Downieville, Sierra County, California July 18, 2013
(Sierra County) Grand Jury Report Published
DOWNIEVILLE – The 2012-2013 grand jury report is finished,
out and available. Masochists, political
junkies and scholars may find copies from the Clerk-Recorder’s Office as the
courthouse or online by rummaging through www.sierracounty.ws.
This year’s panel reports on four areas of local governance;
law enforcement facilities, the building department, employees’ conceders over
whistleblowing, and the school district.
The report is somewhat unusual in its temperance. Often grand juries second-guess elected officials
and proclaim what County priorities should be.
While there are whiffs of this usual problem in this year’s report, the
panel generally avoided that tendency.
Governors will nonetheless complain that while the grand
jury has pointed out some problems, neglect, and failings, as ever the panel
doesn’t offer funding for fixes.
“There’s always money.
It’s a matter of priorities.”
Auditor Don Hemphill was wont to say.
Therein lies the rub: grand juries
inevitably propose to change the priorities set by those actually elected to
govern.
The grand jury concluded the leak in the courthouse roof
needs fixing, that much of the security infrastructure didn’t get fixed with
grand money, that prisoners don’t have a good enough exercise area, that the
supes must consider closing the jail, that terrorists could wreak havoc and
that the supes must do something about that, too.
Nope.
The county may, as the grand jury recommends, establish a
standing committee to worry about such things.
On the other hand the supes might continue to assign those chores elsewhere. The grand jury cannot command the supes to do
anything, including share its assessment of likely terrorists attacks, or create
and pay task force to re-examine the benefits of closing the jail.
The grand jury also believes the building department is
fostering a disrespect for the law by ignoring most building code violations.
We had believed the State and the feds had the responsibility
of fostering such disrespect. But the
grand jury is right: those who obey building laws pay dearly, while others
skate.
“As to the problem the County has two options: 1) uniformly enforce the building codes, or
2) abandon the pretense of having a building code for structures in ‘Sierra
County.” The grand jury wrote. We can find no way to quarrel with this
analysis.
Complaining employees will always have a problem in such a
small workforce. ‘By the nature of a
complaint, the complainer can often be identified. Further, department heads, work so closely that
complainers and whistle- blowers have a hard time believing their anonymity
will be preserved by the personnel office.
We are somewhat sympathetic, while having little regard for
anonymous narks. We do not pay attention
to unsigned letters, and are uneasy with anonymous complaints. At the same time, we protect our sources.
Tough one. The grand
jury has discovered Nevada County would be willing to help us out with
this. We hope that avenue will be
explored.
Finally, the grand jury responded to questions regarding the
school district by attending meetings and interviewing staff. We believe this chore will excuse each and
every grand jury member from purgatory, if not harsher afterlife conditions.
The grand jury concluded the school district is clean; it
does abide by the Brown Act, the State’s open meeting law.
The grand jury also notes the school district’s website
makes digging out background information exceedingly difficult.
The grand jury points out the obvious problems of educating
our youth: a steadily declining number of kids spread over 1,000 square miles,
underpaid teachers, the lack of an economy of scale and, finally, a relatively uncaring
populace.
If, the grand jury explains, the people of Sierra County
want the level of excellence long provided by an under paid and under-appreciated
staff, they’ll simply have to get involved and pay for it.
Amen.
Don Russell, Editor
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