August 5, 1997
Honorable William L. Gordon, Presiding Judge
Santa Barbara County Superior Court
1100 Anacapa Street
PO Box 21107
Santa Barbara, California 93121-1107
Board of Supervisors' Response to the 1996-97 Grand Jury Interim Final Report on the Buellton Union School District
Dear Judge Gordon:
At its regular meeting of August 5, 1997, the Board of Supervisors adopted
the following response as the Board's response to the relevant finding and
recommendations in their 1996-97 Grand Jury's interim final report on the
Buellton Union School District.
FINDING 1: The issuance and posting of the Summons, giving minimum
public notice of the Validation Hearing, used summarizing and technical
language. The effect was that neither interested parties nor the public
were able to realize what subject was being Noticed. The interested parties
and the public were not given adequate opportunity to understand, question
or contest the justification for changing the use of the voter approved
Bond Funds.
RESPONSE: The Board agrees with the finding.
RECOMMENDATION 1a: The Santa Barbara Grand Jury requests that the
elected state representatives introduce legislation to change the language
of the Validation Act in the following manner:
(i). The Public Agency bringing validation proceedings shall give notice
of the pendency of the proceedings by mail to all registered voters within
it boundaries and to the County District Attorney.
(ii). A Validation Action cannot be imposed when the action is a substantial change to an issue previously passed by the required majority of the voting public.
(iii). The District Attorney or a designated representative of that office
shall represent the voters at the hearing of the "Validation Action
By Public Agency".
(iv). Any substantial change in the use of Bond Funds must be voted on by
the voting public.
RESPONSE: The Board is not required to respond to the above Recommendation;
it is presented here as reference relative to Recommendation 1b which follows.
RECOMMENDATION 1b: The Board of Supervisors should:
A. direct its lobbyist to elicit support in the legislature for the above recommendation numbers one through four.
B. direct it California State Association of Counties (CSAC) representative to obtain CSAC support for the proposed changes in the legislation.
C. request that local representatives to the legislature support the changes one through four.
RESPONSE: The Board of Supervisors commends the 1996-97 Grand Jury
for its valuable work in identifying and tenaciously pursuing investigation
of the anomalous activities of the Buellton School Board in connection with
its validation action. After considering the matter, the Board will implement
the recommendations by supporting state legislation that would address the
Grand Jury's concerns regarding validation proceedings and by requesting
our legislative delegation to author/support such legislation.
In addition, the Board has adopted the following policy regarding validation
noticing:
When the Board considers authorizing the filing of a validation complaint,
it will hold a public hearing on the matter. If a validation action will
affect relatively few voters, the County will notify those voters by personal
mail. In those instances where mail notice would be prohibitively expensive,
the County will provide enhanced distribution of the agenda and notice of
the proposed action which describes the nature of the matter in plain language.
Finally, the Board has directed staff to send a letter to the cities, school
districts and other special districts within the County indicating the Board's
action and enlisting support.
Sincerely,
TOM URBANSKE
Chair, Board of Supervisors
Attachments
cc: Patricia Fillippini, l996-97 Grand Jury Foreperson