Judith C. Clark, Presiding Judge Superior Court of California, County of Riverside*

1 of 9 www.marchjpa.com 14205 Meridian Parkway Ste. Riverside, CA 92518 \oplus 951.656.7000 The respondent agrees with the finding. In fact, the March JPA typically provides more notice than the Brown Act requires. For example, the Brown Act requires that regular meeting agendas be published 72 hours prior to the meeting time. In most cases, the agendas for March JPA are published over 100 hours prior to the meetings.

The March JPA Commission does not meet on a regular basis. The respondent disagrees partially with the finding. For many years, the March JPA's regular meetings have been held on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at 3:00 p.m. For members of the public wishing to attend regular meetings of the March JPA, they can be confident that the regular meetings will be held on one of those days. Members of the public will be aware of the cancellation of regular meetings at least 72 hours prior to the anticipated meeting date. Oftentimes, the date of the next regular meeting is stated at the prior regular meeting so commissioners and members of the public are aware of the cancellation. More recently, with the upcoming elimination of the March JPA's land use authority, the Commission discussed holding just one meeting per month to the extent warranted by the number of items. Those meetings continue to be held on the second or fourth Wednesday of the month. As Illustration 3 shows, the March JPA still meets almost exclusively on those dates. From time to time, as authorized by the Brown Act, the March JPA holds special meetings. Twenty-four hours' notice of these meetings is always provided in advance. The Grand Jury Report suggested concerns with the three special meetings in one week occurring in March 2023. The agendas for those meetings contained just two items of business - both of which were closed session items, where the public appropriately may not observe - and were properly noticed in accordance with the Brown Act. Under the Brown Act, the public comment at a special meeting is limited to those items on the agenda. Thus, the Grand Jury's concern with the three special meetings is misplaced. The March JPA Commissioners infrequently seek a consensus on March JPA issues from

other elected officials on their city council/board. The respondent agrees with the finding. The March JPA is not in the best position to confirm whether this is the case. However, the frequent seeking of consensus on March JPA items at member agency boards would be inappropriate. When a member agency appoints a representative to a position on another public agency board, they confer on that representative the responsibility for making the decisions on that board. (See 83 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 267 (2000). The decisions are made by that appointed official, and that appointed official alone. To the extent the home jurisdiction's board wishes to direct their officials to vote in a particular way, they may not do so - the individual official retains the discretion to vote their conscience as part of the appointment. In addition, the consideration of March JPA items at a member agency's board prior to a decision by the March JPA 2 of 9 951,656,7000 14205 Meridian Parkway Ste. Riverside, CA 92518 Commission could raise significant due process concerns. (See 104 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 34 (2021). Member agency boards are free, in most cases, to adjust their representation on a joint powers board if they are unhappy with their representation. It would defeat the operational efficiencies of a joint powers authority for member agency boards to weigh in on every agenda item coming before the joint powers board prior to action. In addition, it would significantly burden the member agency boards to have to hold advance hearings on every single item coming before every regional board to which they appoint members.

It is difficult to hear comments in March JPA Commission and committee meetings when speakers do not use a microphone. The respondent partially agrees with the finding. From time-to-time, members of the public and presenters at public agency board meetings may speak directly to the audience or may not be the most proficient users of microphones. When possible, the Chair of the March JPA Commission attempts to redirect the speakers to address the Commission and to speak into the microphone. In addition, on occasion, the March JPA experiences technical difficulties with its equipment -this may have contributed to some of the difficulty hearing the recordings. During the meetings themselves, when in person, the March JPA has not experienced significant issues with members of the public hearing the items being discussed.

There are lengthy delays between March JPA Commission meetings and meeting minutes approvals. The respondent partially agrees with the finding. March JPA staff takes pride in generally providing the meeting minutes to the Commission soon after the meeting takes place. While delays between meetings and minutes are a fairly common issue for public agencies due to increased burdens on city clerks and board secretaries, the March JPA agrees that ideally minutes would be approved soon after the meeting. While there were only a few examples of lengthy delays between the meeting occurrence and the approval of the minutes, March JPA staff is committed to not having such delays.

Once the Governor terminated the state's COVID-19 State of Emergency, the March JPA discontinued livestreaming its March JPA Commission meetings. The respondent agrees with the finding. The March JPA Commission meetings are not video recorded.

The public does not have access to video recorded March JPA Commission meetings on the March JPA website. 3 of 9 951.656.7000 14205 Meridian Parkway Ste. Riverside, CA 92518 www.marchjpa.com The respondent agrees with the finding.

The March JPA provides information to the public in a variety of venues. The respondent agrees with the finding. The March JPA provides information in person at its Commission meetings, committee meetings, and at community meetings. The March JPA provides written information online through its website, via email to its email lists, and through public noticing. The March JPA also utilizes social media to provide information to the public.

