As Some CMs Push Back on Lake Interim Appointment, Public Records Reveal OakDOT Director’s Month of Complaints Against Lake and Others

An unprecedented Council push back against an Interim City Administrator [CA] appointment Tuesday night appears to be only the beginning of a still unfolding saga, records released to the public last week now confirm. A Mayor’s appointment of an Interim CA is not unusual in times when the position is vacant—a review of the legislative record reveals the action has crossed Council’s agenda five times since 2018 with little discussion nor nay votes. That all changed with Mayor Barbara Lee’s proposed appointment of long-time CAO official Elizabeth Lake for the position left vacant after the departure former CA Jestin Johnson.

Visible pushback began weeks ago, when the appointment was introduced for scheduling at the June 25 Rules committee meeting. Rules members Janani Ramachandran and Chair Kevin Jenkins objected to the appointment, an unusual move that may not actually be allowed through Council’s rules of procedure. The Council deliberation on the appointment was also unusual, with Lee appearing personally to introduce the item and significant back and forth between CMs.

Now it has been revealed that the fraught deliberations occurred in the shadow of a month of legal claims and allegations made against Lake and other officials by Oakland Department of Transportation [OakDOT] Director Josh Rowan throughout June. Records released July 2nd and 3rd to the City’s records site have made public the conflict triggered by a general comment made by CM Charlene Wang at the June 2nd Council meeting.

Records Released Within A Week of Request and Just Days Ahead of Council Decision

A public records request for complaints and actions against Lake was filed with the Mayor’s office, Public Ethics Commission and the City Attorney’s Office on June 26 and fulfilled within 5 days on the Friday before that Tuesday meeting. That turnaround time was unusually fast by City standards—by law, city agencies have ten days to search for the records before being obligated to even respond about whether the records exist. The records seem to have been released by the City Attorney’s Office.

Oaklandside alluded to the existence of the records just minutes after Lake’s appointment was approved by council with 6-2 split vote Tuesday night in a brief report about the deliberation.

Content from the public records was initially published by this author after it turned up in a search on the City’s public records website on Wednesday.

Later that same day, Oaklandside published its story revealing the extent of claims against Lake by Rowan. The records contain emails sent to the Mayor’s Office, Lake, the City Attorney’s Office and others in June from Rowan and/or his attorney lodging serious allegations and, later, submitting legal claims and complaints. It’s unclear who made the records request, but it was likely an Oaklandside reporter.

Council Members Would Have Had Access to the Records by the Time of the Vote

The release of the records days before the Council meeting means that whether or not they’d already known about Rowan’s actions and claims at the June 25 Rules meeting, CMs had access to Rowan’s email accusations against Lake last Tuesday when they voted 6-2 for the interim appointment of Lake. Lee, whose office was a co-recipient of Rowan’s month-long communiques, was clearly aware of his issues with Lake and others when she came to the Council chambers personally to introduce Lake’s appointment as well. Lee's support and Council's decision for and against Lake happened with full awareness that the records would likely become a media story in the coming days.

During the deliberations, Ramachandran, who voted against Lake’s appointment, said she did not “trust” Lake to competently administer financial duties as the Interim CAO. Ramachandran listed “land deals, sports deals, real estate litigation” as rationale for her no vote, but mentioned none of the issues Rowan has brought up in his complaints. Lake was the City's lead on the three-year Howard Terminal negotiation with the A’s that eventually floundered by late 2022. Jenkins, the other no vote, made no comments. Though Houston briefly complained about the urgency finding necessary for the vote, he ultimately voted yes for Lake’s appointment. Both Fife and Brown used their public comments to confirm that the City would miss an important financial deadline without a council-confirmed Interim City Administrator to sign off on documents. Both Jenkins and Ramachandran are cc'd on one of the emails in the records release sent on June 28 [see below].

Series of Personal, Legal and Administrative Complaints Begins with Late Night Email from Rowan to Lake

Rowan lodged a series of complaints with Lake, the Mayor's office and other City agencies beginning the night of June 2, after Charlene Wang made a general comment about department heads who “can’t be controlled” at the Council meeting that evening.

Wang’s comment about department heads had mentioned no individual by name, but later that night, shortly before 11pm, Rowan emailed Lake asking if Wang was referring to him. The email was cc’d to his legal counsel Sonya Mehta*. Lake responded she had no idea who Wang may have been thinking of when she spoke out, but told Rowan he’d ignored her direction about meeting with Wang about city issues without her participation in the past and she had asked Wang to respect the dictum since Rowan would apparently not.

Rowan Emails Mayor’s Office the Same Night

The public records show that Lee’s chief of staff, Miya Chen, received an email from Rowan about fifteen minutes after Rowan emailed Lake. Rowan's email to Chen was subject-headed “for the Mayor’s awareness–Acting City Administrator Lake”. In the email, Rowan said that he believed Wang’s statement referred to him, and was suggested to Wang by Lake.

