Members of the Cities Association of Santa Clara County typically work together to address common interests such as airplane noise, transportation improvements and housing laws.

These days, however, officials in of the 15 cities in the organization are confronting an unusual item on their respective agendas: a threat of a lawsuit from the association's executive director, Andrea Jordan.

On Monday, the Palo Alto City Council became the latest governing body to go into closed session to discuss a Feb. 1 letter that Jordan's attorney, Jenna Avila, sent to each city. The letter alleges that Jordan has been facing harassment, discrimination and retaliation from board members and advises the cities that Jordan will launch a formal lawsuit if her concerns are not resolved.

The Palo Alto council did not take any reportable action on the matter.

While the Feb. 1 letter offers few details about Jordan's allegations, her concerns are summarized in a prior letter that Avila, an attorney at the Law Offices of Randal A. Barnum, submitted on Dec. 21. The letter traces her complaints to 2019, when she requested that the board approve health benefits for her and was allegedly told by board member Rod Sinks that she doesn't need them "because he husband had them." The comment referred to, Chris Jordan, who resigned from his position as city manager at Los Altos in December 2020.

While the letter alludes to her receiving "negative treatment" from a long list of local officials, including Mountain View City Council member Lisa Matichak and Palo Alto Vice Mayor Lydia Kou, it singles out Los Altos Mayor Anita Enander and City Council member Lynette Lee Eng.

Jordan claims that the Enander and Eng "actively engaged other Association members and together have tarnished Ms. Jordan's reputation by making harassing and disparaging comment about Ms. Jordan to the Association Board of Directors and Roundtable members" and attempted to dismantle the Association to "effectively terminate Ms. Jordan's employment."

The letter also claims that association members have interfered with Jordan's attempts to form a joint powers authority, an entity that allows jurisdictions to pool their resources and exercise power on issues of common interest. Some have argued that the Cities Association should instead be organized as a nonprofit, which Jordan said cannot be done because of its lobbying efforts.

The December letter demanded a payment of $441,000 to avoid litigation, which amounts to four years pay. The February letter reaffirms this demand and states that unless cities do not make a "meaningful effort" to resolve the matter, she will pursue a formal lawsuit in which all of the cities will be named as defendants.

"This will result in significant exposure and potential adverse publicity," the February letter states.