City Council Censures Member Over Billings

After angry debate and personal exchanges between members, the City Council voted 3 to 2 Monday to formally censure Councilwoman Joanne Baltierrez for failing to reject preferential treatment in the late payment of her water bills.

By the same vote, the council also approved a motion requesting that Baltierrez pay the city $240--$30 for each of the eight months that the majority said she improperly avoided reconnection fees.

According to a report released Dec. 4 by the city attorney, Baltierrez and at least 32 other San Fernando residents, including some city employees, received extensions of their water bills, contradicting official city policy.

Councilman Silverio Robledo said Baltierrez should have known it was wrong to accept extensions of her bill. A formal admonishment was necessary, he said, to “restore the honesty and integrity of the City Council.”

“We should not ride our bills on the backs of taxpayers,” he said.

But Baltierrez, who along with Councilman Doude Wysbeek opposed the motions, said that she had already paid late fees as well as the balance of her bill, and would not pay anymore. She defended herself as a single mother who struggled financially at times and repeated her contention that the flap was politically motivated.

“I have never seen a more pompous, arrogant group of elected officials in my life,” Baltierrez said. “I have been humiliated by this and you have made me pay dearly. What more do you want, blood?” Baltierrez angrily asked the three councilmen who voted for the censure, Robledo, Mayor Raul Godinez II and Jose Hernandez.

Godinez, however, said that issue was one of personal responsibility and that the preferential treatment given to Baltierrez “taints all elected officials.”

Vowing that the issue was not yet settled, Wysbeek chided City Atty. Arnoldo Beltran for not conducting a thorough investigation.

In particular, Wysbeek and Baltierrez were angry that Beltran elected not to investigate who initially leaked the billing statements that led to the controversy.

“This thing is not going to die here,” Wysbeek said “Some worms are going to come out of the ground before this is over.”