Visalia Times-Delta
June 3, 2010
By David Y. Castellon
The incumbents face accusations of county supervisors secretly voting themselves raises and charging meals to county credit cards during lunches that violated open meeting laws.
Candidates facing 4th District incumbent Steve Worthley and 5th District incumbent Mike Ennis say the supervisors’ actions hurt public confidence, and they are promising to curb such practices.
Among them was a 2008 vote by the supervisors that would have given them raises. The agenda item on the raise was written in a bureaucratic manner that maSingle mother finds easy way to earn great money from home during recession. Her shocking story…de it unclear who would get raises.
Many had no idea that the raises were coming until the county put a public notice in the Times-Delta, generating considerable public outrage as the county was cutting jobs.
Times-Delta articles also raised questions about whether supervisors violated California’s open-meeting law, the Brown Act, which makes it illegal for elected officials to discuss business outside publicly announced meetings in most cases where a majority — a quorum — is present.
Board members charged 46 meals in 2009 to the county when a quorum was present, yet they claim that they didn’t violate the Brown Act because they didn’t discuss business.
If they didn’t, some have questioned whether they should have charged their meals to the county.
The incumbents’ opponents promise a more open county government if elected, while Worthley claims that county government already is open.