At a special meeting, the San Fernando City Council voted down a motion to continue a closed-session agenda item into a future open meeting and to direct staff to return with a standard process report, then approved an amended agenda deleting Item B and recessed into closed session.

The motion to continue Item A and require staff to report on “RFP process, best practices” and any prior city involvement was made aloud by an unnamed council member who said constituents had called and that they wanted a transparent, open-session discussion when the item returns. “My motion is to continue this item to a future meeting where it will be placed in open session,” the mover said, asking staff also to provide information on the city’s RFP practices and whether similar transactions have occurred previously.

City Attorney Padilla told the council the item could be agendized for open session in the future but noted that certain matters, when properly agendized for closed session, restrict what can be disclosed publicly. Council members split over whether to hear staff in closed session first for background or to move immediately to open session for public participation.

On the roll call vote, Council member Patty Lopez voted No, Council member Victoria Garcia voted Yes, Council member Joe Fajardo voted No, Vice Mayor Mary Salodio voted No and Mayor Mary Mendoza voted Yes; the motion failed.

After that vote, a council member moved to approve the meeting agenda as revised by the city manager to delete Item B. The council passed that motion on roll call (Lopez Yes; Garcia No; Fajardo Yes; Salodio Yes; Mayor Mendoza No). The city clerk reported there were no public statements for the special meeting and the council recessed to the scheduled closed session.

The action leaves the contested Item A in place for closed-session consideration tonight; council members who favored transparency said they expect staff to prepare an open-session briefing and a written report if and when the item returns to the public agenda.