By Allen Payton

The oath of office ceremony for incoming mayor, Dr. Sean Wright, re-elected councilwoman Monica Wilson and new councilman Lamar Thorpe is scheduled for this Thursday, December 8 during a special meeting in the Council Chambers at City Hall. Although it’s not being held on the customary and traditional second Tuesday of December, following the certification of election, there is precedent for holding a special meeting to swear in a new mayor and council members, as happened in 2012.

Wright said that the meeting will be streamed live on the City’s website and if not shown live on Comcast local cable TV channel 24, like regular council meetings, it will be recorded for airing later, so that more Antioch residents who want to can watch.

But, while the the meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m., according to the agenda under Item 1,  “If Certification for the November 8, 2016 election is received from the Contra Costa County Election Department prior to the Council’s December 8th Special Meeting, Staff recommends the Council adopt the resolution confirming the results of the November 8, 2016 General Election. If Certification is not received, Staff recommends continuing the item to a future meeting.”

Yet, according to the Elections Code section, which City Manager Steve Duran provided, when asked about scheduling the oaths of office on the 8th – which has been in the works for awhile – instead of the next regular council meeting on Tuesday, December 13th, it states the canvass must be completed before installing new officers.

10263. Upon the completion of the canvass and before installing the new officers, the governing body shall adopt a resolution reciting the fact of the election and the other matters that are enumerated in Section 10264. The governing body shall declare elected the persons for whom the highest number of votes were cast for each office.

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), the governing body shall meet at its usual place of meeting no later than the fourth Friday after the election to declare the results and to install the newly elected officers.

(b) For a consolidated election, the governing body shall meet at its usual place of meeting no later than the next regularly scheduled city council meeting following presentation of the 28-day canvass of the returns, or at a special meeting called for this purpose, to declare the results and to install the newly elected officers.

Therefore, if certification is not received and voted on by the council on Thursday night and must be continued to a future meeting, then the oaths of office must also be continued to a future meeting, both of which would have to occur next Tuesday, Dec. 13th, which is the “next regularly scheduled city council meeting following presentation of the 28-day canvass of the returns.”

One cannot be done without the other occurring first, which is why the certification is on the agenda prior to the the ceremony, unless the oaths performed on Thursday night would merely be ceremonial. If so, the new mayor-elect and council member-elect would not be able to take their seats and the reorganization of the Council, under agenda Item 2 couldn’t occur and would have to also be postponed until next Tuesday.

However, in response to an email asking about the matter and if the canvass of returns also referred to as the certification of the election, will be done by this Thursday at 5:00 p.m., Duran responded, “The City is the governing body for the City election, even though the election was consolidated. The Elections Office said they will certify today.”

County Clerk Joe Canciamilla confirmed that, today, as well.

“We are done and just in the process of completing the paperwork necessary to send off to the SOS (Secretary of State),” he said this morning. “Certification will be official shortly and Arne was previously advised he could pick up his packet at 3 pm or thereafter.”

That advisement occurred in a letter Canciamilla sent out to city clerks and elections officials in the county, last month.

As for why the ceremony is being held this Thursday, instead of on the regular council meeting night, as some Antioch residents have been wondering, Duran had said previously it’s because the agenda was filling up and there wasn’t enough room or time for the ceremony, next Tuesday.

City Clerk Arne Simonsen confirmed that, today.

“Yes, the meeting on the 13th is a long one with closed session at 5:30 pm, an alphabet soup of items on consent and four public hearing items, in addition to regular agenda items,” he said. “That is why the decision was made to have the swearing in on the 8th.”

When asked why there couldn’t have been a special council meeting, next Thursday, December 15th to deal with the agenda items that couldn’t get done on the 13th, so the ceremony could be held that night, neither Duran nor Mayor Wade Harper, who in his position works with the city manager to set council agendas, did not respond.

When asked if he was included in the decision for holding the oath of office ceremony on Thursday, Wright responded, “As the Mayor elect I am very happy with the way that the swearing in ceremony is taking shape.  The meeting will be recorded and streamed live on our website so that citizens and family members who are unable to attend can watch. I have also been told that they are working with CCTV to broadcast live as well.”

“As we worked together to find a time that worked for our families and supporters the 5 PM start worked well and showed a willingness to compromise,” he continued. “I would love this meeting to be a celebration of a new beginning for me as Mayor and our council.  I hope that it can be free of controversy and be the beginning of a positive future for Antioch.”

