Community Development Commission The Community Development Commission (cdc) has had erratic leadership and acted

An outside consultant acts as the fiscal officer for the CDC.

Employee morale has been low. The new Executive Director appears to be restoring morale and establishing appropriate lines of authority.

While there are budgets for the various government programs, the CDC does not have an agency-wide budget with which to gauge agency performance.

The CDC does not have a long-range plan identifying goals and expected results.

BOS ad-hoc committee recommended the BOS “develop a system that the CDC could employ to benefit from the resource pool currently available from the County, such as Human Resources, Auditor- Controller, General Services, and County Counsel, to fulfill the mission of the CDC.”

The 1999–2000 Grand Jury found that two units of CDC-owned housing were destroyed by fire and the insurance settlement was received in February of 1998, but to date the CDC has not replaced the units. CDC is investigating the feasibility of rebuilding these units on that site.

The personnel in the Fort Bragg office felt the office was closed as retribution for those who testified before the 1999–2000 Grand Jury. The CDC management indicated the office closure was due to the difficulty of supervising that office from a long distance and the expense of the operation for the services provided. The Grand Jury was unable to determine conclusively why it was closed.

The Executive Director had discussed the Fort Bragg office closure with the AFSCME (AFL-CIO) union prior to September 21, 2000, without receiving direction from the BOC.

The BOC agenda October 19, 2000, showed item 10A as a closed session discussion/action item regarding personnel matters and labor negotiations under Govt. Code §54957.6.

The BOC minutes of the October 19, 2000 reporting on the closed session states, “The BOC has decided to close the Fort Bragg office and transfer the employees to the Ukiah office.” The BOC properly made employee transfers in closed session, but the Brown Act requires that the BOC make the decision to close the Fort Bragg office in open session.

The BOC, in violation of the Govt. Code (§54954.2 (a) “no action or discussion shall be undertaken on any item not appearing on the posted agenda”) did not show as a separate discussion/action item on any agenda about the closure of the Fort Bragg office.

The BOC did not hold a public hearing and did not allow public comment prior to closing the Fort Bragg office. The right to know is paramount when conducting the public’s business. Govt. Code §54950 in part states, “In enacting this chapter, the Legislature finds and declares that the public commissions, boards and councils and other public agencies in this State exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business. It is the intent of the law that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly.” Govt. Code §54953(a) states “All meetings of the legislative body of a local agency shall be open and public, and all persons shall be permitted to attend any meeting of the local agency, except as otherwise provided in this chapter.”

All services normally provided in Ukiah, are also provided to Fort Bragg clients. Ukiah employees travel to Fort Bragg, usually once a week, to provide these services by appointment only.

While CDC can handle applications and renewals from Fort Bragg by mail, CDC employees expressed concern that the loss of face-to-face meetings and inspections may result in a higher incidence of fraud and result in a lack of control of the condition of the agency housing.