Posted: Friday, Jun 24th, 2011
BY: JON CHOWN
A scathing review of how Watsonville’s City Hall functions will lead off the 2010-11 Santa Cruz County Grand Jury report when it is released Wednesday during a press conference on the Santa Cruz County courthouse steps in Santa Cruz.
The report will cover the findings of five investigations by the Grand Jury. The first is titled “City of Watsonville: Fastest Growing City Looking for Leadership and a Fire Truck.” Other investigations are titled “Back to the Future: Regional Gridlock and Local Planning Paralysis,” “Delinquent Property Tax Penalty Cancellations: A Day Late and a Dollar Short,” “Pajaro Valley Unified School District Insurance Vendor Selection: Are There Options?” and “Santa Cruz County Correctional Facilities: Are They Effectively Utilized and What Are the Options?”
According to sources who asked not to be named, the investigation regarding Watsonville focuses on what the Grand Jury refers to as a lack of transparency and accountability to the public by city staff. The Grand Jury questions why Watsonville has not received a firetruck it paid $225,000 for in 2008, and has kept the City Council and residents in the dark about the delays and issues surrounding the truck. The report also supposedly chastises the city for spending too much on litigation, questions the city’s use of Redevelopment Agency funds and more.
The final report will cover both the Grand Jury’s findings and its recommendations. The press conference is scheduled for 11 a.m. The report is to be available online at www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/grandjury.
The Santa Cruz County Grand jury is a group of 19 volunteers who investigate local government on behalf of the county’s citizens, looking for ways in which the governing agencies might operate more effectively and efficiently.
Candidates are drawn randomly from the same pool from which regular trial jurors are selected, and the subsequent Grand Jury serves for a year, investigating citizen complaints and other topics of interest. This year’s jury began service July 1, 2010, and ends its service on July 1 when the 2011-12 Grand Jury is sworn in.
This year’s members were Janice Hewitt, Kris Desmond, Marc Los Huertos, Doug Horton, Alex Clancy, Jay Leite, Carl Galewski, Greg Fyvie, Jim Kerr, Rich Simms, Cheri Hrapoff, Steve Johnson, Patricia Goslin, Erik Zinn, Bob Blanchfield, William Gutzwiller, Gayle Larson, Dolores McCabe and Amber McMeans.
http://www.register-pajaronian.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=10895&page=72
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