The Watsonville City Council tabled a motion during its July 8 meeting to appoint former Pajaro Valley Unified School District Trustee Georgia Acosta to the city’s Planning Commission.
While such appointments typically pass without discussion and are therefore placed on the consent agenda of their respective agencies, Acosta’s was delayed to a September meeting after Councilwoman Vanessa Quiroz-Carter said she had “serious reservations” about her filling the role.
Quiroz-Carter pointed to Acosta’s effort in 2021 to fire then Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez, a decision she has never publicly explained.
The Board of Trustees reinstated her position four days later after hours of public outcry.
Acosta was later censured by the board, with allegations that included missing 26 meetings in five years and giving no notice to her fellow trustees that she intended to fire Rodriguez. In 2018, she reportedly violated the In 2018, Ralph M. Brown Act—a set of rules that regulate public meetings—when she allegedly called a meeting of trustees at a cafe to discuss board business.
Quiroz-Carter said that Acosta brought in her own attorney in the aftermath of Rodriguez’s termination, and locked Rodriguez out of a subsequent meeting, as well as “multiple things that are against the rules.”
“This is a person who has blatantly shown disregard for order,” Quiroz-Carter said. “They conduct themselves in a horrible manner that I would be embarrassed to represent Watsonville. So I have some really big concerns about this person being appointed to the Planning Commission and having so much power.”
The seven-member Planning Commission is tasked with making land use and public improvement recommendations to the city council.
Councilwoman Ari Parker, who nominated Acosta, said she is “eminently qualified” for the position.
“She is a professor at CSUMB in business studies,” Parker said. “She has lived here, raised her children here, been a part of our school system, of course.”
Parker said that Quiroz-Carter’s concerns are “political,” and said that the council has never delayed a commission appointment.
“I trust this council to nominate people who will serve this city well, and I would hope you would trust me as well,” Parker said.
Parker also said that Acosta is a “professor” of business studies at CSU Monterey Bay.
She is listed on the CSU Monterey Bay website as a “lecturer,” a position typically ranked below a professor at the university level.
“She has lived here, raised her children here, been a part of our school system of course,” Parker said.
“She is smart, she has the best interest for the City of Watsonville, she wants to see us grow, she wants to see us really represent our community, and I have no reservations whatsoever not only as a teacher, as a union member and as a city council member certainly about nominating her,” Parker said.
Quiroz-Carter rejected allegations that her concerns were political.
“I question this person’s ethics and integrity, and frankly I would question the ethics and integrity of someone who would appoint someone who’s been proven to have done things that are very unethical and potentially harmful to a body,” she said. “That is very concerning to me.”
Parker took exception to that allegation.
“I am not unethical, and for somebody to throw that out, is that not political,” she said. “This is just not appropriate, and if you all agree with that, by postponing this then you’re making a statement, and you’re making a statement specifically about me, and that’s not only disheartening but it’s untrue.”
Parker then made a motion to approve Acosta’s appointment, which failed 4-2, with council members Quiroz-Carter, Jimmy Dutra, Kristal Salcedo and Eduardo Montesino voting no, and Parker and Casey Clark voting yes.
Mayor Maria Orozco was absent.
Salcedo said she wanted the item tabled to a September meeting so that Orozco could have a vote.
“It’s my opinion that the Planning Commission is an incredibly important body, and we should have a complete vote before moving forward,” Salcedo said.
Neither Parker nor Acosta responded to requests for comment.
