the resignation of City Manager Deanna Santana<\/a> who apparently clashed with Chua over the reported actions.<\/p>\n\u201cLet\u2019s look at both sides and determine if there\u2019s a violation,\u201d said Councilmember Garry Barbadillo. \u201cLet\u2019s subject it to the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to city documents released in advance of this week\u2019s meeting, Chua nearly violated the law by requesting a meeting of the City Council without properly announcing it to the public. Under the California open meetings law known as the Brown Act, meetings of public bodies like city councils must be announced to the public, even if they are held behind closed doors.<\/p>\n
In late August, Chua had requested for staff member Michelle Ramirez to set up an interview with a candidate for city attorney, without involving other staff. Ramirez mentioned this to a superior, who instructed Ramirez to direct Chua to the city manager. When Ramirez asked whether to involve the city manager, Chua specified that \u201cthis is only for elected officials and no staff involved,\u201d according to text messages included in the report.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have been involved in something that could have broken the law, made me look like a co-conspirator, and damaged the City\u2019s reputation. Just realizing that was incredibly scary,\u201d wrote Ramirez in a written statement. \u201cI could have made a serious and costly mistake for myself professionally and for the City. I wish that (Councilmember) Chua would have left me out of this, it has caused for a lot of stress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even so, the staff member eventually involved\u00a0Santana, who contacted Chua and told her that holding the meeting would be illegal. Chua disagreed, according to an email by Santana included in city documents, though Chua maintained that she \u201cunderstood what (Santana) said and thanked her.\u201d Following the conversation, Santana announced her two month notice of resignation in an email on August 29, with October 31 as her last day.<\/p>\n
The meeting was later officially scheduled, and the incident was reported to the Santa Clara County District Attorney\u2019s Office. \u201cFortunately the system worked as it should, and the city manager was able to avert the violation,\u201d said Deputy District Attorney John Chase in a letter included in the documents. \u201cHad the interviews been conducted in violation of the Brown Act, any subsequent appointment of a new city attorney would have been subject to nullification, and the individual councilmembers potentially subject to criminal persecution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with the legal near-miss, the staff report found that Chua\u2019s actions violated several city codes, including by directing a staff member without going through the city manager and by improperly calling a meeting.<\/p>\n
Chua said she was \u201ctaken aback\u201d by the involvement of the district attorney\u2019s office and was not given time to give her input on the report or agenda. She also maintained that she used the same process to hold meetings as in previous hirings \u2014 though both the interim city manager and the acting city attorney said this was not the case \u2014 and noted that ultimately, no laws were broken. \u201cThe meeting I requested was scheduled with proper procedure and Brown Act compliance,\u201d said Chua. \u201cTo me that means the system worked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Milpitas Mayor Montano insisted that the council had to \u201ctake some action,\u201d but expressed that censure was a bridge too far. \u201cThere was no malice,\u201d said Montano of Chua\u2019s actions. \u201cI think it was an honest mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilmember Barbadillo maintained that documents that were not included in the staff report explained Chua\u2019s actions. He also questioned why city staff would have suggested that Chua had violated city code when the City Council makes the final determination on whether a code was breached or not. Barbadillo maintained that the censure process would give Chua a way to \u201cdefend herself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a laughingstock,\u201d said Barbadillo. \u201cWhat pains me is this report \u2026 We\u2019re calling it (a violation) without due process.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the Acting City Attorney Christopher Creech explained that the city manager and the city attorney are obligated to share their opinion about a potential violation of code, Barbadillo suggested that both the city manager and the city attorney should face a performance evaluation. Later in the evening, he was joined by Chua and Councilmember William Lam to add a discussion of Creech\u2019s position to the agenda, which could include\u00a0whether to revoke Creech\u2019s acting city attorney designation or assign the role to someone else.<\/p>\n
In Milpitas, the censure process can be initiated by one councilmember on another, with a committee from the remaining councilmembers deciding whether to investigate further, hold a censure hearing or take no further action.<\/p>\n
In a remarkable moment, Chua attempted to begin the censure process against herself, though her request was soon denied since that was not allowed under the city\u2019s process. \u201cWe need more information,\u201d Chua said. \u201cI want this resolved myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilmember Hon Lien then chose to begin the process against Chua. \u201cWhy is it as leaders we are here trying to cover up for one another? We undermine the trust and we erode our credibility with the public,\u201d said Lien, highlighting Rodriguez\u2019s statements, Santana\u2019s resignation and the legal near-miss. \u201cHad this meeting happened \u2026 I don\u2019t want to go to jail for someone else doing the wrong thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to initiating the censure process, the City Council called for a special meeting, with Barbadillo, Lam and Chua in favor. That meeting would be set for Friday, pending city council availability.<\/p>\n
According to city spokesperson Charmaine Angelo, City councilmembers receive trainings at least every two years, and the council has received trainings on the Brown Act and how to avoid Brown Act violations.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: October 22, 2025 at 3:19 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a lengthy emotional debate, the Milpitas City Council will begin the censure process against Councilmember Evelyn Chua…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[14046,6635,1610,191,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-18864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-brown-act","tag-censure","tag-city-council","tag-milpitas","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}