Council Meetings Turn Into Frenzied Affairs

When audience members at a recent South Gate City Council meeting were ordered to stop meowing every time a councilwoman spoke, they changed tactics.

At the next meeting, they sat silently but waved placards reading, “Meow-Meow-Meow.”

City officials are now barking back.

Saying unruly behavior at council meetings disrupts civic affairs and borders at times on riot conditions, the officials launched a campaign to stop it.

First, they stationed private security guards at Monday’s meeting to maintain order and directed off-duty police officers in attendance not to carry their weapons into the council chambers.

Then Police Chief Douglas Christ was fired for allegedly failing to control “renegade” off-duty officers attending the meetings.

Council meetings in South Gate have long been the political equivalent of full-contact football, but the sessions in the working-class city of 96,000 have exploded in intensity since the two police unions helped launch a recall drive last month against three council members and the city treasurer.

From the wood benches in the jammed chamber, scores of spectators jeer, stomp their feet and twirl handcuffs at officials they hope will soon be indicted. Others, believing that City Treasurer Albert Robles pulls the strings at City Hall, taunt members by dangling dancing marionettes.

Police and their supporters call the audience conduct free speech aimed at a council majority bent on destroying the police force.

But city officials call it chaos.

“The orderly conduct of the city’s business has fallen victim to the renegade behavior of a few rogue police officers who have behaved in an exceedingly unprofessional manner,” said former City Manager Sam Nassar in a prepared statement.

Council critics counter that officials exaggerate the impact of the meowing, cheering and puppets. They also say meetings are regularly cut short by the mayor to stifle legitimate dissent.

“It’s a sham; that’s all it is,” said Henry Gonzalez, a pro-police councilman. “To me, it’s a form of intimidation to keep people from expressing their opinion under the law.”

Last week, City Hall seemed to be in meltdown mode. Firing the police chief turned out to be one of Nassar’s final acts as manager. He resigned Monday. Development Services Director Margo Wheeler also resigned.

Both said through a city spokeswoman that their decisions had nothing to do with the current power struggle. But many people believe the two were fed up with the tumult at City Hall.

Police Unions Object to Council’s Hiring Policy

The controversy was triggered by a seemingly innocuous issue: the selection of the next deputy police chief. The council majority wanted to break with tradition and hire someone from outside the 97-member force. The two police unions objected, alleging political cronyism.

What started as a police revolt, however, has attracted people communitywide who say the selection process is just the latest example of corruption by Robles and his council allies: Mayor Raul Moriel, Vice Mayor Xochilt Ruvalcaba and Councilwoman Maria Benavides.

The stakes are high: After the unions helped launch the recall campaign, Nassar suggested that the city might disband the police force and contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

With tension escalating by the day, the 140-person-capacity council chamber fills to bursting at every meeting. Burly off-duty officers sit shoulder to shoulder with senior citizens. In the hallways, spillover crowds listen to speakers. Many Latino residents wear headphones to hear Spanish translations of the often-raucous proceedings.

Councilmen Gonzalez and Hector De La Torre often mingle with audience members, the vast majority of whom are pro-police. The council majority members, however, rarely step beyond the dais.

Treasurer Robles, the target of much of the protests, hasn’t been seen at a meeting in weeks. He was not available for comment.

Like most cities, South Gate has strict rules of decorum for meetings, but Mayor Moriel and Christ, the former police chief, often differed over how to enforce them.

Moriel has the right to remove people from meetings, but his powers are effective only if his sergeant-at-arms, the chief, follows his directions.

The rules state that audience members cannot use obscene or abusive language, and cannot disrupt the proceedings. But what constitutes a disruption?

When spectators started meowing at Councilwoman Benavides, who speaks in a quiet, cat-like voice, the mayor silenced them.

They responded by bringing the “meow” signs the next week. Now Moriel is considering banning signs, saying the placards block the views of audience members.

Christ once required that sticks be removed from signs after audience members used them as floor-banging noisemakers.

He also cleared people from the narrow aisles lining the chamber.

But often Christ didn’t follow Moriel’s requests to remove people yelling or making faces, noting that the rules require the mayor to first give warnings.

Security Guards Search Spectators at Meeting

In fact, Moriel often didn’t give warnings. But the mayor said it was because in many cases he couldn’t pinpoint the culprits. During one meeting that degenerated into a wild shouting match, he practically pleaded with Christ.

“You have to stay on top of this, chief,” he said shortly before abruptly ending the meeting with a smash of his gavel.

The issue came to a head Monday when the six security guards, dressed in dark suits, searched visitors to the council chamber with hand-held metal detectors.

According to Moriel, the security team was brought in by then-City Manager Nassar. He asked Christ to cooperate with the guards, Moriel said, but Christ declined and walked out with five officers. The next day, Nassar fired the chief.

And the council meeting? It never happened. Sensing that people were on edge, Moriel called it off before it even started.

“I really think the crowd was exceptionally volatile,” he said. “I could see there was a lot of ill will, a lot of anger in the crowd. I was fearful, really fearful for a riot.”

Moriel said he expects the situation to calm down now that Christ has been replaced by a department veteran, Robert Todd.

He said the new deputy chief, former Calexico Police Chief Tommy Tunson, will also help soothe tensions.

But police and their supporters doubt that. They predict more rowdy turnouts until the council majority is ousted. And if guards show up again, the crowd reaction could be wilder than ever.

“I imagine they’re going to have to escort people out if they bring in those goons,” said longtime resident Marilyn Echols. “People are fed up. They don’t want these people on the council anymore.”