Ventura County Grand Jury
• 2003-2004
Ventura County 2003 - 2004 Grand Jury Elections and Local Appointment Lists*
⚠️ 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 and Recommendations 22 findings
F01
The California Government Code contains a legislative declaration and finding that, "a vast and largely untapped reservoir of talent exists among the citizenry of the State of California, and that rich and varied segments of this great human resource are, all too frequently, not aware of the many opportunities which exist to participate in and serve on local regulatory and advisory boards, commissions, and committees .... [T]he general public of this state has traditionally been denied access to information regarding vacancies which occur on such boards, commissions, and committees, thereby denying most citizens and interest groups the opportunity to nominate, for consideration by the respective appointive powers, persons whose particular strengths, backgrounds, experience, perspective, and talents might contribute significantly to efficient and representative policy development and administration in local government." (Cal. Gov. Code, § 54970 (a), (b)) The legislature further found and declared that, "all citizens of the state,
No recommendations for this finding
F02
regardless of their place of residence should have equal access to specific and current information about the many local regulating and advisory boards, commissions, and committees and equal opportunity to be informed of vacancies which shall occur thereon, so that they may pursue the opportunity to participate in and contribute to the operations of local government by serving on such boards, commissions, and committees." (Cal. Gov. Code, § 54970 (d)) Every city council or mayor and every county board of supervisors in California
No recommendations for this finding
F03
must prepare a local appointments list annually, respecting every regular and ongoing board, commission and committee to which it appoints. The list must announce each term, which will expire during the following calendar year, the name of the incumbent appointee, the date of the appointment, the term expiration date and the necessary qualifications of the position. In addition, they must publish a list of all boards, commissions, and committees whose members serve at the pleasure of the city council, mayor or board of supervisors, as the case may be, together with the qualifications for each position. (Cal. Gov. Code, § 54972)
No recommendations for this finding
F04
These lists must be made available to the public for no more than the reasonable, actual cost of copying. In addition, each list publisher must designate the public library within its jurisdiction with the largest service population to receive a copy of the list. (Cal. Gov. Code, § 54973) Whenever an unscheduled vacancy occurs respecting these appointive
No recommendations for this finding
F05
positions, a special vacancy notice must be posted in the office of the clerk of the city council, mayor or board of supervisors which appoints to the position. Such notice must also be posted in the designated library and in other places designated by the appointing authority not earlier than 20 days before or later than 20 days after the vacancy occurs. The appointing authority may make a final replacement appointment after the vacancy notice has been posted for 10 days. (Cal. Gov. Code, § 54974) Elections and Local Appointment Lists Final Report Ventura County 2003 – 2004 Grand Jury Many opportunities exist for Ventura County citizens to serve the community
No recommendations for this finding
F06
on local boards, commissions and committees. Citizens who desire more information can visit their local district supervisory office for more information. On 21 January 1992, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors designated the
No recommendations for this finding
F07
Simi Valley library for the purpose of receiving the local appointments list. The Ventura County Board of Supervisors routinely publishes the list required
No recommendations for this finding
F08
by California Government Code § 54972 (a) of vacancies within its appointing authority and sends it to the county library located in Simi Valley. The Grand Jury was provided a copy of lists and transmittal correspondence for the years 2001-2004 inclusive. All contained the same information fields with the same format. A reading of the county vacancy list discloses that it does not comply with the
No recommendations for this finding
F09
clear wording of the statute. The statute requires that the list contain the necessary qualifications of each vacancy listed. The county vacancy list contains no such qualification descriptions. In addition to the deficiencies described in F-09, the county vacancy list
No recommendations for this finding
F10
contains numerous positions whose terms expired up to four years ago, further confusing the reader and giving the appearance of needing an update. The Ventura County Board of Supervisors attempts to comply with section
Related Recommendations (1)
R01
The board of supervisors should review its current local appointment list generation procedures and content for compliance with existing statutory requirements and make changes where necessary to bring its list into compliance. The board of supervisors should review current policy regarding the rotation of
F11
54973 and subsection (b) of section 54972 of the California Government Code, which require that the local appointments list sent to the designated library also include a listing of all board positions and their required qualifications, simply by providing a copy of the current Ventura County Directory ("Directory") to the designated library. A review of the contents of the Directory reveals that it was manifestly
No recommendations for this finding
F12
designed and published for purposes other than informing the public in a simple and concise way what Ventura County board, commission and committee positions are established, and what are the necessary qualifications for those positions. The Directory, comprising 233, 81/2 by 11 inch pages, contains a multitude of information having no relation to the purpose of the local appointments list. Any reader relying solely upon the Directory would be hard pressed to locate and understand what appointive positions exist and what are their qualifications. Further study reveals that the only qualification discovered was that of specific district residence. In addition, it was nearly impossible by reference to the Directory to determine with any confidence which were appointive and which were elective positions.
