California City’s public safety director has filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging workplace violations and claiming that city officials were caught on tape plotting to fire his employees.
Attorney Steven Haney, who represents Public Safety Director Justin Vincent, claims he has audio evidence of Mayor Marquette Hawkins and Councilman Ron Smith plotting to fire his client.
“From my perspective and I’ve been practicing law for 40 years, this is probably one of the most dysfunctional city governments I’ve ever seen,” Haney told me.
Vincent is currently the public safety director for California City, overseeing both the police and fire departments. According to Haney, the recorded conversation between the mayor and councilman occurred in December.
“These were pretty easy allegations to make because we have them on an audio tape between Mayor Hawkins and councilman Smith where the two of them are plotting to terminate the five-year written employment contract of the chief of police Justin Vincent,” Haney told the newspaper.
According to the lawsuit, Mayor Hawkins allegedly said in the recording: “It’s almost like I wanna just fire Vincent and say sue us.” The mayor reportedly went on to say, “What I’m thinking is we tell him to sue us. We’ve been litigating that for three years. Even if he wins, he can appeal for an additional three. What is he doing in the meantime? “He’s not working.”
This is not Vincent’s first legal battle with California City. He served as fire chief in 2017 before being fired. He sued for wrongful termination in that case, but lost. Despite this history, the city hired him again in 2024 and eventually appointed him as public safety director, a position he still holds.
Vincent also has a lawsuit pending against Cambria for wrongful termination last year. When asked about the previous litigation, Haney said, “It didn’t factor into our decision-making process. “We talked to Chief Vincent about it.”
When I asked Mayor Hawkins about the lawsuit, he declined to comment.
The lawsuit also claims that City Manager Christopher Lopez directed the Kern County Sheriff’s Office to investigate Vincent and later find a replacement for him. When contacted, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office referred me back to California City, which declined to comment on the situation.
