El Dorado County Grand Jury Report #24-06

After it was certified by the Registrar on May 14, 2020, an initiative petition signed by the required number of voters in LLAD #39 was unilaterally not acted on by the El Dorado Hills CSD. This non-action ignored the objections of the petitioners and violated Elections Code 9310 that required CSD to adopt the ballot measure or submit it to the voters. The District Partially Agrees with the Finding: The District agrees that it took no action based on advice from District Legal Counsel. In response to the finding regarding the previous initiatives to modify or remove assessments, at the October 14, 2021, Board of Directors meeting (See Attachment A), the Board approved a refund of the LLAD #39 FY20 assessment (total: $150,205.86) to homeowners who paid the assessment due to the construction delays at Heritage Village Park. Then again during the May 12, 2022, Board of Directors meeting (See Attachment B), the Board approved a refund of the LLAD #39 FY2021 assessment (total: $43,130) to homeowners who paid the assessment due to the construction delays at Heritage Village Park.

After it was certified by the Registrar on September 09, 2020, the text of a second initiative petition signed by LLAD #39 residents was altered, resulting in it being essentially nullified before it was placed on the 2020 ballot and submitted to the voters. This action ignored the objections of the petitioners and Elections Code 9310 which requires that the initiative petition be submitted to the voters without alteration. The District Partially Agrees with the Finding: As a technicality, it appears that the text of the initiative petition and the text of the ballot measure language are different; however, the District cannot find any documentation that it was party to the writing of the ballot measure language.