Cat shenanigans and drinking on the job got a Vallejo City council official in hot water last week— which resulted in a voluntary resignation.
Vallejo city planning commissioner Chris Platzer was in a public Zoom meeting with the rest of the city council last April 20, when out of the blue, he decided to introduce his cat to the rest of the council and all of the video’s viewers.
He then proceeded to unceremoniously dump the cat off-screen and then goes on to show obvious signs of imbibing an alcoholic beverage throughout the meeting.
Introducing the cat
Platzer was about to start talking two hours and twenty-four minutes into the Zoom meeting when his cat made its way into the commissioner’s home office. This prompted Platzer to take a beat to lift up his cat into the camera, saying “First I’d like to introduce my cat.” The cat, a striped tabby, complained about the indignity and struggled against its owner’s carry. Platzer then subsequently tossed the cat off-screen, with the cat landing in an audible thud.
This prompted a few chuckles from the rest of the committee in the meeting. However, it was made apparent that Platzer’s actions with the cat were a result of the commissioner’s inebriated state throughout the public meeting.
Vallejo planning commissioner Chris Platzer tosses a cat and chugs from a bottle during a public, live-streamed Vallejo planning commission meeting Monday, reports @ByLHernandez https://t.co/NJRPv24Gw6 pic.twitter.com/uqJRhslIFF
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) April 25, 2020
Slurring and sipping
Platzer could be heard slurring his words throughout the meeting, and eagle-eyed viewers from TMZ saw him imbibing from a mug throughout the duration of the meeting. He then even picked up his laptop and took it with him to his kitchen, wherein he took a bottle of what could likely have been beer from his refrigerator.
The real kicker happened at the end of the meeting, however, after many of the other council members had logged off. Platzer was heard making derogatory remarks and tossing a racial epithet to an unseen recipient.
One could only hope that he was just aiming it all at his cat. However, the entire sequence was heard by at least three city employees and was part of the official video released by the city, according to Fox 40.
On Saturday, the city of Vallejo released the original planning commission meeting video from April 20. Commissioner Chris Platzer can be heard saying "I'm going to call bullshit on your little bitches." pic.twitter.com/OrhshT53Jn
— John Glidden ☀️ (@glid24) April 26, 2020
Repercussions
The city council proceeded to condemn the commissioner’s actions. “The City does not condone the behavior that Vallejo Planning Commissioner Chris Platzer exhibited during the April 20th Planning Commission meeting,” the city said in a statement and was putting into motion the removal of Platzer from the city council.
In a resolution dated April 28, the city attorney’s office recommended that the city “…adopt a resolution removing Commissioner Chris Platzer from the Planning Commission…”
Vallejo City mayor Bob Sapayan went on to say that his action was not representative of the city. “This hurts the credibility of the city. What happens if a developer is watching the meeting (and sees that)? They would obviously have concerns about the city,” he said.
Platzer, for his part, sent the Times-Herald an email stating that he had sent in his resignation to the council, effective immediately. “I did not conduct myself in the Zoom meeting in a manner befitting of a planning commissioner and apologize for any harm I may have inflicted,” he said in his email.
“I serve at the pleasure of the council and no longer have that trust and backing. I extend my gratitude to those who have supported me during my tenure. I have always felt that serving Vallejo in a voluntary position is honorable because Vallejo is worth serving. We are all living in uncertain times and I certainly, like many of you, am adjusting to a new normalcy,” he added.
Image courtesy of John Glidden /Youtube.