Merced County civil grand jury members question working conditions

September 12, 2014

Merced Sun-Star

By Ramona Giwargis

Merced County civil grand jury members say they are working under questionable conditions, including a room without air conditioning and no secure place to store confidential investigative files.

Jurors are carrying confidential county documents in the trunks of their vehicles, according to several accounts. They are also bringing fans from home to cool off during lengthy evening meetings.

For hundreds of years, civil grand juries have served as watchdogs by investigating governmental agencies, the performance of public officials and charges of wrongdoing within public agencies. They issue reports on their findings but can’t compel any changes and have no authority over criminal matters.

Merced County’s civil grand jury meets in either room 301 or 310 of the county administration building at 2222 M St., according to officials. The county building is locked up by 5:15 p.m., and the air conditioning is turned off by 7, according to Public Works Director Dana Hertfelder.

Hertfelder said the air can be kept on longer if officials are aware of a late meeting. It’s unclear why it was shut off during grand jury meetings, but Hertfelder said he’s trying to obtain a copy of their meeting schedule.

Confidential complaints, witness reports and other county documents are being transported to and from meetings, usually kept in a juror’s car trunk in the interim.

Moving files back and forth can threaten the integrity of investigations and lead to potential breaches of confidentiality, some jurors feared.

“We all leave with stacks of complaints every week and we are carrying them in our cars,” said one juror, who asked not to be identified because of being on the current panel. “We shouldn’t have to be transporting everything in the trunk of our car or have piles of paper in my home. We should protect the integrity and confidentiality of the items being discussed.”

Lyle Davis, a past civil grand jury member, agreed the meeting environment is inadequate and said the requests being made by current jurors are not outrageous.

“We can’t just stick our heads in the sand,” Davis said. “What happens if one of our confidential reports gets out because of lack of security, or if someone breaks into my car and takes files out of my trunk?”

Davis said he raised the issue with Board of Supervisors Chairman Jerry O’Banion earlier this year. O’Banion told the Merced Sun-Star the problem is finding a county facility that’s not already in use.

“I think administration would be willing to look at other sites, but there aren’t many (vacant) sites in the county,” he said. “The foreman of the grand jury had to keep the documents in a carry-file due to the fact that they didn’t have any space.”

O’Banion said grand juries have met in the same location for years with no complaints. He suggested placing a locked filing cabinet in the jurors’ room to hold files, but said the situation with the air conditioning is not unbearable. “It does get a little warm if the air units are off but not to the point that you can’t do work,” O’Banion said.

County administrators said they looked at moving the grand jury to several other spots — the library, the Sheriff’s Department, the District Attorney’s Office or Castle Commerce Center.

District Attorney Larry Morse II said he welcomed the idea of holding grand jury meetings in a conference room at the DA’s office, until a security issue related to files was identified.

“We compromise our evidence security by letting anyone outside the DA’s office have access to an area where evidence may be stored,” Morse explained. “It would have been co-mingling (of files).”

Morse said he attended a civil grand jury meeting last week and the accommodations were not acceptable.

“We can and should do better by the grand jury, in my opinion,” Morse said. “Grand juries have historically served a very important function in local governments. A system in which their investigative files are being schlepped around in car trunks is a flawed one at best and it’s something that I think needs to be addressed right away.”

The Merced County civil grand jury’s annual budget is $25,000, according to county documents. Several Merced jurors said working conditions of grand juries in neighboring counties such as Mariposa, Stanislaus and Fresno are much better.

In Fresno County, the civil grand jury has its own private room strictly for meetings, not to be shared with other departments. There’s also a separate waiting room for witnesses to ensure privacy, according to Sonia De La Rosa, an administrative analyst from the Fresno County administrative office.

However, Fresno County’s civil grand jury budget, about $56,000, is also more than twice that of Merced.

Merced County Executive Officer Jim Brown acknowledged hearing complaints related to the grand jury’s meeting place, but said another location has not been identified. Brown said he’s willing to explore options.

“These rooms have been used by almost every grand jury I’m aware of for years and we haven’t heard about this issue previously,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of meeting rooms, but we will work with the grand jury to look at alternatives.”

The civil grand jury is under the supervision of Merced Superior Court Judge Mark Bacciarini, who did not respond to requests for comment.

Sun-Star staff writer Ramona Giwargis can be reached at (209) 385-2477 or rgiwargis@mercedsunstar.com.