In the first such action in Arcadia history, the City Council enacted censure penalties Tuesday for Mayor Sharon Kwan that include relieving her of the ability to preside over meetings.
Four of the five council members also voted to formalize rules of decorum:
“Treat everyone courteously; listen to others respectfully; exercise self-control and avoid threatening language and loud, insulting, demeaning, or offensive communications; give open-minded consideration to all viewpoints; focus on the issues and avoid personalizing debate; and embrace respectful disagreement and dissent as democratic rights that are inherent components of an inclusive public process and tools for forging sound decisions and allow all parties to speak without intimidation or interruption.”
In a statement from the City Manager’s Office on Wednesday evening, officials clarified the outcome of the council’s censure action:
“The proposed censure of Mayor Sharon Kwan was … amended (Tuesday) night before its adoption. The amendment placed a conditional hold on enforcing the consequences of the censure, which will not be enacted unless the Mayor’s actions violate the new policy or fall within the scope of the original censure findings,” according to the statement. “Before any consequences are enforced, a motion to lift the hold must be made and put to a vote on a future meeting agenda. Following this change, Mayor Kwan will retain all privileges and responsibilities of the Mayoral office for the remainder of her rotation.”
Officials added that “extensive public testimony on the matter revealed the community’s strong desire for respectful, collaborative, and professional business meetings. Under the new (procedure and decorum) policy, the City Council reinforces its commitment to upholding the highest standards, ensuring every meeting reflects the priorities of the community.”
This decorum rules promote “mutual respect, civility, and orderly conduct among the City Council, as well as guides their interactions with City staff and the public while in office,” according to the statement. “Council meetings have traditionally operated under routine public meeting procedures, but with the new policy, better standards to improve the meetings are now in place.”
A second council-approved and later amended resolution specified reprimands for Kwan’s alleged misconduct. She “is relieved of her of her duties to conduct City Council meetings, and shall not preside over City Council meetings for the balance of her term as Mayor …
“Kwan is relieved of her assignments to serve on City Committees and as the City’s representative on outside agency boards, except where such boards require that the City’s representative be the Mayor as mandated by law;
“Mayor Kwan shall not serve as the City’s designated representative to speak on behalf of the City Council at outside events or to outside organizations … however, nothing provided herein shall disable the Mayor from any public address which is pursuant to an invitation by the party or organization specifically requesting Mayor Sharon Kwan to address that party or organization.” Mayor Pro Tempore Eileen Wang will speak in place of Kwan “if an unspecified speaking engagement or request is made to the City for a public address,” according to the resolution authored by Councilman David Fu and finalized by the city attorney and city manager.
Kwan, who became the city’s first Asian American female mayor in April, will continue to be identified in city records as mayor for the balance of her 9.5-month term.
The mayor and a number of supporters who have spoken at recent council meetings claim the censure action is about free speech rather than wrongdoing or crimes. The censure stems from Kwan’s questioning of municipal finances — specifically whether sizable recent pay increases for unionized city employees will imbalance the city’s budget and possibly lead to future deficit spending using reserve funds, Kwan supporters contend.
The City Manager’s Office asserted the “council approved competitive labor contracts with the intent of attracting and retaining a talented workforce. As with our most recent budget adoption, we are confident that a balanced budget will continue to be put forward without drawing down on emergency reserves or impacting service levels.”
In a statement last week, city officials said, “When the labor contracts were approved in 2024 for Arcadia’s five employee associations, a $2.3 million budgetary imbalance was projected at that time. Due to a combination of strong revenues from local spending, reduced discretionary expenses, and refined employee benefit estimates, the City ended Fiscal Year 2024-25 with a $34,000 surplus, while a surplus of $88,400 is projected for Fiscal Year 2025-26.”
Kwan also has filed a complaint with the city against Fu for alleged sexual harassment and discrimination. In his censure resolution, the councilman called the mayor’s allegations “unfounded.”
The resolution listed these grievances against Kwan:
“Weaponizing and exploiting children, induced to give false and uninformed statements for political purposes of embarrassing the City, and Councilmembers, and to escape responsibility through the use of shills and strawmen.
“Demeaning the military service of veterans by stating she has done more for veterans by asserting she made unsubstantiated charitable contributions, and arguing that these were more valuable than respect and appreciation.
“Knowingly falsely alleging financial impropriety by claiming there is concealment of the City’s true finances and asserting that City staff is misrepresenting financial information to the City Council and public, and claims that the City staff is lying to the public, for the political purpose of undermining public confidence in City staff and the Mayor’s colleagues.
“Disparaging first responders, and council colleagues by accusing them of impropriety and corruption because labor organizations chose not to support her.
“Making unfounded accusations of sexism against Councilmembers and staff whenever disagreements arise to deflect argument against her ill-conceived and unfounded positions on substantive issues.
“Discouraging public participation by mocking and belittling constituents, including elderly residents, by implying their incompetence and deafness, simply because they were politically adversarial to her or expressed a conflicting viewpoint, attempting to intimidate opposing viewpoints and to squelch dissent.
“Misusing council procedures and engaging in ‘ambush techniques’ by failing to place items on the Council agenda in order to surprise her fellow Councilmembers and city staff and failing to consult department heads before raising issues that could have been resolved administratively, for the purpose of embarrassing unprepared City staff members and undermining public confidence in these officials and staffers.
“Engaging in un-collegial behavior, unprofessional temperament, and unfounded accusations against Councilmembers simply because other Councilmembers expressed a differing viewpoint,” the censure list concludes.
The four council members who voted for censure did not respond to a request for comment on this week’s censure hearing.
Kwan said in a statement Wednesday, “I am delighted that the public saw my Council colleagues and the city attorney trying to silence me because of my insistence on transparency, financial responsibility, and professionalism, and that’s why so many people showed up to defend me against this obvious retaliation. I know my colleagues and the city attorney are going to continue trying to intimidate me, and I will continue fighting against it because the residents of Arcadia deserve to know the truth about what’s happening at City Hall and how their money is being spent.”
The meeting Tuesday evening at Arcadia City Hall was more succinct and considerably less emotional than the special meeting Aug. 26, in which Fu, Wang and Councilmen Paul Cheng and Michael Cao voted to censure the mayor. Tensions surfaced, however, when the council majority, backed by City Attorney Michael Maurer and City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto, overruled Kwan’s attempt to have her attorney address the council on her behalf.
Kwan repeatedly refused to yield for a vote, and on the procedural advice of the city attorney citing state law’s Brown Act, the city clerk called the roll and the council voted while the mayor continued speaking in opposition.
Former Arcadia Mayor April Verlato has started a fundraising drive to cover the costs of a lawsuit against council members and the city.
“The voters of (District 2) have retained counsel, Cory Briggs, known as a relentless public interest attorney, to represent them in a lawsuit against the City and the individual council members voting for censure,” Verlato wrote in a mass-email. “When Council says that the words coming out of Mayor Kwan’s voice is offensive to them, they are saying that the voice of D2 is offensive to them. But the Council members from D1, 3, 4 and 5 didn’t elect Mayor Kwan. It’s not up to them to effectively ‘remove’ her if they don’t like what she has to say. That’s up to the D2 voters and the Council is trying to subvert Democracy and silence the voice and representation of the voters of D2.”
Video of the meeting is on the city’s website, along with relevant documents.
Updated Sept. 4, 2025, 8:42 a.m.
