Carmel grand jury report pans the city’s governance

Angry residents and city leaders asked the Monterey County Civil Grand Jury to investigate the city’s governance. The report puts blame for the issues that the city has faced on a lack of understanding of how to lead a city.

The Monterey County Civil Grand Jury had lots to say about the period prior to 2012 and the subsequent period up to 2014. Prior to 2012 the grand jury investigation found that city employees were understaffed by the recession and were making due with what they had. Kind of an ‘old guard’ mentality existed.

When a new administration came in with Jason Stillwell as the City Administrator and 14 months later Susan Paul as the Administrative Services Director in 2011-12, changes began with what the grand jury found to be a ‘let’s fix this fast’ mentality.

But with older employees needing more training on new systems and city administrators impatient, this is what the grand jury said how the city council responded, ‘With little attention to its responsibility for inquiry and oversight, the City Council was ineffective. When the Old Guard and the New Administration clashed, the Council took no action and allowed a business problem to escalate into a major public disruption.”

Add to this the media reports and the residents stirred up by this, the grand jury said, “There was no real understanding of the difficult position the City was in following the strained economic period leading up to 2011/2012. Compliance issues, lack of adherence to City policy and the Municipal Code, and the impact of the absence of a professional Human Resources Director or management were not observable to the general public.”

The Grand Jury is recommending formal training for city leaders and staff. They also recommend that new systems and upgraded information technology be put in place to smooth out operations. They also say the Mayor and City Council review city departments each month to see that proper oversight is being conducted.

If you’d like to see the entire Monterey County Civil Grand Jury report, copy and paste the link below to your browser.

http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/home/showdocument?id=1517