Page 18 - Sonoma County Gazette January 2017

Power to Investigate Do you have a nose for snooping into government affairs?
By David Abbott
Mark your calendar for recognition of an
i i n n s s t t i i t t u u t t i i o o n n t t h h a a t t n n o o r r m m a a l l l l y y f f l l i i e e s s u u n n d d e e r r t t h h e e r r a a d d a a r r...
...
Grand Jury Awareness Month coming this
s p r i n g. A n d R I G H T N OW t t h h e e s s e e l l e e c c t t i i o o n n p p r r o o c c e e s s s
is in full swing for the 2017 Grand Jury (GJ) that will serve from July 2017 to June 2018 investigating complaints filed against local government agencies.
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Introductory workshops will take place from Jan. 5 through March 16.
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with a diversity of skills and looking at the efficiency of county government,” Matt
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18 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 1/17
Stone, current Grand Jury foreperson, said. “We have awesome power in a little living space.”
The GJ operates under state law, functioning as an independent body that oversees the legislative and administrative departments of county, city and special district governments, such as local school districts and Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) created districts, like the Palm Drive Health Care District.
It has the power to investigate to ensure their “efficient, honest and fair operation” in service to the citizens of Sonoma County.
Power to Learn
While the Sonoma County GJ has the power to subpoena, take sworn testimony and access law enforcement employee records in search of critical information, it has no criminal prosecutorial authority.
One of its primary benefits is the ability to shine a light on
Once the investigation is completed, the GJ can forward an accusation* which can expose inefficiencies or dysfunction in local government agencies and lead to corrective action.
obscure government functions.
“There’s no magic wand or power, but we do have the bully pulpit,” Stone said. “And what better education can you get than looking under the hood and seeing how government works and who the players are?”
Stone served on the 2015-16 grand jury and is one of four jurors retained for continuity into the current fiscal year. He acts foreperson to help guide new jurors through the process until the new jury is seated in July.
“I’m not a tiebreaker or order-giver, but more a cat herder in charge of organizational training and assigning responsibilities,” Stone said of his duties.
Each grand jury is selected by a two-step process: the application, which is reviewed by the county, and then the candidate is interviewed by a Superior Court judge. In June, 19 jurors and at least five alternative will be randomly selected for a one-year term, so the prospective juror pool must be at least 60 people. Time commitment is about 10-20 volunteer hours per week, so the composition is skewed towards older, whiter retirees.
Seeking People of Color
“The effectiveness of the GJ depends entirely on the pool of volunteers who step forward each year to offer their time and expertise to ferret out ‘the next big problem’ and to research the possible fixes,” Stone said.
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As the county searches for new jurors, it hopes to broaden the reach and diversity of the body in order to expand both the scope of investigations.
“We have to ask if that’s the right demographic for investigating incidents involving people of color,” Stone said. “If the GJ could broaden it’s economic and demographic reach it could monitor things like vineyard workers’ rights.”
He believes that one way to help broaden the demographics would be for businesses — be they large agri-business, Medtronic, or other big corporations — to make an effort to encourage employees to volunteer and make it easier with paid time off.
“Let them do it for an educational experience,” Stone said. “For one year you feel the burn, but that employee will be a rock star.”
POWER cont’d on page 19