Leave rec. commissioner to his job
What’s a boundary line? On a map, it’s a clear delineation. But
in real life, it’s an artifice. Hollister’s checkerboard boundaries
leave even residents scratching their heads over whether they live
in or outside the city limits.
But those boundaries loom large for Don Kelley.
Leave rec. commissioner to his job
What’s a boundary line? On a map, it’s a clear delineation. But in real life, it’s an artifice. Hollister’s checkerboard boundaries leave even residents scratching their heads over whether they live in or outside the city limits.
But those boundaries loom large for Don Kelley.
Kelley serves on both the Hollister and San Benito County parks and recreation commissions.
But that may be about to change. And that’s a shame.
Kelley has served on the Hollister commission for eight years, and on the county commission since it was created nearly two years ago. Although he lives outside Hollister, the board’s charter mandates an out-of-city member.
No one is questioning Kelley’s devotion to the task, and it’s clear to anyone attending a parks and recreation commission meeting that he skillfully navigates between the two bodies.
Kelley took pains to ensure that serving on both boards was permitted before he accepted Supervisor Don Marcus’ invitation to join the county board, which he now chairs. After asking Hollister officials, he was given the all clear. Subsequently, Kelley asked the state Fair Political Practices Commission if he was out of line, and was given an all clear.
State law is clear: public officers are only at risk of conflict of interest when their actions may bring them financial gain. That would appear to leave Kelley, a local business owner who serves on both commissions without pay, on safe ground.
Kelley himself summed it up best. “If I don’t own any park land and I don’t manufacture products used on park lands then I don’t have any conflict of interest,” he remarked earlier this week.
But Kelley apparently runs afoul of an obscure bit of common law.
Hollister City Attorney Stephanie Atigh explained that the “doctrine of incompatible offices” requires two elements: that the official in question holds two public offices simultaneously; and that there must be a potential conflict or overlap in the functions of the two offices.
This appears to be an occasion when what is legal and what is just part company.
.Kelley is clearly passionate about parks and recreation, and he has leveraged his dual role to save both the city and the county money. He attended an out-of-county conference in both roles, for example, and engineered a cooperative effort to refurbish John Z. Hernandez Park.
“It’s been a huge benefit to go from one meeting to another and cut out that 30 day lag [that would result if one commission had to rely on posting of minutes from the other],” he said. “I can give them kind of a rundown of where we’re at and it really moves the process along quite nicely.”
Hollister Mayor Doug Emerson said that he has only heard good things about Kelley’s devotion and accomplishments on the two advisory bodies, but that he feels compelled to ask for Kelley’s resignation due to the potential for conflict.
Having asked for a more elaborate explanation, Kelley is left wondering.
“I feel like an idiot because when people ask, I can’t explain why I’m being asked to resign, and I can’t find out why,” he said. “Commissioners from both parks and rec. commissions are just beside themselves.”
In a community with far more needs than resources, Kelley’s service on the two commissions is an example of what the public should demand more of. Inter-agency collaboration and cooperation is our best hope for real progress. San Benito County’s lack of public space is an embarrassment compared to the rich opportunities in neighboring counties.
Absent evidence of a problem, we should leave well enough alone, and be thankful that our community is still home to volunteers with Kelley’s devotion, tact and skill.
