A live microphone captured an unguarded exchange between Sacramento's top two elected officials as they weighed strategies for controlling future public disruptions during a city council meeting Tuesday.
Mayor Kevin McCarty and Vice Mayor Karina Talamantes were caught on livestreamed audio discussing whether to ban disruptive attendees from future meetings after the council chambers erupted during debate over the city's participation in a regional intelligence-sharing partnership.
"We should go over this disruptions thing, because if we want to ban somebody in the future, like to take them out, we have to point out specifically…," Talamantes said, according to the publicly available recording.
McCarty responded: "I know, but the city attorney said we can't do that."
"We did it last time," Talamantes replied.
"We can't," McCarty insisted, before explaining he had spent his first six months exploring whether the city could institute something like "probation" to restrict attendance. Talamantes then appeared to notice the microphone remained active and switched it off.
When asked directly about McCarty's reference to legal constraints, the Sacramento City Attorney's Office declined to comment. "The City Attorney's Office has no comment and will not be providing comment on this matter," a spokesperson said.
The confrontation that triggered the lockdown centered on whether Sacramento should continue accepting federal funding for the Central California Intelligence Center, a regional data-sharing operation. Dozens of community members urged the council to sever ties, arguing the intelligence center could facilitate information sharing with federal immigration enforcement despite the city's sanctuary city policies.
During the meeting, Talamantes defended the participation, contending that Sacramento's sanctuary city status made it the responsible jurisdiction to oversee the grant. "If we don't pass these dollars, other counties will apply for these dollars, they will get those dollars, and we will have no safeguards to protect our immigrant communities here in Sacramento," she said.
Police officials disputed claims that the intelligence center compromises immigrant protections, stating that Sacramento does not share personal identifying information for civil immigration enforcement and complies with California's sanctuary law, SB 54.
When public comment grew heated, McCarty issued a final notice. "This is the final notice," he said. "We're going to continue with the deliberation, and if there's any more outbursts, we're gonna have to ask the audience to leave." Minutes later, the audience was cleared from the chambers.
The city's published meeting rules establish limits on public participation: two minutes per agenda item, no more than four items per person. But the private conversation between McCarty and Talamantes suggests officials were considering restrictions beyond those written rules—measures that city attorneys apparently advised against.
Public records requests could clarify whether previous attendees were barred from meetings and on what basis. The city should provide a complete accounting of any exclusions, the reasoning for them, and any correspondence with the city attorney's office on the legality of such actions.
