BY MARINA GAYTAN
mgaytan@losbanosenterprise.comDecember 18, 2013
An investigation by the Madera County Grand Jury has determined members of the Chowchilla Cemetery District’s board of trustees purchased items without board approval and violated the Brown Act.
The findings by the grand jury are included in its 2013-14 report, which was released recently.
The report listed eight items determined to be out of compliance after several interviews by grand jury members, along with visits and attendance of board meetings. The items included purchases by certain trustees on behalf of the cemetery without first obtaining approval from the entire board. Those purchases were subsequently reimbursed by the cemetery.
The grand jury also learned about the purchase of a golf cart by a trustee member in July 2011, with approval from the board coming 10 days later.
The board failed to follow the trustee-approved procedures and policies in the employee handbook and failed to follow the Brown Act, according to the grand jury report. Brown Act violations included: trustees held special board meetings with improper or no notice to the public and held discussions and took action on items in closed session when it should have been done in an open session, the report said.
The Chowchilla Cemetery District trustees held a special meeting Dec. 9 to start addressing a number of concerns listed in the report. Cemetery trustees met at the Madera County Board of Supervisor’s District 2 office to receive training on agenda preparation, supporting of backup materials and a presentation on the Brown Act.
Trustees Duff Bryant, Ron Lawson, John Kirwin, Betty Askew and Andrea Giordenella all attended, along with Erin Coast, the board’s secretary.
“I felt that we needed the board to comply with the law,” said David Rogers, Madera County Supervisor District 2.
Rogers appointed three of the five members to the board. Rogers said he felt a need to bring the board in compliance with state requirements. “The purpose of today’s training is to be where we need to be legally, not to point fingers,” Rogers said at the meeting. “The cemetery district is run with taxpayers’ dollars and it needs to be run right.”
At the meeting, Tanna Boyd, Madera County chief clerk to the Board of Supervisors, gave training on agenda preparation and supporting documents to better help trustee members make decisions on agenda items. “Your agenda covers basic sections,” Boyd said at the meeting, “but we recommend you put a little more information.”
Boyd said the board should be more descriptive in their action items and should identify what that topic is.
“The public comment portion was not missing (from the agenda) but the identifying government code that requests public comment to be on agenda was missing,” Boyd said.
Referring to the budget, Rogers suggested when spending district money, discussions should be made during an open session. “You have to do everything in the eyes of the public,” Rogers said. He also said the board “should have supporting documents to justify the expenditure.”
Boyd recommended having a purchasing limit, so the board can make purchases up to a certain amount without full approval by the board. She also recommended that the secretary record minutes during the meetings, which keeps a record of actions, motions and creates a summary of each meeting.
Cemetery trustee Giordanella said she thought the training was helpful. “I though it was a nice presentation,” she said.
However, Giordanella said she doesn’t believe her fellow board members took the presentation seriously. “I believe David Rogers is doing everything in his power to work with this board. They (the board) are unworkable, very defiant; they don’t want to go by the law. They are stealing from the citizens of Chowchilla and are stealing from the dead.”
Other members of the cemetery board, however, took issue with Giordanella’s claims. Cemetery trustee Lawson said Giordanella “is a liar” who is “severely mistaken.” Lawson said issues that the board is facing stems from problems with a “disgruntled” former employee.
“The Grand Jury was pretty sloppy and the information they put in (the report) is misleading,” Lawson said. “The presentation was good ... I did get some information from it.”
Kirwin said “according to what they were saying, we’ve been doing the things we are supposed to, there may have been one or two things (wrong), but I think we followed the law as close as we could.”
Kirwin called Giordanella’s claim a “pretty bad accusation.”
“She better have something to back it up. I can assure you there’s no stealing going on, or else I would not be a part of that,” Kirwin said.
In addition to the Brown Act violations and the purchases, the Grand Jury also determined that:
• Curbs, gutters, sidewalks and asphalt are in need of repair for the safety of the public
• Cemetery district is not in compliance with Cal/OSHA requirements
• Employee job descriptions are outdated and do not reflect current employee duties
• Tools and equipment are in need of upgrading and/or replacement
The civil grand jury investigates complaints regarding government agencies and issues reports on its findings. Recommendations are not binding, but government agencies must respond in writing.
To view the full list of the report, visit the County of Madera website at www.madera-county.com.
Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2013/12/18/3400232/grand-jury-chowchilla-cemetery.html#storylink=cpy
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