The Tulare County Board of Supervisors deny talking about county business when they meet for lunch paid for by the county, but since the meetings are not open to the public, questions remain about the purpose of the meetings and the content of the conversations. -db
February 1, 2010
By Valerie Gibbons
They say their meals — charged on county credit cards issued to the supervisors and County Administrative Officer Jean Rousseau — are social occasions, not meetings, and therefore are allowable under California open meeting rules as long as they don’t discuss matters that are before the board.
The state’s open meeting law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, prohibits gatherings — public or private — of a majority of members of elected boards and commissions to discuss business unless the meeting has been announced in advance and there is a publicly released agendalisting the topics to be discussed.
What do they talk about?
“They talk about worm farming, getting married, what’s going on in their lives,” County Counsel Kathleen Bales-Lange, who, records indicate, attended at least seven supervisors’ lunches in the first seven months of 2009.
At a lunch on Tuesday, supervisors talked about who they saw in the audience at that morning’s board meeting, she said.
County officials claim two reasons for charging the lunches to county accounts.
The county’s spokesman, Eric Coyne, said a county policy allows for reimbursement for meals that are purchased when a supervisor travels outside of his district or for meals that are used as “team building.”
However, Coyne and other county officials were unable to provide a copy of any reimbursement policy related to supervisors’ meals either dealing with travel outside their districts or “team building.”
Expense reports
A review of the county’s expense reports found that on at least 30 occasions, three, four or all five supervisors — constituting a voting majority, or quorum — met for lunch during the first half of 2009, and the county picked up the tab.
“I think these meetings are important to build collegiality,” said Supervisor Pete Vander Poel.
A majority of supervisors met for lunch on a Monday before a scheduled Tuesday board meeting 11 times during the first half of 2009. They met 20 times on a Tuesday, the day of the board’s regular meeting. A voting majority of the board also met three times on a day that the board’s regular meeting had been canceled.
On at least eight occasions, lunches were held in periods where supervisors were dealing with controversial issues.
Records show these occasions where a Monday lunch preceded a supervisors’ meeting at which a significant action was taken:
Feb. 9 — All five supervisors and the county’s Administrative Officer, Jean Rousseau, met for a $69 lunch at the Main Street Cafe in Visalia. The next day supervisors voted to rescind raises that had been granted quietly the previous September.
Feb. 23 — Four of the supervisors met for a $67 lunch at the Oak Pit in Porterville a day before their vote to approve an agreement with the county’s largest union, the Service Employees International Union, on how to handle the layoff of 160 workers in the Health and Human Services Agency and to consolidate mental-health services.
March 2 — Three of the supervisors and Rousseau met for a $67 lunch at Visalia’s Red Lobster the day before the mid-year budget report and their vote to continue a hiring freeze within the county.
March 16 — Four of the supervisors met at the Visalia Marriott for a $58 meal the day before a report by then-Resource Management Agency Director Henry Hash. During Hash’s presentation the next day, he was severely criticized by Supervisor Allen Ishida for taking too long to process permits and reports.
March 30 — Three supervisors met for a $36 meal at the Main Street Cafe in Visalia the day before a vote to reorganize the Resource Management Agency to consolidate the code enforcement and building services divisions, and layoff employees.
June 1 — Four of the supervisors met for a $53 meal at the Main Street Cafe the day before a vote for additional layoffs at the Resource Management Agency.
There were also instances where a flurry of lunch meetings were clustered during other major developments.
From April 24 to May 1 — The week the county announced Hash’s resignation, the supervisors met for lunch four times. Expenses that week include a $119 meal at Visalia’s Little Italy that was attended by all five supervisors, Rousseau and Kathleen Bales-Lange, the county counsel.
From June 29 to July 10- Immediately before and during the final round of negotiations between the county and its major unions, the board met for seven meals charged to the county, including a $59 meal at Visalia’s Canton Restaurant.
Rousseau and all five members of the board attended.
Supervisors insist, however, that those matters were not discussed at the lunches.
State law prohibits a voting majority of any elected board — known as a quorum — from gathering outside of a public meeting and discussing county business. Yet, a voting quorum of the board met for lunch 30 times during the seven months surveyed. Here’s what the board members said they talk about:
Cox: “We get together for team-building or to talk about our day. A few weeks ago we talked about football because both [Steve Worthley’s alma mater] Dinuba High School and [Allen Ishida’s alma mater] Strathmore High School were in the championships.”
Worthley: “If all of us go out to lunch together, it just might be because we were all in the office at the same time. We don’t talk about county business at those meetings.”
Ennis: “Usually we just talk about family stuff and what we did over the weekend.”
Ishida: “Basically they are always social occasions. Even if it’s just two of us, I still don’t talk about county business. I just don’t do it.”
Vander Poel: “We don’t discuss county business at those meetings. I firmly believe the public’s business should be conducted in public.”