On Friday, Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe held a press conference announcing Forrest Ebbs as acting Antioch City Manager.
The press conference occurred after a special meeting of the Antioch City Council where they voted 5-0 to place city manager Con Johnson on administrative leave. He was joined by city department heads and councilwoman Lori Ogorchock.
“The city council has appointed Forrest Ebbs as acting city manager until further notice,” stated Thorpe.
Ebbs has served as community development director for nearly 8 years and 23 years of experience in planning and development as well as public administration. He currently oversees the planning, building and code enforcement divisions while managing the residential property portfolio.
“I want to personally thank Mr. Ebbs for stepping up to hold the shop steady as we navigate our way through some unexpected changes,” stated Thorpe. “I also want to thank our city department heads for remaining steadfast in our resolve to continue moving this city forward regardless of the situation.”
Thorpe said he met with all the department heads (minus one) to “look them into the eye to remind them they are all valuable members” of their administration while having both his support and the city council.
“I want to assure Antioch residents that our city employees and partners that the city’s leadership remains focused and united on our top priority in increasing the quality of life and ensuring public safety,” said Thorpe. “Antioch’s government continues to be open and continue working for the people. Yes, it is normal to have policy disagreements, yes its normal to have ideological differences, and yes its normal to be on opposite ends of political disagreements, these items do not change that this city has one mayor and one city council that determines where we go as a city. We set priorities and we are determined our goals and we are committed to them until voters decide its time for change.”
Thorpe also addressed some personal items as well.
“Everyday, I am bombarded by some of the most vilest and disgusting racially motivated attacks,” said Thorpe. “All you have to do is look back at last Tuesdays council meeting to see what I am talking about. Why, because the status quo in this city is so entrenched in the idea that Antioch is a place for a few and not a place for everyone to enjoy. This is why its so important to find like minded partners as part of our administration. We do not have to always agree, but we absolutely has to be on the same page that Antioch’s government will work for every single resident.”
He proclaimed, “gone are the days where a few spoke for all.”
Antioch budget provided in the staff report
He stated that the department heads will continue to move forward and continue with the mission at hand while delivering services. He also stated the city was prepared to begin working on its budget.
“I anticipate this process will be short and smooth and it will be a reaffirmation of the long term goals and priorities set two years ago,” stated Thorpe. “Within that budget process we will be able to share with you that while other cities are worried about their budgets, Antioch continues to be healthy strong and balanced.”
Thorpe continued:
- Later in the month, the city will launch its first 24/7 crisis response team
- Police reform shall continue while stating 10% of police department still under FBI investigation
Thorpe then stated since he has been mayor over the last two years and since there was a “progressive council” over the last two years, he said overall violent crime was down.
“Overall violent crime was lower than at any time between 2013 and 2020. In my second year as mayor, in 2022, the murder rate went down by 25%,” stated Thorpe. “If you recall when I became mayor I inherited a department that operated under the idea that they reported to nobody. A big reason why there has been so many challenges with our city, including todays change, is that every single department, including the police, must report to the city manager under the umbrella of one city. We are not the wild west, and we will ensure that every single department is accountable to the residents of our city.”
He proclaimed the work would continue, services to be delivered and streets will be cleaned and streets will be safe.
Antioch Staffing Levels
In speaking with Barbanica on Thursday, he confirmed the city currently has 408 allocated positions, however, they have 78 unfilled positions ( a little over 20%).
Ogorchock Issues Response
Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock stated Friday she was in attendance at the press conference because she happened to be at city hall for a special meeting but typically has never been invited—she decided to stay in support of the city directors.
She responded to comments made by Thorpe regarding the Antioch Police Department being the “wild, wild west” and police reform.
“Police reform is now a buzz word that is being used way too often,” stated Ogorchock who suggested involving the officers and calling it police re-imagined. “I don’t agree with the comments made today. I believe in our police department and have faith in them. Sure, we all make mistakes and some of them have and the ones that have will be called out on their mistakes as we have noted before. To say that 10% is out with an FBI investigation is not true. It’s less than 10%, its closer to 7% and hopefully that will come to an end shortly.”
Ogorchock stated she appreciated the police department who was working hard, super long days, due to being so short-staffed, improving community engagement, and while things could not happen quickly they will be good changes.
