ALAMEDA — City of Alameda leaders say they will back efforts by U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee and others to get an investigation into the possible impeachment of President Donald Trump over his business dealings and other controversial actions.

“We are not asking to impeach,” said Councilman Jim Oddie, who along with Vice Mayor Malia Vella put the resolution on the council’s Tuesday agenda, saying the president’s alleged conflict-of-interests could put him in violation of the U.S. Constitution. “We are asking to investigate.”

Vella said reports of Russian government interference in the November election on behalf of Trump made an investigation into his possible impeachment both a local and national issue.

“The allegations are serious and they undermine not only our system but all of our institutions,” she said.

The resolution unanimously adopted Tuesday will be now sent to U.S. Rep. Lee, whose district includes Alameda, so that she can use it to help rally support behind an investigation, according to the council.

Courtesy copies will be sent to California’s U.S. Sens. Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein.

The Alameda council’s move came the same day that the small town of Charlotte in Vermont passed a resolution calling on Congress to look into whether sufficient grounds exist to pursue an impeachment of Trump.

Last month, the city of Richmond unanimously backed a similar resolution, which activists say made it the first city in the nation to support steps that could lead to Trump’s impeachment.

The meeting in Alameda drew 14 public speakers, all but two urging support for an investigation into the administration’s actions.

“What we have at stake is our democracy,” said John Ota, a 25-year Alameda resident.

“To me, this is not an abstract issue,” said Ota, whose Japanese-American family was interned during World War II. “That was all done by an executive order (Executive Order 9066) by the president (Franklin D. Roosevelt).”

Fellow Alameda resident Steve Slauson said the council was presuming to speak for everyone in the city by calling for an investigation into possible impeachment.

“This is just crass, partisan politics,” Slauson said. “It has nothing to do with the city of Alameda.”

The City Council initially considered a broader resolution Tuesday that simply called for a congressional investigation into the allegations against the administration.

But after Mayor Trish Spencer and Council members Frank Matarrese and Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft said they would not support it, Vella and Oddie tweaked the resolution so that it just focused on backing any effort by Lee to secure an investigation into the administration.

What concerned Matarrese was whether calling for an investigation now was premature, while Ashcraft said it was a mostly symbolic gesture that could end up taking up time of city staffers. Spencer said she feared federal projects and money that the city receives could be put at risk.

Supporters of an impeachment investigation cite the president’s refusal to divest fully from his worldwide business interests, which they say could make him in direct violation of the “Emoluments Clause,” a previously little-known constitutional provision that says U.S. presidents may not accept gifts or make a profit from any foreign state.

They also allege Trump has openly lied about public affairs, encouraged public disrespect for freedom of the press, incited racism and xenophobia, and compromised the integrity of elections through encouraging computer hacking and his contact with Russian officials.