HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 02281995 - 1.113 1.109 thru 1.116
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
Adopted this Order on February 28,1995, by the following vote:
AYES: Supervisors Rogers, Smith, DeSaulnier, Torlakson and Bishop
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN: None
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SUBJECT: CORRESPONDENCE
Item No.
1.109 LETTER dated January 24, 1995, from L. Stewart, Chair, Contra Costa County Hazardous
Materials Commission, 20 Allen Street, Martinez 94553, requesting the Board to consider
the risk from hazardous materials releases in any land use decision and the impact of
residential encroachment on industrial facilities.
***REFERRED TO HEALTH SERVICES DIRECTOR AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
1.110 LETTER dated February 13, 1995, from A. Jimenez, Chair, Newcomers Task Force of
Contra Costa County, 1220 Morello Avenue,Martinez, inquiring about the scope and nature
of actions being taken by the County to inform employees, service providers, and local
residents about eligibility requirements for immigrants seeking medical and social services
in Contra Costa County.
***REFERRED TO HEALTH SERVICES DIRECTOR AND ACTING DIRECTOR,
SOCIAL SERVICE DEPARTMENT
1.111 LETTER dated February 9, 1995,from J. Bischofberger, President, Alameda-Contra Costa
Transit District, 1600 Franklin Street, Oakland 94612, requesting support for the
establishment of a multi-modal transit center in Downtown San Francisco.
***REFERRED TO TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE
1.112 LETTER dated February 1, 1995, from A. Simmons, Vice-President, Association for
Minority Adolescents in Residential Care Homes, 2919 Mullens Drive, Richmond 94806,
regarding placement of African-American children in foster care and group homes.
***REFERRED TO ACTING DIRECTOR, SOCIAL SERVICE DEPARTMENT
1.113 LETTER dated February 13, 1995, from R. Rodriguez, Chairman, Mexican-American
Political Association, 1894 Cannon Drive, Walnut Creek 94596,regarding membership on
the Housing and Community Development Advisory Committee.
***REFERRED TO INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE
1.114 LETTER dated February 14, 1995, from A. Harper, P.O. Box 5743, Concord 94524,
regarding Board meetings.
***REFERRED TO COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
CORRESPONDENCE FEBRUARY 28, 1995 - CONTINUED PAGE 2
1.115 LETTER dated February 9, 1995, from J. Nix-Temple, County Administrative Officer,
Trinity County, P.O. Box 1613, Weaverville 96093, seeking support of SB 150, the Tax
Equity Act of 1995.
***REFERRED TO COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
1.116 LETTER dated February 15, 1995, from the Law Firm of Gwilliam, Ivary, et al., 1999
Harrison Street, Oakland 94612, requesting an investigation of youth activity on the Jersey
Island Bridge.
***REFERRED TO RISK MANAGER AND PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of
an action taker,end entered on the minutes of the
Board of Supervis rs on the date shown.
ATTESTED:T-9 —= a S6�1 10(c=
PHIL BATCHELOR, Clall of the Board
of Supervisors and County Administrator
By Deputy
cc : Correspondent
County Administrator
Health Services Director
Community Development Director
Acting Director, Social Service Department
Transportation Committee
Internal Operations Committee
Risk Manager
Public Works Director
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MEXICAN '- AMERICAN POLITICAL ASSOCIATION
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February 13, 1995 p(ECEIVE®
Board of Supervisors IT��
County of Contra Costa FEB .161995
651 Pine Street
Martinez, California 94553
CLERK CONTRAOSTA CO.1gORS
Dear Supervisors:
This is to request the removal of Darnell Turner from the County Housing&Community Development
Advisory(CDGB) Committee. Attached is a copy of a 4-page letter sent to Mr. Turner explaining the
reasons for this request and that provides specific details on the following:
1. Darnell Turner has consistently spoken against applications from Latino organizations that
come before the Housing&Community Development Advisory(CDBG)Committee;
2. As a county employee he is in a conflict of interest;
3. He condoned and defended a racist joke made at a H&CDA Committee meeting.
4. At one meeting of the CDBG Committee he made an anti-immigrant remark;
5. Last year he gave false information regarding a CDBG application that was to benefit the
Latino.community;
6. He is currently the CDBG Committee chairman,but his methods of chairing meetings are
unprofessional and are highly questionable,
7. Last year he circumvented the application process by giving additional recommendations to
the Board of Supervisors not approved by the CDBG Committee;
0 8. He has ryr been totally negative toward M.A.P.A. regarding H&CDAC/CDBG business;
9. In 1993 he opposed the Board's appointment of a Latino to a county department;
10. He is not agreeable"to.making CDBG Committee meetings more accessible to the disabled.
On January 20, 1995,MAPA sent the original of this 4-page letter to Mr. Turner asking for a response to
these complaints. He failed to reply. We now ask for his removal from the H&CDA/CDBG Committee.