“In such a close election with the results not giving us a clear cut winner until this weekend, I have not presumed victory and therefore not sat down with city staff and elected council members,” Wright explained.“This definitely puts us at a disadvantage when it comes to agendas but I have been in talks with Arne Simonsen today regarding this Thursday’s agenda and will sit down with Steve tomorrow to go over Thursday and next Tuesday’s agenda.  I am attempting to meet with council members this week and will make sure that I have a say in what is on the agenda and am ready to discuss those items included for Tuesday the 13th.”

“Again I will reiterate the hope that this Thursday is a celebration of a new council with a positive fresh start,” he added.

However, council meeting agendas only require a 72-hour public notice. Since the final results of the election were known last Saturday night, they could have waited to work with the new mayor-elect to set the agenda for either next Tuesday and/or this Thursday. Even if the results weren’t certified until Thursday, as Canciamilla’s office has the legal limit to do, next Tuesday’s council meeting agenda could have been decided that day, with the mayor-elect included.

Wright also had to make sure it was at 5:00 p.m., so he can attend his children’s school Christmas plays, later that night. In addition, the Antioch Chamber of Commerce had to move back by a half-hour, their annual Chairman’s Mixer to start at 5:30 p.m., so as not to conflict with the ceremony. Plus, since Duran and Harper had been planning for awhile to hold the ceremony and council reorganization this week, instead of waiting to find out who the new mayor would be and including him in the planning of the ceremony and the agenda for his first meeting on the 13th, Wilson had scheduled people to fly in to attend it on Thursday.

“All oaths of office will be performed at the same meeting,” Wright said. “The Chamber also worked with us and was flexible with the start time of the Mixer to allow those that wanted to attend both meetings the opportunity to do so.  Those wanting to join the Chairman’s Mixer following the meeting are welcome to attend.”

That will be hosted by new Chamber CEO and outgoing chairman, Richard Pagano and held at Tailgaters in Antioch.

So, beginning this Thursday, December 8th at 5:00 p.m., Antioch will have a new mayor and mayor pro tem, as Thorpe garnering the most votes in the council race, will be granted that two-year title, according to city ordinance, by a perfunctory vote of the council. The two new members will join Wilson, current Mayor Pro Tem Lori Ogorchock, and Councilman Tony Tiscareno, both of whom aren’t up for re-election until 2018.

The council reorganization will include a brief bit of what will appear to be musical chairs as the members literally change seats. But, it will not include the nomination of council members by Wright to various city committees and regional boards on which they represent the city. Those require a vote of approval by the council and, according to Simonsen, they will be on the agenda for the January 10th council meeting.

The Council Chambers at City Hall are located at 3rd and H Streets, between 2nd and 3rd in Antioch’s historic, downtown Rivertown.

“As exciting as any sports game I’ve ever been to” – Sean Wright

By Allen Payton

In the words of legendary sports announcer Howard Cosell, it’s over, it’s all over. After waiting almost four weeks, as the Contra Costa County Elections office counted the estimated 180,000 remaining ballots in the county not counted on Election Night, the people of Antioch finally learned on Saturday, they will have a new mayor.

With no more votes to count, according to County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Joe Canciamilla, Dr. Sean Wright has achieved victory over incumbent Mayor Wade Harper by just 67 votes. Wright garnered a total of 11,497 votes to Harper’s 11,430.

“I’m excited to serve the citizens of Antioch and looking to work with everybody in a team effort to make this a place that all of our friends want to live,” Wright said after hearing the news. “I’m tired of my friends moving. We all have friends that have left us.”

About the wait for the final results, he said with a laugh, “This was as exciting as any sports game I’ve ever been to, except it took three-and-a-half weeks to find a winner.”

“I want to thank the other candidates for their graciousness, and thank Wade for his graciousness and class in this close election,” Wright continued.

Initially trailing on Election Night by over 300 votes, Wright ended up in the lead, and then ahead by 259 votes with the first update on Thursday, November 10th. But, with every subsequent ballot count update, Wright’s lead continued to dwindle.

What was expected to be the final update on Friday, December 2nd, it showed Wright’s lead down to just 71 votes. By the second update that night at about 7:00 p.m., his lead had shrunk again to just 58 votes. But, with the final ballots counted in the entire county, Wright gained nine more votes to finish with a 67-vote victory on Saturday night, just as the annual Antioch Holiday DeLites Celebration ended, at the conclusion of the Lighted Boat Parade on the river.

