Category Archives: Foster City Mayor Sanjay Gehani

By Michael G. Stogner

The Gang of 3 Hindi, Awasthi, Sullivan is betting against the residents of Foster City, they are fully aware that the residents recently organized and successfully recalled Herb Perez the Vice Mayor for his disgusting and vulgar behavior towards the public, they stood up for decency. The political experts recommended against the recall, they said just wait until the next election and vote for someone you think is better. The residents took positive action and corrected the problem themselves. They have the same opportunity before them now, brought on by 3 elected officials who without any public comment or involvement chose to fire the newly appointed City Manager, at a cost of $300,000 to the Taxpayers.

Mayor Sanjay Gehani and Councilman Jon Froomin voted against the firing of City Manager Dr. Peter Prinejad. What’s next, perhaps a recall, maybe change to a Super Majority Vote to avoid abuse, time will tell.

One thing the residents have learned is don’t wait for anything, take action, don’t bother asking anyone to resign.

Here are the e-mails that 5 residents sent to the F.C. Council before the 6:00 PM Closed Session Meeting held August 31, 2021

From:

To: Cc:

Subject: Date:

Carol Gilbert

Foster City Public Comment
6022aef50835525d85ef4bb8@mg.processing.zencity.io; Yelena Cappello; Priscilla Schaus; Laurie Rith; Rob Lasky; Aaron Siu; Austin Walsh
Firing of City
Tuesday, August 31, 2021 11:06:22 AM

It has been a question asked by many residents as to why our City Mgr. was fired and we will be paying out his contract, while paying for an interim mgr. Will the residents of Foster City be made aware of the dynamics of this situation. If not , why not? C.Gilbert

From:

To: Cc:

Subject: Date:

Jennifer Phan

Foster City Public Comment
6022aef50835525d85ef4bb8@mg.processing.zencity.io; Yelena Cappello; Priscilla Schaus; Laurie Rith; Rob Lasky; Aaron Siu; Austin Walsh
FW: Kevin Miller
Tuesday, August 31, 2021 12:21:21 PM

From: shankar.kenkre@gmail.com <shankar.kenkre@gmail.com>Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2021 11:12 AM
To: City Council <CityCouncil@fostercity.org>
Subject: Kevin Miller

Dear councilmembers,

Soon you will be selecting an interim and then permanent city manager. I want to express my opinion on whom you should not select.

If Kevin Miller is one of the contenders you are considering, I urge you not to consider him for the city manager’s position.

I talked to staff, city managers, and council members for over a year during the sponsorship investigation. I find that Kevin Miller’s working style is a bit ad hoc and excessively relaxed. He was a part of the previous corrupt regime and one of the enablers to the recalled councilmember.

Thank you, Shankar Kenkre

From:

To: Cc:

Subject: Date:

Dear Council:

Tonight you will be selecting an Interim City Manager. Many residents are concerned about the following:

1. Fiscal Responsibility: Total cost to taxpayers is $293,000.00 for pay-out to fire City Manager without cause and wasted executive search fees

2. Timing is Suspect – Why are you doing this at a time when our City is most vulnerable: No Assistant manager to take over; Covid Delta variant emergency; and local control of our City lost to the State and to developers (SB-9, SB-10 and RHNA)?

3. Transparency: There are several recent examples of other cities providing their constituents with valid reasons for firing their city managers. You, however, refuse to explain why you felt it necessary to fire ours WithOut Cause. If there was a Valid reason, there would have been a unanimous vote, Not the 3 – 2 vote that seems to be trending on development issues.

4. Residents are wondering why three councilmembers, Hindi, Awasthi and Sullivan (the same 3 who tried to bulldoze a vote to sell our golf course to developers) are pushing this maneuver. Are you putting in someone more amenable to enabling your agenda to sell public land to developers?

Signed, Eva Hess

Eva Hess

Foster City Public Comment
6022aef50835525d85ef4bb8@mg.processing.zencity.io; Yelena Cappello; Priscilla Schaus; Laurie Rith; Rob Lasky; Aaron Siu; Austin Walsh
Interim City Manager
Tuesday, August 31, 2021 2:59:42 PM

From:

To: Cc:

Subject: Date:

Jennifer Phan

Foster City Public Comment
6022aef50835525d85ef4bb8@mg.processing.zencity.io; Yelena Cappello; Priscilla Schaus; Laurie Rith; Rob Lasky; Aaron Siu; Austin Walsh
FW: City Manager
Tuesday, August 31, 2021 4:56:29 PM

From: marianne wallace <mchren@yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2021 4:41 PM
To: City Council <CityCouncil@fostercity.org>; City Council <CityCouncil@fostercity.org>; Sanjay Gehani <sgehani@fostercity.org>; Richa Awasthi <rawasthi@fostercity.org>; Jon Froomin <jfroomin@fostercity.org>; Sam Hindi <shindi@fostercity.org>
Subject: City Manager

First and foremost, thank you for taking the time to read my email. As a resident of Foster City since 2007, I am shocked to read that the City Council let our City Manager go with no regard for the public or public opinion. You all were voted in to speak for US. To let someone go, with everything else going on in this city, is in poor judgement. I think we are owed an explanation as to why OUR tax dollars (close to $300,000 of them) are being thrown out the window. I’d also like to know why there is a meeting to hire a replacement this quickly after placing Chief Avalar in the job (why such a rush to find the replacement – did you have a candidate in mind this whole time?

I’ve never seen bureaucracy move so quickly! This feels dirty, it feels like there could possibly be a Brown Act violation going on behind the scenes, and it feels like the city is being betrayed. Please know that the city is watching, we see this. We deserve an explanation. I look forward to hearing back from you and hope to get an honest response.

Thanks,
Marianne Wallace

From:

To: Cc:

Subject: Date:

Jennifer Phan

Foster City Public Comment
6022aef50835525d85ef4bb8@mg.processing.zencity.io; Yelena Cappello; Priscilla Schaus; Laurie Rith; Rob Lasky; Aaron Siu; Austin Walsh
FW: City Manager
Tuesday, August 31, 2021 5:05:59 PM

From: Randy Pilgrim <rlpilgrim@pacbell.net>Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2021 5:05 PM
To: City Council <CityCouncil@fostercity.org>Subject: City Manager

Dear Council

I had a couple of comments about the upcoming appointment of an interim City Manager.

First, I can’t help but wonder what is the big hurry to make the appointment?

It seems odd to me that there is currently no Assistant City Manager to take over during this process.

I’m also very concerned about the cost to the taxpayers of Foster City, $270,000 to buy off the current manager when he could have been fired for cause, if cause indeed existed, plus an additional $23,000 set aside to carry out a search for a replacement for a total taxpayer burden of $293,000.

All of this is being carried out behind closed doors under the guise of confidentiality. This is not a private sector job. The City Manager is public sector job, paid for with taxpayer money. It is my personal belief that as a resident and taxpayer, I have a right to know the reason for the dismissal and why he wasn’t terminated for cause, as well as the necessity to carry all of this out behind closed doors.

Something about all of this seems underhanded to me, and I would like to request that the Foster City residents be included in the rational and process.

Randy Pilgrim 845 Castor St. Foster City

There were NO E-MAILS sent by residents for the August 25, 2021 Closed Session Meeting.

	CLOSED SESSION
	Public Employee Discipline/Dismissal/Release (Government Code § 54957)
	Public Employee Appointment (Government Code § 54957) Title: Acting City/District Manager
	Public Employment (Government Code § 54957) Title: Interim City/District Manager
	ADJOURNMENT

I have asked Foster City which one of the 3 council members placed these two meetings on the agenda? Have not heard back yet.