Thursday, July 5, 2007

Grand jury finds Jurupa agency violated laws

July 3, 2007
By SANDRA STOKLEY- The Press-Enterprise

RIVERSIDE - The Jurupa Community Services District violated state law when it sold 4 acres of public land to Rep. Ken Calvert and his investment partners without first offering it to other public agencies -- including the local park district that wanted it, the Riverside County grand jury concluded in a report released Tuesday.

The grand jury recommends that the water and sewer agency turn over the $1.2 million it pocketed from the sale, minus costs, to the Jurupa Area Recreation and Park District.

The report, which concludes a five-month investigation, also found that:
Unnamed management officials used district credit cards to buy clothes, food and other personal items;

No-bid printing contracts were awarded to the relative of a district official, in violation of the California Public Contract Code;

Management recommendations for action were generally accepted without question.

The grand jury recommends that the district publish a policy and procedures manual to set out provisions for responding to such issues in the future.

The Jurupa Community Services District provides water, sewers, streetlights and graffiti removal to the unincorporated Riverside County communities of Eastvale, Pedley, Glen Avon, Sunnyslope and parts of Mira Loma.

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1 comment:

SCA said...

Surprise! Surprise!
The Riverside’s Grand Jury’s Jurupa Community Service District (JCSD Investigation results are out. The only one that should be surprised is the JCSD.

The Jury concludes, as many of us have concluded, the JCSD violated the law in its “secretive” park land sale to Congressman Ken Calvert and associates.

However, February 12, 2007 the JCSD issued a statement refusing further discussion about the remedy to correct the parkland sale error. In that statement, Mc Laughlin proclaims the District the winner if the sale is challenged in court. Unfortunately, in light of the evidence, this conclusion is premature if not naïve, and reflects another possible error by the JCSD.

Noticeably absent from the Grand Jury’s remedy is the “founder of the feast,” Ken Calvert. Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington (http://www.beyonddelay.org/files/Calvert.pdf) note that Calvert appears to have benefited from preferential treatment for a (park) land deal and the JCSD benefited from water supply legislation sponsored by Calvert. This raises the question as to whether Calvert received a special land deal in exchange or in appreciation for his legislative duties.

I ask a similar question that Mr. Arnold Rowe asks in his Pres-Enterprise opinion, July 7, 2007, “Does it not seem fair…that a federal law maker should have a sense of what is right and wrong…to correct a wrong to which he himself was a direct party?” Mr. Rowe concludes, “It is high time for Calvert to…demonstrate ethical behavior and return this parcel of ill gotten land to the public trust from which it was…swiped.”

So far Rep. Calvert has passed the responsibility for the deal to his business partners and refuses comment. Isn’t this rather pathetic for someone that is supposed to represent the public’s interest, and a major owner and benefactor of the (park) land deal?

Yes, in the list of unfortunates, Calvert is there as a responsible party who refuses to accept any responsibility for his “swipe”.

Stephen Anderson
Mira Loma, CA