Reso 2026-021 Discipline - Councilmember Aguilar

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20 without pause, reminded everyone that there was the State of the City event the next day, Gonzalez reiterated that the event was going to take place the next day, but no Council Member acknowledged Bowen’s remarks or spoke up in support of Bowen after her disclosure. Bowen cites this as part of an ongoing pattern of Aguilar’s attempts to undermine, belittle, and disrespect her. G. Bowen, Viveros-Walton, Robustelli, Cutter, Cox, Reynes, Cameron, and Ballew Contend That Simon and Aguilar Have Exhibited Disrespectful, Demeaning, And Dismissive Behavior Towards Competent Women in Positions of Authority Bowen has witnessed Simon and Aguilar mistreating other women, including former City Manager Fran Robustelli, current City Manager Janelle Cameron, Public Works Director Sheila Marquises, and City Councilmember Sbeydeh Viveros-Walton. Bowen explained that given her position on the City Council, she has decided to voice these concerns on behalf of “employees who would not otherwise have a voice and cannot speak up because they report to the Council,” related to the mistreatment of women by these two City Council Members. Former Mayor Pauline Cutter, former City Council Member Deborah Cox, former City Council Member Celina Reynes, former City Council Member Pete Ballew, former City Manager Fran Robustelli, current City Council Member Viveros-Walton, and Bowen each perceive that Simon and Aguilar have exhibited a bias towards “strong women” who occupy “positions of power.”14 Former City Council Member Ballew noted that despite his disagreement with Aguilar and Simon on policy issues, they did not treat him in the same disrespectful manner as they treated women. Ballew endorsed Simon the first time he ran for City Council but did not do so when he ran for his second term. Ballew described Simon as “misogynistic and treats women in positions of authority differently than men who hold similar positions.” According to Robustelli, Simon refused to listen to Cutter and Cox, and they shared with her that they felt attacked by him. Robustelli also recounted that when former Mayor Shelia Young met with her (Young serves on the Ora Loma Sanitary District Board with Simon), she shared that Simon had “treated women horribly” and was dismissive of them, which Robustelli believed to be a clear pattern of Simon’s inability to engage respectfully with women. Cutter recounted that she would set up monthly one-on-one meetings with each Council Member but despite her best efforts to foster a positive working relationship with Simon, he was dismissive of her and did not seem to respect her position as Mayor. Similarly, former City Council Member Cox recounted that Simon had trouble dealing with women in positions of authority, “who could hold their own” against him. Robustelli recounted that Simon would disparage the performance of the newly hired City Clerk Kelly Clancy, whom he publicly humiliated by raising concerns about her performance and alluding to the fact that she might make inappropriate remarks, but he did not explain which comments he found to be inappropriate. Reynes recalled Simon scapegoated Robustelli outside of Council meetings, but he was deferential towards the male Police Chief (who reported to Robustelli and was ultimately terminated for performance reasons). Robustelli described Aguilar as rude and disrespectful in the manner in which he addressed her and other women. Robustelli has observed that Aguilar was frequently rude and 14 Each of them expressed concerns about the findings of the prior Botterud investigation into Robustelli’s gender bias claims. In particular, they cite the fact that despite finding credible evidence that Simon had exhibited gender bias against women in positions of authority, the investigation nonetheless did not find that Simon’s implicit bias towards women was the reason for his actions towards Robustelli. Exhibit A Resolution No. 2026-021 Page 20