Visalia Times-Delta
March 12, 2010
By Valerie Gibbons
An open-meeting watchdog has filed a lawsuit against the Tulare County Board of Supervisors in an effort to end supervisors’ practice of sharing meals when a voting majority is present.
Richard McKee, from the Southern California city of La Verne, is asking a Tulare County judge to order the board to conform to the Brown Act whenever a majority of the members congregates to “hear, discuss, deliberate, or take action on any item that is within its subject matter jurisdiction.”
The lawsuit was sent for filing in Tulare County court Wednesday afternoon, according to McKee’s attorney, Kelly Aviles.
Jean Rousseau, the county’s administrative officer, said he could not comment on the matter because he had not seen the lawsuit. Kathleen Bales-Lange, Tulare County counsel, did not return a call seeking comment.
McKee sent supervisors a “Demand for Correction” in late February, asking the board to end its practice of meeting for meals.
A January investigation by the Times-Delta found 30 instances where a majority of supervisors — known as a quorum — met for a meal during the first seven months of 2009.
All five board members met for a meal at least 11 times during the first half of 2009. A series of state laws, known as the Brown Act, makes it illegal for the board to discuss business outside a publicly announced meeting when a quorum is present.
The county suspended the practice Tuesday until a new meal reimbursement policy could be developed.
But board chairman Steve Worthley blasted McKee in a letter March 5, saying that the board never violated the Brown Act and that allegations to the contrary are “offensive.”
He said the lunches serve an important purpose “of fostering collegial relationships between the board members.”
“This helps ensure that the board operates most effectively and efficiently at public meetings,” Worthley wrote. “Individual board members naturally disagree on specific matters and issues, sometimes quite strongly, and socializing on occasion during mealtime helps promote more effective relationships between board members.”
McKee’s attorney said in her petition that Worthley’s response clearly illustrates that the board will continue to perform in a manner that does not conform with the Brown Act.
Although supervisors indicated on credit card receipts that the meetings were “work related,” board members vehemently deny that they discuss county business during meals.
The suit is familiar territory to McKee, who is president emeritus of Californians Aware, an open government group based in the Sacramento County city of Carmichael. According to published reports:
On Thursday, McKee successfully lobbied the city of Pasadena to release the name of the participants in a search committee for a new police chief.
In November, he settled a suit with the city of Fillmore, in Ventura County. As part of the settlement, the city had to pay $6,000 in attorney fees, admit to Brown Act violations during a City Council meeting in August and attend training on the state law. McKee filed suit against the city again in December for discussing terms of the first settlement in closed session under “pending litigation.”
McKee has also filed Brown Act lawsuits against the Los Angeles Community College District and the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, BART.
McKee, a community college chemistry professor, has also issued Demands for Correction against the cities of Victorville and Manhattan Beach and the Del Puerto Health Care District in Patterson for alleged Brown Act violations.
In December 2009, in response to a McKee Demand for Correction, the Inyo County Board of Supervisors chose to disband an ad-hoc committee designed to oversee access to a nearby lake, rather than open its meetings to the public.
In March 2009, McKee lost a lawsuit against the Orange Unified School District and was ordered to pay $80,000 in attorneys fees over the editing of a trustee’s comments in an official videotape.
Lawsuits, though, are unusual. McKee said more than 80 public boards have been contacted about reported Brown Act violations and about 20 lawsuits have been filed during his 15-year history as a public-access activist.
“We don’t ask for damages,” Aviles said. “All we want is compliance with the Brown Act. Richard [McKee] gains nothing from this.”
Copyright 2010 Visalia Times-Delta