Artesia, California - Union President Andrew Perry  confronted the Artesia City Council during the public comments segment of the regular City Council meeting. Union President Andrew Perry (Artesia Local 1520 - AFSCME) confronts the City Council during the public comments segment of the regular City Council meeting. In particular, Mr. Perry addresses the votes of three councilmembers who sought to prevent future reports against the practices of City Manager Bill Rawlings, by removing a clause from a policy that made it easier for employees to report. Several employees had already given reports about their experiences with the City Manager using this policy. This is the public comment in its entirety: Mayor and City Council, my name is Andrew Perry, and I’m an employee of the City and President of AFSCME Local 1520 - our employee union. In November 2020, the City Council adopted a policy which essentially opened up another avenue for employees to report workplace bul...

  Artesia, California - Three Artesia councilmembers appeared to have violated the Ralph M. Brown Act. The Brown Act is a California law that governs how public meetings by legislative bodies (like a City Council), and ensures the public’s right to participate in these meetings. Section 14 of the Brown Act says: A person may not disclose confidential information that has been acquired by being present in a closed session authorized by Section 54956.7, 54956.8, 54956.86, 54956.87, 54956.9, 54957, 54957.6, 54957.8, or 54957.10 to a person not entitled to receive it, unless the legislative body authorizes disclosure of that confidential information. At the June 14 Council meeting, three councilmembers admitted during the meeting that they discussed in closed session, allegations that the City Manager Bill Rawlings had done some sort of wrongdoings. Context Behind the Violation At the time, the City Council was trying to strike down a policy that allowed employees to report unethical...

  Project Unity, a volunteer group comprised of Gahr, Cerritos, and Whitney High School students, hosted its first major event on July 29-31. It was a food drive to benefit the Long Beach Rescue Mission. Eye on Pioneer's video  crew examined how the community of Artesia got together to help make this event so successful. While the food drive was ultimately led and organized by Project Unity, there were several other groups who partnered together to put this event together. Local 1520 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (the City employee union) hosted the event, provided donations, and even helped chaperone the event. The Artesia Sunrise Masonic Lodge provided the space and facilities for the event. This was a loose coalition of volunteer groups who banded together under the banner of 'United Artesians'. Many residents donated canned goods and personal hygiene items, including Mayor Rene Trevino, Mayor Pro Tem Melissa Ramoso, and Councilmem...

                                                                                                                                                                        Artesia’s City Manager William “Bill” Rawlings has a history of creating tumultuous work environments. For the past eight years, Rawlings has successfully created a repressive work environment, especially within the offices of City Hall. At least, that is what employees who work under him say. This overall dissatisfaction among the City’s workforce manifests itself in the City’s ever-increasing turnover rates ...

  City Manager William ‘Bill’ Rawlings At the June 14 Artesia City Council meeting, three councilmembers admitted there were closed session discussions regarding reported wrongdoings of City Manager Bill Rawlings . However, weeks after that council meeting, and more than a month after those reports were first discussed, Artesia employees are asking, “Where’s the investigation?” For the June council meeting, Union President Andrew Perry (AFSCME Local 1520) organized residents and other union members to write public comments for an agenda item . The agenda item was in favor of a policy that allows employees to report to the City Attorney any discrimination, harassment, or illegal activities that stem from the City Manager. Under this policy, the City Attorney acts as a sort of intermediary between employees and the City Council. All the public comments submitted through this organizing effort were in support of Artesia employees and the ability to make these anonymous reports through...

  At the regular City Council meeting on June 14, City Councilmember Monica Manalo and two other councilmembers admitted that unethical or possibly illegal activity stemming from the City Manager was discussed in closed session meetings about the City Manager’s performance. City Council was discussing a discrimination and harassment policy that was updated in November 2020. Eight public comments were submitted to the Council, supporting Artesia employees’ hypothetical ability to use the City Attorney as an avenue to report harassment, discrimination, or illegal activity stemming from the City Manager. In response to the public comments, Manalo said, “I am floored that someone leaked information from the closed session meeting. They keep talking about the City Manager and admonishment to concerns.” However, none of the comments were about whatever was discussed in these closed session meetings. The comments were about the policy and the theoretical ability for employees to report t...

Councilmember Ali Sajjad Taj Artesia, California - At the next regular council meeting on June 14, Artesia Councilmember Ali Taj may be looking to alter a harassment and discrimination policy adopted last year, to the detriment of employees. In November 2020, the City Council discussed for seven full minutes an updated discrimination and harassment policy . There were two main updates: 1) language that includes additional protected groups (I.e. transgender, religious creeds, veteran status, etc) , and 2) an update to the reporting requirements. During that meeting, Councilmember Melissa Ramoso talked about the importance of having a portal for staff to report discrimination or harassment anonymously. Previously, the City’s policy only had Human Resources and the City Manager as individuals whom employees can lodge a complaint.  The updated policy includes the City Attorney’s office, in the event employees want to lodge a complaint anonymously or against upper management, and speci...