had never raised concerns about the City’s funding for male City Council Member’s participation in programs or reimbursement of their seemingly excessive travel expenses, but he appears to have zeroed in on expenditures for Bowen’s activities. For instance, Robustelli noted that Aguilar did not raise similar concerns of favoritism towards Simon when Simon twice requested the City’s reimbursement for his expenses incurred for traveling to Chicago and Palm Springs that were purportedly related to City business. By contrast, this was the third time in a row that Aguilar raised concerns about the City’s support for one of Bowen’s desired programs, which Robustelli believes reflects a pattern of deliberately undermining Bowen. Ultimately, Aguilar’s scrutiny of and objections to the City’s sponsorship and funding of Bowen’s activities, while not raising any concerns over the use of City funds for the activities engaged in by Simon or other male members of the City Council, supports a finding of differential treatment on account of Bowen’s gender. E. During the April 24, 2024, Annual Planning Meeting, When Bowen’s Proposed List of Priorities Was Presented for Consideration, Aguilar Subjected Bowen to Abusive Conduct and Simon Derailed the Meeting Before the scheduled April 24, 2024, Annual City Council Planning Meeting (Bowen refers to this as the Priority Work Session Council Retreat), Robustelli had directed Council Members to submit their proposed priorities for the upcoming year to the City Clerk ahead of the planning meeting. In her March 11, 2024, email to all City Council Members, Robustelli outlined the preparations for the council retreat, including a reminder of the March 18, 2024, deadline to submit their proposed “referrals.” Bowen submitted a list of her referrals by the March 18, 2024, deadline. Bowen recounted that before the planning meeting took place, Aguilar and Simon, like everyone else on the Council, had access to the presentation that included a compilation of all the priorities submitted by Council Members. Bowen submitted two main priority areas for the City Council to focus on in the coming year — quality of life and economic development, but she 10 See City Council Resolution No. 2024-047 Resolution to Approve Reimbursements for Council Members to Attend Strategic Organizational Training, which was proposed by Councilmember Ballew and unanimously passed and adopted by the City Council on May 20, 2024. Exhibit A Resolution No. 2026-021 Page 14