Los Banos city councilmember Deborah Lewis divulged during last Wednesday’s council meeting that city finance director Vanessa Portillo resigned over two weeks ago – a fact the city manager had not publicly divulged, and which sparked his anger in closed session.
At the end of a 4-hour meeting, during the portion reserved for councilmember comments, Lewis spoke about employee dissatisfaction – pointing out that public works employees are on the verge of taking a strike vote and noting the departure of dozens of city staff members. Lewis listed five department heads and several other high-ranking administrative employees who have resigned since the arrival of city manager Josh Pinheiro.
Then Lewis made her dramatic announcement:
“I received a phone call Monday night informing me that Vanessa Portillo, our financial director, is going to be leaving the city and I want to know just how many more of our employees are we going to be losing,” said Lewis.
“It’s been painful for me, and I know that it’s been painful for our staff. So, Vanessa, thank you for your time with the city.”
Portillo started as finance director in May, replacing Brent Kuhn, who had been the city’s contract finance director for over a year. Kuhn, who was paid more than $300,000 in 2023, stayed on with the city even as Portillo stepped into the role.
Lewis’ announcement caught much of the city by surprise. She spoke up, said Lewis, “because I wanted the public to know we were losing another top management employee in just a matter of months. And I wanted to know why her situation wasn’t made public by the city manager.”
Portillo did not respond to Lewis’ announcement and has not responded to outreach from the Express.
Sources say Portillo gave her notice to Pinheiro on Sept. 18 but agreed to stay on through Oct. 18. The city’s human resources department was not notified.
The city is embroiled in an unprecedented election in which all five members of the council are on the ballot – three because their terms are up and two because they are being recalled. Foremost among the city’s issues is the controversial rehiring of Pinheiro and the subsequent departure of more than 80 of the city’s staff – a turnover rate nearing 50% since Pinheiro has managed the city.
The announcement of yet another high-level departure would be considered embarrassing to Pinheiro and his supporters on the council – Mayor Paul Llanez and councilmembers Doug Begonia Jr., Brett Jones and Kenneth Lambert.
Earlier in the council meeting, Lambert accused Lewis of having “a vendetta” against Pinheiro when she questioned why the city manager – rather than the parks director, as in other cities — would have authority to approve camping permits within the city.
That rebuke was mild compared to what happened after the council adjourned to meet behind closed doors.
Lewis recounted that Pinheiro ordered city clerk Lucy Mallonee to leave the room then muted the live link to the city’s labor negotiator over Zoom.
Then “Josh began to berate me in front of all the council members; he accused me of being out of control and said I had no right to speak about employees during a meeting. He kept repeating that, and saying I was harming the city,” said Lewis.
“He further stated that I was a wholly self-righteous person and that I would pay for my behavior.”
Such a statement could be construed as a threat.
Lewis said that none of the council members or city attorney Bill Vaughn intervened or made any effort to stop Pinheiro’s tirade. “They just let Josh continue.”
Such inappropriate behavior, said Lewis, results from Pinheiro’s “lockdown, super contract” that requires a unanimous, 5-0 council vote to fire him.
“He has no fear of speaking to me in that manner. I can only imagine that this is what happens to our employees in the city on a regular basis.”
It was such an antagonistic display, Lewis said, that “If I were an employee, I’d be seeking an attorney right now. But things are different for council members. In a normal situation, he would be terminated for being so disrespectful. That is definitely cause for dismissal.”
On Nov. 5, Lewis is being challenged by Travis Loebig, a nearby neighbor of Mayor Llanez, in District 4. In District 1, Tommy Leyva is challenging Lambert. Former, six-term mayor Mike Amabile and former councilmember Refugio Llamas are challenging Llanez for mayor.
Voters have also required Jones and Begonia to appear on the ballot. In June, 1,706 residents of District 2 signed petitions to recall Begonia. There were 1,404 residents who signed petitions to recall Jones in District 3. In both cases, more voters signed recall petitions than voted to originally elect the councilmembers.
By voting “Yes” on the recall, voters in their districts are choosing to remove Jones or Begonia from the council. Replacements will be chosen either through a special election or by temporary appointment.
City manager Pinheiro originally was hired in October 2021 despite having no experience in either government or as an administrator. He was fired some eight months later after complaints from some female employees and other irregularities.
Begonia and Llanez were voted onto the council in November 2022. With Lambert and Jones, they rehired Pinheiro in February 2023, then gave him a controversial payment of $1.8 million to settle his accusation that he had been unfairly fired. When the city’s liability insurer refused to pay the settlement, the same four voted to pay Pinheiro from the city’s general fund. Later, they voted to change the city’s rules to require a 5-0 vote to fire Pinheiro and then only with “cause” – meaning he was no longer an at-will employee.
Since then, the city has discontinued conducting public budget workshops, increased use of the consent agenda to approve significant spending and increased the authority of the city manager while making mid-level managers at-will employees.
The council majority says the changes have resulted in a better maintained city, the approval of pickleball courts and more efficient meetings.