“This election proves that every single vote matters,” he added. “When you’re considering voting, learn, pay attention and vote, because every vote matters.”

Wright will join Lamar Thorpe, who took first place in the City Council race and will be the city’s new Mayor Pro Tem, as well as Councilwoman Monica Wilson, who was re-elected to her second term, plus current Mayor Pro Tem Lori Ogorchock and Councilman Tony Tiscareno, on the council.

 

 

MARTINEZ, CA – At their November 29, 2016, special meeting, the Contra Costa Community College District Governing Board unanimously approved the provisional appointment of Gary Walker-Roberts of Antioch to represent Ward IV.  This appointment, in accordance with California Education Code 5091, is being made due to the vacancy created by the unfortunate passing of Governing Board member John T. Nejedly last month. Ward IV includes the communities of Blackhawk, Byron, Danville, Diablo, Discovery Bay, San Ramon, and parts of Alamo, Antioch, Brentwood, Clayton, and Concord.

Walker-Roberts will be seated at the next regular Governing Board meeting on Wednesday, December 14, 2016, beginning at 6:00 p.m.

Walker-Roberts is an alum of Los Medanos College where he graduated Suma Cum Laude in 2013 with an A.A. in Behavioral Science and Social Science. Then he graduated again from LMC with an A.A. in Arts & Humanities in 2015. He served on the community college board as a student trustee this past school year, was student body president of LMC in 2014-15, student representative to the United Faculty, and was instrumental in the formation and opening of the Veterans Resource Center at LMC, earlier this year.

Walker-Roberts also graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. degree in Ethnic Studies: Gender & Sexuality from Cal State East Bay in 2015 and with a Masters degree in English from Arizona State University, this year.

His public service has included working on Antioch Councilwoman Monica Wilson’s reelection campaign, this year and as a volunteer and mentor for foster youth with Contra Costa County Children & Family Services.

With his application, Walker-Roberts submitted letters of support from both Wilson and State Assemblyman Jim Frazier.

He works in retail as a Fragrance Expert/Trainer for Louis Vuitton, USA in San Francisco and has worked in the field of skin care and cosmetics since 2005.

When reached for comment, Walker-Roberts said, “I’m looking forward to serving Ward IV from East Contra Costa County all the way around Mt. Diablo to southern Contra Costa County. I appreciate that the trustees feel I can handle the position of trustee.”

Asked what his plans are in the new position, he stated, “I want to continue to represent under-represented minority students’ needs and also continue to develop the Veterans Resource Centers throughout the district. We’re working with the Sentinels of Freedom to open one at each of the three college campuses.”

Other applicants considered for the provisional appointment were non-profit manager and educator Carl Nichols, litigation attorney Jerome Pandell and barber college owner Frank Quattro, all of Danville, and Director of the STEM-Workforce Initiative of the Contra Costa Economic Partnership, April Treece of Clayton. To see the application from and letters of support for each candidate, click here.

Unless a petition calling for a special election, containing a sufficient number of signatures, is filed in the Office of County Superintendent of Schools within 30 days of the date of the provisional appointment, the provisional appointment shall become an effective appointment until the next regularly scheduled election for Governing Board members in November 2018.

For more details on the petition process, visit the District website at www.4cd.edu.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

By Allen Payton

According to the Contra Costa County Elections website, as of 10:43 am, Wednesday, November 23rd, Dr. Sean Wright maintains his lead in the race for Mayor of Antioch. But it has shrunk to just 102 votes or .34% of the vote over incumbent Mayor Wade Harper. There are  “approximately 8,500 ballots to be repaired and 28,000 provisionals county wide,” said County Clerk & Registrar of Voters Joe Canciamilla. The final vote count is expected to be completed by Friday, December 2nd.

“I can call all the races right now in the county except for Antioch Mayor,” he continued. “We’re down to ballots that have come in at different times. Ballots with mistakes could have come in at any time. Provisional ballots tend to come in late, generally on Election Day.”

“There are two different trends happening,” Canciamilla explained.” If you look at Election Day results, Sean does better. So I would have to think he does better with provisionals. But I don’t know how many are from Antioch.