Sincerely yours,
RUDY RODRIGUEZ,
Chairman
CC." County Grand Jury
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February 13, 1995
Board of Supervisors
County of Contra Costa
651 Pine Street
Martinez, California 94553
Dear Supervisors:
This is to request the removal of Darnell Turner from the County Housing&Community Development
Advisory(CDGB)Committee. Attached is a copy of a 4-page letter sent to Mr. Turner explaining the
reasons for this request and that provides specific details on the following:
1. Darnell Turner has consistently spoken against applications from Latino organizations that
come before the Housing& Community Development Advisory(CDBG) Committee-,
2. As a county employee he is in a conflict of interest-,
3. He condoned and defended a racist joke made at a H&CDA Committee meeting.
4. At one meeting of the CDBG Committee he made an anti-immigrant remark;
5. Last year he gave false information regarding a CDBG application that was to benefit the
Latino community;
6. He is currently the CDBG Committee chairman,but his methods of chairing meetings are
unprofessional and are highly questionable;
7. Last year he circumvented the application process by giving additional recommendations to
the Board of Supervisors not approved by the CDBG Committee;
8. He has not been totally negative toward M.A.P.A. regarding H&CDAC/CDBG business;
9. In 1993 he opposed the Board's appointment of a Latino to a county department;
10. He is not agreeable to making CDBG Committee meetings more accessible to the disabled.
On January 20, 1995,MAPA sent the original of this 4-page letter to Mr. Turner asking for a response to
these complaints. He failed to reply. We now ask for his removal from the H&CDA/CDBG Committee.
Sincerely yours,
RECEIVE
RUDY RODRIGUEZ,
Chairman FEB 131995
cc: County Grand Jury CLERK BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
CONTRA COSTA CO.
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January 20, 1995
Mr. Darnell Turner, Chairman
Housing& Community Development Advisory Committee
Contra Costa County
105 Pepper Tree Way
Pittsburg, California 94565
Dear Mr. Turner:
This is to inform you that our organization is seriously considering filing a complaint against you as a
member of the County's Housing and Community Development(CDBG) Committee. In this capacity you
have taken actions and made decisions that are adverse to the interest and welfare of our Latino
community in this county.
For several years, as a member of the H&CDA(CDBG) Committee you have consistently voiced
opposition to Latino applicants that have come before your committee. For example, during this year's
(1994-95)review of applications for funding you spoke against applications from all three Latino
agencies that applied.
For example,you spoke against the application from the Hispanic organization,United Concilio West,
(PS 62, "Information&Referral Services to West County"). You did not even favor the amount of
$4,000.00 that was being proposed for that project.
You unsuccessfully spoke against the application from the Hispanic organization,Los Cenzontles
Mexican Arts Center(PS 45). Your plan was to delete the proposed funding of$7,000.00 for this group.
You voted to change the funding allocated to United Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations from a
grant to a loan (ED 9, "Computer Translation Center"). This changing of a grant to a loan on an
application of a community based organization, particularly in the category of"Public Service",is
unprecedented, indeed, it is discriminatory. You did this in spite of the fact that MAPA had specifically
asked that this should be a grant,as given to other organizations that are directly serving the community.
In the application review cycle 1993-94 you adversely affected the funding of an application that was
going to benefit Latinos in East County by giving false information to the CDBG Committee. At that
time,the current MAPA Chairman was also on the CDBG subcommittee,which you chaired, and that
made the initial review of this application. He voted with you to limit the funding of this organization's
application based on the information you provided. Subsequently,when the agency made a presentation
before the entire CDBG Committee it became apparent that the information you had provided was
incorrect. This type of conduct is unprofessional,unethical and is an abuse of your position of trust.
A D E L A N T E C O. N M A P A
i. tt3
That year(February, 1994)you also approached the County Supervisor in your district in order to
adversely influence his decision on the funding of an application from a Latino organization. This was
after the CDBG Committee had submitted its final recommendations to the Board of Supervisors but
before the Supervisors voted on them. You asked Supervisor Torlakson to not fund the application of
United Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations in regard to upgrading their office building in
Brentwood. You made this effort, in spite of the fact that the CDBG Committee had already
recommended the funding!
On December 7, 1994,MAPA read a letter at a CDBG Committee meeting complaining of conflict of
interest on your part. This letter was placed on the agenda of the CDBG meeting of January 4, 1995,but
at that meeting, as chairman,you did not respond to this letter instead you merely "acknowledged" having,
received it. There was no discussion and to date MAPA has received no reply to this letter. The problem
was compounded when, even after this matter was brought to your attention on December 7,you
subsequently voted on funding motions that favored your employer,the Community Services Department.
On January 4, 1995,when the final decisions were made by the:committee on funding of applications,you
were not a neutral, impartial chairman. You actively participated in making motions,voting,advocating
for some applications and criticizing others,e.g.,the Latino applications. You dominated many of the
discussions. Of course, at times you would turn over the chairmanship to the Vice-Chair but this was
more of an after-thought, and a charade,than an act of impartiality. This problem would have been
avoided if you had not presided at this meeting.
