OROVILLE — The Butte County 2021/2022 Grand Jury report was released Monday with investigations into the Oroville government, Butte County Behavioral Services, the Butte College Police Academy and more.
In
looking into Oroville’s city government, the focus was on multiple complaints
surrounding mismanagement and violations, particularly aimed at the Oroville
City Council, Mayor Chuck Reynolds and City Administrator Bill LaGrone.
Complaints
and accusations were rounded up in the Grand Jury Report as follows:
- Conflicts of interest
- Improper public contract awards
- Hiring mismanagement
- Violations of city policies, procedures, the city charter and the city code
- The improper selling of city property
- Bullying
- People holding more than one offices
The
report does not specify who made the allegations.
Reynolds responded to the report and accusations and said he believes much of it comes from former staff and council members.
“What
that is is ex-council members who are disgruntled and just trying to cause
trouble,” Reynolds said. “We read it the other day in closed session and it
wasn’t much. All the stuff was former council members. I think it kind of
speaks for itself.”
Reynolds
went on to note that the timing coincides with the coming November election.
“Any
time you have somebody come in to do work and get things done, it’s always the
people who were sitting around doing nothing who get offended,” Reynolds said.
To
investigate the allegations, the Grand Jury looked at emails between elected
officials and city staff and conducted interviews as well as questionnaires.
The
Grand Jury interviewed LaGrone with questions about the complaints and then
sent follow-up questions to both LaGrone and city staff.
According
to the report, there was a lack of cooperation from the city in the
investigation.
“The
responses by the mayor, City Council and city administrator were incomplete,
necessitating the (Butte County Grand Jury) to resend multiple requests in
order to ‘ferret out’ information requested,” the report reads. “The mayor and
City Council appeared to run everything through the city administrator. It is
not clear who is in charge. In response to these requests, the city
administrator and city staff provided incomplete answers, did not respond by
the due dates, or at all.”
The
report said that the jury had to then resort to a questionnaire that was sent
to individual council members. The report said LaGrone responded and told the
Grand Jury that “the council speaks with one voice.” Councilors ended up sending
back identical responses.
It
was later discovered that the city of Oroville did not have an updated Policies
and Procedures Manual, cited in the report as PPM.
“(The
Butte County Grand Jury) members searched for policies and procedures on the
city’s website but none were found,” the report said. “The information sent to
the (Butte County Grand Jury) was incomplete, consisting of fragmented pages
that appeared to be segments of policy and procedures. Because there was no
clear and comprehensive PPM, it was difficult to determine if the city was
following proper protocols.”
Based
on the report, the Grand Jury found that one person did hold multiple key
offices at one point including city administrator, police chief, fire chief and
city clerk. The city does not have an updated or completed PPM that the general
public can look at. Two emergency declarations were used to override policies.
Procedures that are on record were not followed in more than one instance. The
city doesn’t fill positions in a timely manner.
The
Grand Jury provided some examples of the findings. According to the report,
there was a property transfer that didn’t involve offering said property to the
Parks Department and a contract for cleaning storm drains was approved without
going out to bid.
It’s
also noted that the city, in waiting too long to fill certain positions,
enabled the mayor to appoint individuals to the positions without a vote.
The
jury recommended that each administrative position be filled by only one person
with the exception of temporary scenarios. It also recommended that the city
adopt a comprehensive PPM by the end of the year, definite emergency situations
within the PPM and fill positions in line with the PPM within six months.
The
Enterprise-Record attempted to contact LaGrone but did not get a response by
the deadline.
Behavioral Services
Pivoting
focus to Butte County Behavioral Services, the jury looked at who qualified for
services as well as the number of residents who even knew they qualified.
“Only
people covered by Medi-Cal and/or Medicare are currently eligible for
services,” the report reads. “Services are tailored to individual
circumstances; therefore, eligibility requirements are made during the
screening process on the case-by-case basis.”
The
jury found that there are general misconceptions about Butte County Behavioral
Health Services by the community and that the department’s home webpage does
not identify service eligibility requirements.
Because
of this, the jury recommended that the department put together a public
outreach program in order to be consistent with its mission statement, adding
that a heading on the homepage should inform the public that not all services
are available to all.
Police academy
The
Butte County Grand Jury took a deep dive into the Butte College Law Enforcement
Academy with the goal of learning how well prepared graduates are as they
transfer to police forces.
Members
of the jury received a tour of the academy and conducted interviews with its
administration as well as graduates who went on to become employed by law
enforcement agencies. Additional documents were read as well such as Legislated
Mandated Training and hourly requirements/schedules.
A
tour was provided of the campus’s new “Scenario Village,” a location made up of
five structures, three of which have movable walls and black-out shades.
“Each
building has a different orientation and function to provide recruits with a
variety of real-life simulations, such as search and use of force scenarios,”
the report reads.
When
interviewing five recent graduates, the Grand Jury asked about preparation
based on the course curriculums.
While
the graduates expressed that they were satisfied with the education, some
concerns arose. The graduates said there could be some additional training on
things like defensive tactics, handcuffing, control holds, communication
skills, diffusion, interaction with homeless people, traffic stops, search and
seizure legality, community policing and preparation for real-life encounters.
The
jury recommended that the academy implement a program that would allow for
graduates to provide anonymous input into the program. It also asked that an
internal review be conducted to look at the concerns and allot additional time
as needed.
Other findings
While
investigating the city of Gridley and its providing of electricity to its
residents, the Grand Jury found that the city has not posted updated audited
financial reports for the 2020/20201 fiscal year. It was also found that a
portion of the excess funds are transferred to the city of Gridley General Fund
each year.
In
working with the Butte Interagency Narcotics Task Force, the jury found that
overdose deaths from Fentanyl and methamphetamine have slowly gone up but the
use of Narcan by first responders has reduced the number of related deaths.
The
Grand Jury found that the Butte County website was hard to navigate, especially
when looking for information about special districts. However, the Butte County
Clerk-Recorder is planning to publish an online roster of dependent and
independent special districts by the end of the year.
Chico
Enterprise-Record
By JAKE HUTCHISON
June 29, 2022
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