SELMA – After a messy month of disagreements surrounding the reorganization of the Selma City Council, the new council is digging into city staff actions it finds questionable.
The Selma City Council has engaged independent investigator John Kunkel to look into what happened during the council meetings on Dec. 12 and Dec. 19, 2024, as well as Jan. 21, 2025. After interviewing Kunkel during a special closed session meeting on Jan. 24, the council voted 4-1 at its regular meeting on Feb. 3 to enter into a contract with him; Councilmember John Trujillo voted against the item.
“I’m looking forward to the investigator doing an objective and fair study and looking into exactly what happened on the December 12 meeting, when we had all our friends and relatives and supporters here who were threatened to be arrested for having a peaceful meeting,” Mayor Scott Robertson said.
According to the approved resolution, the investigation will more specifically look into the conduct of city staff in connection to those three council meetings; it explicitly notes this should include staff from the Selma Police Department and City Manager Fernando Santillan’s office.
In his introduction of the item, City Attorney Neal Costanzo said Kunkel will investigate “the matters surrounding what happened” at the Dec. 12 and Dec. 19 meetings and “to a lesser extent” the Jan. 21 meeting. Although council members did not specify why they wanted this investigation, the approved resolution said the council “identified a need for an investigation of and determination of facts” relating to the events of the meetings.
Costanzo said the council also requested Kunkel investigate the circumstances around how and why the May 2024 settlement agreement between Santillan and the city was made. At the Jan. 21 council meeting, Costanzo called into question elements of that settlement agreement.
Some provisions in an addendum to the city manager’s employment contract, which were added based on the settlement agreement, were illegal, Costanzo said on Jan. 21. The provision that required a 5-0 council vote to terminate Santillan was not allowed under state law, Costanzo said, and he added that the specific extension to Santillan’s contract was not required by the settlement agreement.
“This was portrayed to you as being required by a settlement agreement that you have with Mr. Santillan; I’ve seen the settlement agreement, and that’s not what is required,” Costanzo said on Jan. 21.
At that meeting, the council voted 4-1, with Trujillo against, to remove the addendum to Santillan’s contract.
As part of the resolution approving the contract with Kunkel, the council also prescribed an additional duty to Santillan to cooperate with the investigation, provide any documents or information requested and to instruct any city staff Kunkel would like to speak with to do the same.
This action carries more weight than if the council simply gave Santillan a direction, as it specifically adds cooperation with the investigation into his duties as an employee of the city council. Costanzo said the council is allowed to prescribe additional duties to the city manager in accordance with the ordinance that established the city manager form of government in Selma.
Kunkel, a former Exeter police chief and city manager, has had a long career in public service. Since leaving Exeter, he served as city manager for a small city in Santa Barbara County, and has also taken on various interim city manager positions over the years.
“He’s well qualified to conduct any investigation that you wish to have conducted,” Costanzo said.
The total cost of the investigation is unknown; Selma will pay an hourly rate of $125 to Kunkel for all work done on the investigation.
Meetings in question
Actions taken by city staff at those meetings include leaving the Dec. 12, 2024, meeting and turning off the livestream/recording of the meeting when the former city attorney insisted there was not a quorum of the council members needed to proceed with the meeting. The mayor proceeded to swear in the newly elected council members regardless. Later on that evening, Selma police officers instructed the public to leave city hall because — without city staff present — it was closed.
Following that meeting, a letter from the Public Integrity Unit of the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office cautioned the council that it should conduct its reorganization using standard procedure. Santillan attempted to have the council do that at another special meeting on Dec. 19, 2024. The council mostly settled the matter at its next meeting on Jan. 21.
As part of the Feb. 3 discussion regarding the investigation, Trujillo gave a prepared statement about how, in his opinion, the city still did not have an official city attorney, nor did it have a properly installed council.
“The city of Selma does not currently have a city attorney, as December 12, the vote to hire him was not done by a council majority,” Trujillo said. “The letter from the district attorney confirms this. Since December 12, we have had private citizens sitting on the dais, making decisions and giving council advice without authorization.”
Trujillo was referencing the fact that in a closed session on Dec. 12, the new council appointed Costanzo as attorney; however, Trujillo was among the council members who then approved a contract with Costanzo via the consent calendar at the Jan. 21 meeting. Further, a second letter sent by the district attorney’s office after the Dec. 19 meeting made no claims about the council not being a legitimately installed government body.
The rest of the council expressed their strong disagreement with Trujillo, and Councilmember Santiago Oceguera said all they were trying to do was move the city forward.
“I cannot believe that some people are still acting the same way; nothing’s changed,” Oceguera said. “The only thing that’s changed is, guess what? We have the power now, and we’re gonna do good for Selma for everybody. So if Mr. Trujillo cannot accept that, then that’s his own thing, but we’re going to move forward for Selma.”
