Council admits to Seattle trip, citizens say they’re fed up with
town leaders
Federal grant-givers say San Juan Bautista officials have two
years to start construction on the town’s water project or they’ll
lose $3.8 million in grant money that has been earmarked for the
task.
”
The parties involved have until February 2008 to begin
construction on the project,
”
said Matt Crow, Director of Communications for the U.S. Economic
Development Administration in Washington, D.C.
”
If they haven’t started it by then there’s a good chance the
grant will be taken back. It will be over.
”
Council admits to Seattle trip, citizens say they’re fed up with town leaders
Federal grant-givers say San Juan Bautista officials have two years to start construction on the town’s water project or they’ll lose $3.8 million in grant money that has been earmarked for the task.
“The parties involved have until February 2008 to begin construction on the project,” said Matt Crow, Director of Communications for the U.S. Economic Development Administration in Washington, D.C. “If they haven’t started it by then there’s a good chance the grant will be taken back. It will be over.”
The Pinnacle discovered the drop-dead date through a Freedom of Information Act filed with the U.S. EDA.
In August, the EDA suspended the grant because of bickering between the two co-recipients of the award – the City of San Juan Bautista and the San Benito County Water District – over control of the grant money and the project.
Facing an investigation from the San Benito County District Attorney’s office into possible Brown Act violations, officials of San Juan Bautista are now admitting some of them made a trip to Seattle in November to talk with federal bureaucrats about their suspended water infrastructure grant.
The subject came up at the town’s last city council meeting when Councilman Chuck Geiger – who has been ostracized by the other council members and outgoing City Manager Jennifer Coile for speaking publicly about the town’s fumbled grant – asked the town’s hired water guru, Mark Davis, if anyone had gone to Seattle. Davis, as did the entire council, refused to comment and would not admit that any trip had been made.
In turn, Geiger went to the District Attorney’s office and filed a complaint, saying he believes Davis and the other council members were breaking Brown Act rules, the state law that requires local government meetings to be public and which allows the public input into the meeting process. District Attorney John Sarsfield started an investigation into the matter, which apparently got the attention of city officials because the city’s new attorney sent out a statement Tuesday admitting that city officials took the Seattle trip.
At the same time, SJB City Attorney Peter Spoerl claims no Brown Act law was violated because only two council members went. Mayor Dan Reed, because of health issues, asked Councilman Art Medina to go to Seattle in his place. Had three or more gone the delegation would have been considered a quorum.
“The City Council, in sending a delegation to visit with Federal Economic Agency representatives in Seattle, did not violate the Brown Act, as the inclusion of two members of the City Council did not qualify the delegation as a ‘meeting of the local legislative body subject to open meeting requirements,” wrote Spoerl in a press release to The Sunday Pinnacle.
Geiger says he’s disgusted that the council and other officials are still in denial over the issue.
“The council did something they knew was wrong, got caught, and now are
trying to spin it as though they didn’t do any wrong,” Geiger said.
Spoerl also stated that the council has the option of fixing the omission retroactively, at the council’s meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 17. The attorney did not return phone messages.
“In order to provide for an official approval of trip expenditures and to ‘cure’ any potential violations, the City Council, at its meeting of January 17th, 2006, will consider the adoption of a Resolution approving the trip budget and ‘curing’ potential Brown Act deficiencies as provided for by state law,” Spoerl wrote.
However, the fact that two or less went to Seattle is not the issue, Geiger said. The councilman wants to know why a hired consultant, Davis, and the rest of the council are being so secretive about a simple business trip.
“That is an issue,” said Sarsfield. “You can’t have a contractor who works for the city government who refuses to provide information to his employer. I don’t understand what the big secret is. So they are taking steps to fix the violation, so good for them. But why didn’t they just go to Seattle and then report back to the council in session so everyone gets the same information? That’s how it’s done.”
Mystery traveler Hill?
In his statement, Spoerl said Councilman Art Medina, Coile, Davis and another council member went to Seattle in November to give representatives of the Economic Development Administration “an informational update as to project status.” He did not specify who the other traveling council member was but insiders believe it was Councilwoman Priscilla Hill.
Geiger believes members of the council had a serial meeting without posting it for the public – a violation of the Brown Act.
“It’s very clear Priscilla went on that trip,” Geiger said. “She’s on the water committee; they had to have a serial meeting. Priscilla and Dan had to decide the trip to Seattle, Dan couldn’t go so they pulled Medina into it. That’s the serial meeting.”
Hill, like all other city officials save Geiger, does not speak to the press. A message left on her business phone in San Juan went unanswered.
In February, the EDA co-awarded a $3.8 million federal grant to the City of San Juan Bautista and the San Benito County Water District that would have provided the historic town with a long overdue upgrade to the town’s water and wastewater systems. Along with other funding and a matching grant from the water district, the entire project would have totaled $8.9 million in upgrades and construction.
In April, the water district and San Juan city officials started sparring over control of the yet-to-be-awarded grant money. The water district cited the town’s checkered financial past, while the council, their new manager Coile and grant writer Davis protested that the district wanted too much control of the project. The issue came to a standoff, and when EDA officials got wind of it they suspended the grant – an effort 10 years in the making. It was the last big job former City Manager Larry Cain accomplished for the city before he was fired by the council in March.
