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COUNTY OF SAN MATEO
Inter-Departmental Correspondence
County Counsel
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DATE:
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October 29, 2009
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BOARD MEETING DATE:
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December 1, 2009
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SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:
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None
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VOTE REQUIRED:
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Majority
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TO:
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Honorable Board of Supervisors
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FROM:
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Michael P. Murphy, County Counsel
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SUBJECT:
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Ordinance Amending Section 2.04.040 of Chapter 2.04 of Title 2 of the San Mateo County Ordinance Relating to Independent Citizens Review Panel
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RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt an ordinance amending Section 2.04.040 of Chapter 2.04 of Title 2 of the San Mateo County Ordinance relating to the creation of an Independent Citizens Review Panel to review allegations of serious official misconduct on the part of an elected County official.
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BACKGROUND:
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On August 12, 2008, the Board of Supervisors added Chapter 2.04 to the San Mateo County Ordinance Code, establishing the process for creating an Independent Citizens Review Panel to review allegations of serious official misconduct on the part of an elected County official. The ordinance sets forth in detail the procedure for the formation of such a panel. The process allows the Board, in the first instance, to determine that an allegation is unfounded, or to refer the allegation to the elected official for response.
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As currently written, Chapter 2.04 provides that a panel of three, five or seven members will be convened, with membership chosen randomly from a list of persons from among the following categories: retired judges, former County or City Administrators, former Grand Jury forepersons, and former County Counsels, City Attorneys and/or District Attorneys. While the Board discussed the option of adding a category consisting of private citizens not falling into any of these categories, a decision was made at the time of adoption not to do so.
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DISCUSSION:
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The Finance and Operations Committee revisited the question of the composition of the Independent Citizens Review Panel at its meeting of October 21, 2009, and decided that any such panel would benefit from the addition of one or more private citizen members not falling within the categories currently listed in Chapter 2.04. The Committee unanimously decided that this office should bring to the full Board, for consideration, an amendment to Chapter 2.04 that would provide that any three member or five member panel convened by the Board would include one private citizen member, and that any seven member panel convened by the Board would include two private citizen members, with such private citizen members chosen at random from a list of private citizens compiled from names of one or more such persons selected by each Board member at the time that the panel is convened. The ordinance presented to the Board for adoption would amend section 2.04.040 of Chapter 2.04 of the Ordinance Code to incorporate this change.
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Adoption of this ordinance will contribute to the Shared Vision outcome of a Collaborative Community by including private citizens in the process of reviewing serious allegations of misconduct of elected officials.
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FISCAL IMPACT:
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There will be no impact to the General Fund as a result of this ordinance amendment.
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