Rotary learns about the Grand Jury

Valley of the Moon Rotary Club member Jim Carty, who served this past year as a member of the Sonoma County Grand Jury, brought Jury Foreman Jim Klein to tell the club about how the Grand Jury works.

Unlike many states where 12-person grand juries are appointed on a case-by-case basis, in California each of the 58 counties forms a grand jury of private citizens who serve for one year. Residents of the county without felony convictions and who are not governmental employees can volunteer. The Superior Court judges select 30 people from the list of interested jurors, and then the Clerk of the Court randomly picks the jury until 19 members and four alternates are selected. In order to provide continuity, some members who wish to continue on the jury are carried over.

The Grand Jury is the watchdog of government and is an ombudsman for private citizens; by law it is independent of any court or county, city or local district governments. The jury oversees the legislative and administrative departments in the county. All citizen complaints are reviewed, and the jury decides which to investigate. The identity of complainants is confidential, and the jury is exempt from the Brown and Freedom of Information Acts. It has the power to investigate and report on governmental activities to see that government is efficient, impartial, honest, and dedicated to serve the public, and that individual citizens have an avenue to air perceived problems concerning government.

The jury does not have the power to mandate changes to government set forth in its recommendations, but various agencies included in the jury’s reports are required by law to respond in writing to the reason the agency is not complying with the Grand Jury’s recommendations. Since the Grand Jury’s annual report is required to be published in newspapers and on its website, its findings are known to the public, which can cause public pressure for governmental compliance with the jury’s findings.

Readers will recall that a recent Rotary article described the complaint that was lodged by the club’s Vocational Director, Caroline Keller, regarding conditions and educational failings at the Sierra Youth Center. The club is proud to point out that the jury included the report on Caroline’s complaint and subsequent jury investigation and findings as the lead article in the recently published Grand Jury Report.

Want to learn about Rotary? Call Todd Vandenburg during business hours at 578-5800, or log on to www.valleyofthemoonrotary.org.

Raffle Report

As announced previously, the Rotary club is putting on a grand raffle. To find out all about the prizes and to buy tickets, log on to www.valleyofthemoonrotary.org, scroll down and click on the ship.

– Al Blake