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Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009

Atwater's City Hall filled with controversy, contention

Councilman Frago's racist e-mails spark outrage

The last year of this century’s first decade was anything but boring for the city of Atwater.

The year was characterized by a mixture of stories, including a special election, Cal Fire’s contract, a wastewater bond and the Gary Frago e-mail affair.

The stories that most shaped Atwater’s year are, in chronological order:

Midterm election

After the sudden death of Councilman Joe Rivero in late 2008, the city was without a fifth council member until almost halfway through 2009. A special election was scheduled for May.

The campaign for Rivero's absent seat was a rough contest. Not only did several candidates get threatening letters, but several of their campaign signs were torn down, too.

Jeff Rivero eventually won the May 19 special election and took his father's vacated seat on the council, joining his brother there.

Cal Fire contract

After Cal Fire began running Atwater's fire services in October 2008, several City Council members began questioning the agreement. Those criticisms carried over into the new year.

In 2009, Councilman Frago led the charge against the Cal Fire contract.

First he asked if Cal Fire's response times were as fast as Atwater Fire Department's had been. Then he and Jeff Rivero began questioning the effectiveness of Cal Fire's weed-abatement program.

It became common practice at many City Council meetings to have a question-and-answer session about Cal Fire's performance.

There's no sign the practice will stop in 2010.

The Frago affair

The most important story this year in Atwater was about Frago's e-mails.

A Sun-Star story July 17 revealed that Frago sent at least seven racist e-mails to city and county officials from October 2008 to February 2009. The e-mails denigrated President Obama, the first lady and black people in general.

Later, the City Council released even more of Frago's derogatory e-mails and convened two large public meetings on the issue where Frago apologized. The city formally reprimanded him in a letter. Frago completed racial sensitivity training, and the City Council began its own. The city spent more than $50,000 in legal fees because of the Frago affair.

While Frago eventually apologized, he said at first that he didn't regret sending the e-mails.

"I don't see where there's a story -- I'm not the only one that does it," he told the Sun-Star in July. "I didn't originate them, they came to me, and I just passed them on."

Wastewater bond

Near the end of the year the city began the proceedings needed to raise roughly $73 million to build its new wastewater treatment plant. In December, the City Council voted to issue a bond to pay for the project.

Reporter Jonah Owen Lamb can be reached at (209) 385-2484 or jlamb@mercedsun-star.com.