Utilities meeting may have violated Brown Act Utilities meeting may have violated Brown Act (December 14, 2005)

City officials discussed future of scandal-plagued Utilities Department without notifying press

by Bill D'Agostino

Top Palo Alto officials discussed the future of the city's scandal-plagued Utilities Department in a public meeting last Wednesday -- but they failed to notify the press, seemingly in violation of state law.

Officials recently began an extensive study of the Utilities Department's structure in light of the recent retirement of Utilities Director John Ulrich and a scandal in which 19 employees were disciplined, including six who were fired or chose to resign in lieu of termination. A potentially large restructuring is planned.

Last week's meeting was held to brief the Utilities Advisory Commission about that ongoing assessment. Present were City Manager Frank Benest, Assistant City Manager Emily Harrison, Administrative Services Director Carl Yeats, various other staff members and at least one resident.

The only public notification of the meeting was an agenda posted at the downtown library. But according to the state's open-government law, the Brown Act, the city is also required to notify interested media outlets of meetings of City Council-appointed groups.

The Palo Alto Weekly did not receive a notification.

City Attorney Gary Baum admitted the city made a mistake by not notifying the press, and said there would be additional training to the staff involved. Other officials said the gaffe was due to the fact that Ulrich's last day in the office was Friday, Dec. 2, a few days before the meeting. (Although Ulrich's last official day is Jan. 3, he's now taking accrued vacation time.)

"I just think there was a lack of coordination," Yeats said of the communications failure. "It won't happen again."

The meeting was not videotaped or audio taped, so there is no definitive, objective record of the discussion. Early in the meeting, according to a draft of the meeting's minutes, city watchdog Herb Borock complained it was not being videotaped, as is typical for such commission meetings. Despite his complaint, the discussion continued.

"All the principals were there," Commissioner Dick Rosenbaum said. "It's hard to get the (commission) members together at the same time."

Commissioners said they were unaware the press had not been notified.

The department scandal, which the Weekly first made public in January, began a year ago when accusations surfaced that utilities employees were using city equipment and charging the city overtime for non-city work. A six-month investigation later expanded to include additional allegations, including lack of oversight by managers, sexual harassment and intimidation of witnesses.

The department controversy only involved workers in the operations side of the department, according to city officials. However, the city has failed to release any significant details about the disciplined workers, including their names or titles, claiming that doing so would violate its employees' right to privacy. In September, the Weekly sued to obtain related reports, arguing the public had a right to know such information. The lawsuit has not yet been resolved.

The new study of the organization also comes as the nature of the department's business is changing, becoming more complex and expensive, according to city officials. Such assertions were backed up by a three-page briefing document entitled "Utilities Restructuring Plan," which was distributed at the Wednesday meeting.

Benest recently named Yeats and Harrison as interim co-directors of the Utilities Department. Yeats will lead its administration division, while Harrison will lead its day-to-day operations and engineering divisions.

City officials say they don't expect to hire a new permanent department head for nine months, until the organizational review is complete. After Wednesday's meeting, Utilities Advisory Commission members said they worried about the nine-month gap.

"That seems like a long time," Rosenbaum said.

During that period, city officials will study the organization of other California public utilities agencies, interview the department's remaining employees and meet with the union that represents most of the department's employees. The Utilities Advisory Commission will hear an update in March.

The Utilities Department has a $246.2 million budget and provides electricity, water, gas, sewer, refuse and storm-drain services to all residents and businesses in the city.

Staff Writer Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at bdagostino@paweekly.com.

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