“I support our police chief and those who need to be held accountable will be held accountable,” stated Ogorchock. “It may not even be the ones out on the FBI investigation, it may be something else. Let’s see if those items can be fixed or corrected and get back to work.”
She thanked all the directors and staff for all they are doing.
Barbanica Issues Statement Thursday
On Thursday, Antioch Councilmember Mike Barbanica released a nearly 5-minute video message.
In speaking with Barbanica on Thursday, he confirmed the city currently has 408 allocated positions, however, they have 78 unfilled positions ( a little over 20%).
In the video, Barbanica highlighted concerned he had within the City of Antioch and titled it “wake up elected officials”.
He highlighted in a little over two years, they have gone through three (3) police chiefs, two (2) city managers, assistant city manager, Director of HR, Director of Engineering and Public Works.
“The director of finance coming in front of city council saying stop spending money and presenting council with a document in big red numbers that says a minus sign in front of it showing this is negative spending projected. It increasing grows more and more as the years go on,” stated Barbanica. “Two elected officials didn’t like the word I used in deficit spending, call it whatever you want, but the director of finance is telling us to stop spending money.”
He warned the community you are going to see a lot of movement in the budget discussion. He also called the police department staffing levels as “decimated” with 30 officers on patrol. He also called it difficult to recruit new officers.
“My opinion of this is all elected officials need to wake up and stop spinning this and realize what is occurring. That under the watch of this city council, 3 police chiefs, 2 city managers, assistant city manager, director of HR and director of engineering and public works gone. How many cops, I can’t even tell you,” said Barbanica. “It’s amazing to me. We as elected official need to wake up and see what is going on. Stop with the spin and stop with the political moves. This is a disaster.
Antioch Crime Fact Checking
On February 3, I wrote an Editorial: Is Antioch Crime Actually Down as Mayor Claims?which highlights if one is going strictly off the data, the mayor is absolutely correct. However, like with all data, the data does not tell the full story of what has actually transpired. It is easy to claim crime is down without acknowledging that not all data is even being collected.
- But some common sense is needed here as its illogical to believe that crime goes down when you drop from 115 officers to 73 active because no one wants to work under this Antioch City Council.
- Ultimately, there is just not enough officers to take reports or even respond to all calls. Hence, why you see arrests down by 1,209. You see 2,915 less police reports taken along with 6,367 less officer initiated activity. Its not because there is less crime, but rather staffing levels.
Lets look at a birds eye view of why Antioch Crime is actually down:
- Crime Definition Changes – the definitions of what a violent crime changed. You also have the change in what is considered a misdemeanor to felony–think theft and shoplifting to $950. Another good example of this is what is now included as rape. This all has an impact on the data.
- Antioch Police Staffing – with less cops, equal less arrests and less crime to report and less crimes filed to DA’s office.
- Catch and Release – self explanatory.
- COVID Lockdowns & Stay at home economy – self explanatory. If people are home, burglary and theft will go down. If people are not out and about, robbery also decreases. This also should result in less assaults.
- Police pushing online reporting – Richmond Police Chief Bisa French recently covered this when she explained with lower staffing levels police do not respond to certain crimes. Therefore, residents need to go online to submit the crime. She highlighted they cannot force everyone to report crime and crime is being underreported.
- Growing immigrant population – there is still a mistrust between immigrant communities and law enforcement, again, French covered this in her presentation, but not all crime is being reported.
- Businesses not reporting all thefts – based on California law and District Attorney’s not prosecuting petty thefts, countless crimes are not even being reported to police–if nothing is going to happen, why take the time to file a report? In fairness, this is not limited to Antioch, but its a statewide problem that hopefully will be addressed by Sacramento in this legislative session. And lets be honest, on paper, this is the biggest reason overall crime is down. At least the City of Brentwood is taking the stance of encouraging all businesses to report its crime.
- District Attorney Not prosecuting – need I say more? A soft on crime DA is essentially only taking cases they can “win” and there is also a huge backlog that probably has not even entered in police data at this moment.
Antioch Murder Data is Misleading
Per the Antioch Police Department website, the data does not even match with the Chiefs presentation given last year — for example, murders in 2021 were listed at 13 in his presentation, the website lists 12. In 2022, the Antioch Police Department list 9 murders.
