A San Luis Obispo city board will not recommend a disciplinary hearing focused on Mayor Erica A. Stewart.
However, the Personnel Board did agree she violated city policy by sharing a confidential document.
Last year, Stewart sent a draft of a Grand Jury report to a Cal Poly staff member before the document was supposed to be public.
At a special meeting on Monday, the mayor told the board she made an error by assuming Cal Poly could see the report.
“I truly was doing this to create more collaboration, more transparency,” Stewart said. “People have replied all, people make mistakes, and I promise you this was not in any intentional way to cause any harm,” Stewart said.
The Grand Jury report, titled “Round and Round with Town and Gown” touched on housing issues involving both the city and Cal Poly.
Council Member Jan Marx requested that the board recommend the San Luis Obispo City Council hold a censure hearing on the issue.
Board Members Calvin Stevens and Jill LeMieux both agreed that Stewart violated confidentiality, but said the mistake didn’t warrant a hearing.
“It was a serious violation of the city's ethics policies, but it was made as an occasional error in judgment,” Stevens said. “That's how I read all of this happening, it was an error made in good faith.”
Board Member Patricia Ponce, however, disagreed.
“It's very difficult because I do respect our mayor greatly,” Ponce told her fellow board members over Zoom. “Our policies are very clear, and the document that she received was very clear, explicitly stating that it was a confidential document.”
Ponce, who also serves on KCBX’s Board of Directors, said Stewart should have asked the Grand Jury before sending the report.
The board ultimately voted 2-1 against recommending that the council hold a censure hearing, with Ponce dissenting.
Stewart, who apologized for her actions at last week’s council meeting, told KCBX she was sorry for the error and thankful for the board’s decision.
The council can still vote to discuss the mayor’s actions, or even to discipline her, if a majority disagrees with the board’s recommendations.
