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Wednesday, December 12, 2018
OUSD will gut conflict of interest requirements
ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
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Orange
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A nightmare scenario for future OUSD
bond campaigns...
The OUSD Board will vote on ending the
Measure S Bond Citizen's Committee Conflict of Interest provisions
On Thursday December 13, 2018, the
Orange Unified School Board will vote to remove the only provision on Conflict
of Interests from the Bylaws of the Measure S Bond Citizen's Oversight
Committee.
The Citizen's Oversight
Committee has operated for over a year without adopting the OUSD Board of
Education approved Bylaws with the Conflict of Interests provisions. that cite a
government code that prohibits officials from being "financially interested in any contract made
by them in their official capacity".
The vote on Agenda Item 14 A will
not add any new language on Conflict of Interests for the members of the Measure
S Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee. The vote will remove the only reference to conflicts of interest in the oversight committee's bylaws. The reference cites a government code that committee members maintain should not apply to committee members.
According to the staff
description of Agenda Item 14, the idea for completely removing the current
Conflict of Interest item, and not replace it with any other conflict of
interest language, was brought forward " at the request of the Citizen's
Oversight Committee."
The "Description"
of Agenda Item 14 A on the December 13,
2018 ( Agenda page 9 ) includes:
"The Board of Education desires to amend and restate the
Guidelines....at the request of the Citizen's Oversight Committee. Such
amendments include (1) removal of the conflict of the interest provisions as District
staff determined the reporting requirements are not applicable..."
Completely gutting all Conflict of
Interest language from the independent watchdog committee responsible for bond oversight
goes against the campaign promises of the Bond Measure S and previous OUSD Bond measure attempts. Voting to completely remove Conflict of Interest language from the bond oversight committee puts future OUSD bond attempts in political jeopardy.
Minutes of the meetings of the Citizen's
Oversight Committee show that the committee members only looked at the bylaws of the Anaheim Union High School
District Citizen's Oversight Committee and did not look at the best practices
for Citizen's Oversight Committee's conflict of interest provisions.
The September 6, 2017 Citizen's Oversight
Committee minutes report:
"Ms. Cavecche
presented to the committee the Anaheim Union Oversight Committee bylaws, which
she modified to include appropriate language for the Orange Unified COC."
Citizen's Oversight Committee Conflict
of Interests provisions
The Agenda Item states that the deleting of the Citizen’s Oversight Committee Bylaws provision on Conflict of Interests was "at the request of the Citizen’s Oversight Committee".
The Citizen’s Oversight Committee Bylaws provision on Conflict of Interests is in Section F. That section reads:
F Conflicts of Interests. Members of the committee shall abide by the conflict of interests prohibitions in Government Code sections 1090 and 1125.
For more information Click on: Citizen’s Oversight Committee Bylaws
Government Code 1090 that is referenced in the Bylaws states:
1090. (a) Members of the Legislature, state, county, district, judicial district, and city officers or employees shall not be financially interested in any contract made by them in their official capacity, or by any body or board of which they are members.
Government Code 1125 states:
1125. “Local agency,” as used in this article, means a county, city, city and county, political subdivision, district, or municipal corporation.
Numerous court cases have defined the application of the two government codes.
For more information Click on:
According to Agenda Item 14 A, the
Citizen's Oversight Committee bylaws "conflict
of the interest provisions " has now been determined by " District staff" as " not applicable". The "district
staff" cited in the Agenda Item are not identified, but the item is has Assistant
Superintendent David Rivera's name on the Agenda Item.
The Citizen's Oversight Committee
Bylaws were written by district lawyers and included the "reporting requirements" and were
approved by the Board of Education, on September 8, 2016. The reporting requirements that the Citizen's
Oversight Committee members appear to object to are known as the Fair Political
Practices Commission (FPPC) Form 700.
The Form 700 requires disclosure of economic interests.
The FPPC published information on Form 700 states the reasons for the form are:
1.
It provides necessary information to the public about an
official’s personal financial interests to ensure that officials are making
decisions in the best interest of the public and not enhancing their personal
finances.
- It serves as a reminder to the public official of potential conflicts of interest so the official can abstain from making or participating in governmental decisions that are deemed conflicts of interest.
For more information Click on FPPC
According to a 2016 League of California Cities report Providing-Conflict-of-Interest-Advice:
The FPPC has determined that “member” does not include an individual who performs duties as part of a committee, board, commission, group, or other body that does not have decision-making authority.
There is nothing however to preclude a
requirement in bylaws of a committee to include a conflict of interest section.
That was clearly what the Board of Education wanted to include and what the
political campaigns for the OUSD Bond Measures promised voters.
Citizen's Oversight Committee formed
sub-committee on ByLaws that targeted the Conflict of Interest provisions
The Citizen’s Oversight Committee
(COC) has had seven meetings since the
passage of Bond Measure S. From the very
beginning, the COC members questioned the Board of Education approved COC Bylaws.
The minutes of the first meeting
of the COC on May 24, 2017 report the following regarding the COC members discussions on the bylaws:
"Andrea Greenwald [Bond
lawyer] handed out the COC By-laws as
adopted by the Board of Education, on September 8, 2016. Ms. Greenwald further
explained the developed By-laws were based on applicable cited Education Codes.
Ms. Greenwald also mentioned that districts sometime adopt the COC By-laws ahead
of the committee and sometimes the COC develop By-laws."
