The Issues: Is the Council Guilty of Malfeasance?

Has the Hercules City Council been guilty of malfeasance? If yes, be specific about how the council members themselves failed. If you don't blame the council, explain why not. 

In the court of public opinion, the verdict is that the "old guard" Council as a whole was guilty.  The West County Times has stated that the Council was culpable or incompetent, and I believe that both apply.  It appears more and more that certain members of the Council were leaders and that others on Council went along as that was the easy thing to do.  I have heard that the former City Manager controlled staff and ruled with an iron fist.  Recent comments by our current City Attorney in the press present the picture that  instead of advocating for Council our attorney was an advocate for the City Manager.  The possibility that one City Council Member and the City Manager, did what they wanted without regarding for the well being of Hercules financial health seems more and more likely.   We elected five people to represent us, and it looks like the last two, still on Council abdicated that responsibility.  I certainly blame the Council as they existed and still blame the two last members from the "old guard"  for their self stated comments that they were kept in the dark, did not know the right questions to ask, or were just too weak to resist.

Yes, the previous City Council is guilty of malfeasance: They did not correct or stop Brown act violations, nepotism, cronyism, backdoors deals. They let the City manager take over our city. They approved ridiculous projects without saying a word. They let Mr. Oliva’s daughter in charge of NEO and did not see any conflict of interest. They approved $80M of expenditure in the year 2009 mostly from Consent calendar sessions. They gave Red Barn the land for free for no reason. They approved Sycamore North in less than 2 minutes in June 2009.

They did not oversee the City manager, did not challenge his reports. “If Nelson says it, it’s probably true." UNACCEPTABLE! RECALL is the only ANSWER to incompetence. If you can’t control your City manager, then don’t pretend to run for municipal election.  The City has been severely damaged by the City leaders.

Joanne Ward

As a current member of the Hercules City Council, I believe that the council members did not receive enough information from City Manager, Nelson Oliva, to make proper decisions.  In too many instances the Hercules City Council was led to believe that projects were fully funded.  The Sycamore North project is a prime example of one such project where the Hercules City Council gave its approval to proceed with the building of this structure based upon Nelson Oliva's assurances that there was a complete financial plan in place to fully pay for the construction.  We all now know that this was absolutely not the case.  Therefore, I do not believe that the Hercules City Council has been guilty of malfeasance; however, I definitely think that the Hercules City Council was acting on incomplete information.  And, if the council members had received all of the pertinent information from Nelson Oliva including the fact that the Sycamore North project was not fully funded, then I believe that the Hercules City Council would not have voted to proceed with the Sycamore North project.

Don Kuehne

I do not believe that the council intentionally made decisions that were bad for the city. Sometimes, the council lacked complete or accurate information about the financial implications of certain decisions.  For example, the former city manger and finance director did not prepare an accurate budget for this year which resulted in serious financial consequences. The council became aware of this only late last year when the interim city manager conducted an independent review of City finances. This underscores the importance of having greater accountability at City Hall. Other General Law cities have a city treasurer and a city clerk who are independently elected or appointed by the City Council, and do not report directly to the city manager. I would recommend similar changes in our city government to provide the necessary checks and balances for greater fiscal responsibility.

Virgil de la Vega

Yes, the City Council has been guilty of malfeasance. It approved million dollars in no-bid contracts to a company owned by the daughters of Nelson Oliva; this was against policy. Some members of the council were aware that Nelson Oliva was actively involved with managing the said company, and yet they turned a blind eye on this illegal violation of his employment contract. Also, they allowed conflicts of interest and nepotism to prevail in some of the major transactions of the city. In violation of their fiduciary responsibility, the old City Council did not even bother to understand the financial condition of the city. If they did, they would have been alerted earlier that something was not right.

Sherry McCoy

Some members of the Hercules City Council (City Council members prior to the November 2010 election) are guilty of malfeasance; others are guilty of misfeasance. The difference is the intent. Some members of the council knowingly allowed contracts, employment and other opportunities, lucrative agreements, etc to go to friends and relatives, their own and others - malfeasance. Others were not paying enough attention, trusting others, instead of doing adequate review and questioning on their own, or perhaps were over their head and were unable to understand enough to provide the review and oversight that was needed - misfeasance. Whether malfeasance or misfeasance, the consequence is the financial crisis the city is facing - the contracts, the agreements, the commissions, the misuse of funds, the lack of oversight of the changing financial situation of the General Fund and the RDA. The Hercules City Council ultimately holds the responsibility and accountability, the blame, for the situation the city is in.

Has not responded to this question as of May 6. 

Dan Romero
Has not responded to questionnaire as of May 6.