“(Councilwoman) Priscilla (Hill) and Mark Davis – whom we’re still paying $6,250 [per month] plus expenses – have a strong dislike that the water district is a partner in the EDA grant,” Geiger said. “But there is no way San Juan Bautista can do this project without the water district.”
The Pinnacle reported this month that city officials are shuffling money around within the General Fund to cover the payments for Davis’ salary, which totaled $70,000 last year. According to the elected City Treasurer Paul Petersen, the council is paying Davis on the presumption they will be awarded the EDA grant. Davis was initially recruited by Cain in 1999 to secure the federal grant, but after the city and water district were awarded it, the city kept Davis on as director of the future water project.
A trip down Main Street
Now, it seems Geiger isn’t the only one fed up with the council’s secrecy and strange attitude regarding the fumbled grant money. A Pinnacle reporter conducted an informal straw poll along the town’s main drag Monday, asking residents their opinions of the council’s latest actions and how they felt about the state of the town’s water infrastructure. Some also were asked if they were pleased with their local leaders.
“All the controversy around it [the elusive water grant] has certainly raised my level of concern,” said 20-year resident Ken Halla. “I’m planning on becoming a regular attendee of the city council meetings.”
Margaret Baker, a transplant from Gilroy, has lived in the Mission Town for only a year. She loves her new community but says she has had to adjust to living with the town’s water.
“When I lived in Gilroy my dog drank from the toilet,” Baker said. “Now I have to give my dog and my bird bottled water because they won’t drink the tap water I give them.”
In recent years the town’s water supply has spiked every now and then into unsafe nitrate levels. Last summer, Baker recalls, city officials had to warn all 1,700 residents with hand-delivered “boil orders,” but Baker found out too late. She was at home fighting a bladder infection and her doctor instructed her to drink gallons of water.
“I had been drinking water all day long,” she said. “Then at the end of the day I see this notice on my door.”
While the infection, she said, moved up her spine, there is no evidence that the quality of water played a role in her illness.
“I was out of work for a month.”
“Every aspect of San Juan Bautista seems to be run by the good ol’ boys’ club,” Baker added. “They’ll tell you only on a need-to-know basis. It’s frustrating because we love the town so much. We shed a tear every time someone goes out of business. The council is so disrespectful.”
Sitting with Baker at a new cafe on Third Street was her friend Catherine Shaw, who works at the Mission – the town’s biggest tourist draw. She, too, said she was frustrated with the council’s actions.
“The town is dying right before our eyes,” Shaw said. “The people who try to make a go of it work so hard. This is 2006. Fix your darned plumbing.”
Working in a shop next door, 30-year resident Grace Nutter said she is tired of all the political divisiveness that has been a hallmark of the historic town for years. Still, she said she sees red when she ponders the suspended water infrastructure grant.
“I see things like that, and yet, we don’t have a literacy program anymore,” Nutter said.
Down the street, resident Wanda Styron said her water/sewer bill more than doubled starting three months ago. The bill went from $40 to $97 a month, and she still has to pay for a pricey water filtration system in the kitchen and monthly servicing for a water softener.
“I think it’s horseshit,” Styron offered. “It used to be you’d get what you paid for in this country. Now we pay and don’t get anything.”
Busy, busy, busy
Later in the day, town activist and council meeting fixture Rebecca McGovern paid a visit to City Hall to retrieve public information. At the city clerk’s counter, McGovern filled out forms to get copies of a new contract with the city planning consultant and city officials expense reports for October and November. She was fishing for evidence of the clandestine meeting in Seattle, and as of that moment, the City Attorney had yet to make his statement about the trip.
McGovern is an old hand at using the California Public Records Act on city officials, a process that allows 10 days to furnish the information. But according to San Benito District Attorney John Sarsfield, if a request is made in person at the place where the information is stored, the agency is required to provide the information immediately.
After a 20-minute wait, deputy City Clerk Trish Paetz returned from the back of the office with the contract on the planning consultant, but nothing regarding recent expenses accrued by city officials.
“That information is not readily available,” Paetz told McGovern.
Armed with the D.A.’s interpretation of the law, McGovern was tenacious.
“Who went?” she asked point blank.
“I’m not at liberty to say,” Paetz said.
“Well, can we just look at it here?” McGovern persisted.
“We’re all working on difficult projects so we don’t have that information now,” Paetz said.
“If I could just see that part of it, that the city paid for, for the people who went to Seattle-…”
“We will get it in a few days,” Paetz said.
This went on for a while. McGovern cited the D.A. and Paetz shot back that the City Attorney (Spoerl) advised staff they didn’t have to provide the information immediately if they were too busy working on other projects.
“We just can’t be asked to drop our work for this,” Paetz said, getting agitated.
“I just want to see that part of it,” McGovern persisted.
“I’m busy,” Paetz snapped, and walked away.
McGovern reported the incident to D.A. Sarsfield, who said he would look into the matter.
The San Juan Bautista City Council will hold their next meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. at City Hall, located on Second Street in San Juan Bautista.
