The president of the Big Bear Community Service District admitted it was a violation of California’s open government law, the Brown Act, to elect the new president of the board by secret ballot. -DB
January 7, 2010
By Katie Onheiber and Judi Bowers
The Big Bear City Community Services District board has spoken, the problem is it was not verbally.
“I made a radical mistake,” says John Day, president of the CSD board of directors.
At the Jan. 4 regular board meeting Marge McDonald was elected 2010 president of the board by a secret ballot. According to the Ralph M. Brown Act, the open meeting law for the state of California, section 54953.4 (c) states no legislative body shall take action by secret ballot, whether preliminary or final.
Day conducted the nomination process in a different fashion. Instead of board members nominating one another, each individual member declared whether or not he or she would like to be nominated for the position. Because no member is allowed to serve consecutive terms, Day was exempt from running again. Rick Ollila passed on the position and Jeff Newsome said he did not want to be nominated at this time.
Barbara Beck and Marge McDonald, the only board members never to serve as president, each said they would like to be nominated.
Day called for a secret ballot and each member was given a sheet of paper to place a vote for either Beck or McDonald.
Newsome said the results of the ballot needed to be disclosed, as withholding them would be a violation of the Brown Act. Day responded that the results would be disclosed after voting and the issue was not pushed. No other board member spoke up about the violation.
“It’s absolutely prohibited,” says Jim Ewert about the secret ballot. Ewert is an attorney for the California Newspaper Publishers Association who specializes in public access laws. Ewert says what is disconcerting is that the board went ahead and voted by secret ballot after it was admitted that the action was a violation of the Brown Act.
When asked Jan. 5 why he continued with the secret ballot even after it was pointed out it was a Brown Act violation, Day says he didn’t think election of officers fell under the same rules as other board action. “I made a very significant error,” Day says.
After the ballot votes were cast, secretary Mary Reeves tallied the votes, but it was never disclosed how each member voted. It was shared that there were three ayes and two noes for McDonald and two ayes and three noes for Beck.
According to Ewert, even in closed session meetings when an elected body votes, the reportable action must include how each member voted.
After the meeting, the Grizzly requested the count from Reeves who stated that Beck and Newsome voted yes for Beck, and Ollila, McDonald and Day voted yes for McDonald.
McDonald took the president’s seat to continue the meeting. However, Day is still president. The vote will need to be rescinded and new nominations and votes taken. The votes must be at a legally noticed meeting and must be open, Ewert says.
The next regular meeting is Jan. 18, which is Martin Luther King Day, a legal holiday. Day says he isn’t sure if the board will meet on the holiday, schedule a special meeting or wait until the first meeting in February to rectify the matter.
Copyright 2010 Big Bear Grizzly