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Council agrees to court-approved deal with Holly Blair. Cost to City nearly $100,000 including paying Blair's legal fees
The Council came together in a rare noon special meeting to discuss and then consider approving a “Compromise and Release Agreement,” a pact reached in the Kings County Superior Court Case: City of Lemoore v. Holly Andrade Blair.
Read Lemoore Police Chief Darrell Smith's statement regarding settlement
When it was all over Blair could have left the meeting feeling positive about what had just transpired. For starters, council members approved a resolution lifting her council-imposed censure, voted on in August 2018. She also got her considerable legal fees – about $38,000 – paid for by the city to her law firm, Melo and Sarsfield, LLP.
However, it may not be as rosy for Blair as it sounds. Included in the Agreement are terms and conditions that Blair will be forced to adhere to, and if she doesn’t, each violation of the agreement could get her slapped with a $1,000 penalty. The same holds should the City violate the deal.
For example, under the terms and conditions of the agreement, Blair agreed to “refrain from publicly making or adopting any negative comments about individual City employees or volunteers, including the city manager, whether by name, rank or other identifying information from which one could infer their identity.” However, the agreement also stipulates that Blair is free to criticize the Lemoore City Council, city departments or the city’s government as a whole, which the court states are consistent with what the First Amendment and state law allow.
The Kings County Superior Court will oversee the agreement until the end of Blair’s term, whether her council tenure ends on Dec. 31, 2020 (the end of her first term) or the end of her second term if she should win re-election. It also appears that the Court will keep its eye on events in Lemoore. Both parties agreed to waive all objections to the Court’s monitoring of the agreement and in particular Blair’s social media presence as well as fellow Lemoore council members.
The City of Lemoore initially brought the case against Blair hoping to impose a restraining order on the first-term council member. On Jan. 29, council members, voting 4-0, authorized the “initiation of litigation and filing for a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order). Kings County Superior Court Judge Kathy Ciuffini on Jan. 31 denied the city’s petition for a restraining order.
The judge instead ordered the two parties – Blair and the City – into mediation.
At the time, Blair, in a social media post, criticized the city’s efforts to silence her and cited what she referred to police harassment, a censure, false police reports, and a recall effort.
During Thursday’s special meeting, awkward silence followed Neal’s request for the council’s votes. A subdued Councilmember Dave Brown voted yes. Councilmember Stuart Lyons issued a “regrettably aye.” Only the council’s Chad Billingsley voted no against the resolution. The item passed 4-1.
“It was a very, very difficult vote,” said Brown. “I feel we did what we had to do. I pray that we can move forward and work together as a city, and as a council, get our economic development (rolling) again and getting our wastewater and water fixed; get the things that need to be done for our city.”
The censure, passed in August 2018, prohibited Blair from representing Lemoore on various boards and commissions. Thursday’s vote lifted the prohibition, allowing her, once again, to sit on committees or board in her capacity as a council member. The resolution is effective immediately.
In an exhibit provided to the public and attached to the Compromise and Release Agreement, the city – including the money paid to Blair’s law firm – had spent nearly $100,000 litigating this case. “We are confident that this direction will allow the City of Lemoore to move forward in its effort to protect and serve our residents and bring about continuity with the Council, city employees, and all residents of Lemoore,” stated the passage.
Before the council’s closed session deliberations, longtime council critic Connie Wlaschin pleaded with council members not to remove Blair’s censure. “She’s threatened two recalls,” said Wlaschin. “She will not change, and if you cave to her, God help us for the next one and a half years. And if part of your discussion is to settle with her, please make sure her resignation is part of the settlement.
“She has continued to disparage the council, the city manager, and the police department,” she continued.
A local businessman, Brian Castadio, called the council’s action laughable, suggesting instead that they shouldn’t worry about one vote (Holly’s), and instead, he told council members to let her “spew” her remarks. “It’s only one vote,” he said. “Ignore her. I hope in the future that you don’t have to worry about one vote.”
Others spoke out: “I would implore you to vote no,” said Susie Banuelos, reminding council members of the censure language passed last August. It was for “conduct unbecoming a council member.”
Banuelos said the council gave her everything she wants. ‘I do not want her censure removed.”
