Marin Civil Grand Jury can do a lot to make county better
Wanted: Experienced Marin County residents who are interested in exposing fraud, waste, abuse or inefficiencies in local governments.
If that opportunity seems intriguing, there's a spot for you on the Marin County Civil Grand Jury. Recruitment is underway for potential grand jurors to serve a one-year term from July to June of 2024. There's no pay and a time commitment of about 20 hours per week. The civil grand jury plays no criminal justice role. In each of California's 58 counties, jurors serve as a county ombudsperson.
I have the pleasure of being asked to give incoming grand jurors a class on the organization of Marin County government. It's part of the comprehensive training provided to jurors immediately after they're sworn in.
The quality of local grand jurors is reassuring. They form a diverse lot from every segment of our county. Jurors tend to be well-informed, curious and experienced in both the private sector, as well as with nonprofits. Most are unbiased with no personal agenda and open to information which may change their preconceptions.
Recent retirees are a fine category of recruits. They tend to be motivated, have energy, available time and a lifetime of useful experience.
Each year's grand jury selects its own topics to investigate. Jurors are divided into committees by issue and then commence their investigations, aided by the jury's subpoena power, if needed. In the spring, they issue reports which often examine topics that have festered for decades under the radar.
Last week, I attended the annual meeting for the Marin chapter of the California Grand Jurors Association. It's composed of past jurors who remain committed by following up on reports made during their tenure. They understand that persistence is a virtue, particularly with those few agencies who hope the jurors' critical findings will be forgotten once their one-year term expires.
This association's session focused on bold efforts by Santa Clara County's grand jury to expose the San Francisco 49ers' sleezy but ultimately successful tactics to control the Santa Clara City Council.
It's a tale of perfectly legal corruption that the public needed to know.
With unlimited funds, 49ers owners used a local law limiting council candidates' election expenditure to $25,000. The 49ers formed independent expenditure committees exempt from the dollar limits enabling them to outspend the incumbents 30 to one.
That resulted in the new council firing Santa Clara's city manager and city attorney, both of whom aggressively tried to enforce the team's contract for use of the municipally owned stadium.
As Lance Williams, the San Francisco Chronicle's investigative reporter and the association's speaker said, “The 49ers bought the town fair and square.”
While the 49ers now control Santa Clara's council, thanks to that county's grand jury, taxpayers learned what happened and who benefited financially, plus the identity of the culprits and their handpicked lackeys. It demonstrates what a firstclass grand jury can accomplish.
Past Marin reports exposed dubious deeds at the Ross Valley Sanitary District, which led to an overhaul of the district's leadership. Reports include, “A Roadmap to Water Resiliency for Marin Municipal Water District,” “Climate Change, how will Marin adapt” and “Marin Schools: A Prescription for COVID Recovery.”
Not every report leads to change. Witness “Consolidation of Sanitary Districts,” a vital topic that needs continuous followup.
Any adult U.S. citizen and Marin resident is eligible to be a juror. Applications are online at bit. ly/3ROtoJ8.
Applicants undergo interviews winnowing the field to 30 potential grand jurors. Their names are placed in a box and Marin Superior Court's presiding judge, currently Judge James Chu, picks 19 names at random who'll be on the jury. The remaining 11 candidates become alternates.
Marin Civil Grand Jury Association President Jack Nixon says, “Serving on the grand jury can be a life changing experience.”