The Patterson City Council passed a draft motion to censure Mayor Michael Clauzel during a closed-session meeting on Aug. 21. In a public statement on Instagram, the city posted that the censure involved “alleged verbal and written interactions involving Mayor Michael Clauzel, City employees, and public officials.”
Clauzel, Councilmember Gabriela Hernandez and city spokesperson Victoria Castro did not respond to requests for comment from The Modesto Bee on why he was censured, and the exact circumstances behind the censure remain unclear.
In the city’s social media statement, it said that it retained an “independent third-party investigator to review” the allegations and that “the city will not comment further on the merits of the allegations outside the applicable public proceedings.”…