CC 07-06-2023 Item No. 3 Performance Evaluation-City Manager_Written CommunicationsCC 07-06-2023
Written Communications
Item No. 3
Public Employee
Evaluation: City
Manager
From:Peggy Griffin
To:City Council
Cc:City Clerk
Subject:2023-07-06 City Council Meeting Agenda Item3 - City Manager Performance Evaluation
Date:Thursday, July 6, 2023 1:37:45 AM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the
sender and know the content is safe.
Dear City Council,
With regard to City Manager Wu’s evaluation, please consider addressing the following issues:
ISSUE #1: CUTTING PEOPLE OFF
Often during City Council meetings, City Manager Wu cuts people off, not allowing them to finish their statement or
answer questions that were asked of them, not the City Manager. This has happened to her staff, the City Attorney,
and to the minority City Council Members. It does not happen to the 3 majority City Council members.
From the recently passed “City of Cupertino City Council Procedures Manual”, Section 6 “Relationship with City
Staff”, Section 6.5 Decorum. “All Council members and City staff shall treat each other with dignity, courtesy, and
respect.” This applies to the City Manager-City Council relationships and City Manager-Staff relationships.
ISSUE #2: NOT ANSWERING QUESTIONS IN COUNCIL MEETINGS
VERY OFTEN, when a City Council Member asks a question she refuses to answer it and responds that it will be taken
offline and answered in a memo. Sometimes, questions are brought up during public comment on an item and
Council Members note them and repeat the question during their comment time. These questions need to be
addressed in public and often the answers can impact the vote.
This comes across as arrogant and condescending, as if the information is not important enough to be addressed in
public. There is no follow up. The public never hears the answers to these questions and the vote is forced without
an answer. When a Council Member asks a question, the City Manager should answer the question or find someone
who can!
ISSUE #3: KNOWINGLY ALLOWING MUNICIPAL CODE VIOLATIONS BY STAFF TO CONTINUE
Since December 2022, the City has been in violation of California state and Cupertino municipal code regarding the
timely reporting of monthly financial information. During the February 21, 2023 City Council meeting, Agenda Item
#5 Accounts Payable for Nov. 22, 2022 the frequency of the Accounts Payable reports coming to council was brought
up. City Manager Wu insisted that these reports would adhere to the requirements specified in Resolution 5939,
Section D Number 3. She repeatedly said this on February 21, 2023!
Even in June, these reports were presented late. The City Manager has been aware of this the whole time yet it was
not corrected for over 6 months!
Please address these 3 issues when discussing City Manager Wu’s review. Hopefully, by identifying and discussing
these issues they can be resolved which would help improve communication and relationships.
Sincerely,
Peggy Griffin
From:Rhoda Fry
To:City Clerk; City Council; City Attorney"s Office; Cupertino City Manager"s Office
Subject:July 6, 2023 City Council Agenda #3 City Manager Performance Evaluation
Date:Thursday, July 6, 2023 1:44:51 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you
recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Dear City Council,
Please read below input regarding July 6, 2023 City Council Agenda #3 City Manager Performance
Evaluation.
Dear City Manager Wu,
I felt really badly for you the day you first came to City Council. Jean Bedord had made some
scathing mean comments. I felt compelled to write you a friendly welcome note. At the beginning of
your job, I was impressed by your checking in to clarify direction provided by council. However,
things changed with the change in the new mayor. I’d really like to see the old you back.
It bothers me to see you interrupting your own staff during public meetings. It makes it look as
though you do not trust them to do their job. I’d like the City Manager to provide a platform for the
staff to show their own best work. It would be best to address any differences behind closed doors.
The public should not see that you have no confidence in your own staff. Likewise, it troubles me
when you interrupt council members. You were so mean to one of our constituents that she was left
crying buckets in our community hall. This is not the behavior that is to be expected of a City
Manager.
You have also made erroneous statements during public meetings that are bad for the city’s
governance. You abused your power by telling council members that Public Storage would sue the
City and win if they were not allowed to install a new sign on the basis of public speech. This was
incorrect (I spoke with no fewer than 4 expert attorneys on this issue). Legal advice should have
come from the City Attorney. The fact is that the City incorrectly permitted the first sign, which
allowed the second sign to be considered. You should have protected the public interest, not that of
the storage company. And, by not working in a collaborative manner with Public Storage, the city
residents will be dealing with a public nuisance – and that in itself puts the City at risk of litigation. I
had hoped that your City Planning experience would have been of use here and it seems that is one
of your biggest assets in coming into this job.
More recently, residents asked that the City comment upon State bills. The City has commented on
state bills in the recent past, such as Evan Low’s gay marriage amendment. The request to comment
on state bills was handled very poorly. First was to tell the public that the City would look at the bills
in December. During the council meeting, it became apparent that you full well knew that the fate of
the bills would have been decided before December. Why not just state that you didn’t want to look
at them? Or ask the City Attorney as to whether it would be prudent to issue an opinion. Instead, the
agenda made it look like the City would consider it - - - but in fact it would not. It felt disingenuous. I
felt a lack of trust and transparency with the City. And you made matters worse, you said that the
City staff would not have time to look at it and it would take too much attorney time. And then the
City Attorney corrected you and told you it would not take him much time at all. So why did you
make up an answer instead of asking the City Attorney as to whether he had time? It was a very bad
look for the City.
Councilmember Fruen had suggested that we take another look at the sign ordinance and you shut
down the discussion and said that it would be a huge project like doing a heart-of-the-city plan. That
doesn’t seem right to me and now I doubt it given that you have made incorrect assumptions about
staff time in the past.
With respect to your city-paid trip to Taiwan, I truly think that you should have taken it as vacation
time. And if you didn’t have vacation time, you could have borrowed the vacation or taken time off
without pay. The optics were really bad about leaving at a time when we’re “all hands on deck” with
the housing element and the budget. You need to set an example for the City staff. Now City staff
will feel entitled to taking a vacation when they’re really needed at City Hall. Separately, residents
would like to see a full report of the economic development you achieved while in Taiwan.
I was shocked that you spared no time in getting rid of commissions and committees. Commentary
on the new bills could have been discussed during a legislative committee, but that committee is
gone. I served on the environmental review committee and I think that it provided great value to the
city. I wish that you had spent some more time as city manager to make these decisions. We also
have a paid lobbyist and it is unclear to me that we are making use of that contract. We need to
receive updates from this lobbyist.
I’d like you to make sure that the council and public receive timely financial updates, particularly
now. Our municipal codes continue to be disregarded. Additionally, we need to clean up our
contracts – we must have contracts for expenditures and this is not happening. The “buck stops
here” with the City Manager and it behooves you to make sure that the City’s reports are correct –
otherwise you put our City at risk.
City Manager Wu, you have shown yourself to be capable in the past and I hope that you can do so
moving forward. Right now, it doesn’t look like you care about our City, our Staff, our Council
Members, or the public. Please consider leading from the heart.
Regards,
Rhoda Fry