A Gridley city councilman's work as a deputy district attorney doesn't pose a conflict of interest in connection with the Butte County grand jury's report critical of the $5.1 million biofuels project in Gridley, the assistant city attorney says.
Councilman Dave Garner's job as a prosecutor was raised in a July 28 letter to the city, but attorney Nicole Delerio told councilmembers — who'll meet again Monday about the grand jury report — that the county panel operates as a separate, distinct body from the district attorney.
The grand jury may consult with the D.A.'s office but doesn't have to — and "we have no evidence it did," Delerio said at the council's Aug. 1 meeting.
"There is not, in fact, a conflict of interest," she said.
Garner said Friday that Delerio came to the right conclusion and that Monday's study session should be significant.
"It'll be more fireworks," Garner said.
He added of the issue about a potential conflict that he's flattered to be seen, three years out of law school, as having such influence — but that he didn't play the role the letter suggests.
John T. Harris, an attorney in Gridley, had written Mayor Jerry Fichter late last month and cited Garner's deputy D.A. work as a reason why "he must recuse himself from any discussion of, or participation in the city's analysis and reply to the grand jury's report."
"This obvious conflict necessarily prevents him from participating objectively," wrote Harris, a member of the law firm of Harris, Sanford & Hamman. Harris could not be reached for comment Friday.
The grand jury's report includes an account of the $964,949 paid over nine years to former Gridley councilman Thomas Sanford, an attorney in the same firm. He worked as city energy commissioner and as principal investigator for a Department of Energy contract that helped fund the biofuels project.
Harris in his letter states that then-Mayor Frank Cook had suggested creating the energy commissioner post after Sanford's departure as a councilman. City Councils reviewed the contract yearly and found value in the post, Harris said.
The grand jury said the multi-million project produced no biofuels plant and benefited few people.
An Aug. 1 City Council meeting included Councilman Dan Boeger's objection to Garner referring to a "good ol' boy network" in Gridley blocking efforts by some residents to learn about the biofuels plan.
Boeger had said the network made possible schools, a museum and the Gridley Memorial Hospital.
"I don't like the comments about the old boy network," Boeger said. "It served the city of Gridley for many years."
Garner said the people of Gridley built the community, not Boeger and his friends.
CONTACT reporter Ryan McCarthy at 749-4780.
Read more: http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/city-108965-attorney-gridley.html#ixzz1V3lVgjlZ
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