North Coast Journal
Then, on Tuesday, Marlow delivered this year's grand jury report to the Board of Supervisors. This latest version of the report -- the product of a year's worth of work by 19 citizens appointed to investigate citizen complaints about local government agencies -- focuses, in large part, on two major themes: the county's charter schools and the District Attorney's Office. Noting that the DA's office has not been the subject of formal review for 10 years, and in response to several citizen complaints, the grand jury took an in-depth look at how the office operates under DA Paul Gallegos. In general, the report is sharply critical. Though Gallegos is "pleasant and accessible" to members of his staff, the report's authors write, Gallegos lacks basic managerial skills -- he does not meet regularly with department heads in his office, for instance, and has a poor record of attending meetings with fellow heads of law enforcement agencies, according to the report. "Implicit in all evidence gathered by the Grand Jury -- including interviews with the DA -- is the unfortunate truth that the DA expresses a limited understanding of how things are done in the department," the report reads. In a separate section, the report criticizes the District Attorney's Office's declining participation in the Child Abuse Service Team since Gallegos took office. "Deputy District Attorney participation attendance at CAST interviews dropped precipitously from 85 percent in 2002, to 46 percent in 2003, to 25 percent in 2004." The report includes several recommendations to the DA, asking him to open up communications with police agencies, meet regularly with his staff and "refrain from firing long-term, experienced prosecutors." In the long section on area charter schools, the grand jury finds that most of them are well-run and some are turning out students with test scores well above the average. However, the report does raise questions about the accounting practices of the Big Lagoon Charter School Network, as well as the credentials of some of the network's teachers. In addition to these major investigations, the grand jury weighed in on a number of other issues. It faults the city of Rio Dell for poor oversight of its first-time home buyer and housing rehabilitation programs, which are administered by the Redwood Community Action Agency, saying that in the awarding of rehabilitation grants "[a]larming structural and safety issues were ignored in favor of superficial cosmetic repairs." The Manila Community Services District is criticized for its practice of using revenues from its sewer and water operations to subsidize parks and recreation programs. The full text of this year's grand jury report is available online at www.co.humboldt.ca.us/grandjury.
related:
Related:
◼ TS - Grand Jury Findings and Recommendations
◼ ER - 2004-05 Humboldt County Grand Jury Report 6/29/2005
◼ TS - Grand jury issues scathing DA critique June 29, 2005
"However, the informed, well-organized, diligent leadership essential during difficult times is missing," the grand jury report said. "Operations are neither as efficient nor as effective as they must be."
◼ McK Press - Grand Jury Report: D.A. guilty of 'weak leadership'
◼ ER - 2004-05 Humboldt County grand jury releases its final report
◼ NCJ - GRAND JURY REPORT IN
◼ The Grand Jury Report on the DA's office
◼ The Grand Jury Report on CAST
◼ TS - Gallegos responds to grand jury findings
◼ CAST Response/Grand Jury Report
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