LAKE COUNTY — The Lake County Board of Supervisors authorized a 14-page response to Grand Jury recommendations on Tuesday. Responses pertain to 20 specific areas of recommendations.
While the board concurs with many of the Grand Jury”s myriad of recommendations, the response document is prefaced with a comment regarding the manner in which the Grand Jury”s ad-hoc committee conducted and reported on interviews with each individual supervisor.
The document states that each supervisor was under the impression that the interview was intended to be a candid and confidential conversation. Supervisors say they were dismayed to see a quasi-transcript released in the Grand Jury Report that reflected statements taken out of context, and were, in some cases, misleading and inaccurate.
“I”m wondering which interview they were at,” District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown said during Tuesday”s discussion, adding concern for a number of discrepancies among incomplete and mis-quotes. “They left the important information out of the interview. To me it appears they were selective in what they chose to put in the report. Many of the questions that were asked were actually complaints from grand jurors.”
Brown said the situation brings some question to the validity of the report. He expressed concern in what he viewed to be some grand jury members becoming grand jurors just to further their personal agendas.
In addition, District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing expressed concern for predisposal of supervisors” comments pertaining to items that have yet to come before the board.
“Another serious concern we have about this interview process is that certain questions were about matters of public policy that had not yet been discussed in open public session at a regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors,” the response documents states. “We strongly believe that is inappropriate to ask individual supervisors to take a position on a matter of public policy and disclose that position in the Grand Jury Report before the matter is discussed by the board in public session and an official policy produced through the collective debate that is the hallmark of our government. We are concerned that the Grand Jury appeared to be asking individual supervisors, unintentionally, to violate the Brown Act by publishing the individual responses in the Grand Jury Report.”
Responses to recommendations pertain to 20 specific areas including: PEG TV8, Administration Oversight, Inmate Phone Service, Board of Supervisors Oversight, Human Resources Department Oversight, Information Technology Department Oversight, Redevelopment Agency Oversight, Public Defender Oversight, Adult Protective Services Oversight, In-Home Supportive Services Oversight, Mental Health Department Oversight, Airport Safety and Facility (complaint), Code Enforcement (complaint), Correctional Facility Oversight, Juvenile Hall Oversight, Main Court Holding Facility Oversight, South Court Holding Facility Oversight, Lake County/City Area Planning Council Oversight, Parks Oversight and Middletown Public Library/Senior Center Project Oversight.
The Grand Jury Final Report, a 311-page document, can be viewed in its entirety at the Lake County Web site, www.co.lake.ca.us; click “boards and commissions” under the “government” tab.
Contact South County reporter Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com or call her directly at 994-6444, ext. 11.
