Update: The Oakland City Council voted Thursday night not to censure Councilwoman Desley Brooks for alleged ethical violations in establishing a teen center.
OAKLAND (Bay City News) The Oakland City Council will hold a hearing tonight on a motion to censure Councilwoman Desley Brooks for allegedly interfering with the construction and operation of two city recreation centers in her district in East Oakland.
A letter that City Council President Patricia Kernighan wrote to the council recommending that Brooks be censured cites a recent Alameda County civil grand jury report that found that city contracting, purchasing and hiring rules were circumvented for the teen center projects.
Kernighan said Brooks personally hired staff to work in the centers and paid them from her City Council office budget for many months before another source of funding was found.
"Her hiring of staff was in violation of the city charter, which requires that city staff for city operated recreation centers, and almost all other city jobs, must be hired through the civil service system," Kernighan said.