Monday, February 22, 2010

SewerWatch Asks DA to Investigate Possible Brown Act Violations by SLO County Parks Commission

"The people do not yield their sovereignty to the bodies that serve them. The people insist on remaining informed to retain control over the legislative bodies they have created."
-- The Ralph M. Brown Act

[Updated 2/24/10, see below]

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To: SLO County Supervisor, Bruce Gibson, 2nd District
Date: 2/22/10

Dear Supervisor Gibson,

I'm attempting to send the following e-mail to SLO County District Attorney, Gerald Shea, however, I noticed that the DA's office does not include a contact e-mail address on their web site. So, considering the subject matter of my e-mail involves the 2nd District of San Luis Obispo County, I was hoping that you could forward the following e-mail to Mr. Shea.

Thank you,
Ron
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Dear Mr. Shea,

I'm writing you today, because my research shows that in other municipalities, the method used to report a possible violation of the Brown Act is to write a letter to the local District Attorney's office requesting an investigation. That's what this letter is, because I believe I'm the victim of an egregious violation of the Brown Act, that occurred recently in SLO County.

Here are the details:

On, 1/20/10, I published a piece on my blog, SewerWatch [sewerwatch.blogspot.com], that shows that Supervisor Bruce Gibson's appointment to the SLO County Parks Commission, Pandora Nash-Karner, also sits on the Board of Directors for the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden -- a facility that leases County-owned land, is discussed at Parks Commission meetings, and is also planning a "$20 million" expansion, and, according to their executive director, the one proposal they've received to design the project is from the SWA Group, where Nash-Karner's husband, Gary Karner, is a "Managing Principal and Senior Project Manager for 27 years and is currently retained by SWA," according to his bio.

What my piece also shows, is that I've filed a complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission requesting they investigate possible conflict of interest violations (found in the Political Reform Act) with that arrangement.

Shortly after I exposed that apparent conflict of interest, I noticed on the January 28, 2010 Parks Commission meeting agenda, this item:

"(Item) 8: Proposal from San Luis Obispo Botanical Gardens – Dave Porter (7:00)"

As I'm sure you know, according to the Brown Act, agenda items, and their staff reports, must be made available to the public "at least 72 hours before a regular meeting."

Here's the specific language:

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54954.2. (a) At least 72 hours before a regular meeting, the legislative body of the local agency, or its designee, shall post an agenda containing a brief general description of each item of business to be transacted or discussed at the meeting, including items to be discussed in closed session.

54954.1. Any person may request that a copy of the agenda, or a copy of all the documents constituting the agenda packet [bolding mine], of any meeting of a legislative body be mailed to that person.
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I deliberately waited until within that 72 hour time frame before I contacted SLO County Parks Commission staff requesting a copy of the staff report for Item 8 -- required by the Brown Act to be included in that meeting's "agenda packet," at the time of my request.

On the morning of 1/26/10, well within the "72 hour" Brown Act requirement, I sent SLO County Parks Planner, Jan Di Leo this e-mail:

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On the agenda for this Thursday's Parks Commission meeting, it reads:

"Proposal from San Luis Obispo Botanical Gardens – Dave Porter (7:00)"

Please e-mail me the staff report for that item, and the proposal.

Thanks again,
Ron
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After not receiving a reply for 24 hours, I sent Ms. Di Leo another e-mail on the morning of 1/27/10:

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Hello Jan,

Yesterday morning I sent you an e-mail requesting the staff report for the following item on this Thursday's Parks Commission meeting agenda:

"Proposal from San Luis Obispo Botanical Gardens – Dave Porter (7:00)"

That was 24 hours ago, and I've yet to receive a response, although you were kind enough to promptly respond to my other e-mails... and thank you for that.

That meeting is tomorrow, so PLEASE, is there any way I can get that report today? (And, frankly, I'm a little disappointed that the report isn't linked on the Parks Commission web site, like they are with other SLO County government agencies, like the Planning Commission, and the Supes.)

So, again, please e-mail me the staff report for that item, and the proposal (if available) as soon as possible. And, please don't force me to do a public records request to get that staff report, as those take up to 10 days to fulfill, and the meeting is tomorrow.

Thanks again,
Ron
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The next morning, on 1/28/10, Ms. Di Leo finally replied:

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Ron,
That item was continued until February 25, 2010. At this point there is no report. I believe Dave Porter was simply coming to give a report. Our web site has the Parks Commission agenda and staff reports. So, prior to the February meeting (around Feb. 19th) you should be able to down load [sic] the agenda and the report (if there is one).

Jan Di Leo
Parks Planner
SLO County Parks
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Please note, Ms. Di Leo writes, "I believe Dave Porter was simply coming to give a report," when the Item 8 clearly says, "proposal." Then, Ms. Di Leo writes, "Our web site has the Parks Commission... staff reports," when it clearly does not.

[ Here's the link: http://www.slocountyparks.com/information/parkscommission.htm ]

To emphasize the egregious nature of this apparent Brown Act violation, I want to summarize the above mentioned sequence of events:

I recently exposed an apparent conflict of interest involving 2nd District Parks Commissioner, Pandora Nash-Karner, her husband's landscaping firm, the SWA Group, and her position on the Board of Directors for the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden.

Then I noticed that a representative from the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden was agendized to give a "proposal" to the SLO County Parks Commission, on January 28.

Then, I deliberately -- repeat, deliberately -- waited until inside the Brown Act's "72 hours" before requesting a copy of the staff report for that "proposal."

On the same day of the meeting -- two days after my initial request, and with Item 8 STILL listed on the Parks Commission agenda, a member of SLO County Parks staff wrote to me, "That item was continued until February 25, 2010. At this point there is no report."

Due to this seemingly egregious violation of the Brown Act, I (and the public) will never know the contents of that January, 28, 2010, "proposal."

I'm requesting that the SLO County District Attorney's office please investigate this very serious matter.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Finally, I'd like to end with this quote:

"Unconstitutional practices [often] get their first footing in their mildest and least repulsive form."
-- United States Supreme Court, 1886

Thank you for your time,
Ron

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[UPDATE: 2/24/10 -- The minutes from the January 28, 2010, SLO County Parks Commission meeting were just published on their web site:

http://www.slocountyparks.com/information/pcommprevmeetmins.htm

It reads:

"8. Proposal from San Luis Obispo Botanical Gardens – Dave Porter.  Deferred."

... and the agenda for tomorrow night's meeting was also just published, and this:

"Proposal from San Luis Obispo Botanical Gardens – Dave Porter (7:00)"

... is nowhere to be found, of course.]

[Eight weeks down... 44 to go.]

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