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Arguments Ensue Over Closed Door Issues
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With Riverbank City Council currently discussing a number of lawsuits in closed-door sessions, councilmember Dotty Nygard said at the May 9 meeting she was disappointed councilmember Richard O'Brien had made comments to the press on closed session subjects.

O'Brien replied he did not intentionally violate the law and was sorry if he did but the council had taken legal action and that was an indisputable fact.

Mayor Virginia Madueno commented any council member is allowed to speak about his or her vote and their personal opinion after a closed-door session but should not talk about the conversation of others in that session.

Discussing a related subject, a member of the audience asked how the council could reinstate a legal action to oust councilmember Jesse James White for violating election law when the same attorney they have now had recommended they drop the idea several years ago. Attorney Douglas White replied the new "quo warranto" action was being brought under a different code section, 811 instead of 803, and with the permission of the Attorney General.

Resident Scott McRitchie commented he realized "you can't say anything about anything and the community's left to guess" but he felt the new action "would disenfranchise a lot of voters" in light of the ongoing issues.

"You've marginalized him anyway," McRitchie said of councilmember White. "Now we have a very stable four on the council. The other one won't make a difference. Further expenditures (on lawsuits) are unneeded."