‘We’re a circus.’ City Council vote leaves Livingston without a police chief. What now?

The Livingston City Council Chambers were set ablaze with heated words Tuesday night, as long-smoldering tensions between city officials and the Merced County Sheriff’s office finally ignited.

Heated words were exchanged between high ranking county representatives and city officials over the course of the late-night debate. When the dust settled at the end of the City Council meeting, Livingston residents were left with the question of who, if anyone, will lead their police department next month.

“The house is about to be on fire. You guys are going to wait until its halfway burnt down,” former Livingston mayor Gurpal Samra said while addressing city officials.

The tense meeting was triggered by a July 26 letter sent by Undersheriff Corey Gibson to Livingston City Manager Vanessa Portillo.

Gibson, on behalf of the County Sheriff’s Office, informed the city that Lt. Charles Hale’s interim police chief services would cease effective Aug. 28 — earlier than the originally planned expiration day of Sept. 30.

The message accused two City Council members of possessing personal agendas that, despite having no alternative plan for obtaining a police chief, led them to repeatedly vote against their colleagues’ attempts to extend the contract with the Sheriff’s Office.

The letter said the Sheriff’s Office would reconsider terminating Hale’s services if the Livingston City Council gave direction to extend the contract.

But Tuesday’s vote was split again, with Mayor Juan Aguilar and Councilmember Jose Moran voting to extend the Sheriff’s Office’s police chief services. The attempt failed, as Councilmembers Maria Soto and Gagandeep Kang voted “no.” Mayor Pro Tem Raul Garcia recused himself due to being employed by the Sheriff’s Office.

Soto and Kang each said they opposed the Sheriff’s Office contract on account of wanting a permanent Livingston police chief rather than an outside agency exerting control. Kang asserted that the city manager’s failure to recruit a permanent chief by now was the bigger issue.

When the vote failed, outcry erupted from the audience. One resident could be heard shouting “unbelievable.”

“Every time I say it can’t get any worse, here we are,” Moran said after the votes were tallied.

The failed vote left both residents and city officials wondering what will happen to public safety in Livingston when Hale’s services expire at the end of the month.

Samra asked each City Council member directly what their plan for the police department was now.

Aguilar said he’d hoped extending the Sheriff’s Office contract would have been the next step. The mayor appeared at a loss for a specific answer with that motion failing. Earlier in the meeting, he’d stated that extending the contract was the city’s only option. “Obviously it is concerning. We have to come up with a plan,” Aguilar said.

Soto responded that she believed one of Livingston’s former police chiefs could be convinced to return to their post. “Even if we have to offer them more money, someone will come back,” she said.

But Portillo later stated that she’d already reached out to the city’s retired chiefs without any luck.

Having strongly encouraged the City Council to extend the Sheriff’s Office contract, Portillo too appeared at a loss for what to do next. “This is normal in any other jurisdiction whenever there is a time of need, normally it’s the Sheriff’s Office that provides the help to those cities until they can fill a permanent position,” she said.

“I do not believe it is the responsible thing to always be in crisis management. We brought you a plan. We brought you a solution,” Portillo later added. “At some point you’re telling us that you want to see the place burning before we react.”

Hale has served in the interim police chief role since November. The sheriff’s lieutenant took over after John Markle was abruptly terminated by the city just six months into the job and without explanation, inciting outrage and protest among some residents who supported the former police chief.

Markle has since filed a claim against his former employer alleging that the city fostered a hostile work environment, interfered with his sworn duties as the city’s top cop and unlawfully breached his employment contract.

“Lets be honest. As of today, very few people would want to come here,” Moran said. “Not because they don’t like our city or people, but because of instability.”

Sheriff’s Office and Livingston officials spar

It was evident Tuesday night that in the time since the Sheriff’s Office stepped in to guide Livingston’s police department, tension has brewed between county law enforcement and some city officials.

“I know that (Hale) has been frustrated with the atmosphere in the city of Livingston,” Gibson said.

Gibson said the Sheriff’s Office made multiple attempts to meet with City Council members and come to a solution in recent months. These attempts either failed, or council members didn’t show up, he said.

Soto refuted the undersheriff’s statement, claiming that she never received an invitation to meet.

“To sit up there and say you haven’t been reached out to is unfathomably not true,” Gibson shot back, later calling the assertion a “lie.”

It is unclear how the breakdown in communication between city officials and the Sheriff’s Office occurred.

Tension between Soto and Gibson also erupted when she asked Gibson to name the two council members accused of prioritizing personal agendas over the best interest of the city.