The March JPA does not have a permanent community advisory committee comprised of Riverside County residents. The respondent agrees with the finding. The joint powers agreement forming March JPA calls for a technical advisory committee composed of senior staff from the member agencies. The joint powers agreement does not call for a community advisory committee, nor is March JPA aware of any local cities with permanent community advisory committees with general subject matter jurisdiction. Since the March JPA's founding over 30 years ago and until relatively recently, there have not been calls for such a committee. In fact, the timing of calls for such a permanent community advisory committee generally coincide with the submissions for the proposed West Campus Upper Plateau Project and the individuals who have made such requests have been those who have clearly identified themselves as opposed to that project. Rather than establish a permanent community advisory committee for an agency whose land use jurisdiction is set to be removed in July 2025, we would suggest members of the public interested in that project participate in the public meetings and the public hearing on that project.

The March JPA does not always place special public meetings on its website calendar. The respondent disagrees partially with the finding. To our knowledge, the March JPA has always posted the agendas for special meetings on its website in accordance with the Brown Act. It is possible that March JPA staff may have participated in community meetings that were not posted on the calendar, however staff tries to ensure the calendar reflects all meetings hosted by the agency.

The public does not have access to important March JPA documents. The respondent disagrees with the finding. The March JPA complies with the California Public Records Act (PRA). If a member of the public requests a record that is subject to disclosure, it is provided in accordance with the law. Very few public agencies have the resources to upload every single public document to their website - this is a significant labor and cloud storage cost that would provide limited utility. Instead, most agencies, including the March JPA, make the most commonly utilized documents available online and comply with the PRA for all other documents. 4 of 9 951,656.7000 14205 Meridian Parkway Ste. Riverside, CA 92518 < − www.marchjpa.com

It is difficult to search for documents on the March JPA website and it is difficult to search for content within documents on the March JPA website. The respondent disagrees partially with the finding. The March JPA website is fairly user-friendly. It includes easy-to-use drop-down menus, which provide access to information about the agency and access to documents. For example, a member of the public wishing to find copies of old agendas and minutes can find a useful link to these documents under the "Meetings & Agendas" option under the "ABOUT" tab (which is the first tab option). In addition, under the "DEVELOPMENT SERVICES" tab, there is a link called "Documents and Forms", which takes users to a list of frequently used documents. The website also includes a search function which allows a user to search the website, and can be used to identify whether a document is available. As for searching within documents, this is possible for more recent documents where a searchable pdf format exists. However, for some older documents, the posted document is a scanned document, which may not be searchable. The March JPA simply does not have the resources to post every single public document to its website and make every document, regardless of how old, into a searchable pdf. If members of the public desire access to a public record, March JPA staff are happy to help them identify it and obtain it through the PRA process. The March JPA violated Government Code §6503.5 (d) by not submitting all required

March JPA agreements and amendments to the California Secretary of State, and to the California State Controller. The respondent agrees with the finding. The March JPA will be filing all these documents with the Secretary of State, who is responsible for forwarding the documents to the Controller. The March JPA violated Government Code §6503.8 by not submitting all required March

JPA agreements and amendments to the Riverside County's Local Agency Formation Commission Office. The respondent agrees with the finding. The March JPA has now filed all these documents with Riverside County LAFCO. The March JPA violated Government Code §6503.5 (d) by obtaining bonds worth

$32,700,000, and later refinanced those bonds at $33,095,000, without previously submitting all required March JPA agreements and amendments to the California Secretary of State and to the California State Controller. The respondent agrees with the finding. As acknowledged in our response to F-15, the March JPA failed to file all these documents at the correct time. The March JPA has filed the most recent amendment to the joint powers agreement and will file all others shortly. 5 of 9 14205 Meridian Parkway Ste. Riverside, CA 92518 951.656.7000 www.marchjpa.com <. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the March JPA maintains the validity of the bonds, which were approved by the Oversight Board and Department of Finance. The March JPA arranges for three annual audits: (1) March Joint Powers Authority, (2)

March Joint Powers Utility Authority, and (3) March Inland Port Airport Authority. Annual audits appear on the March JPA website and copies are provided to the Riverside County Auditor-Controller's office. The respondent agrees with the finding. Effective on July 1, 2025, the March JPA transfers its land use authority, public works,

policing, and fire protection responsibilities to the County of Riverside. The respondent partially agrees with the finding. The member agencies entered into the 14th Amendment to the joint powers agreement; that document speaks for itself. It should be noted that the County currently provides fire and police protection pursuant to a municipal services agreement. Responses to Recommendations