After a slight delay due to Covid-19, the Superior Court in Plumas County is again preparing to select a new Civil Grand Jury, for the remainder of fiscal year 2020- 2021. Volunteers are encouraged to apply, by contacting the Clerk of the Court, at (530) 283-6297.
The
Civil Grand Jury consists of 19 County residents, from all backgrounds and
walks of life. Its primary function is to act as a citizen “watchdog” over
county, city and special district departments and officials, helping ensure
that local government agencies are working in the best interests of the public.
The Civil Grand Jury performs this important function by conducting
investigations of offices and topics that it decides warrant attention and by
issuing at least one final report during the year. For example, in recent
years, Plumas County Civil Grand Juries have issued reports on such topics as
- Unfunded pension liabilities
- Coroner investigations
- Weights and measures
- County Elections Division
- Child Protective Services
- Emergency Services communications system
Copies
of past years’ reports (including the recently-issued report from the 2019-2020
jury) can be viewed on the Plumas County website at:
https://plumascounty.us/Archive.aspx?AMID=37.
Civil
Grand Juries are not to be confused with criminal grand juries. The Civil Grand
Jury does not enter indictments for criminal matters, although on occasion it
does find evidence of criminal acts, which it may then refer to the District
Attorney’s office for handling.
Jurors
need only bring an interest in their county and its government and a
willingness to help conduct investigations or prepare reports on topics of
importance to the County. They will receive training on the laws that grand
juries must observe and on the basics of designing and conducting investigations,
and report writing.
Serving
on the Civil Grand Jury is an excellent way both to learn more about your
County and local government, and to be of service to your fellow residents. You
will work closely with your fellow jurors over the course of several months to
a year on interesting and important local topics than can help improve the
workings of local government, for the benefit of all. The Civil Grand Jury will
encourage and praise the great work our county employees carry out, while
calling attention to those issues needing improvement.
The
benefits of your contribution are far-reaching, both to the County and to you
as an individual.
Please
consider volunteering as a member of the Grand Jury and help keep Plumas County
a very special place to live and work.
Plumas
News
August 14, 2020
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