September 6, 2022
Erik L. Larsh
Presiding Judge of the Superior Court
700 Civic Center Drive West
Santa Ana, CA, 92701
RE: Orange County Grand Jury Report, City of Fullerton Response The purpose of this letter is to provide a formal response to the Orange County Grand Jury Report, Orange County Power Authority: Come Clean. The City of Fullerton, as a member agency of the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA), has been identified to provide a comment to the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court on findings and recommendations.
Transparency is a government agency’s obligation to share information with citizens that are needed to make informed decisions. Therefore, the City of Fullerton agrees with the below-finding, F6:
OCPA Board Meeting agendas and staff reports are distributed at the last minute and Board meeting minutes are not always accurate, complete, or posted in a timely manner.
The Grand Jury Report provided a recommendation (R4) to ensure agendas, minutes, staff reports, and all relative Board meeting materials are posted in a timely manner. It reads:
Utilize a member agency clerk or assign a qualified OCPA staff member to handle the agendas and minutes for the OCPA Board and OCPA Community Advisory Committee to ensure that they are prepared properly and posted in a timely manner.
The City is in agreement with this recommendation and believes the OCPA would benefit from an experienced clerk. The OCPA has retained at least two consultants to perform as Clerk, both with prior experience and training to adhere to open meeting laws and procedures. In addition, OCPA is currently recruiting for the City Clerk position to meet recommendation R4.
The City concurs that the OCPA hires a full-time in-house City Clerk who is accountable to the OCPA, to provide critical duties such as agenda preparation and minutes, records management, and responding to public records act requests. During the recruitment period, OCPA will continue to utilize both in-house staff and contract employees to ensure minutes are prepared and posted in a timely manner.
Sincerely,
Fred Jung
Mayor
Cc: Fullerton City Council
Eric Levitt, City Manager
Richard D. Jones, City Attorney
Mayor, Fred Jung
Mayor Pro Tem, Bruce Whitaker
Nick Dunlap
Jesús J. Silva
Ahmad Zahra
City Council Office
303 West Commonwealth Avenue, Fullerton, California 92832-1775 (714) 738-6311 [email protected] www.cityoffullerton.com