There are roughly 607,000 registered voters in the county. We had 442,000 who have cast a ballot. We had a turnout of almost 73%. So a rough number is 11% of the provisionals come from Antioch. Those should theoretically trend in Sean’s favor.”

“All the other races are callable with the exception of Antioch,” he stated. “It is the election that will represent the slogan that ‘every vote does count.’ Every vote could impact the final outcome and it could go either way, right now.”

He was asked how many ballots had been counted since the last update.

“I believe in that batch it was 9,200 ballots that were counted,” Canciamilla responded. “If you extrapolate the traditional line you get to the point where Wade wins. But that doesn’t take into account the Election Day trend which favored Sean. But we’re at the point where there’s no clear, consistent trend that would allow us to make anything close to a valid projection. It’s going to be slogging through and counting them one by one, now.”

“We have multiple sets of eyes looking at each ballot,” he added.

He was then asked if representatives of each campaign can be there to oversee the counting.

“We always welcome observers,” he replied. “Each ballot has to be handled one at a time, and they get handled by multiple people and it just takes time.”

Asked if observers can challenge ballots, he said, “No. The law doesn’t allow observers to challenge an individual ballot, an individual signature match. You can raise issues and they’re entitled to an explanation.”

“At this stage there are very few ballots like that,” Canciamilla continued. “That’s usually over voter registration where it’s a question of if someone is registered or not. This is about whether people have drawn an arrow or crossed something out. If there’s a mistake or a double vote on one item we don’t throw out the whole ballot.”

He was then asked when will the ballot count be completed.

“We anticipate we will have our final unofficial count by next Friday (December 2nd),” he shared. “Then we’ll certify it by the 6th for the presidential election and until the 8th for everything else.”

“Then it goes to the Board of Supervisors on the 13th for their acceptance,” Canciamilla explained. “It will be done that morning.”

Asked about when oaths of office ceremonies could be held, he responded, “We advised the cities, and the school and special districts early on. I sent them a letter that due to the complexity of the ballot, we anticipate requiring the full 30 days to certify the election. So don’t plan on swearing in their folks early, like the week before.”

Asked when is the soonest new officials can be sworn in Canciamilla said, “That night (December 13^th) is fine. It doesn’t have to be accepted by the Board to put it on the agenda. You just won’t have the actual OK from the Supervisors. It doesn’t have anything to do with the notice stuff. It’s not up to them to certify the election. Just accept the results.”

He was then asked about recounts.

“There are time frames for people to request recounts,” he stated. “If it gets close enough to where it becomes an issue we will sit down with the candidates and the City to figure something out. The reality is…recounts can be very expensive.”

“The goal is we want people to be comfortable with the results and they’re fair,” Canciamilla added. “This is an unusual circumstance.”

“Of all the races on the ballot, right now this is the only race too close for me to feel comfortable calling,” he reiterated.

For more election results, visit www.cocovote.us.

Council Member-Elect Thorpe not happy contracts extend beyond expiration of Measure C.

Plans afoot to hold oaths of office ceremony for new members on Thursday before regular meeting in December.

By Allen Payton

In an effort to get a variety of items approved before a new council member and possibly a new mayor take their oaths of office in December, the Antioch City Council will deal with an unusually full agenda with 21 items for discussion, including all of the employee contracts up for renewal, during their meeting Tuesday night, November 22nd.

While there’s no doubt that Lamar Thorpe was the top vote-getter in the council race in the November 8th election and will replace Councilwoman Mary Rocha, the race for mayor has not yet been decided. It has most likely been won by Dr. Sean Wright. But with only 129 votes between him and incumbent Antioch Mayor Wade Harper, it’s possible the outcome could change, as thousands of remaining ballots are counted by the County Elections office.

But, instead of waiting for the possibly two new council members to be seated, the current Council will have the opportunity to vote on the five-year contracts for each of the six employee groups that have been participating in negotiations, this year. Those include the contract for the Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3, Antioch Police Officers Association, Antioch police Sworn Management Association, the non-sworn Police Dispatcher Classification salaries, as well as the City’s Confidential and Management Units.

Recent council meeting agendas have been very light in comparison. The October 25th agenda only had three items on it, as did the October 11th agenda. The November 8th agenda was light, as well, with only five items. But, that was on Election Night. In comparison, tonight’s meeting has 19 items for discussion on the agenda.

