Blog note: this article references a grand jury report.
Some members of the public say the Tuolumne County Economic Development Authority Governing Board could be more welcoming and less defensive if it wants more people to attend and provide input at its meetings.
County Supervisor John Gray, chairman of the TCEDA board since 2014, got into a tense interaction with Barbara Dresslar, an outspoken critic of the organization, Friday morning at the board’s regular monthly meeting after telling her she couldn’t give a three-minute speech she had prepared regarding the 2018 Tuolumne County Civil Grand Jury’s report on the agency.
The meeting agenda included an “update on grand jury response activities” to discuss and give possible direction on eight recommendations made by the jury, each of which were listed individually.
After the first item — a nearly 30-minute review of the TCEDA’s website — Dresslar tried to argue with Gray to let her give her speech in whole, but Gray said she would limited to talking about each specific topic individually after the board discussed them.
“I am the chairman, I will decide how we run this,” Gray said in a stern voice. “You’re going to discuss these items as we discuss them. If not, we’re going to be all over the board. So if you have a comment on number one, the website, please make those statements now. Thank you.”
Dresslar went back to her seat and left the meeting moments later. Gray also called for the board to take a 10-minute break after the confrontation.
In the hall outside of the county Board of Supervisors chambers, where the meeting was held, Dresslar said she felt the TCEDA board was trying to “compartmentalize the discussion” despite saying at recent meetings that it wanted more involvement from the public.
One former TCEDA board member rebuked critics last month for not attending the board’s meetings and providing input prior to the release of the jury’s report at the end of June.
“I feel like I’ve been shut out, and feel like that’s unfortunately typical,” she said. “It’s emblematic of how the TCEDA is treating public input.”
Dresslar said she didn’t believe she would be allowed to give her full speech during a time at the start of the meeting set aside for public comments because they aren’t allowed to be related to anything on the agenda under the rules of the Ralph M. Brown Act, a California law that governs open meetings of public entities.
The law also requires entities to allow some time for members of the public to give comments on each agenda item while it’s being discussed.
County Counsel Sarah Carrillo, who was in attendance throughout the roughly two-and-a-half-hour meeting, said Gray’s denial of letting Dressler give her speech in full wasn’t a violation of the Brown Act, because the agenda delineated each topic that was to be discussed related to the grand jury report.
Carrillo said the law allows the board to use its own discretion and could have allowed her to give the speech, however.
After the meeting, Gray defended his decision to not give Dresslar a few minutes. He said he prefers to stick to what’s on the printed agenda when he runs public meetings, which he also does as the chairman of the county Board of Supervisors.
“I’m a pretty nice guy, I don’t browbeat people, but I’m never going to be one to be browbeaten,” he said. “If it offends you that I run a structured meeting, that’s your problem.”
Gurbax Sahota, president and CEO of the California Association for Local Economic Development, later gave a presentation to the board during a discussion about a pending audit of the TCEDA’s management practices.
Sahota suggested four economic development agencies in other counties that could be used by MGO, the independent auditing firm hired to conduct the audit, to compare with the TCEDA’s practices.
The board decided to select all four agencies, which are located in Siskiyou, Madera, Mariposa and Stanislaus counties.
The management audit was recommended by the jury after it identified potential concerns related to management oversight, such as budget control, terms for the chief executive officer’s contract, and board personnel evaluation processes.
Among the findings were that Cope was allowed to sign his own expense reports, claim work time telecommuting during a month in England last year, and used public funds intended for entertaining clients and business prospects to pay for the meals of county supervisors and TCEDA board members.
Other potential concerns identified in the report included balancing the needs for public openness with private industry needs for confidentiality and having unique policies that don’t align with the best practices followed by the county and City of Sonora.
The county and city formed the agency in 2008 through a joint-powers agreement. About $103,000 of the TCEDA’s $460,000 comes from the city, while the county funds the most of the remaining amount.
Several people, including Dresslar, have urged the Sonora City Council at recent meetings to break from the agreement and stop funding the TCEDA. The city would have to give the county six months notice before the start of the next fiscal year under the terms of the agreement, which would be Dec. 31 this year.
Carrillo clarified at the meeting that if the city were to leave the TCEDA, the agency would effectively be dissolved. The county could then decide whether to form a new entity on its own.