Let’s be real, they responded to 14 fatal incidents and its knocked down to 9 based on how they were classified or what the District Attorney would charge. Of the five incidents not classified as murder, I would argue at least two of them should have been homicides such as the female found burned and mutilated on a trail. We can also debate the robbery gone wrong and several other incidents.
For arguments sake, my own bias says Antioch homicides in 2022 sat at 12 total. Meaning, homicides remain flat regardless of what the data says.
Dec. 27 – shooting on Mandarin Way- Dec. 17 – Fatal shooting 5000 Lone Tree Way
- Nov. 26 – Robbery – 2700 Contra Loma Blvd. — see DA Statement
- Oct 17 – city paved trail (burn & mutilated victim) — see arrest release
- Oct 11 – Fatal hit and run (contra Loma)
- Oct 8 – shooting at Belmont Lane
- Sept. 4 – shooting on MacCaulay Street & W 14th
- July 21 – shooting on Lawton St.
- May 20 – Lemontree Way
- Jan 26 – Alexis Gabe case (more info)
- Jan 24 – 2900 Delta Fair Blvd. (double homicide)
12 comments
What a complete liar. This guy does not understand budgets or how they work. If you are pulling from $9 million from the budget stabilization fund then you are spending money you should not be spending. If you run out of the budget stabilization fund then you are pulling from the general fund. Spend, spend, spend until deficit spending begins. This is the City of Bell all over again. Even worse, is they have 20% of unfillled positions at the moment. How many times have we heard them say we will fund this through salary savings? Well, what happens when they fill those positions? Services go away. Pay attention to the facts, now this clown. Thank you Mike for pointing out the fact checking on crime data and why crime is down.
Hey Antioch Police Officers, are you going to take it from the Mayor calling you guys the Wild Wild West. Recall him now!!!!!
I I I I I I, you have two other progressive’s that have led to Antioch being the laughing stock of the Bay Area Mr. Thorpe. Monica Wilson and Tamisha Torres-Walker have given you 3 votes to do some pretty stupid policy changes. You couldn’t do anything without two woman voting with you.
An excellent and detailed analysis showing how statistics can be manipulated and misused.
First thing Forrest Ebbs should do is educate city employees what constitutes, under state and FEDERAL law, ELDER ABUSE and their duty under law in reporting. Two instances in past years code enforcement was told face to face of a highly verbally abusive neighbor.
“Elder abuse,” if it is happening, is not a “code enforcement” issue. It’s a matter for Social Services and perhaps police. If you have evidence of such the YOU should be reporting it to the proper authorities.
Thorpe is a monumental clown that every normal person is laughing at. Antioch is a cesspool and lamar is the biggest turd in the pool.
We keep asking to recall Thorpe — SO LET’S DO IT!!!
Some points:
1. Thorpe says “gone are the days where a few spoke for all.” Really? So Thorpe is fundamentally calling himself out. With 2 cronies assuring he gets what he wants, we have a case where the majority in Antioch government (the few) are falsely representing the majority of Antioch residents.
2. Looking at the budget, it is clear to me that the issue in the 2023-2024 has a slight increase in revenue but is over budget (deficit) by $8M. The glaring red flag causing this problem is a $10+M jump in the cost of “Personnel”. All b y itself, this is causing a huge budget deficit. The irony of these numbers is that the police staff is still short. Another irony is that expenditures went down almost $7M, so that highlights the increased cost of Personnel has actually had an impact greater than the $8M!
Thank you Mike Barbanica for stating the facts! Thorpe is lying to make himself look good. Any reasonable person can see what’s going on! Recall Lamar Thorpe and get someone in there that truly cares about the residents
Who else is sick and tired of Lamar playing the race card? Lamar, look at yourself. No one has lied about you or your antics. You should be ashamed using the race card to hold over people’s heads. But actually, you have nothing else because you are exactly what people portray you to be. People know the truth about you and it isn’t very pretty. Race is not an issue when it comes to everything you have done. The only liar involved is YOU!!!!! Knock it off!!!!
What is going on???
There needs to be a NO confidence vote among all city employees. Let’s see how the employees feel about their so called leader. This idiot needs to go.
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