San Luis Obispo's mayor likely avoided censure after a personnel board hearing on Monday, focusing on how she handled a confidential grand jury report.
The city's personnel board met on Monday, July 27, and recommended against censuring Mayor Erica A. Stewart.
The hearing stemmed from a request by Council Member Jan Marx, who asked the personnel board to examine whether Stewart's actions warranted a censure.
At issue was Stewart's decision to forward a confidential San Luis Obispo County Grand Jury report to a Cal Poly staff member back in June 2025, prior to the Grand Jury’s scheduled release of it to the public two days later.
"The issue which deeply concerns me and many others in our community is the alleged breach of the high ethical duty of Council members not to disclose confidential information," Marx said in a statement.
The report, titled "Round & Round with Town & Gown," addressed the increasing student population at Cal Poly, nearby campus neighbors' complaints about noisy, large, unauthorized street parties, and allegations that the city and Cal Poly leadership failed to enforce ordinances.
Labeled "confidential," the report was sent to Stewart’s City email on June 13, 2025. It stated that it was an advance copy from the Grand Jury foreperson, "two days in advance of its public release," mentioning that responses are due according to California Penal Code 933.
In an exclusive interview with KSBY News, Stewart told reporter Jessica Roe that she interpreted that as her responses were due in two days, and she was unclear if that meant business days or 48 hours. In reality, as the penal code states, she had 90 days to respond.
“I’m not just passing it on to everybody," Stewart said. "I thought that Cal Poly was an affected agency, was an entity that should have received the report, so there wasn’t a 'Hey, I want to just give this to Cal Poly.’ That is not what I was doing.”
Public records posted on the city website show Stewart shared texts with a Cal Poly staff member and forwarded the report.
"I didn't think at the time... I mean, it was a solid good-faith error. I had no idea that I was doing something wrong," Stewart said.
Mayor Stewart was present on Monday as the three-person personnel board determined whether her actions warranted their recommendation for censure to the full city council.
Two board members voted "no," while one member voted "yes."
Chairman Cal Stevens said the city council does not have to take the personnel board's recommendation and could still decide to hold a censure hearing, but that would be an "exceptional" move.
During the last San Luis Obispo City Council meeting on July 21, Mayor Stewart issued a public apology, saying in part, “I want to take a moment to apologize for the handling of the release of the Grand Jury report. I am sorry that I did that, and I take full responsibility for my actions,” she said.
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