AD01 Update: Brown Act Violations Behind Tenessa Audette Being Appointed Mayor of Redding?

There is a belief in the three non-Tenessa camps that her appointment as mayor was more about her campaign for assembly than the City of Redding. Being Mayor would lead to a more effective ballot title for Tenessa’s Assembly race.

And the article is linked here for attribution.

REDDING, Calif. — The City of Redding might be sued soon over the Redding City Council’s recent election of Tenessa Audette as mayor.

In a controversial vote on Dec. 5, 2023, Audette was chosen as mayor.

Redding local Kathryn McDonald sent a letter to the Redding City Council on Dec. 29, alleging the council’s selection of Audette, and Julie Winter as vice mayor, violated the Brown Act.

Now, what is amazing is that the Redding City Attorney appears to believe that Audette and her two allies on the Redding Council Broke the law. KRCR, the media outlet posted the internal letter from legal counsel to the city council.

“the City Council’s exposure to litigation is significant.”

Here is the money quote from the article:

“Jack Munns said, ‘We’re doing what we think is right.’ And then he immediately took those words back and said, ‘We’re doing what I think is right,’ which led me to believe that he knew what the other two [Audette and Winter] thought, which would be a violation of the Brown Act,” McDonald said.

Given what D’Acquisto and Mezzano had to say at the meeting where it happened, I think it is safe to bet that the “Significant” exposure to legal action is borne out of common knowledge that this appointment was a foregone conclusion. While not unheard of, it could very well have been done illegally. Munns appeared to let the cat out of the bag.

And, the Redding City Council is having an emergency closed session meeting on 1-16-2024 to address this issue. I have a solution: Step down Tenessa.