Photo Credit: YouTube
(SAN RAMON, CA.) – The San Ramon City Council spent considerable time at the June 23 meeting debating how to fill a crucial vacancy on the Planning Commission, only to realize that they had overlooked the most basic question: Is the designated waitlist candidate even available to take the job?
City Clerk Joan Snashall presented the council with the last item in the agenda, recommending that the city council “discuss and provide direction to staff regarding the process for filling the vacancy on the Planning Commission.”
Snashall read through the staff report, informing the council that a vacancy occurred on the Planning Commission due to the resignation of Commissioner Max Zhang on May 6 of this year.
Zhang was appointed by the city council on August 14, 2025, to serve a term expiring on June 30, 2029. During the time of his appointment, the council “established a waitlist and designated a waitlist candidate should a vacancy occur before the next regular Planning Commission recruitment in 2027,” Snashall said.
Abhijit Banerjee was explicitly named the waitlist candidate back in 2025, and the council was set to discuss filling Zhang’s seat, but was tangled in a web of their own making because no one reached out to check on Banerjee’s availability.
Interestingly, Snashall mentioned how at the May 26 city council meeting, “under matters initiated, Mayor Armstrong requested that an item be placed on a future agenda to discuss how to proceed with filling the vacancy on the Planning Commission. The council agreed to bring the item back for future consideration.”
The council had nearly a month to make a quick phone call to Banerjee before this item was brought forward as a blind debate on four different options.
“Options include appointing the waitlist candidate either through the next regular recruitment cycle ending June 30, 2027, or for the remainder of the vacant term ending June 30, 2029; directing staff to conduct a new recruitment process; or providing alternative direction,” Snashall said.
Once discussions began, the council’s lack of foresight and common sense became a blatant talking point. Pointing out the incompetence of the council, a public commenter who goes by the name Elena Formosa voiced her opinions.
“Full disclosure, Elena Formosa is not really my name, it is just a name for you guys to tell me that it’s my turn…I don’t want to be like you guys. Every single one of you, nobody speaks. You only pat each other’s back. I will never run for these positions…you are prone to be corrupted. You are proof that that is true.”
Video Credit: YouTube
After public comment closed, Mayor Mark Armstrong asked the staff if anyone had reached out to Banerjee to see if he’s still interested, with Snashall simply responding with “no.”
Armstrong then went on to say that there may be some other candidates who would be available to apply for this position and Councilman Richard Adler echoed that statement, “It seems like we should open it up to other candidates, so we can get the best person for this position.”
Councilman Sridhar Verose appeared confused as to why the council was seemingly changing its policy. “So we made a policy, we agreed on that, and now why are we backing out? [Is there] any reason for that?”
Verose and Snashall went back and forth, with Verose asking multiple clarifying questions and with Snashall declaring, “the waitlist is something new, so we’re still working through it as things happen,” she said.
Verose still seemed baffled by what was happening and shared his opinions. “So it’s like we create a policy, and then we want to kill the policy that we created, that’s how it sounds to me,” he expressed, “I’ll change my policy the way I want, that’s how it sounds.”
Vice Mayor Marisol Rubio then spoke as to why this was all puzzling. “I feel like we are missing one piece of information that’s really important, and we don't know if they’re still interested or available. I feel like we shouldn't even make a decision on this tonight until we know their position on this. We need more information, and we don't have it,” Rubio said.
Both City Manager Steven Spedowfski and City Attorney Martin Lysons chimed in, with both agreeing that if the council gives direction to reach out to Banerjee, it will be brought back for discussion at another time.
Armstrong admitted to hearing about other people who have “expressed interest, but it doesn’t mean they will apply if we go through the recruitment process,” he said.
Regarding the urgency in filling that vacancy, Armstrong said, “It’s always best to have 5 planning commissioners, but I don’t know that we have an urgency.”
As for the next steps, Lysons summed up the direction the council would like to take. “The council’s desire is to offer the position to the person on the waitlist, and if that person accepts, then we would bring back an item before the council to appoint him until the 2027 recruitment. If that person is unavailable or otherwise does not want to take the position, then staff is directed to begin the recruitment process from scratch.”
Lysons then stated that staff had the direction they needed without going to motion, so a simple head nod from everyone on the council was sufficient for Armstrong to move forward with the meeting.
The agenda noted there was “no fiscal impact associated with this item,” but spending valuable council time debating a potential ghost candidate felt like a costly administrative error.
If you have any questions or comments, please email me at kathleen.p@lead4earth.org or comment below.
0
0
Comments