Cypress City Council members formally admonished Mayor Scott Minikus after he publicly blamed two of his colleagues for a California Voting Rights Act lawsuit and accused them of misconduct.
The move stems from Minikus’ comments at the Jan. 10 special meeting when officials decided to make a switch to voting districts ahead of the November 2024 election and settle a lawsuit that accused the city of disenfranchising Asian American voters.
[Read: Cypress Voters to See Big Changes Ahead of November 2024 Election]
At that meeting, Minikus publicly accused City Councilmembers David Burke and Frances Marquez for the lawsuit, being close to the plaintiffs and leaking the city’s legal strategy to them.
He also refused to let his two council colleagues respond to his allegations and voted to adjourn the meeting along with the rest of the council majority.
On Monday, City council members, including Minikus, voted unanimously in favor of the warning against the mayor. The admonishment comes a little over a month since Minikus took over the mayoral role in December – an annual rotating position amongst the 5-member council.
Both Marquez and Burke publicly called for Minikus to receive harsher consequences for his allegations against them.
Marquez, who is running for the first district county supervisor seat, said she was concerned about Minikus continuing as Mayor because of the way he has treated her publicly and privately.
“I said last week that I had been treated like an animal and sometimes I leave here very upset or I don’t want to come here – honestly, because I know I’m going to get attacked,” she said. “So that tells me there’s a hostile work environment and that needs to be addressed.”
She also called on the council that night to discuss at a future meeting reorganizing the council – a move that could strip the mayor’s title from Minikus.
Burke said the Mayor should be censured or given a formal reprimand and not just given a warning, arguing that Minikus violated the city’s code of conduct several times and intentionally attacked him and Marquez.
“This wasn’t the equivalent of someone driving five miles an hour over the speed limit where you tell them to watch out and send them on their way,” Burke said.
“I think it’s important to send a clear message that council members and especially the mayor cannot make personal attacks against people from the dais.”
Minikus did not comment on the admonishment at Monday’s meeting, but last week he defended the decision to adjourn the Jan. 10 meeting before Marquez and Burke could defend themselves.
“It gave us the opportunity to reflect on what we heard and how we found ourselves in that moment,” he said at the Jan. 22 meeting, adding he will allow the two councilmembers a chance to respond.
Minikus also said that the Jan. 10 meeting was “very difficult” and “emotionally charged.”
“I hope that we – all of us, me as mayor, the city council, and our wonderful community – can do better than we did that night,” he said.
Councilmembers Anne Mallari, Bonnie Peat and Minikus himself called for the admonishment, with Peat and Mallari arguing Monday that an admonishment was the first consequence in a progressive discipline system laid out in the city’s code of conduct policy.
“Some of the community members are asking for censure,” Peat said. “I believe it has to be a progressive type of thing and I think going to that step – in my opinion – is undeserved.”
In the end, efforts by Burke and Marquez to take stronger action against Minikus fizzled out.
While Minikus was not formally reprimanded, Cypress officials have utilized censures in the past.
Marquez, herself, was censured twice in 2022 – once in June for allegedly violating the state’s public records act, a couple of city policies and codes, as well as for disclosing closed session information. She publicly denied all claims.
She was censured again in October 2022 for allegedly violating various sections of the city’s civility, conduct and governance code and allegedly campaigning at Cypress High School.
[Read: Cypress City Council Again Censures Councilwoman Frances Marquez]
While Marquez again publicly denied the allegations, her colleagues decided to fine her $100, suspend her council stipend for three months and to remove her from a couple regional boards and a city subcommittee.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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