July
29, 2014
The
Desert Sun
By
Barrett Newkirk
While criticizing a grand jury
for failing to recognize the benefits of a county-run grant program, Riverside
County supervisors on Tuesday agreed to change the way they are running the
controversial program.
The changes are outlined in the
supervisors’ formal response to the civil grand jury, which in April found the
county’s Community Improvement Designation program was fraught with abuse and
poor oversight.
The county response,
unanimously endorsed by the board on Tuesday, showed the staff will develop new
policies for the CID program that include uniform application and follow-up
procedures.
“Yes, we do have some cleanup
to do,” Supervisor John Tavaglione said.
CID grants are paid out of
discretionary spending accounts supervisors receive each fiscal year.
The program resulted in $32.4
million in awards since it began in 2005, according to the grand jury.
Supervisor John Benoit
described the grand jury’s report as overly critical. But he agreed that it
included worthwhile recommendations that were accepted in the county’s
response.
“I think over the next six
months we’ll have a chance to set some reasonable policies that set that tone
and address some of those concerns,” said Benoit, who represents the Coachella
Valley on the five-member board.
The suggested changes that
county leaders supported include eliminating the special accounts supervisors
kept at the county’s Economic Development Agency, which allowed them to hold on
to CID money and then distribute it without the normal oversight.
“We’re not doing that anymore.
Not that it was illegal, but it was not as transparent as it needed to be,”
Supervisor Jeff Stone said.
Stone, a Temecula Republican
who is campaigning for state Senate, accused the grand jury of having a
“political bent.”
“Of all the reports that I’ve
witnessed from the grand jury, this one was the most disappointing,” he added.
The county’s response was
developed with help from former county District Attorney Grover Trask. It
disagreed with some of the grand jury’s critiques, particularly about
supervisors not following state law and the board’s own policies.
Barry Garron, a Temecula
resident who served on the grand jury, said in an email to The Desert Sun on
Tuesday that jurors spent six months researching the discretionary funds.
They also consulted with the
California Office of Attorney General and the state Fair Political Practices
Commission.
“It was the opinion of the
2013-14 Grand Jury that members of the Board violated the California Political
Reform Act numerous times,” Garron wrote in the email. “However, the language
of the law violated is permissive and states elected officials should not use
public funds to gain an unfair advantage in an election, rather than stating
they shall not.”
The county dismissed some of
the grand jury’s recommendations as unnecessary, including a request that grant
money going outside the county require a separate vote. Another dismissed
suggestion sought to stop supervisors from receiving individual recognition for
the grants.
The county response suggested
officials would create a policy asking recipients to recognize Riverside County
for the grants, but left it open for supervisors to continue to be recognized
individually.
Garron said the grand jury
found that when cities or school districts supported events or nonprofits,
elected officials were not named in most instances. County supervisors,
however, are routinely named individually and given credit for taxpayer-funded
activities.
“In one instance an event had
47 sponsors, and the only individuals named in a full page newspaper
advertisement were the members of the Board of Supervisors,” Garron said.
Reach Barrett Newkirk at
(760)778-4767, barrett.newkirk@desertsun.com or on Twitter @barrettnewkirk.
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