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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:
FPPC An Overview of Government Code Section 1090
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.
The minutes for the last COC meeting held on October 17, 2018 are not available yet. On the agenda for that meeting, Item VII is titled "COC BYLAWS APPROVAL".
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 .
For more information see
List of COC Committee Members
OUSD Board of Education Approved COC Bylaws
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):
OUSD VOTES $219,424 for PR
Here is what spending $219,424 of educational tax dollars on PR buys (For the latest in OUSD News on the web Click on):
OUSD in the NEWS
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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