Appoint interim CM, deal with possible lawsuit by city employee during special meeting before another budget study session

Staff does not provide baseline budget to council as requested but shows annual deficits for this, next two years

By Allen D. Payton

During a special afternoon Closed Session meeting today, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, the Antioch City Council is expected to terminate City Manager Bessie Scott, then deal with a potential lawsuit from an unnamed city employee and appoint an interim city manager. That meeting begins at 4:00 p.m. It will be followed by another budget session at 5:30 p.m.

Scott started in October 2024 and just completed 18 months in her position out of her two-year contract. As previously reported, she was hired on a split, 3-2 City Council vote in August 2024. 

The fact that City staff did not provide “a baseline budget that represents only the required minimum municipal services that the City has to provide” for the 2026-27 Fiscal Year, as requested by the mayor, according to the staff report for the Budget Study Session, that may be one of the reasons for Scott’s termination.

The Closed Session agenda reads as follows:

1) PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION: CITY MANAGER.

This closed session is authorized pursuant to California Government Code section 54957(b)(1).

2) CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL- SIGNIFICANT EXPOSURE TO LITIGATION. The city is in receipt of facts and circumstances that might result in litigation against the City which are known to a potential plaintiff and that pertain to potential employment-related claims by the potential plaintiff against the City. This closed session is authorized pursuant to California Government Code sections 54956.9(d)(2) and 54956.9(e)(2). Number of cases: One.

3) PUBLIC EMPLOYEE APPOINTMENT: ACTING CITY MANAGER. This closed session is authorized pursuant to California Government Code section 54957.

The legal matter may be a possible lawsuit by Scott if she is being terminated for cause and the council doesn’t plan to pay her six months of severance included in her contract. But that is mere speculation as the agenda provides no other information to the public.

Mayor Ron Bernal and the four council members were asked why they’re holding a meeting to fire the city manager and hire an acting city manager at 4:00 p.m. when most people can’t attend. They were also asked why now when she only has six more months on her contract.

Only Freitas responded with, “They Mayor is responsible for setting the agenda. And, due to confidentiality I am legally prevented from discussing this matter with you.”

Additional efforts to reach Bernal and efforts to reach Scott were unsuccessful prior to publication time.

See Meeting agenda.

Budget Study Session – Includes Deficits for This, Following Two years

For the special Budget Study Session beginning at 5:30 p.m., City staff did not provided the Council with the requested baseline budget. The staff report for the one agenda item reads, “At the Special Meeting of April 21, 2026, the Mayor requested that staff provide a baseline budget that represents only the required minimum municipal services that the City has to provide; to then afford the City Council to layer upon that budget to address priorities. As stated by the City Manager and Finance Director, with only 9 weeks to go until the City is required to adopt a budget, this is an impossible exercise to complete in such a short time frame to ensure we have time to research legal mandates as well as do a thorough review of departmental expenditures for what ‘qualify’ as the bare minimum and what is considered to be beyond the minimum. Should Council want to pursue this budget process, it is recommended to start this in August for building the Fiscal Year 2027-28 budget and potential mid-year adjustment for Fiscal Year 2026-27.”

Furthermore, the staff report reads, “With the budget as presented this evening, Council will need to determine what the acceptable level of deficit they are willing to proceed with and potentially direct specific cuts to incorporate if the Council is not willing to adopt this budget.”

Included in the proposed budget are the adjustments the Council proposed at their meeting on April 28th which amount to almost $7.4 million in cuts.

Even with those cuts and an annual transfer of $5 million from the Budget Stabilization Fund, the General Fund Budget Summary shows an ending deficit for this year of $4.7 million, proposed for the 2026-27 Fiscal Year of $6.5 million and projected for the 2027-27 Fiscal Year of $13.4 million.

See Budget Study Session agenda.

Meeting Details

The Closed Session will begin and the Budget Study Session will be held in the Council Chambers at City Hall located at 200 H Street in Antioch’s historic, downtown Rivertown. They can also be viewed via livestream on the City’s website, on Comcast Cable Channel 24 or AT&T U-verse Channel 99 and a recording posted later on the City’s YouTube Channel. The public can speak before the Closed Session to give input prior to the council adjourning to the closed door meeting.

the attachments to this post:

General Fund Budget Summary Chart 26-27 & 27-28

Genl Fund Budget Adjustments FY27

Antioch_Logo & CM Bessie Scott

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 5th, 2026 at 2:16 pm and is filed under City Council, Finance, Legal, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.