Sahota noted the agency in Stanislaus County is a nonprofit organization, which she suggested could be a model worth exploring considering the current questions over the city’s continued involvement.
County Administrator Craig Pedro also gave a lengthy speech at the meeting about the various public and private organizations in the county and provided a nine-page document that listed the types of ways each contributes to economic development.
“This is a really valuable document,” said TCEDA board member Barry Hillman, executive director of the nonprofit HealthLitNow. “One of the concerns that I have is that while many of us who have been on the board for a considerable period of time recognize this aspect, unfortunately the agenda in the public eye has been controlled by a very narrow focus on what economic development is.”
Eileen Mannix, who serves on the Twain Harte Community Services District Board of Directors, thanked Pedro for including the agency she represents among those in the document.
Mannix then suggested that the TCEDA board should look at the recent attention being paid to it as a positive opportunity and “not be defensive and critical of the public.”
“The public is very interested, but it would be helpful if they were treated with respect and welcomed when they gave their comments,” she said. “I don’t feel that is always the case here.”
Earlier in the meeting, the two county supervisors and two members of the city council unanimously appointed Ron Patel as an at-large member after Jim Gianelli stepped down last month because he recently moved to another county.
Patel, who retired as chief executive officer of Black Oak Casino Resort in July, will serve a four-year term beginning next year.
He said in an interview as he was leaving the meeting that he applied for the position because he believed his experience working on the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians’ economic development projects over the past 17 years would be helpful to the board.
“I think I have the experience to contribute and help it move forward,” he said.
Another at-large seat on the board will be vacated at the end of the year by Dave Thoeny, who decided not to seek re-appointment due to time constraints from his jobs as executive director of Mother Lode Job Training and the Central Sierra Economic Development District.
The other three people who applied for a seat were Ryan Land, area manager for timber giant Sierra Pacific Industries, Marianne Wright, owner of Tar Flat Sonora and Servente’s Saloon in downtown Sonora, and Rob Hoerntlein, owner of Rainbow Communications in downtown Sonora.
Sonora Mayor Jim Garaventa and Mayor Pro-tem Matt Hawkins, the city’s representatives on the TCEDA board, suggested doing interviews with all of the candidates prior to approving Patel’s appointment.
“For fairness and to be on a level playing field, I would like to see some sort of interview process,” Hawkins said.
Gray and County Supervisor Sherri Brennan, who also serves on the TCEDA board, said they personally know both Patel and Land and suggested appointing the latter to the other remaining open seat.
“I think they would do a good job,” Gray said.
Garaventa and Hawkins suggested appointing Wright, because they felt she would be good for the position after having worked with her in the past, such as on the city’s former homeless task force, and said they didn’t know Land very well.
Brennan and Gray said they didn’t know Wright.
The city and county representatives on the board ultimately voted 3-1 to schedule interviews with the remaining three candidates at a future meeting, with Gray in opposition.
After that, the board approved a form that will be distributed to all local schools to request equipment from the TCEDA’s now-defunct InnovationLab.
Equipment that will be available includes computers, 3D printers, and other high-tech devices.
The Columbia Union School District previously requested the equipment, which is worth nearly $30,000, for a planned science, technology, engineering and math program.
Jo Rodefer, president of the Columbia Union School District Board of Trustees, was seated in the audience and left shortly after the discussion about the InnovationLab equipment. She is married to County Supervisor Karl Rodefer.
At the end of the meeting, the board members then held a separate meeting as the Economic Prosperity Council of Tuolumne County, which serves as the nonprofit arm of the TCEDA.
The council approved moving $29,500 from the nonprofit’s reserves to the TCEDA’s reserves, which came from two grants the council received to purchase equipment for the InnovationLab.
Larry Cope, executive director of the TCEDA and CEO of the council, has explained that the money to purchase the equipment was taken out of the TCEDA’s operating funds prior to the lab’s opening in 2014 and the grants were put into the nonprofit’s reserves.
Cope later suggested that the council members consider dissolving the nonprofit, with all of the remaining funds being moved to the TCEDA’s reserves for use at the board’s discretion.
Gray directed Cope to make a list of pros and cons for having the nonprofit and bring it back for the council to consider at its next meeting.
November 12, 2018
The Union Democrat
By Alex MacLean
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