As chairman you even discriminated against a Latino organization(MAPA)in regard to the rule you
made in October, 1994, about the distribution of hand-outs and other literature by members of the public
to committee members at meetings. Your rule was to not allow members of the public to hand copies of
material directly to each committee member. You stated that the member of the public first had to hand
the literature to a staff person, and the staff person would then pass it out to each committee member.
You made this rule "on the spot" at a meeting when the MAPA representative began to hand out copies of
a letter to each committee member;you had him give the copies to a staff person. Subsequently,you
applied this rule to the MAPA representative yet you did not apply it when other members of the public
violated this rule and passed out copies directly to committee members. This is discrimination.
You are the only member of the Housing and Community Development Advisory(CDBG) Committee that
is also an employee of the county. MAPA believes this to be a conflict of interest as follows:
The Housing& Community Development(CDBG) Committee,which you are chairing this year,
is responsible for reviewing applications for funding and making recommendations to the County
Board of Supervisors on the allocation of over$3 million of HUD funding each year. (This year
this amount was $4.2 million)
The CDBG Committee receives applications for funding from more than a hundred public
organizations, cities and community based organizations throughout the county, as well as from
several county departments,e.g.,Public Works,Building Inspection,Housing Authority and
County Administrator's Office. Each January,the funding recommendations of the committee
are forwarded to the County Board of Supervisors for final approval.
You are an employee of the Community Services Department, another county department that
each year submits several applications to the CDBG Committee for funding.
Therefore,you are in a position to be influenced not only by your immediate supervisors at work
but also by your other superiors in county government. In addition, as a member of a committee
that also funds county projects you have an unfair advantage in dealing with county government'
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in your other volunteer community work. In working with these other community organizations
you have definite vested, special interests.
Therefore,based on our observations of your performance on the CDBG Committee we believe
that your conduct and decisions are being tainted by the fact that you are an employee of the
county.
At the January 4, 1995 meeting of the CDBG Committee,a committee member raised this same
issue when a proposal from the county's Housing Authority was being discussed. He said that as
a county employee you were "too close" to this particular application and suggested that you
abstain from participating in its review. You failed to take his advice.
At the January 4, 1995 meeting of the H&CDA(CDBG) Committee you announced that in the future you
were Going to ask that additional funds be.allocated to the "Open" category and not to the "Public Service"
category. It is most coincidental that your employer,the County Services Department,has all of its
applications under the "Open" category. Conversely, all three Hispanic groups mentioned above have
applications under the "Public Service" category.
At times you have used crude language with members of the public. An example was on January 4, 1995,
when you were presiding as chairman. In discussing an application,you told a representative of a
community based organization that, "You are not being shafted". This type of language is not only
unnecessary but it is also offensive.
When MAPA complained to you at the January 4, 1995 meeting that your meeting room is not readily
accessible to the disabled you opted to do nothing to correct this problem. You,and staff, simply gave the
bureaucratic reply that this is not a problem because your current practice of handling the disabled is in
compliance with federal regulations. Because you comply on paper does not make it any easier for the
disabled to attend your meetings. Your current practice is discriminatory toward the physically disabled,
Our group also recalls the fact that in August, 1993,you protested the appointment of a Latino by the
County Board of Supervisors to the position of Director, Housing Authority. Your efforts were publicized
in the Contra Costa Times.
In March, 1993, at a meeting of the CDBG Committee,you publicly spoke against MAPA's criticism of a
U.S. Immigration Service' sweep conducted in Pittsburg. In effect,you stated that the persons arrested
(the persons MAPA was attempting to help) should have been deported because they were here illegally.
This was an unnecessary remark that tends to inflame the anti-immigrant issue.
As Chairman of the CDBG Committee you failed to take action against a committee member who made a
racist joke in public and whose remark was subsequently condemned by the Human Relations Commission
of the county. (This was the "joke"made on December 1, 1993,by Wayne Price about Clorox being
Poured on a black person and him turning white.) You not only failed to ask for a public apology as
requested by-the Human Relations Commission but you took action to protect Wayne Price by claiming
that this was not a racist joke and that you saw nothing offensive about it. On January 11, 1995,you went
to the County Human Relations Commission to ask that they rescind their action against Wayne Price.
Yet,you try to give the impression that you are an advocate for the civil rights of minorities. We find this
to be hypocritical because by condoning Wayne Price's racist joke you are encouraging the perpetuation of
such remarks against African-Americans and other minorities.
Mr. Turner, as a member of the county's Housing& Community Development Advisory Committee
(CDBG)you are in a position of public trust. You are suppose to be impartial and non-discriminatory in
your words, actions and decisions. Yet,your words, actions and decisions have consistently reflected bias,
discrimination and prejudice against the Latino community.
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At this time we ask for your explanation to each of the above complaints. We request that you reply in
writing within the next two weeks and enlighten us as to why we should not pursue a formal complaint
against you.
This matter was discussed and voted upon at our MAPA meeting of January 19, 1995.
Sincerely yours,
Rudy Rodriguez,
Chairman
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