HomeMy WebLinkAbout8/18/2026 Item Public Comment, Smith
carolyn smith <
To:E-mail Council Website
Cc:CityClerk
Subject:City Council Meeting, August 18, 2026 - Public Comment
Council members,
I am writing to request that council members agendize a public censure hearing for a date in the
near future regarding Mayor Stewart's breach of confidential information.
Mayor Stewart purposely disclosed the Grand Jury's confidential report, Round and Round with
Town and Gown, against strict warning not to do so. The mayor was interviewed by the Grand
Jury during their investigation and routinely all witnesses in a Grand Jury investigation are
required to sign a document that instructs them that they are to keep everything regarding the
investigation and their testimony strictly confidential. The mayor also received a letter
accompanying the courtesy copy of the Grand Jury's Report instructing her to keep the report
confidential until it became public and that to release it would be in violation of the penal code.
Therefore, it should have been very clear to the mayor that nothing regarding the Grand Jury
investigation should be revealed to others.
Nevertheless, with no hesitation whatsoever and without seeking legal advice readily available to
her from city staff, she intentionally chose to email the report to a Cal Poly employee. Even
when that employee warned the mayor that Cal Poly wasn't supposed to have received the
report, she chose to ignore that warning as well and continued to discuss the report and obtain
input. This not only violated state law, it also violated the city's policy regarding maintaining
confidentiality of sensitive information when required. In bypassing the law and city protocols,
the mayor compromised the integrity of our local government and set a damaging precedent if
there is no accountability for her actions.
A similar breach of confidential information occurred in 2014 when a council member revealed
closed session information at a public council meeting. It's my understanding that the current
policy cited by Council Member Marx in her Censure Complaint was created after that incident to
provide a clear procedure that would address accountability for a breach of confidential
information by a sitting council member or mayor. That procedure should be followed in Mayor
Stewart's actions, which includes holding a public meeting so council members can ascertain all
the facts and evidence, allowing for an open discussion on the dais, and then decide what action,
if any, should occur.
Therefore, I urge council members to disregard the Personnel Board's flawed recommendation
and place a censure hearing on an upcoming city council meeting agenda in order to conduct a
transparent public hearing to examine the scope and impact of this policy violation.
It's understandable that it may be difficult to police a co-council member since a bond from
working together over the years has been formed. However, public accountability is essential
when leadership undermines the law and internal rules. If you choose not to agendize this
matter for a public hearing, it will have the appearance of a cover up and will permanently
damage the public's trust in the council's objectivity in policing their own misdeeds in the future.
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Thank you for your attention to this very important matter.
Carolyn Smith
SLO City Resident
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