LATHROP – For the second time since taking office Lathrop Mayor Joseph “Chaka” Santos may be facing legal action.

But this time it’s for his alleged conduct while at City Hall. It involves claims of harassment by a female city employee that sparked an independent investigation yielding an embarrassing report that the City Council formally acted upon Monday night by asking the San Joaquin County Grand Jury to investigate the mayor.

Santos called the allegations politically motivated and organized by those wishing to seek the position of mayor in November. He is accused of everything from pretending to lick rubber bands out of the hand of the unidentified employee to asking to meet her out of town to give her a “gift.” Other unidentified employees in the heavily edited report corroborate some of the scenarios.

Here are some of the accusations included in the report of Walnut Creek lawyer Margaret Kotzebue:

•During labor negotiations that included discussions about a work furlough, Santos told the employee that they needed to meet to discuss the matter “somewhere other than in Lathrop.”

•That Santos “bad-mouths” other council members in front of the unnamed employee – putting her in an uncomfortable situation where she feels forced to take sides.

•While taking with the employee he would call her “baby” before catching himself with an “I shouldn’t say that.” He would later say that he was going to run for governor and win and when he did he would take her to Sacramento.

•That Santos admitted that he “stepped out” on his wife 10 years ago when they were having problems but he had seen the error of his ways and would never do that again. The comment was included in a section of the report that included a large section of redacted information.

•When greeting the employee outside of City Attorney Salvador Navarrete’s office, Santos reached out to shake her hand with a greeting of “How are you doing baby?” While shaking hands in the exchange that she classified as “wimpy” because she was holding rubber bands, Santos replied with “we need to do this right.” He allegedly then removed the rubber bands from her hand, pretended to lick them, and then handed them back to her. In the ensuing handshake he continued to hold her hand until Navarette left his office and came to the doorway. She then said that he dropped her hand and “behaved” – finding the experience “disgusting, peculiar and disturbing.”

•Santos allegedly commented to a female city employee that they would “make beautiful babies together,” and when questioned about it by Kotzebue, quickly confirmed it before saying shortly thereafter that it was “probably an inappropriate comment.” He later stated that he had memory problems due to “brain swelling, diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol.”

•When two City Hall workers were asked about their dealing with Santos, one said that staffers will walk the long way around the building just so that they can avoid his office and being seen. Another said that he keeps their talks to a minimum because he “doesn’t like socializing with electives” and classified his discussions with Santos as being on the “20,000-foot” level in regard to his plans on bringing international business to the city.

•Santos admitted that while his relationship with Councilman Omar Ornelas is “cordial,” he sees the young official as “appointed as opposed to elected to the position.” He described how Gene Neely’s supposed conflict of interest stemming from his promotion to the position of Fire Chief within the ranks of the Lathrop-Manteca Fire District turned out to be a misconception, and that he tried to rescind his vote for Ornelas’ appointment.

While he didn’t get into details, Santos disputed the report and said that he was “blindsided” by both the findings and the accusations.

He blamed his “gregarious” personality and as a key part of what he describes as a “misunderstanding.”

With his post up for election this year, he hinted that the ambitions of some of his fellow councilmembers could be to blame for some of the recent happenings.

“I never did those things,” he said. “It’s all political and I got blindsided by it. It’s a political year and I’m taking the high road.”

But he doesn’t argue some of the report’s details like how he distributes candy to those at City Hall – the complainant told the investigator that she would find baskets full of candy underneath her desk or in a variety of containers on top of it – or how he sometimes holds a handshake longer than most people.

His record doing the business of the people, he says, is what should matter and what people should truly be focused on.

“You should ask yourself about the accomplishments that I’ve made since taking office,” Santos said. “Right now I’m in talks with Manteca Mayor Willie Weatherford. I want to go forward and do the things that I set out to do when I got here.

“Our relationship with Manteca has been bad for 16 or 17 years and I think we can work together now to talk about things like sewage capacity. Things are happening right now – things are getting done on my watch. Do you really think that he (Weatherford) is going to want to (work) with Dhaliwal and his crew?”