Letters to the Editor

Kuddos to Leddy story

Dear Editor:

Mike Bodine and The Sheet should be commended for investigating and informing the public about the mysterious departure of former Mono County CAO Jim Leddy (Get The Led Out, Vol. 13, No. 48, November 28, 2015).

Mr. Bodine’s well-researched article served an important public purpose, and was in the best traditions of American journalism. It is clear from the record he adduced that Mono County management tried to keep Mr. Leddy’s questionable behavior secret, and likely would have succeeded without The Sheet’s effort to find the truth.

I would respectfully add to this public dialogue my opinion that, in the course of the events described in Mr. Bodine’s article, the Board of Supervisors committed a criminal violation of the Brown Act, by which each Board member is strictly bound. I base this opinion on the following law and facts:

Law: While generally enforced as a civil matter, the Brown Act makes the withholding of public information at a public meeting a crime; it states in Government Code § 54959 that:

“Each member of a legislative body who attends a meeting of that legislative body where action is taken in violation of any provision of this chapter, and where the member intends to deprive the public of information to which the member knows or has reason to know the public is entitled under this chapter, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”

That the legislature made the behavior described in Government Code § 54959 a crime shows how strongly it believed in the Brown Act’s fundamental purpose of ensuring that the public is kept informed about the actions of its representatives.

One way the Brown Act achieves that purpose is by requiring legislative bodies to publicly announce what actions they have taken in confidential “closed” sessions.

Specifically, with respect to personnel-related actions taken in closed session, the Brown Act states that:

“The legislative body of any local agency shall publicly report any action taken in closed session and the vote or abstention on that action of every member present, as follows: … Action taken to appoint, employ, dismiss, accept the resignation of, or otherwise affect the employment status of a public employee in closed session pursuant to Section 54957 shall be reported at the public meeting during which the closed session is held.” (Government Code § 54957.1(a)(5)). Consequently, under the Brown Act “the public is entitled” to information regarding “any action” taken by a board of supervisors in closed session “to accept the resignation” “or otherwise affect the employment” of a public employee.

And a county board of supervisors’ failure to publicly report a personnel-related action it has taken in closed session is a type of Brown Act violation that, by necessity, deprives the public of information to which it is entitled. And that constitutes a misdemeanor under Government Code § 54959.

Facts: During its April 14, 2015 meeting, the Mono County Board of Supervisors conducted a confidential closed session under the agenda heading “Closed Session – Performance Evaluation – Public Employee Performance Evaluation – County Administrative Officer – Government Code § 54957” (Mono County Board of Supervisors Meeting Agenda April 14, 2015).

During that closed session, the Board approved and authorized its Chairman to sign a “confidential” agreement memorializing Mr. Leddy’s resignation as Mono County CAO and otherwise providing for his departure from the County’s employ (Mutual Agreement and Release of Claims between James Leddy and County of Mono dated and executed April 14, 2015, obtained by Public Records Act request).

The Board concluded that closed session and then adjourned its April 14 Board meeting without publicly reporting that in the closed it had accepted Mr. Leddy’s resignation session and approved a separation agreement with him.

To the contrary, the Board minutes from that meeting state affirmatively that “there was nothing to report out of closed session” (Minutes of April 14, 2015 Board of Supervisors meeting).

Further, on April 14 the Board issued a press release which announced Mr. Leddy’s departure from the County’s employ but which did not mention the closed session nor the circumstances surrounding his resignation. (Mono County Media Advisory dated April 14, 2015 entitled “Mono County Administrator relocating to Bay Area”).

Taken together, these acts demonstrate the Board’s intent not only to keep the circumstances surrounding Mr. Leddy’s departure secret and “confidential,” but to obfuscate the truth as well.

For these reasons it is my opinion that on April 14, 2015 the Board of Supervisors engaged in the criminal conduct described in Government Code § 54959: it violated the Brown Act by not reporting out the action it had taken in closed session relative to Mr. Leddy’s resignation, and it did so with the intent to deprive the public of information to which the Board members knew the public was entitled.

Unlike a hiker on a slippery glacier, I do not expect the Board members will be self-arresting themselves for these offenses anytime soon.

But perhaps these events will at least prompt the Mono Supervisors to better acquaint themselves with the Brown Act, and especially its admonishment that “The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.” (Government Code § 54950).

Allen Berrey

Bishop

 

Power corrupts

Dear Editor,

I worked as a temp in Sacramento for a few years before moving to Bishop. I was on an assignment at a major banking entity about the time the big change in sexual harassment laws went into effect, the late 1980s.

The bank had a normal weekly one-hour meeting to update all employees on any changes in procedures. When the new sexual harassment laws went into effect, the update, instead of an hour, took nearly all day! The general manager ended the meeting saying that the company would not condone any sexual harassment at all. Any infraction would bring immediate and maximum consequences.

Later, while on assignment with the California office of a nationwide charity, the vice president of the organization’s state campaign was accused of inappropriate actions of a sexual nature involving a female subordinate. He was immediately put on forced leave and barred from even entering the building. The charity’s management apparently took the new laws to heart like the bank’s did.

I never heard the end result of that accusation, but compare the vice president’s immediate forced leave of absence and banishment from the premises with the way Mono County addressed former CAO Jim Leddy’s inappropriate actions. Protect the status quo at all cost!

It reminds one, especially concerning government, of the old saying: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Bob Woodson

Bishop