Westminster City Council Members formally condemned their colleague, Councilwoman Amy Phan West, for a laundry list of allegations regarding her behavior including lying, disclosing confidential information, disparaging staff and publicly berating residents.
Late Wednesday evening, officials narrowly voted 3-2 to officially censure Phan West after spending three meetings in June discussing taking action against the councilwoman.
The censure resolution contained at least 30 allegations of violating city policy.
[Read: Is A Westminster Councilwoman About to Be Censured?]
“Understand that this action is necessary at this time. However, I believe in your potential Councilmember West, potential for positive change, and I am committed to reversing this decision in the future, if we can work together towards improvements,” Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen said at the meeting
Phan West and Councilman NamQuan Nguyen were the dissenting votes.
The councilwoman pushed back against the censure Wednesday night calling the council majority “Chinese communist dictators” and calling the discussion a “banana republic court.”
“The majority is just trying to silence me,” Phan West said. “You can censor me. Bring it on. I welcome it.”
“You abuse your power,” she said.
Phan West also filed a police report against Councilman Carlos Manzo, claiming he threatened her after a city council meeting by not letting her leave the council dais and physically intimidating her – a charge Manzo and Councilwoman Kimberly Ho claim is false.
Beyond the censure, council members are slated to consider sanctioning Phan West at a later date, including removing her from other governmental boards and not letting the city attorney represent her if she’s sued by her constituents.
After the vote, city staff spent about 15 minutes reading the entire censure resolution containing at least 30 allegations of Phan West violating Westminster City Council’s Ethics Policy.
“[Phan West] disrespects the speakers at council meetings by leaving the dais, texting, arguing and engaging in verbal altercations with speakers,” reads the resolution.
“She does not treat staff as professionals. She acts if she is above the law,” reads another part of the resolution.
Officials also allege she disclosed confidential information.
“She violated the confidentiality of closed session information to advance her personal interests.” reads the censure resolution.
Her colleagues also accused her of lying.
“Constantly making up stories, lying. For example, recently, regarding her hot dog BBQ agenda item, she falsely stated that a City department head told her it was okay to do it,” reads the resolution.
And they accused her of trespassing.
“Councilwoman Phan West posted on her social media accounts that she was riding a dirtbike at the Springdale Bridge construction site, which is a violation of the trespassing law,” reads the resolution.
To view the censure resolution, click here.
That same night, Phan West scheduled an item, with support of CouncilmanNamQuan Nguyen, to demand Councilwoman Ho pay a resident over $21,000 and call on the district attorney to investigate Ho for using her title in an alleged GoFundMe scam.
Ho denied Phan West’s allegations at Wednesday’s meeting.
Mayor Nguyen questioned the validity of the item and its relevance to city business and if the council members should even discuss the item in fear of landing the city in litigation.
Phan West demanded to speak, accusing the mayor of “going rogue,” breaking the law, intimidating the city attorney and favoring Ho.
The mayor said he is trying to protect the city.
After nearly an hour of intense debate, with council members shouting over each other and two recesses, officials ultimately voted to end the meeting early and continue the remaining items on the agenda to the next meeting.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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