HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 10262010 - D.4RECOMMENDATION(S):
DIRECT the County Administrator's Office to convene a panel of three individuals made up
of trustees from cemetery districts outside of Contra Costa County, to evaluate candidates
and nominate an individual to the Board of Supervisors, within 30 days, for appointment to
the Trustee 3 seat on the Byron-Brentwood-Knightsen Cemetery District Board of Trustees.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The County may incur a nominal cost to reimburse the meeting stipend and expenses of the
panel members authorized by their agencies.
BACKGROUND:
The Board of Supervisors accepted the resignation of Trustee 3 incumbent Carlos Taborini
(who resigned on July 26, 2010) from the Byron-Brentwood-Knightsen Union Cemetery
District (BBKUCD) Board of Trustees at its August 10, 2010 Board meeting (Item C.20)
and directed the
APPROVE OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
Action of Board On: 10/26/2010 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
Clerks Notes:
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
AYE:John Gioia, District I
Supervisor
Gayle B. Uilkema, District II
Supervisor
Susan A. Bonilla, District IV
Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V
Supervisor
ABSENT:Mary N. Piepho, District III
Supervisor
Contact: JULIE ENEA (925)
335-1077
I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the
Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: October 26, 2010
, County Administrator and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors
By: June McHuen, Deputy
cc: County Administrator
D. 4
To:Board of Supervisors
From:PUBLIC PROTECTION COMMITTEE
Date:October 26, 2010
Contra
Costa
County
Subject:PROCESS FOR FILLING THE BYRON-BRENTWOOD-KNIGHTSEN CEMETERY DISTRICT BOARD
VACANCY
BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)
Clerk of the Board’s Office to post the vacancy. However, it was later discovered that the
Clerk of the Board’s Office failed to post the vacancy as the Board directed and as
required by law.
Meanwhile, the District III Supervisor’s Office, which has had responsibility since 2002
for conducting outreach and recruiting for the BBKUCD Board of Trustees and making
nominations to the Board of Supervisors for appointment, advertised the vacancy and
received two applications from interested persons – one from David Piepho and one from
John Quinn, who has since withdrawn his application. Supervisor Piepho requested
Supervisor Gioia, as Chair of the Board of Supervisors, to review the applications and
make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors for appointment to the BBKUCD
Board. Supervisor Piepho recused herself from the process because her husband, David
Piepho, was one of the two applicants.
The Board of Supervisors, on September 14, 2010, referred the matter to the Public
Protection Committee (PPC) to discuss the issue of whether to develop a policy regarding
the appointment of family members to boards and commissions and to consider the
appointment process for the BBKUCD Board. While the Internal Operations Committee
(IOC) normally conducts recruitment and makes recommendations to the Board of
Supervisors for various Board advisory bodies and independent county districts, the
Board asked the PPC to fulfill the role of the IOC in reviewing the Cemetery District
applications because Supervisor Piepho currently serves on IOC and has recused herself
on this matter.
To remedy the failure of the Clerk’s Office to post the Trustee 3 seat vacancy, the Clerk
of the Board posted the vacancy on September 22, 2010 and extended the application
deadline for the seat to October 12, 2010. The Clerk’s Office compiled all applications to
fill the vacancy that were received from any Supervisor’s Offices and from the Clerk of
the Board’s Office, including the two applications that were received prior to the vacancy
being posted by the Clerk of the Board’s Office as well as eight additional applications
received prior to the October 12 close of the application period, for a total of ten
applications. Two of the applicants have withdrawn from the process, leaving eight
remaining applicants. The current term of the Trustee 3 seat will expire on December 31,
2013.
The PPC considered the Board of Supervisors' referral at its regular meeting on October
18, 2010. The PPC received a substantial amount of written and oral public testimony on
the spirit of the Maddy Act and in support of the various candidates. However, the PPC
limited its discussion to the process to be used to fill the BBKUCD Board vacancy, rather
than on the merits of the candidates, and the broader policy issue of permitting
Supervisors' family members to serve on Board advisory bodies, committees, and
commissions.
There was consensus among the Committee members that Supervisors' family members
should not be automatically barred from participating on Board advisory bodies,
committees, and commissions, but that nominations for appointment should result from
an "arms length" process whenever a Supervisor's family member is a candidate. The
Committee determined that, in the case of the Trustee 3 seat on the BBKUCD Board of
Trustees, the nomination process should be delegated to a panel made up of subject
matter experts from outside of Contra Costa County.
The Committee will continue to work on the development of a broad policy and process
for future instances where Supervisors' family members apply to participate on Board
advisory bodies, committees, and commissions. Staff reported that none of the nine Bay
Area counties has a written policy regarding appointment of Supervisors’ family
members to Board advisory bodies and none of the other Bay Area counties appear to
prohibit family members from serving. Contra Costa County has adopted some related
policies, but nothing that pertains specifically to the appointment of Supervisors’ family
members to Board advisory bodies. For example, the Board adopted a general guideline
in Resolution No. 2002/377 “Board Advisory Body Procedures” that discourages
simultaneous membership by more than one member of a family on a Board advisory
body. Board Resolution No. 2002/376 also adopted the Common Law Policy on
Conflicts: All Board Appointees should so conduct the public business as to avoid even
any appearance of conflict of interest. Note that this policy appears to relate to financial
conflict of interest.
The PPC is scheduled to discuss the broader policy issue at their November meeting
scheduled for November 30.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
Failure to take specific action today will further delay the filling of the vacancy on the
Cemetery District board of trustees.
CHILDREN'S IMPACT STATEMENT:
None.
CLERK'S ADDENDUM
DIRECTED the County Administrator's Office to convene a panel of three individuals
made up of trustees or district managers from cemetery districts outside of Contra
Costa County, to evaluate candidates and nominate an individual to the Board of
Supervisors, within 30 days, for appointment to the Trustee 3 seat on the
Byron-Brentwood-Knightsen Cemetery District Board of Trustees.
ATTACHMENTS
Letter - Public Comment