LOS BANOS – With an election that could change the entire city council less than a week away, Los Banos voters were given even more fodder for what has turned into a political bonfire.
The Express has learned that one council candidate appears to have instigated a traffic incident; the area’s largest housing developer has filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against a city councilman and the city; a group of mid-management city employees have formed a sixth union, and city’s fire fighters have chastised both the mayor and city manager for failing to protect residents.
The mayor and all four city councilmembers appear on the Nov. 5 ballot in one way or another, with two men running to replace the mayor, two councilmembers being recalled and two more facing challengers.
While every race has been hotly contested, the incident between District 1 challenger Tommy Leyva and an employee of his opponent’s biggest backer – developer Greg Hostetler — resulted in calls to the police and a report being filed.
One of Hostetler’s employees was driving a truck with anti-Leyva messaging when Leyva spotted it last week. He followed the truck and then abruptly pulled his vehicle in front of it, blocking the truck. All parties remained in their vehicles, apparently using cellphones to film each other. Leyva drove away before police arrived.
That played into the hands of councilmember Ken Lambert, who is benefiting from a Facebook page detailing Leyva’s domestic disputes from 17 years ago in Santa Clara County. Leyva admitted to committing a misdemeanor in the case. The couple is now divorced.
Hostetler is also behind what he says is a $100 million lawsuit filed in Merced Superior Court against the city and councilmember Brett Jones on Oct. 10. Hostetler claims Jones defamed and disparaged him during city council meetings and on the city’s social media.
During the May 8 council meeting, Jones accused Hostetler of putting profits over the community’s safety.
“Brett Jones said I did not complete the entrance to Vineyard Drive, but I know they’ve collected nearly $4 million for that project; there was a surcharge of $700 per house on top of the traffic fee that was paid to build the Vineyard (development),” Hostetler said. “They had all that money, and they’ve not built it. But Jones said on live TV that I dumped it on the city and did not do my job. We sent him a letter to retract the lie, and he has not done so. That’s how he got sued.
“They lied, then they did not retract their lies about me when they had the chance,” said Hostetler. “I’m not going to let that happen without taking action.”
Asked about how he arrived at $100 million, Hostetler said Jones’ comments could cost him “at least that much, even more” in lost home sales.
Developers pay city fees on every house – currently $32,506 for a single-family home. The fees cover road improvements, sewer and water connections, streetlights, parks, public safety and more. Additional fees are charged by schools and special districts, often pushing the total past $40,000 per house.
“They collected all the money to build the park (through fees),” said Hostetler, “and now they’ve tried to tell the public it’s my fault (the park isn’t) there — and it’s not my fault.”
Jones, Lambert, Doug Begonia Jr. and Mayor Paul Llanez do not respond to requests from The Westside Express for comment. All four are on Tuesday’s ballot.
Former five-term mayor Mike Amabile is challenging Llanez and former councilmember Refugio Llamas for mayor. While Amabile says he is running to return civility and accountability to the council, Llanez and Llamas appear to be dealing with controversy. Llamas is emerging from a restraining order granted after a jostling incident with Jones after a council meeting in early June. Llanez, meanwhile, has spent the last two years presiding over the most antagonistic council in memory, including his recent threats to bring “legal action” against Councilwoman Deborah Lewis.
Just as contentious as the mayor’s race is the recall of councilmembers Jones and Doug Begonia Jr. More than 3,300 voters signed petitions to force them onto the ballot in council districts 2 and 3. A “Yes” vote removes them, leaving their council seats open until filled either by appointment or special election.
In District 4, Lewis — who often stands alone against the four-member council majority — is running for a third term. She is being challenged by Travis Loebig, who lives two doors from the mayor.
At the heart of this election is the performance of city manager Josh Pinheiro and his support from the council’s four-member majority.
Jones, Begonia, Lambert and Llanez rehired Pinheiro in 2023 after he had been fired as city manager eight months earlier. Against the advice of an outside law firm and the refusal of the city’s liability insurer to pay it, they voted to give him $1.8 million from the city’s general fund. The majority then voted to require both “cause” and a 5-0 vote to dismiss Pinheiro – an unheard-of level of job security. Most city managers are at-will employees who can be fired by a simple majority vote.
Following his return, Pinheiro pushed major city spending decisions onto the consent agenda or used change-orders in existing contracts rather than put jobs out for competitive bids. Even more controversial, Pinheiro pushed the council to make 13 of the city’s mid-level management positions “at-will” – meaning employees can be fired by Pinheiro without explanation.
That loss of job security appears to be part of the reason for the formation of the city’s sixth employee union – the Los Banos Police Middle Management Association. The group has only three members – two police commanders and the police services manager. Two of those jobs were among those reclassified as at-will. As a union, the LPMMA could negotiate greater job security for members.
Meanwhile, the city’s firefighters are calling attention to their “deep frustration and disappointment” in the city manager and council members Llanez, Lambert, Jones and Begonia. “The people of Los Banos deserve leaders who are responsive, accountable and willing to stand behind those who serve them,” wrote the firefighters on a Facebook post. After complaining about staffing shortages, the union said only councilmember Lewis contacted them to discuss solutions.
It’s not the first time the city’s unions have expressed their anger. In late 2023, all five of the city’s employee unions submitted a letter of “no-confidence” in Pinheiro.
Such frustration could be contributing to the extraordinary loss of city employees. Since Pinheiro first arrived as city manager in 2021, half of the city’s 180 employees have left their jobs. For civil service jobs, that is an extremely high rate, according both the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics and the state of California.
Federal data shows that roughly 1 percent of employees “separate” from a city per month. When Pinheiro first began as city manager in 2021, the city had 180 employees. At 1 percent per month, the city could expect to lose about 65 employees over 36 months. Instead, 90 employees have left since Pinheiro first arrived – or 38 percent more than the norm.
The state’s Workforce Analysis and Census of Employees says only 10.6 percent of California’s public-service employees leave their jobs per year. In Los Banos, that would be 57 over the past three years. That means Los Banos has lost nearly 60 percent more than the statewide norm.
Among those who have quit are six who worked directly with Pinheiro – the fire chief, finance director, police chief, public works director, city treasurer and another finance director, whose exit sparked Llanez’s threats of legal action against councilmember Lewis after she made the departure public. Pinheiro had been trying to keep Vanessa Portillo’s resignation secret until after the coming election.
As one city hall staffer put it, “they all left because of Josh, and they’re still leaving because of Josh.” The staff member spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.