In his email to Chen, also cc’d to his counsel Mehta, Rowan said he had had a phone exchange with Lake last year that he characterized as containing “abusive language and behavior”. Rowan told Chen that there would be a “serious problem” if the chain of causality he attributed to Wang’s remarks were to be proven and said he wanted to give the Mayor "full situational awareness before this escalates further."

In Days that Follow, Rowan Lodges Hostile Workplace Complaint, Legal Complaint, Whistleblower Protection Complaint

A flurry of legal activity by Rowan followed, including formal allegations of hostile work environment and a “tort” complaint filed by Mehta to the City’s claims agency under the City Attorney’s Office, which is generally a prelude to a lawsuit. The complaint alleges defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, whistleblower retaliation among other claims.

In late June, Rowan also sent a separate whistleblower protection complaint to the Mayor's office via Chen that alleges he was removed from a previous dual role as Public Works Director as retaliation for his protected “whistleblower” activity. The complaint suggests it was Lake who moved to remove him. Rowan also requested that Ryan Richardson be removed from all legal processes concerning him—Rowan accuses Richardson of inappropriately responding to a previous complaint about the city’s security guard procurement with intimidation. CM Houston is also frequently a target of allegations in the complaint.

In various emails, Rowan refers to the dismissal of Johnson and the publicly released text messages that led to it—both as evidence of Lake’s actions with other staff and example of allegedly biased disciplinary process that held Johnson accountable, but not Lake. In one email, Rowan wrote: “The decision to terminate one and elevate the other warrants scrutiny.”

Other emails in a second tranche of documents gives a fuller picture of fraught email exchanges with Richardson** and allegations against Houston and his business, Beautification Council, as well as even more public officials.

By June 28, Rowan Appeared to Believe He Could be Terminated

One of the last documents in the June timeline appears to suggest Rowan believed himself to be in danger of soon being terminated. Rowan emailed Chen and CC’d his counsel, as well as Jenkins, Ramachandran, CM Zac Unger, and City Auditor Michael Houston on June 28, just days before the council meeting, suggesting that Lake is “is telling people she is ‘coming for’ me” and sought to replace him with Assistant OakDOT Director Megan Weir. It’s not clear why Rowan CC’d Ramachandran and Unger, who do not appear on any other emails in the record.

In the email, subject-headed “Drawing a Clear Line”, Rowan assumed an aggressive posture. Rowan wrote ‘I do not intend to be ambushed or terminated as the result of a manufactured pretext’ and suggests that decisions have been motivated by Lake, due to his “whistleblowing” activity that implicates her in malfeasance. Rowan claims he’s been harassed through a series of actions that go beyond Lake’s role—”performance traps, manufactured insubordination narratives, and unprovoked council attacks”. Rowan told Chen, “I am drawing a clear line here: the conduct described above stops now.” It’s not clear if Rowan was also implicating the Mayor’s office in the activity. Rowan also demanded that all private meetings with the administration happen in presence of his legal counsel and told Chen he and his legal team are ready for conversation about an “executive separation agreement”.

Many emails in the second tranche of documents give other perspectives in real time about the claims being made by Rowan. The Oakland Observer will be reporting on them in weeks to come.

*CM Ken Houston questioned the “urgency” declaration for the item, complaining that so many items come to Council this way—but Houston was at the meeting in which Ramachandran and Rules Chair Kevin Jenkins originally filibustered the appointment. During that meeting, the Rules committee was informed that they could wait until the next Rules meeting if need be, because the item could be introduced with an urgency finding. During the meeting, Houston used public comment to complain about the departure of former City Administrator Jestin Johnson after sexist texts emerged that suggested a hostile work environment for women at the City. The next Rules meeting was cancelled due to an expected lack of quorum, which meant the appointment had to be added into the agenda via the rule.

**The other public records request, likely from the same party, focused on all of Rowan’s “complaints and claims” was filed on June 29 and fulfilled starting July 2—an even more astonishingly quick turnaround— and remains open. The City Attorney’s Office again appears to be the respondent. It contains several of the same documents, but also many more which give insights into Rowan’s disputes with other officials, including CM Ken Houston and City Attorney Ryan Richardson. There’s also several emails from Rowan from a period in which he was in dispute with CM Ken Houston late last year. Rowan appeared to elevate a social media post that quoted rap lyrics into a credible threat on his life, and reported Houston to the police and City Attorney. Per Rowan’s own statements, Houston’s reference to a rap song and elements of Houston’s past that Houston was likely “gang-affiliated” and that Rowan therefore faced realistic threats to his life.