Item 33 - Investigation Regarding Councilmember Johnathan Ryan Hernandez (Continued from the 10/28/24 Special Meeting)

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ATTORNEY -CLIENT PRIVILEGE AND ATTORNEY WORD. PRODUCT Sonia Carvalho, Esq. Tamara Bogosian, Esq. October 9, 2024 Page 9 with Hernandez concerning the Juneteenth Festival, Chicano Heritage Festival, and Indigenous People's Day events. The Parks and Recreation Department never asked Hernandez to reach out to vendors directly for the Juneteenth Festival, Chicano Heritage Festival, and Indigenous People's Day events. W. Credibility Analysis of Subject, Council Member Hernandez On balance, the Investigator did not find Council Member Hernandez to be credible. Hernandez' explanations in defense of the allegations were self-serving, sanctimonious and he displayed an apparent bias against City staff. To start, Hernandez would often evade the Investigator's questions and go on long tangents, causing the Investigator to have to re -ask the question on multiple occasions. Hernandez' continuous attempts to skirt the Investigator's questions and frame the narrative in a manner favorable to him greatly undermined his credibility. Another critical factor in assessing Hernandez' credibility was his refusal to acknowledge the City's role with the Juneteenth Festival, Chicano Heritage Festival, and Indigenous Peoples' Day events. The Investigator went through several e-mails with Hernandez in which Hernandez would introduce an entertainer to the City, explain that the City needed to work with the entertainer and provide the entertainer's performance rate. While Hernandez denied any involvement in reaching out to entertainers or negotiating their rates,' it was simply not plausible to the Investigator that this was true given the wording of the e-mails. Hernandez also relied on his responsibility to advocate for his constituents as an excuse for getting involved with the events and he also told the Investigator he believed it was this advocating for a group of "constituents that I feel the City did not care for" that caused him to be attacked and targeted. The Investigator found this to be an attempt to sidestep the allegations, which further diminished Hernandez' credibility. Hernandez also stated on several occasions his understanding that City events needed to be handled by the City Manager's office and the only reason he was involved with the events were due to the City's pleas for him to assist. The documentary evidence simply did not show this was the case. While the Investigator found one e-mail where the Parks and Recreation Director asked for a list of vendors (i.e, entertainers), there was no documentary evidence where any City staff member asked Hernandez to reach out to vendors/ entertainers or to connect the vendors/ entertainers with the City by way of 'cc'. Indeed, there are several e-mails where Hernandez is asked to refrain from his conduct regarding the same. These e-mails were direct evidence that Hernandez understood the request to refrain and consciously chose not to do so. Hernandez' refusal to concede this obvious point also negatively impacted his credibility, The Investigator also noted that Hernandez often tried to turn the interview to a discussion on race rather than the facts related to the Complaint against him. For instance, when asked if 21217231.1