Sutter County Grand Jury • 2024-2025

Report of the 2024-2025 Sutter County Grand Jury Donald Petty - Foreperson

Published: November 17, 2025 93 pages Consolidated Report

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⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.

⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

Findings 8 findings

The Grand Jury Room remains non-compliant with the ADA because those with mobility issues do not have equal access to the building without assistance from other members. Grand Jury Finding 2

The lack of light in the Grand Jury room when entering or exiting causes a high risk for trip injuries. Response from the Board of Supervisors:

Ballot Harvesting Clarification: Contrary to media claims, Sutter County does not practice "ballot harvesting," and there was no evidence to suggest mass collection of ballots from nursing homes or other facilities. Grand Jury Finding #4:

Signature Verification: Stringent signature verification processes were conducted to detect and prevent fraudulent voting. This contributed to overall efforts to maintain the integrity of the electoral process. Grand Jury Finding #5:

Voter Rolls: An analysis of the Sutter County voter rolls data revealed some irregularities. From a random sample, it was observed that approximately 3% of individuals listed on the voter rolls were deceased, another 3% have relocated outside of the state, and an additional 3% moved to different addresses within the County. There was no evidence that any of these irregularities were found to suggest an unlawful vote was cast. We also investigated any addresses that had more than eight registered voters. There was no evidence that there were any illegal voters at those addresses. Response from the Board of Supervisors: The Sutter County Board of Supervisors is not required and was not invited to respond to Findings 1 through 5.

Improper procedures on land use changes for the two non-aeronautical leases have led to the violation of grant assurances.

The lack of transparency between County Counsel, Development Services Department, SBRAA, and the FAA has prohibited the development of a plan to comply with Grant Assurances resulting in no grant-funded improvements to the Airport for more than 10 years.

Friday Night Live is currently being implemented only in two school districts (East Nicolaus and Live Oak) but the application process by other school districts for FNL programs could not be identified by senior SCHHS staff most responsible for “community-based prevention” services.

Recommendations 9

R1

If this room is going to continue to be used by the Grand Jury or anyone else, it needs to be made compliant with the California Disabled Persons Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). General Services should construct an ADA compliant ramp to the internal entrance door to the Grand Jury Room. This should be completed before Daylight Savings changes on November 3, 2024. Grand Jury Recommendation #2
R2

General Services and Development Services shall install motion-activated light controls in the Grand Jury room to reduce the risk of injury that is inherent while traversing in the dark when entering or leaving. This should be completed before Daylight Savings changes on November 3, 2024. Response from Board of Supervisors:
R3

Advocate for ongoing public education efforts to dispel misinformation surrounding the electoral process, promoting trust and confidence in the integrity of elections. Response from the Board of Supervisors: The Sutter County Board of Supervisors is not required and was not invited to respond to Recommendations 1 through 3. Board of Supervisor Salaries: 20 Years Without a Raise The Sutter County Board of Supervisors was invited to respond to this report.
R4

The Sutter County Grand Jury recommends the Board of Supervisors direct the Director of Development Services to work with County Counsel and the District Attorney to develop a corrective action plan to allow Sutter County Airport to become compliant with grant assurances and eligible to apply for Federal grant funding
R5

The Sutter County Grand Jury recommends the Board of Supervisors and the Yuba City Council to direct the Sutter County Development Services and Yuba City Public Works respectively, to update maintenance procedures for solar powered school traffic signs to include regular foliage trimming which blocks solar panels used for solar powered signs
R6

The Sutter County Grand Jury recommends that the Sutter County Superintendent of Schools and Yuba City Unified School District’s Governing Board apply for “Safe Routes to Schools” grant funds to promote student walking and biking commute to their respective schools.
R7

The Sutter County Grand Jury recommends that the Sutter County Board of Supervisors, and the Yuba City Council direct the Sutter County Development Services and Yuba City Public Works’ Director respectively, to conduct and complete “Blue Zone” studies for Yuba City Unified and Sutter County schools to improve community health surrounding those schools by January 2027.
R8

The SCGJ recommends that the Sutter County Board of Supervisors instruct the Director of SCHHS to review its community-based alcohol and drug prevention services budget to ensure it is adhering to State Substance Use Disorder Division’s budget allocation requirements.
R9

The SCGJ recommends that the Sutter County Board of Supervisors instruct the Director of SCHHS to identify additional staff, currently used in direct client treatment services, that can be trained in community-based prevention services, planning and delivery by January 2026. At present, no SCHHS staff appear to have any competency in this area of community-based alcohol and drug prevention services planning and delivery.

No Responses Found 3

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.

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