Lincoln councilman refuses to resign from Lincoln City Council despite council's urging

As of Wednesday morning, Lincoln Councilman William Lauritsen is not resigning from Lincoln City Council, after the four other council members asked him to step down. The four council members have also encouraged the community to hold a recall election. The four council members are acting on an alleged assault that Lauritsen denies. He has not yet been allowed to publicly defend himself against the allocations made publicly by the mayor and six community members. During the April 26 Lincoln City Council meeting, four individuals, plus business owner Matthew Oliver and his wife, Siobhan Oliver, demanded that Lauritsen be removed from City Council during the public comments section. That was based on their interpretation of a live stream on April 25. On April 25, Oliver was live streaming at the Third Congressional Candidate Forum via Facebook at William Jessup University in Rocklin. During his live stream, Oliver sought out Lauritsen and the two men began discussing politics and other matters. Later in the live stream, Lauritsen is seen touching Oliver's shoulder and gesturing his hand toward Oliver's face. Lauritsen was not allowed to give any response to the mayor and the public during the April 26 City Council meeting about the alleged assault, although the mayor, the Olivers and four other individuals accused Lauritsen of the alleged assault and asked him to resign. Andreatta specifically addressed Lauritsen during the April 26 City Council Meeting. "People have asked for your removal; we cannot legally remove him (Lauritsen). As mayor, I'm asking for you to resign tonight. Bill, in a span of about 15 minutes, you managed to just destroy everything that I have worked for in the last three years." Andreatta followed her statement by declaring that the council would hold an "emergency" closed session meeting for the following afternoon on April 27. On April 27, Lauritsen spoke to The News Messenger about the allegations against him and his perspective of what took place on April 25. According to Lauritsen, "He (Oliver) kept pushing and bumping up against me and forcing his phone in my face. When the phone got too close (touching my nose), I took it from him and told him to stop. I then gave it back and walked away." Lauritsen told The News Messenger that he did not assault Oliver. No charges have been filed against Lauritsen. On April 28, the Lincoln City Council emailed a press release asking Lincoln Councilman William Lauritsen to step down and encouraging the community to initiate a recall election against Lauritsen. It was not until April 28 that Lauritsen said he watched the live stream video. "Both of us were laughing (in the video)," Lauritsen said Friday morning. "There was no aggression. We were just horsing around. No one was assaulted." Lincoln City Council held a closed session meeting to discuss the allegations against Lauritsen on April 27. "It's not uncommon to have employment-related conversations in closed session," said California News Publishers Association general counsel attorney Brittney Barsotti. "It would also depend on their internal policies but I do think that at least some of that conversation should have been open for public comment. I think if you're dealing with a vote that involves an elected officials' ability to hold their position or their conduct, as it relates to their elected positions, it's essential for transparency and that the public be a part of that." According to California Legislative Code 54954 Section 5, a City Council can only "meet outside their immediate jurisdiction with elected or appointed officials of the United States or the State of California when a local meeting would be impractical, solely to discuss a legislative or regulatory issue affecting the local agency and over which the federal or state officials have jurisdiction". In other words, a closed session meeting can only be held to discuss a policy or issue facing the city as a whole, not to review the conduct of a City Council member. Four council members, Mayor Holly Andreatta, Vice Mayor Paul Joiner, Councilman Dan Karleskint and Councilwoman Alyssa Silhi, emailed a press release on April 28 to The News Messenger about the April 27 closed session. The four City Council members, Andreatta, Joiner, Karleskint and Silhi wrote: "The Lincoln City Council took a step toward addressing the behavior of Councilmember William Lauritsen on April 27, 2022 providing direction to City staff after a meeting in closed session that lasted under an hour, resulting in staff direction to prepare a resolution of censure. Censure is a disciplinary procedure condemning the actions of a member of the legislative body and is the sternest discipline a City Council can administer to one of its members. The motion for censure will include a statement of charges and a resolution, which will be heard during general business at the next regular meeting of the City Council on May 10, 2022. Councilmember Lauritsen will have an opportunity at that meeting to defend his conduct. In addition, at the same meeting the Council will consider removing Councilmember Lauritsen from all City and regional Boards, committees, commissions, task forces, and group assignments." In the April 28 press release, the four Lincoln City Council members are also encouraging citizens to initiate a voter-driven recall election of Lauritsen. "'Only the voters have the power of recall and removal from office – which we strongly endorse'," the four council members wrote in the press release. "It is my understanding of the law that members of a City Council cannot become directly involved in a recall election of one of their colleagues," former Lincoln City Councilman Peter Gilbert told The News Messenger Friday morning. Over the weekend, the city of Lincoln republished the April 28 press release in an e-Bulletin, once again encouraging and "strongly endorsing" a recall election of Lauritsen. According to the California Fair Political Practices Commission, no public city funds can be used to initiate a recall election of a council member. Lauritsen told The News Messenger that he "felt blindsided" by the April 28 press release and the idea of a recall election. Lauritsen said that there's "a lot of dishonesty" from the other four council members. "I will fight back and I'll give my opinion," Lauritsen said to the idea of a recall election. "There's no reason to have to resign. This whole thing is overblown."