Lack of Quorum Prevents Antioch Council Meeting for Occurring

On Tuesday, the Antioch City Council was set to kickoff 2023 with a packed agenda. The only problem is there was a lack of quorum which prevented the peoples business from even occurring.

Although councilmembers Mike Barbanica and Lori Ogorchock showed up, Mayor Lamar Thorpe, Mayor Pro Tem Tamisha Torres-Walker and Councilmember Monica Wilson were no shows. It was reported that Wilson was stuck traveling and was not going to be able to attend.

While it may be stated elsewhere this was about “sick councilmembers” or “in-person vs. zoom” and citing state law under AB 2449 requiring at least 3 members to be present, this actually came down to “voting blocks” and whether items on the agenda would get passed or not–specifically related when it came to city council salary increases of $250 a month and voting to hire three city council assistants.

Barbanica and Ogorchock had already previous voted against the council assistants last April with Ogorchock coming out as an “absolutely no” vote.  With Wilson unable to attend, it was highly likely a 2-2 vote would occur, meaning no action could be taken and the item would have failed.

With the mayor unable to have his voting block at the meeting, rather than allow for a 2-2 vote to occur on several items, he and Torres-Walker simply did not show up, thus, no quorum which meant no meeting.

Meanwhile, at 5:05 pm Tuesday, an hour before closed session, Thorpe posted to social media that he had cancelled the meeting. The only problem with that is he does not have any authority to just cancel a meeting that had been announced to the public. He would have to show up, call the meeting to order. and then adjourn.

Neither the mayor nor mayor pro tem were present to call the meeting to order, therefor the next highest ranking councilmember called the meeting to order (Ogorchock) with roll call taken, thus after some time passed, the meeting could not proceed due to a lack of quorum.

Antioch City Manager Con Johnson also was a no-show to both closed session and the regularly scheduled meeting.

City Attorney Says Quorum Would Occur, Says Meeting Can’t be Cancelled.

Below is a copy of an email sent to the entire city council informing the council that a meeting cannot just be cancelled. Attorney Thomas Smith also informed the council at 1:05 pm that they believe they should have a quorum for the City Council meeting.

Previously, councilmember Lori Ogorchock (sickness) and Wilson (travel) had planned to participate in the meeting remotely via zoom. When Barbanica said he was feeling ill, and also requested a zoom link, that is when AB 2449 came into play and the city attorney advised them they needed three councilmembers at the dais. Barbanica and Ogorchock then stated they would attend in person.

Later that day, at 5:05 pm, that is when Mayor Thorpe sent out his announcement on Facebook the meeting was cancelled.

Antioch City Council Agenda

With no Quorum Tuesday night, here is a look at the peoples business which did not get discussed:

Closed Session

• City manager evaluation
• City attorney evaluation

Regular meeting

• Inspiration for the New Year by Antioch Poet Laureate Jose Cordon
• Introduction of New Employees
• Announcements of upcoming Civic and Community Events – including Martin Luther King Day of Serve (Jan 16, 2023)
• Presentation – overview of potential economic development financing tools
• Professional services Contract for East Lone Tree Specific Plan
• Unhoused Resident Services – Amendment 4 to consulting services agreement
• Short Term Lease with Meals on Wheels Diablo Region at Nick Rodriquez Community Center
• Agreement with Bay Alarm to expand access control, intrusion and video monitoring at Antioch facilities
• Increase of purchase order with Core and Main for Procurement of Water Distribution and Systems Maintenance Parts and Supplies
• Amendment of the City of Antioch Surplus Property List
• Billboard Regulations
• Updating Building Regulation code
• Permit for Delta Distribution (Cannabis)
• Reorganization of Public Works Department
• City Council Salaries
• Approval of part-time secretary positions for City Council
• Standby city council members
• Appointments to city council committee assignments

This is not the first time a meeting could not occur due to a lack of quorum when the voting block of Thorpe, Torres-Walker and Wilson were not available, the trio just simply did not show up. This appears to be the strategy to simply not show up when 2-2 votes might occur.

Here is a statement issued by councilmember Mike Barbanica:

Good evening

I have had people reach out to me asking about the council meeting tonight and why it was not happening. The meeting was opened and adjourned due to a lack of quorum.

This morning I was not feeling well (I think it was something I ate):

• 10:47 AM I text the city manager and assistant city manager and asked for a zoom link to be provided for the meeting.
• 11:52 AM the city manager responded back to me, “Yea, got it”.
• 1:08 PM that link was sent to me.
• 2:59 PM I text the city attorney and told him that I would actually be at the meeting. I followed this up with a phone call to him and told him that I think it was something that I ate and that I would be there.
• 3:12 PM I text the city manager and the assistant city manager and told them both that I would be there.
• 6:00 PM I was at the meeting ready to proceed to closed session and the other member present was Council Member Ogorchock, City Clerk Householder, City Attorney Smith and Assistant City Manager Bayon-Moore were also present. There was not a quorum so under the advice of the city attorney, we opened the meeting and announced there was no quorum. We waited 15 minutes and closed the meeting. We waited in the chambers until 7:00 PM to see if anybody else showed up and to handle the public meeting.
• 7:00 PM We opened the public meeting with the same two members present as well as the city clerk and city attorney and immediately closed it due to a lack of quorum.

Residents Unaware of “Cancelled Meeting” as Mayor Blocks Them on Social Media