The mayor and City Manager are the ones who set the council meeting agendas. An email was sent with the following questions: Must all the items on the agenda be decided tonight? Or can some of them wait until the one or two new council members are seated, forming a possible new majority with a different direction for the city, including spending?

As for the employee contracts, shouldn’t those wait to be voted on by the new council? Also, why five years instead of a more reasonable time-frame of three years, with the City facing future deficits and especially since the contracts will extend beyond the expiration of Measure C? Isn’t that part of the problem the City is currently facing, playing catch up, specifically with police hiring, from the six-year, rich contracts approved in 2007 by the Council, at that time? Is the Council not learning from history and repeating the mistakes of the past?

In response, City Manager Steve Duran wrote via email, “The Council asked for a lighter Agenda on election night 11/08 and so now they have to deal with a longer agenda on 11/22. Mayors and Council members are elected for a term of office and it is their duty to do the City’s business for the whole term.”

“It’s up to the sitting City Council if they want to postpone any items, but I would not recommend it and I hope people won’t play politics with things like the labor contracts that this Council, staff and union reps spend months negotiating in good faith,” he added.

Some of the contracts, such as the ones for police, are retroactive to and begin September 1^st or October 1^st of this year. They include such things as holiday pay for this Thursday, Christmas and New Year’s Day, so those contracts are time sensitive.

Only Duran responded to follow-up questions asking was it procrastination or merely a desire to get all the agenda items done at the last minute, with the current council, and what the City’s plan is if Measure C isn’t renewed or if revenues haven’t increased enough to replace those generated by Measure C.

“That will be up to the new City Council,” he wrote. “Measure C will be about $7 million a year.”

Neither Harper, nor any of the other council members responded to any of the same emailed questions.

Thorpe Responds

However, Council Member-Elect Lamar Thorpe and Dr. Sean Wright, who is possibly the next Mayor, received the same questions.

“I don’t know why the council agenda is so loaded,” Thorpe wrote. “However, I have grave concerns about the employee contracts because of the city’s inability to recognize and correct its poor spending decisions.”

“To ensure we’re able to keep city services at adequate levels, employee contracts – especially police contracts – should not extend beyond the expiration of Measure C funding,” he continued. “These contracts should be two or three years long until we can figure out where new revenue will come from.”

Wright did not respond before publication time.

In response to Duran’s comment about Measure C, the following additional questions were asked: So, this council will strap the future council with the responsibility for paying the bill when it comes due? Is that responsible governing?

Why not make the contracts only until the end of Measure C and then base new contracts on it’s renewal or failure or the city’s finances at that time? Doesn’t that make more sense?

Duran responded, “The labor contracts are on the Agenda for tonight. Responding to your questions in email would be a violation of the Brown Act (state open meeting law).”

An email was sent to City Attorney Michael Vigilia’s asking his opinion on that.

Oaths of Office Ceremony and Council Reorganization

Duran was the only one to respond to questions about the idea of scheduling the oaths of office ceremony and council reorganization to Thursday, December 8th instead of the traditional second Tuesday in December, which would be on the 13th.

“The idea is to take the time to recognize any outgoing members and give the new and re-elected officials a night to celebrate with family and friends rather than squeezing the ceremonial stuff between closed session and regular agenda items and it’s best to have our new Council deal with closed session items on the 13th after they are sworn in on the 8^th,” he wrote. “You will notice that we have no closed session items tonight. There is only one regular Council meeting in December and the agenda is not set yet, but anything that cannot wait until January 10th will hit the 12/13th agenda, so it could be a longer than average meeting.”

Follow up questions asking if the council could hold a special meeting either next Tuesday, November 29th or on Tuesday, December 6th to deal with the agenda items planned for December 13th, did not receive a response prior to publication time.

The County Elections office has until December 8th to certify the election. However, County Clerk Joe Canciamilla expects for the ballot count to be completed by Friday, December 2nd. As of last Friday’s update, Wright was leading Harper in the Mayor’s race by 129 votes, with approximately 50,000 ballots left to be counted in the county. How many of those were from Antioch was not known.

 

By Allen Payton

With the latest results from the County Elections office, released on Friday afternoon, November 18th, Dr. Sean Wright’s lead over incumbent Wade Harper in the Antioch Mayor’s race narrowed by another 30 votes to just 129. The difference in votes is less than half a percent.