“It is clear that two of the City Council members are putting their personal agendas ahead of the needs of the Livingston Police Department along with the City of Livingston,” the Sheriff’s Office’s letter read. “This is all due to the fact that (the) Sheriff’s Office will not agree or support reinstatement of a family member to the police department and zoning changes that fall within the jurisdiction of the City Council.”

Gibson told Soto that the letter referred to herself and Councilmember Kang.

“One of them is you. You’re upset about us not supporting zoning changes, which is not in the purview of law enforcement,” Gibson said. “And Mr. Kang is upset that his brother was terminated while (Hale) was acting as the chief of police in a personnel matter.”

Gibson later elaborated that the zoning changes he referred to involved efforts to establish a cannabis business on Main Street. Gibson said associates of Soto approached Hale and the Sheriff’s Office in attempt to get their support.

When Sheriff’s Office officials stated they had no authority over the matter, Soto stopped supporting Hale’s interim police chief contract, Gibson said.

Soto denied the accusation. She also stated that any attempts to facilitate a cannabis business on Main Street shouldn’t make her “an enemy of her own hometown” but an advocate for local businesses.

Sheriff’s Office officials also sparred with Kang during the meeting. The City Council member accused the Sheriff’s Office of poaching officers from the Livingston Police Department.

“It’s funny how everyone is quitting when your contract is up,” Kang said to Hale, referencing several officers leaving the police department for the Sheriff’s Office “I think this is a hostile takeover.”

Gibson confirmed that some officers left jobs in Livingston for the Sheriff’s Office, but refuted any organized attempt by the county to funnel city police to its own department.

“To be honest with you, I think the reason you see an out-flux of staff from the Livingston Police Department is volatility and instability,” Gibson said.

Regardless of the reason, Livingston’s exodus of police is expected to soon put the city in a state of emergency, Portillo said.

Should more officers leave, the city might be forced to declare a state of local emergency due to an understaffed police department. Portillo said the department would be left with just eight officers on at a time for each shift when 10-12 are necessary.

The declaration would allow emergency staffing from regional or outside jurisdictions to aid the Livingston Police Department, although city staff estimate the aid would come at a greater financial cost to the city than renewing the Sheriff’s Office contract.

Some City Council members were poised to declare the emergency Tuesday on account of there being no police chief in place after Aug. 28. But the city attorney advised council members to refrain from declaring the emergency until staffing levels actually reach critical lows.

The Sheriff’s Office’s letter also renewed debate over Wapinder Kang, brother to Councilmember Kang and a former Livingston police sergeant.

Former Sgt. Kang was arrested along with another officer last year for allegedly filing a false police report to protect another law enforcement officer’s use of illegal fireworks. The charges have since been dismissed, but the case lingers in the minds of some Livingston residents — to the frustration of Councilman Kang.

The Kang brothers have also been accused by Moran of being behind an alleged voting fraud scheme that’s under investigation by the Merced County District Attorney’s Office and California Secretary of State, although those agencies haven’t named suspects.

Kang said Tuesday he and his brother have been blamed without evidence by some residents for recent controversies in Livingston, such as the terminations of former city officials, such as Markle and former city manager Jose Ramirez.

“Stop using (my brother’s case) as an excuse,” Kang said. “It seems like when you guys don’t get your way, I’m the scapegoat.”

But the Sheriff’s Office’s letter seemed to allege that Councilman Kang had pushed for his brother’s reinstatement at the police department.

County Supervisor Rodrigo Espinoza, whose district encompasses Livingston, appeared to agree.

The County Supervisor on Tuesday described Kang’s participation in the debate over the Sheriff’s Office contract as a conflict of interest. “You can tell all he’s doing is defending his brother,” Espinoza said.

Past controversy in Livingston

Tuesday’s City Council meeting appeared to leave many residents crestfallen over the divided state of their City Council and the community at large.

The tense gathering followed several other heated controversies the city has suffered in recent years.

The termination of the city’s former city manager and police chief led to outrage and protest among Livingston residents last year, as community members demanded answers for the firing of the former city officials.

No official explanation was ever publicly given by the city, but both former employees have filed claims against the city alleging corruption.

Moran released a YouTube video last August where he accused the Kang brothers of being the perpetrators behind the alleged voting fraud scheme. Moran claimed that the Kang brothers personally told him that they could guarantee a winning number of votes for him were he to run for city clerk.

Moran later became the sole member of the City Council excluded from a recall campaign aimed at removing every other elected official from office early. The recall effort didn’t gather enough signatures to reach an election.

The series of scandals have elicited frustration among community members, as well as officials at the city and county level. Tuesday’s outcome appeared to push many meeting attendees to their breaking point, with some residents calling for a complete overhaul of city leadership.

“We’re a circus in this city, and I think we need new leadership,” Espinoza said as he closed his remarks Tuesday.