Group files complaint against district

SCOPE says local sanitation agency failed to provide essential environmental reports to the public

Local environmentalists have filed a Brown Act complaint with the local sanitation district for having failed to provide essential environmental reports to the public at their meetings.

When contacted, representatives for the Sanitation District denied any violation occurred.

The environmentalists also send a copy of their complaint to the Public Integrity Division of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

The person who filed the complaint was Lynne Plambeck, spokeswoman for the local environmental group -- Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment.

“We filed a cease and desist order,” she told The Signal on Thursday.

The SCOPE letter of complaint refers to the action as “cure and correct” but the intended goal of the group is to make sure the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District Board provides copies of essential reports such Environmental Impact Reports.

Such reports are to be made available to the public at public meetings.

At the Sanitation District meeting last month, no such documents were made available for public viewing, Plambeck said.

At the meeting, more than a couple of people complained about the alleged oversight.

An attorney representing the Sanitation District, however, told the three-member board that the District had done nothing wrong.

Copies of the Sanitation documents were available on digital form via computer.

Plambeck and others, however, said that was not good enough and that paper copies should be made available to the public.

In a response to Plambeck’s formal complaint under the Ralph M. Brown Act, Sanitation officials responded saying:

“The Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District’s legal counsel disagrees with Ms. Plambeck’s assertions,” District spokesman Basil Hewitt told The Signal.

“There were no violations of the Brown Act at the March 8, 2018 meeting.

“Because there were no violations of the Brown Act prohibiting board action on the three referenced agreements, there is no legal basis for her demand that the Board rescind its approval of three agreements and re-agendize them for approval at a future meeting.

“Nevertheless, the District has responded to Ms. Plambeck in writing and advised her that at the Board’s next meeting, it will take formal action ratifying its prior approval of these agreements.”

At the meeting last month, among other things, board members — Laurene Weste, Cameron Smyth and L.A. County 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger — voted unanimously to approve an agreement that green lights construction of sewer pipes linking Newhall Ranch to the SCV.

In the SCOPE letter of complaint dated March 12, 2018, Plambeck states:

“At the meeting of March 8th, the Sanitation (District) declined, even after being requested to do so by a member of the public, to make available to the public the agreements/contracts that were on the agenda for discussion.

“No copies of the contracts for Agenda Item 4 nor Agenda Item 5 where available in the room for public review, nor were they posted on the District’s website,” Plambeck said.

“Even after protests of this failure by the public that went to the extent of reading the section of the Brown Act regarding this matter, the District Board instead proceeded to a vote and approved the contracts/agreements.

“This was a violation of Brown Act Section 54957.5,” she said.