STOCKTON — City Manager Kurt Wilson says City Hall officials will not participate in an upcoming public forum on the safety of Stockton drinking water, and Mayor Anthony Silva doesn’t like it.

“I am extremely disappointed with the City Manager’s decision,” Silva wrote in a text message late Friday afternoon. “My residents are scared and they deserve answers. The chemicals that are added to our drinking water is not political; it’s a health and safety issue.

“People will be upset to hear the City Manager doesn’t care about how they feel. He doesn’t live in Stockton and his family doesn’t have to drink our water or live with our crime. I pray that he will reconsider. Our tax dollars pay his $240,000 salary.”

Wilson, who lives in the Sacramento area, said city officials will not participate in the upcoming public forum on the recent addition of chloramines to treat some of Stockton’s drinking water.

“For a political event, I will not send staff,” Wilson said Thursday. “The little bit I know of (the forum) is indicative of a political event.”

Wilson also responded to Silva’s text with a text of his own late Friday.

He wrote, in part, “The City Council voted to move forward with the change in disinfectant processes after careful consideration. … I am very familiar with the science and the long history of approvers which include the mayor.

“Unlike many of his colleagues, the mayor has never communicated with me on this issue. Quotes in a newspaper do not provide a sufficient basis to overturn a series of unanimous approvals by Mayor’s (sic) and councils spanning nearly a decade.”

N. Allen Sawyer, a political consultant, is the upcoming forum’s organizer. Sawyer is a consultant connected to Silva and Vice Mayor Christina Fugazi, both of whom are scheduled to sit on a panel with famed activist Erin Brockovich on Feb. 1 at San Joaquin Delta College’s Atherton Auditorium. Sawyer strongly disputed Wilson’s contention that the forum is politically motivated.

“It’s unfortunate,” Sawyer said of Wilson’s stance. “I think the public would be served by having someone from the city there to discuss it.”

Sawyer also complained that Wilson is selective in deciding when to permit city participation.

He said city staff regularly participates in events organized by the Reinvent South Stockton Coalition, which was established by City Councilman Michael Tubbs two years ago. Tubbs is among the candidates seeking to topple Silva’s re-election campaign this year.

Sawyer also cited other examples he says show City Hall’s inconsistency.

The Stockton Police Department recently was represented at an anti-crime forum organized by City Council candidate Steve Colangelo, Sawyer said. But late last year, the city was unrepresented when Silva held a public forum at a north Stockton church.

“They’re just not consistent,” Sawyer said. “It’s really the public that they owe this duty to, not any other individual. Why wouldn’t they be on a panel with Erin Brockovich? I don’t understand it. It’s their decision. It’s unfortunate.”

Wilson said the city decided to be unrepresented at Silva’s most recent public forum because of events at a town hall organized by the mayor in 2014.

The police, economic development and public works departments were represented at the 2014 event, which included a 10-minute diatribe by Silva against The Record.

Silva at the time was embroiled in a controversy involving Lincoln Unified and the Rotary Club of Stockton, as well as a separate dispute with the Police Department.

Wilson said Silva’s handling of the 2014 forum is the reason the city did not participate in Silva’s more recent town hall.

Silva criticized Wilson at the more recent event and renewed his longstanding call for Stockton to adopt a “strong mayor” governance system that would weaken the city manager. A Silva post on Facebook about the chloramines issue one week ago repeated the call for a strong mayor and also chided Wilson for not living in Stockton.

Wilson said the city participates in Reinvent South Stockton events because it is a “council-authorized project” that the council has deemed a priority. He said the Colangelo event was “billed as a nonpolitical event.”

“From what I understand, it fulfilled that commitment,” Wilson said.

Of Silva’s events, Wilson said, “We have had people at the mayor’s town halls in the past at what we thought were nonpolitical events that turned into highly political events. We did learn from that, which is why we didn’t have anyone at the most recent one.”

Sawyer said he is still assembling the panel for the Brockovich event. Along with Brockovich and her consultant, Bob Bowcock, panelists are to include local environmentalists Bill Jennings and Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla.

Jennings said he believes the city should participate in the event.

“Regardless of whether it’s politically motivated or not, given the number of citizens who are alarmed it might be prudent for the city to be present,” Jennings said.

Barrigan-Parrilla said she does not consider the forum a political event for Silva.

“If it were a campaign event for Anthony Silva, I would not be attending,” she said. “I’m attending because there is such a groundswell of people worried about water and water quality. I think city officials should be there. You can never have too much democracy.”

If the forum is indeed a political event, it has not stopped Delta College from hosting it. Spokesman James Vergara said the office of Kathy Hart, Delta College’s president, is co-sponsoring the event.

“All costs are being borne by the college,” Vergara wrote in an email.

— Contact reporter Roger Phillips at (209) 546-8299 or rphillips@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/phillipsblog and on Twitter @rphillipsblog.