Monday, September 19, 2011

(Patterson) City Council set to take up Grand Jury response

by PI Staff
Sep 16, 2011

The Patterson City Council next week will discuss and approve a legally required response to a county Civil Grand Jury report that accused current and former council members and staff of wrongdoing.

The discussion will take place at the council's regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, Sept. 20.

The Grand Jury report, released in late June, outlines a yearlong probe into city matters and calls for the ouster of Councilwoman Annette Smith and returned money from former Mayor Becky Campo and developer John Ramos. The state requires a response from the city — but not from the individuals implicated — by Sept. 27.

The 60-page report calls for the resignation or recall of Smith, accusing her of failing to recuse herself from a vote regarding Ramos’ legal fees while she had a financial relationship with him and accuses her of mistreating members of the public.

It demands that Campo return money from her time as mayor because she lived in a home outside of city limits during part of her tenure.

The report also chastises the council as a whole for providing a $27,000 “gift of public funds” to local developer John Ramos for legal fees he incurred while he sought to block the Del Puerto Health Center from moving to the Keystone Pacific Business Park in western Patterson. The grand jury calls for Ramos to return that money to the city.

Furthermore, it calls for the city to file a complaint with the State Bar of California against former City Attorney George Logan for various alleged offenses, including a failure to be in the room at the time that the council opted to return the money to Ramos.

The report accuses Councilman Dominic Farinha of open-meeting violations, but does not recommend any punishment.

Tuesday's meeting will take place at 7 p.m. in the Patterson City Council Chambers, 1 Plaza.

Read more: Patterson Irrigator - City Council set to take up Grand Jury response

1 comment:

WISPR said...

The city council or city council is a legislative body, which dominates, the common city or region.