No recommendations for this finding
F13
Nine of the ten cities located in the county have an established practice of publishing a local appointments list which meets the minimum requirements of the statute. The tenth city initiated such procedure upon Grand Jury inquiry. Only two cities, Moorpark and Camarillo, demonstrated designation of a
No recommendations for this finding
F14
library prior to the Grand Jury inquiry. Five of the remaining took appropriate action to accomplish library designation upon receiving our inquiry. The remaining three, Oxnard, Simi Valley, and Thousand Oaks, Final Report Ventura County 2003 - 2004 Grand Jury although they report sending the local appointment list to a library, have failed to supply the Grand Jury with a formal designation. Thousand Oaks claims compliance with the statute simply by sending the list to all of its libraries but without taking the effort to designate a library as required by a plain reading of the statute. The local appointment lists generated by each of the ten cities are very
Related Recommendations (1)
R05
current position that designation of a library for local appointment list purposes is unnecessary. Responses
F15
readable and understandable even though they vary greatly in sophistication, content, detail and format. However, the list generated by Moorpark does not comply with the statute: it does not list necessary position qualifications but rather invites the reader to contact the city clerk for further information.
Related Recommendations (1)
R04
apparent non-compliance with statute regarding the publication of qualifications for appointive positions. The City of Thousand Oaks should review the legal viability of the city's
F16
The Elections Division must become involved in the election process for districts and agencies whose "Principal [creating] Act" so provides and whose secretary provides the division with necessary statutory information in a timely manner. (Cal. Elections Code, § 10501, et. seq.) These elections may be held at any time set in accordance with the Principal Act. Declarations of candidacy forms must become available 113 days and must be filed 88 days before the election. If, by the 83rd day before the district election, not enough qualified candidates
No recommendations for this finding
F17
file for each open position (or group of positions to be elected at large) and if no petition signed by 10 percent of the voters or 50 voters, whichever is less, to hold an election has been filed, then the election official will inform the board of supervisors who must appoint the candidates to the positions. If no candidate files for an elective position, the board of supervisors shall appoint a person who is qualified. (Cal. Elections Code, § 10515) The district must reimburse the Elections Division its actual costs associated
No recommendations for this finding
F18
with servicing the district election. (Cal. Elections Code, § 10520)
No recommendations for this finding
F19
If a district has scheduled an election during a period when no other elections in that portion of the county are scheduled, the Elections Division may authorize the district to perform any or all of the functions of the Elections Division respecting that election. Conversely, the county elections official and the board of supervisors can perform the duties of the district secretary and the district board, respectively. (Cal. Elections Code, § 10519)
No recommendations for this finding
F20
There appears to be no general requirement that the board of supervisors or the Elections Division publicizes the district election except as mandated by the district and its Principal Act. In the most recent calendar year, only two of the several elective bodies
Related Recommendations (2)
R02
purchase orders for publication of legal notices among the several recognized newspapers of general circulation to determine whether rotation is appropriate, given the differing publicity needs of different types of "legal notices" including notices of local elections. The board of supervisors should take whatever policy action is necessary to
R03
insure that, when the Elections Division is servicing a district election, useless election publication decisions such as described in the complaint do not occur again. Elections and Local Appointment Lists Final Report Ventura County 2003 - 2004 Grand Jury The City of Moorpark should review current city practice to correct an
F21
requested election assistance from the Elections Division.
No recommendations for this finding
F22
The district involved had available to it the option to take its newspaper publication notice out of the regular rotation set up by the county department which contracts for "legal notices" for all county offices, including the Elections Division. The district, like most other districts in the recent past, chose not to, to avoid the additional processing costs involved. Elections and Local Appointment Lists Final Report Ventura County 2003 - 2004 Grand Jury Conclusions There exists in California a strong public policy favoring citizen involvement in C-01. the processes of government at all levels, but especially the local level. (F-01,
No recommendations for this finding
Conclusions 1
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CL1 Page 7There exists in California a strong public policy favoring citizen involvement in C-01. the processes of government at all levels, but especially the local level. (F-01, F-02) The generation and publication of local appointment lists containing specified C-02. information were mandated to overcome a perceived lack of publicity given to open opportunities for citizen service on local boards, commissions and committees. (F-03, F-04, F-05) This local appointment list is mandatory for cities and counties. (F-03) C-03. The local appointment list published by the Ventura County Board of C-04. Supervisors needs improvement to bring it into compliance with the requiring statute. (F-08, F-09, F-10, F-11) C-05. The local appointment list published by Moorpark needs improvement to bring it into compliance with the requiring statute. (F-14) C-06. In the case complained of, complainant's allegations respecting the method of newspaper publicity used by the Elections Division on behalf of the Oak Park MAC were substantiated. (F-17, F-19, F-21) The district governing board holding the election is responsible to the voters in C-07. its district for the adequacy of publicity surrounding the election. It has the responsibility and authority to contract for whatever publicity and "legal notice" publication it deems sufficient to apprise its voters of the election and candidate qualifications. The Elections Division will provide what the district is willing to pay for. (F-17, F-19, F-21) The board of supervisors is required by statute to appoint existing candidates C-08. to elective positions when an election is deemed to be unnecessary under the statute. If there is no candidate for an elective position, the board of supervisors must appoint a qualified person. (F-16)
No Responses Found 3
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.