As 2021 comes to a close, SoCoNews continues its tradition of looking back on our coverage of this past year.
2021 was a year that saw Windsor’s town council itself — its members and composition — in the spotlight. The year began and ended with two separate special elections to fill council seats, both vacancies resulting for different reasons because of former Mayor Dominic Foppoli. The first election exposed flaws in Windsor’s by-district election system — a system that would be the topic of extensive debate throughout the year.
The second, with the candidate filing period opening Dec. 20, will next year replace the seat left vacant after Sam Salmon replaced Foppoli following accusations of sexual assault and misconduct exposed by the San Francisco Chronicle in April, ultimately leading to Foppoli’s resignation in June.
The Foppoli scandal put Windsor in the national spotlight, with Foppoli finally resigning amid public outcry after nearly two months of defiance. His resignation in May saw the council down to three members, then back to four when Rosa Reynoza was seated in June.
Throughout the year, the council would explore its district-based election system, reconsider the at-large mayoral seat, begin developing a code of ethics and lose its town manager.
Read on for more deals on this pivotal year in government in the Town of Windsor.
The shift to district elections and the special election
Prior to the San Francisco Chronicle’s reporting in April that started a public scandal around Windsor’s former mayor that would make national headlines and impede the council’s ability to govern, the Windsor Town Council entered 2021: the first special election to fill a vacancy caused by Dominic Foppoli — and a flawed election system.
In 2018, the Town of Windsor received a letter from a Malibu law firm alleging the at-large system violated the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) by marginalizing minority voters, namely Windsor’s Latinx populations. This led the Town of Windsor to adopt a by-district elections process, in which the council is made up of four regular council members, each selected from specific geographical districts for four-year terms, in addition to a mayor, selected at-large for two-year terms.
A major flaw in this system was identified right at its first implementation. When Foppoli won the mayoral seat in 2020, he had to vacate his regular council seat, leaving the council at four members. Immediately, the council faced deadlock over how to fill the seat. On Jan. 6, after two meetings with the issue facing deadlock, however, Foppoli joined Councilmember Esther Lemus and then-Vice Mayor Sam Salmon in supporting an election over appointment.
Five candidates ran in the May 4 special election, with Rosa Reynoza, who had come second to Foppoli in the race for mayor in 2020, winning her opponent’s former council seat.
The Foppoli Scandal
On April 8, the San Francisco Chronicle broke news that would cause major political upheaval in Windsor: Dominic Foppoli, Windsor’s first at-large mayor, had been accused by four women on sexual assault and misconduct. The news immediately prompted public outcry and calls for Foppoli’s resignation, including from the other eight mayors of Sonoma County cities.
Foppoli denied the allegations, which dated back to 2003, even as he was removed from organizations, protesters called for his ouster and his brother removed him from the Christopher Creek Winery they co-owned.
Windsor community members began the Recall Foppoli effort on April 12, after two more women came forward publicly with additional allegations, including from a sitting councilmember: Esther Lemus, who accused Foppoli of drugging and sexually assaulting her on two separate occasions. Lemus, alongside Salmon and Councilmember Debora Fudge added their voices to the recall effort.
Foppoli himself presided over a special meeting held to consider the calls for his resignation on April 14, where over 100 people unanimously called on him to do just that. While the town was powerless to remove Foppoli from office, although it was cooperating with law enforcement, the public questioned council members about emails received in 2017 and 2020 alleging Foppoli had engaged in poor behavior. Town Manager Ken MacNab defended Councilmember Fudge, who had been mayor when the 2017 email was received, saying she took appropriate action at the time.
By April 16, Foppoli announced that he would ‘step back’ from his position, but still refused to resign.
At the end of the first month, the town accepted the Recall Foppoli campaign’s notice of intention to move forward with the recall process, after initially hitting a snag that seemed to end it in a sputter.
On May 6, the Windsor Town Council announced it had formally requested the Sonoma County District Attorney authorize grand jury proceedings against Foppoli — a method of removing elected or appointed officials from office for misconduct.
However, it wasn’t until May 21 that Foppoli would announce his resignation, amid new allegations including a case in Florida filed by reality star Farrah Abraham. Foppoli released a statement to KSRO stating, “I do not want undue national attention to have a negative impact on the Windsor community because of lawful but poor choices I have made in the past.” He challenged Abraham’s motives.
Foppoli disappeared from the public eye following the scandal, however, the community was baffled and outraged when Foppoli filed paperwork to run for mayor in the November 2022 general municipal election Sept. 1. After initial silence, Foppoli issued a statement to KCBS radio, saying the move filing was a legal requirement to retain some control over previously collected campaign funds, which could otherwise be forfeited.
Ultimately, 13 women have accused Foppoli of varying degrees of sexual misconduct and assault. Because Esther Lemus had formerly worked as a prosecutor for the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office, the state Attorney General’s Office opened an investigation into potential crimes committed by Foppoli, resulting in a search warrant of a Windsor residence owned by Foppoli Nov. 10. Authorities reportedly confiscated electronic equipment as part of their investigation.
The scandal also prompted the town council to begin developing an ethics code, which could ensure their ability to respond in any future instances of misconduct, however, will not give them the ability to remove elected officials from office, as the public called on them to do the previous spring.
The council continues
In June, shortly after Foppoli’s resignation, Rosa Reynoza joined the three other members of the town council before being appointed vice mayor. The council appointed Sam Salmon to Foppoli’s vacant at-large mayoral seat, and Salmon’s seat has been vacant since.
With Reynoza seated but Foppoli gone, the council found itself once again at four members, immediately facing deadlock over how to resolve the vacancy: Fudge and Lemus favored an appointment process to quickly fill the seat, however, Reynoza and Salmon favored an election. Because three votes are needed to take action, the council was unable to appoint a fifth member.
With an appointment out of the cards, the council then shifted its sights to the makeup of the mayoral seat in general. In August, fearing future councilmembers would leave vacancies, as Foppoli did, in pursuit of the mayoral position elected at-large every two years, Lemus and Fudge failed to sway either Reynoza or Salmon to join their effort to return to an appointed mayor.
While the town began its redistricting process required following the release of U.S. 2020 Census data this fall, the need for district elections themselves came under review; however, hopes of a return to at-large elections were quashed when a consultant’s study revealed the town would need to keep the district system or else “run afoul” of the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA).
On Nov. 17, however, consultants presented the findings of a study which found that the at-large system had, in fact, marginalized Hispanic voters.
With everything going on with the town council, there was another major change in personnel at the Town of Windsor at the end of the year. On Dec. 29, Town Manager Ken MacNab officially resigned, citing personal reasons. On Dec. 1, the council official appointed Mark Linder as interim town manager. Linder served South Bay and Central Coast governments as a senior manager for 30 years. At the same meeting, Lemus was appointed vice mayor.
On Dec. 20, the nomination period for the special election to fill Salmon’s at-large seat officially opened. Whoever wins the special election April 12 will only serve until December 2022, however, they will potentially have the opportunity to cast the deciding vote on two deadlocked issues: the Civic Center project proposed by developer Robert Green and whether to bring the question of the at-large or appointed mayor to voters via special election.
Once the winning candidate is seated, the Windsor Town Council will have a full five members for the first time in a year and a half.