"Chair Fascenelli stated the committee members were not provided
enough time to review By-laws and requested adoption of By-laws by the
committee be held over until members had adequate time to review handout."
"At the COS second
meeting on September 6, 2017, Ms. Cavecche started the process for modifying
the COC Bylaws with a subcommittee made up of COC members Cavecche plus Mrunal
Shah, and Diana Fascenelli."
The September 6, 2017 COC meeting minutes report the
following on the COC members bylaws discussions and formation of a subcommittee
to review the bylaws:
"Ms. Cavecche
motioned for the formation of a subcommittee to review bylaws and develop recommendations
for adoption by the COC; Second by Ms. Schuerger. Motion passed: 7-0-0"
"Ms. Cavecche
presented to the committee the Anaheim Union Oversight Committee bylaws, which
she modified to include appropriate language for the Orange Unified COC."
"The COC members
further discussed that limited, but structured bylaws may provide ways to
define the oversight process should changes in the COC become necessary."
"It was further
stated that COC exercise complete independency from the Board of Education, as
the COC’s main function is to ensure that bond funds are expended on authorized
projects from the bond project list."
"The committee
members requested additional time to examine the bylaws and pertinent Education
Codes, so a volunteer subcommittee was called for that purpose."
"Subcommittee
members are Carolyn Cavecche, Mrunal Shah, and Diana Fascenelli. Subcommittee
members will review current documents, information, and report to the COC
regarding the adoption of COC bylaws at the next COC meeting."
The January 24, 2018 COC Meeting minutes report that the
committee members decided to review their bylaws at the next meeting in April
2018:
"It was motioned
by Ms. Shah to review the COC Bylaws at the next COC meeting scheduled for
April 25, 2018. Second by Ms. Schuerger. Motion passed: 7-0-0"
The fifth meeting of the COC took place April 25, 2018,
eleven months since its first meeting in 2017.
The minutes of that April 2018 meeting
report the following about the Board of Education bylaws still not being
adopted by the COC:
"Mr. Lebs re-introduced the topic of the COC Committee operating
by formalized bylaws. Discussion: Committee members discussed and agreed to
move the topic to the next agenda in order to give staff time to consult with
Bond Counsel regarding the committee operating solely under the California
Education Code. It was mentioned in discussion that the Education Code
ultimately governs Bond Oversight Committees".
One year and two months after the
COC first met, the sixth meeting was held on July 25, 2018. The minutes of that
meeting report that the COC Chair and former Villa Park Councilwomen Diana
Fascenelli stated that the committee needed to "operate under formalized bylaws". The minutes of the meeting report for the first time that the Conflict of Interest provisions of Section F are one of two concerns of committee members.
The minutes also report that the FPPC Form 700 was a concern of the COC members.
The minutes report:
"Chair Fascenelli specified the District would like the committee
to operate under formalized bylaws. Therefore, Chair Fascenelli and Committee
Member Cavecche met with staff to revise the Conflict of Interest and Secretary
requirements of the bylaws. The revisions dropped the requirement for the
members to complete a Form 700 and for District staff to continue to act as a
secretary for the committee. After adopting the bylaws by the committee, the
bylaws will be presented to the Board of Education for its approval. The
revised draft of bylaws will be presented to the committee at the next meeting."
Again, the FPPC published information on Form 700-the form that the COC members appear to not want to complete states the reasons for the form are:
1.
It provides necessary information to the public about an
official’s personal financial interests to ensure that officials are making
decisions in the best interest of the public and not enhancing their personal
finances.
- It serves as a reminder to the public official of potential conflicts of interest so the official can abstain from making or participating in governmental decisions that are deemed conflicts of interest.
For the COC to operate for over a
year without bylaws and with no conflict of interest provisions of any type may
be legal, but is not what the OUSD Board of Education voted for in September
2016. For the COC to request the OUSD
Board of Education Trustees to now remove the vehicle of Conflict of Interest in
the COC Bylaws- because of a legal technicality-but not replace them with any acceptable conflict of interest
provisions places Measure S and all future bond attempts under a political
cloud .
INSIDE the OUSD Agenda
Other
agenda items for the December 13th Board meeting are:
Agenda Item 9B- Oath of office The winners of the November 6 election,
Trustee Kathy Moffat, Trustee Andrea Yamasaki and newly elected Trustee Kris Erickson
will be sworn in.
Agenda Item 10B-Election of Board officers and Organizational meeting The new gender breakdown of the OUSD Board is
five women and two men.
Agenda Item 14C- First Interim Financial Report: The report shows
the OUSD Budget has a healthy balance and reserve for a "positive"
certification.
Measure S items:
- Agenda Item
14A - Resending Conflict of Interest requirements for Citizen's Oversight
Committee
- Agenda Items 14
E and F - Measure S bids for Orange HS and Villa Park HS Science Centers
- Agenda Item 16
A Measure S related contracts
OUSD Public Relations costs
In February 2018 OUSD Trustees voted $219,424 for a Public Relations contract (Click on):
Here is what spending $219,424 of educational tax dollars on PR buys (For the latest in OUSD News on the web Click on):
NEXT OUSD
BOARD MEETING December 13, 2018
Next OUSD Board Meeting -OUSD BOARD ROOM
CLOSED SESSION- 5:00 pm
OUSD
Regular Session: 7:00 pm Board Room
For AGENDA-CLICK ON
For more information
call the OUSD Superintendent’s office at 714-628-4040
For budgeting questions call Business
Services at 714-628-4015
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