According to Paul Burgarino, Community Education and Engagement Specialist for the Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder-Elections Department “This update will include the balance of the vote by mail ballots that we received on Election Day at the polls, as well as in the mail through this past Monday. It is expected that this update will add roughly 22,000 votes to our totals.”

According to County Clerk Joe Canciamilla, there are about “50,000 ballots left to count with 32,000 provisional and 25,000 ballot cards for remakes (not full ballots) and probably 8,000 under review.”

“I would not expect much change (in the outcome of the Mayor’s race),” he continued. “This batch was 23,000. So for it to flip would require a massive move.”

“Not all the remakes are full cards and not all provisionals will count,” Canciamilla added.

“Asked if there’s an automatic recount if the difference is less than 1% he responded, “Recounts are not automatic. There is no provision. And it would be very expensive.”

Asked when the next update would be provided, he replied, “Next Wednesday (November 23rd). Then probably nothing until our final on the following Friday (December 2nd).”

The County Elections office has until December 8th to certify the election results. Results in the county can be seen on www.cocovote.us by clicking on the November 8, 2016 Election Results tab.

By Allen Payton

In an unexpected turn of events, the race for Mayor of Antioch between Dr. Sean Wright and incumbent Wade Harper narrowed, Tuesday night, following the latest count of the remaining ballots from last week’s election. As of the last update on Thursday, November 10^th, Wright was in the lead by 229 votes. That lead has shrunk by 70 votes to just 159.

The results, posted at 4:56 p.m. on the County Elections website, www.cocovote.us, shows Wright with 34.78% of the vote to Harper’s 34.21%.

There are still over 100,000 ballots to count in the county. According to County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Joe Canciamilla, they “still have probably another 50,000 after this plus, 32,000 provisionals and 30,000 remakes.”

Remakes, he said are “Damaged ballots that can’t go through the scanners. People have crossed things out torn them, spilled coffee, many changed their minds on props and crossed out and drew arrows.”

“We have staff in teams reviewing, then they have to copy the votes onto a clean ballot so it can be scanned,” Canciamilla continued. “They can also be described as special handling. Very labor intensive.”

He also said the next update will be provided this Friday, November 18th.

After learning of the latest results, some Antioch residents, concerned that Harper may be re-elected, are already discussing starting a recall against him on social media. However, if he does win they will have to wait until Harper has been in office at least 90 days before serving him with a recall petition.

In a comment on Kip Stephens’ post on his Facebook page asking, “How long?” the election results will take to be finalized, Linda Hudson wrote, “Kip I’ll help you get he signatures if Harper wins to have him recalled!”

Stephens responded, “Linda we are already conforming a team for that and you are on it.”

Former council candidate Fred Rouse then wrote, “Add me.”

By Allen Payton

What if they held a protest and almost no one showed up? That’s pretty much what happened at the Antioch Marina between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., Thursday night, November 10th.

Just before 7:00 p.m., Thursday night, a Herald reporter received via text from an acquaintance in Antioch, an ad promoting an anti-Trump protest scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. at 5 Marina Plaza in Antioch, which is the address of the Antioch Marina.

Labeled as “A movement to fight racism, sexism, homophobia and Islamaphobia” with the social media address of #ResistTrump, the “Protest Trump in Antioch” possibly attracted two small groups of individuals. One group made up of about six people who appeared to be in the late teens to late 20’s got out of three cars parked near the entrance to the Antioch Marina parking lot. However, none of them had any protest signs with them, nor were they displaying any hats or shirts indicating any protest of the president-elect.

Four police cars rolled up and officers got out and let the suspected protesters know that the parking lot closed at dusk, as the sign, located right next to where they park, described. However, the parking lot is open to those with boats at the marina. They got back into their cars and drove away.

Another group of about six young people, who appeared the same age as the first group, walked by through the turn-around circle at the end of L Street near the entrances of both the marina and boat launch parking lots. The boat launch parking lot is off limits to everyone except boaters, 24-hours a day. That group just kept walking across the street, onto the crosswalk, and continued heading south on L Street toward the Antioch Police Facility. None of them were carrying protest signs either. So there was no indication they were actually there for a protest.

Two police officers remained until about 8:45 p.m. blocking the entrance to the marina parking lot, leaving enough room for any boaters who might need access. Only two cars drove past during that time. The officers also turned away a few more cars that drove around the circle. As he said he was ordered, the final officer remained at the marina parking lot until 9:00 p.m.