Last month, on June 8, the Milpitas Police Officers’ Association (MPOA) sent an 8-page letter to the Milpitas City Council, criticizing a few of its members…
The letter, which can be read in its entirety here, cites quotes and exchanges from a June 2 budget meeting, claiming that councilmembers lacked “basic municipal fiscal concepts, basic municipal finance practices and basic mathematics.”
Signed by MPOA President Brian Thanh, the letter specifically called out Vice Mayor Garry Barbadillo, Councilmember Evelyn Chua, and Councilmember William Lam. It stated that the three councilmembers issued “blatant misrepresentations, made up facts” and demonstrated a “lack of appropriate preparation.”
“The actions of these three members of the council at this meeting also included disrespectful treatment of professional city staff and a contemptuous disregard for professional city staff responses to their misguided questions and statements,” the letter read.
At a special council meeting on June 10, some MPOA members, including the president of the union, even came out to speak against the council. Some mentioned their disappointment in the council’s mention of potentially cutting 5% or more across every department. They felt it was an example of a failure to recognize the important work that city workers deliver for the community each day.
“Several members of the council advocated cutting services, even though the proposed budget before you last week would have preserved services,” said MPOA President Thanh, who is also a police sergeant. “Yet, for some reason, and a reason I can’t figure out, the budget process was hijacked last week for some performative show at our professional fiscal staff that provided clarifying, explanatory answers to off-the-wall questions. Our professional staff were treated very dismissively.”
Later in the meeting, members of the Milpitas City Council expressed their surprise at being hit by the letter. Vice Mayor Barbadillo went so far as to call for the resignation of the MPOA president:
“I propose a resolution condemning the president of the MPOA, the organization itself, and I call for the resignation of the MPOA president currently, for writing this letter,” said Vice Mayor Barbadillo at the meeting.
Although Mayor Montano did not want to second the motion, she did mention her own shock at the letter.
“I just want to mention that I was very shocked and I was very surprised,” Mayor Montano said.
She added: “I feel that it was orchestrated and political. I feel that someone else was making those decisions. My gut tells me that someone was there trying to politicize this issue and put the majority of the council in a bad light.”
She suggested that the council meet directly with the MPOA to resolve any issues.
No other councilmembers seconded the vice mayor’s motion calling for the MPOA president’s resignation.
“I want to assure our community that I come to every council meeting—especially these critical budget and approval sessions—fully prepared,” wrote Vice Mayor Barbadillo to The Beat in an email exchange. “My decisions are deliberately calculated, objective, and practical; consequently, the questions I ask are intentional and focused on long-term stability.”
Barbadillo also told The Beat that he feels that the City of Milpitas faces “an imminent structural deficit as early as next year.”
At the June 9 meeting, Chief of Police Jared Hernandez stated that the police department isn’t represented by the union, and that the union doesn’t speak for the department as a whole.
“I think it’s important for the community to understand that as a labor group, they are, by law, able to organize and do the activities that they do,” said Chief Hernandez.
He added that a “fractured relationship” and “lack of communication” have played a role in the conflict. He also brought up the MPOA members who spoke out earlier in the meeting.
“Their perspective on their observances of what they heard, to them, is their reality. And I believe the letter was written as a result of that. It doesn’t mean anybody’s right or wrong,” said Chief Hernandez.
The chief made mention of the fact that a lot of labor groups had been in attendance that evening, and also offered to try to bring the MPOA and Council together in conversation.
“It is a fundamental right to question, criticize, and demand responses from members of the city council. It is unfortunate that the vice mayor reacted to being questioned in such an unprofessional manner,” shared MPOA President Thanh with The Beat. “His attempt to intimidate me and the police officers I represent into silence will not be tolerated and he will be held accountable for his demonstrably bad behavior.”
Tom Saggau, who serves as the spokesperson for the MPOA, told The Beat that the letter that Thanh sent had been unanimously supported and approved by the MPOA’s Board of Directors, and that they are looking to be treated fairly.
“Our expectation of Vice Mayor Barbadillo is that he acknowledges his attempt to attack our president for delivering facts to the council and voicing his First Amendment-protected opinion at a public meeting was wrong,” said Saggau. “We expect Mr. Barbadillo to retract his statements made on the public record and refrain from his anti-worker rhetoric in the future.”
The Milpitas City Council is currently on a recess for July; their next scheduled meeting is on August 11.
I attended part of that Council meeting, and read the MPOA letter which was accurate, although surprisingly blunt. Vice Mayor Barbadillo proposing such a heavy-handed response is very like what our corrupt Republican regime is doing to dissenters.
Rather than call for punishing a union for asserting its free-speech rights, why is he not working to increase staffing in the police department? I hear from a reputable source that our current police officer head count is the same today as it was in 1986 – when the population was 45K, not today’s 85K. Let me respond to the Vice Mayor’s call for the resignation of the MPOA president by recommending that voters elect someone to replace Barbadillo, someone with more respect the for the highly-professional men and women keeping our community safe.
give us facts of what actually was said and happened. this article just quotes both sides accusing each other with vague claims, with neither explaining what these accusations actually are for, nor sharing relevant facts. share the link to the recording of the meeting, and the letters.
There’s a link in the article to the actual letter.
This is unacceptable that council members can’t even do basic math. These are the people who make terrible decisions that affect everyday people’s lives, and they’re pretending that being a career politician means no one can be critical of your incompetence.
Is there a link to a recording of the meeting or a transcript?
Meeting is located here: https://milpitasca.portal.civicclerk.com/event/2937/media
Where in the meeting wuold the exchange be? It’ not listed.
It’s toward the end of the meeting.
Is the staffing if the police in Mipitas adequate? I understand the President of the MPOA fighting for union members’ agenda, but there are budget reaities. Along with looking at the number of officers over the years, compare numbers and types of calls in that time. What’s the work load like? I’d imagine with the addition of two homeless hotels to the city their workload has increased. Let the numbers do the talking, they don’t have an agenda.