MARIN COUNTY CHAPTER, CALIFORNIA GRAND JURORS ASSOCIATION

(Minutes of the Membership Meeting September 12, 2005)

Meeting Called to Order by President Haxton at !0:07 AM in the Board of Supervisor’s chamber

Attendees: --Stu Brown, Dennis Brown, Ted Freeman, Donald Graff, Owen Haxton, Albert Lozano, Joan Holmes, Betty Mattea, Catherine McKown, Gene Dyer, Jack Olive, Wes Huss, Irwin Taranto, and Sheldon Wolff.

Agenda -- The agenda was approved.

Minutes --The minutes of the August 8 meeting were approved.

Comments from chapter members -- Wes suggested that there should be a way to modify earlier minutes.

President’s report and announcements -- Owen Haxton reported the CGJA meeting will take place in Burbank on October 27-29. The hotel rates are $99 singe or double per night. They will increase to $140 after September 30. The details are on the web site CGJA.org.

Stu raised the question of the chapter, itself, having a vote, and was informed by Betty that the CGJA had not acted on this proposal. She also pointed out that CGJA board members do not get liability insurance, as insurance companies are reluctant to insure non-profits. This possibly could affect whether or not someone would be willing to serve.

Betty, as vice president of the CGJA was given the job of running the election system wide. Ballots for the board of the CGJA have been sent out to the Active members and should be filled out and returned.

Betty pointed out that the board of the MCCGJA had suggested that we send $250 to a charity for hurricane Katrina relief. Stu pointed out that there already were extensive contributions for this purpose, and that our funds perhaps should be reserved for California relief. The measure failed to pass on a vote of the membership present.

Treasurer’s report – We have received the check from the county. We have $5323.99. Of this $4001.61 is in a savings account where it can get some interest. We have 39 paid members plus 9 from the sitting grand jury. We also have 3 honorary members. There are 17 members who don’t fit any category. Wes inquired if there was a way in which we could communicate or write to one another. E-mail was suggested, but it was pointed out that some members had opted out of receiving e-mail.

Speaker: Matthew Hymel, the new county administrator, was the invited speaker. His abbreviated CV is in attachment I. He indicated that he wanted to administer the county in the most efficient way. He believed that Marin was large enough to have significant issues, but small enough so that one could know the people. He touched on the new performance based budget plan, also known as managing for results. Many questions were asked -- some about his attitude and approach, some to give him the questioner’s point of view on a subject. On the subject of what office tracks County responses to Grand Jury reports, he indicated that his office is responsible. The members identified several reports of concern. This resulted in Mr. Hymel suggesting that Don Hunter was the follow up man on this issue and suggested that Don meet with Chapter members in a workshop format to address our concerns in more depth.

2005/2006 Foreperson’s report – Catherine McKown, the Forelady, made a comprehensive report, (Attachment II).

Proposal to amend the bylaws: The change was approved 25 to 2. Twenty-three votes out of 34 were needed for approval. Stu will make the appropriate changes to the current bylaws and after authentication by the president and secretary, Shelly will forward them to the CGJA.

Speakers program: In October Joseph Spaeth From the Public Defender’s Office will speak. Supervisor Susan Adams will speak in November. Stu suggested getting Don Hunter to speak at a workshop for January. We should send Stu an e-mail with the names of the Grand Jury reports we would like Hunter to address.

Members comments –Owen pointed out that in the years 2003-2004, 2004-2005, and 2005-2006, we respectively had 22, 33, and 37 members of both the chapter and the CGJA and in addition 13, 10, and 13 members of only the chapter.

Adjourned at 11:47 AM

The next meeting will be October 10.

Sheldon Wolff

Secretary

Attachment I

Matthew H. Hymel

EXPERIENCE

County Administrator 2005-present

(County of Marin)

Chief Assistant County Administrator 2002-2005

Administrator's Office (County of Marin)

Chief Assistant Controller 2000-2002

Controller's Office (City and County of San Francisco)

Mayor's Budget Director 1997-2000

Mayor's Office (City and County of San Francisco)

Revenue and Budget Manager ` 1996-1997

Controller's Office (City and County of San Francisco)

Budget and Legislative Analyst 1993-1996

Controller's Office (City and County of San Francisco)

Senior Budget and Operations Analyst 1991-1993

City Manager's Office (City of Oakland)

Fiscal and Policy Analyst 1990-1991

California Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO)

EDUCATION

Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government

Master of Public Policy

University of California, Santa Cruz

BA degree in Economics

Attachment II

Report to MCGJA on September 12, 2005

Status:

New GJ is doing really well …

Dynamite jury officers – You’ll meet Keith Lester, Pro Tem, at November meeting (when I’m in China).

Lost 3 jurors for a variety of personal reasons (Vern Dorr, Mark Foehr, and Jan MacDonald)

3 replacements are excellent/talented (Roberta Robinson, Mac MacLeran, and Tom MacDonald. Have provided Owen with an up-dated roster.

8 alternates remaining to draw from

3-Part Pension Series in IJ + Excellent follow-up Editorial (9/4)

Responses to GJ Reports:

There are 3 overdue responses for the Bloated Pension Plans Report – today I’m sending the 3 cities a reminder letter re. this: Fairfax, Ross, and Larkspur

Orientation and State Training:

Regarding GJ training: consensus from current jury is that orientation (in Marin County) was terrific! Irwin did a masterful job! The planning committee put together an excellent program, and the presenters from the Association were excellent.

Most jurors were critical of the training in Walnut Creek – criticism had to do with presentation skills, lack of hand-outs, repetition of what we already had learned. Would like

to see a class such as “Anatomy of a Report” … a clear description of the process. Also would have liked an opportunity to meet with other jurors – break into small groups. I attended the training in Sacramento and really enjoyed it; all presenters did a good to excellent job, and most had adequate handouts. I found it valuable.

Training:

My focus has been to bring the team “up to speed” as quickly as possible. Have provided lots of training this year: “Selecting a Topic” (Marty Miller), “Group Dynamics” (Bob Shelnutt), “Planning an Investigation” (Marty Miller), “Interview Skills” (this Thursday with Bob Shelnutt) and “Writing the Report” (soon with Shelly Wolff). We will be attending two, 3 hour computer classes in September.

Miscellaneous:

· Have asked each juror to attend one public meeting (now thru January). I am attending BOS meetings; others have attended meetings of GGBD, Sausalito and Novato City Councils, Disaster Council, Healthcare Board, Joint Task Force, Human Rights Commission, etc.

· Toured San Quentin last month (dinner with interim warden), Juvenile Hall (this Thursday) and County Jail next month

· Patti’s husband is doing really well

· Slots at both ends of the building “Marin County Grand Jury” – IJ inserts now plus later on will put in applications and brochures.

· IJ inserts to pass out today – great PR/recruitment tool for GJ.

Catherine D. McKown, Foreperson – 2005-06 Marin County Civil Grand Jury