When
a public official moves outside the district in which elected, a vacancy
occurs at once and should be filled. A responsible public official, who
lives most of the time outside the district in which elected, moreover
should resign the office to allow for the proper appointment or election
of a replacement. The 2001-2002 Grand Jury reviewed two incidences of
local officials who violated this trust.
Carol Cupp continued
to serve on the Coastside County Water District (CCWD) Board of Directors
for six months after she moved out of the district. Eleanor Wittrup continues
to serve on the CCWD board although she teaches full time at the University
of the Pacific in Stockton and owns a home there.
The Grand Jury believes
that Ms. Cupp manipulated the electoral process and deprived district
voters of the right to elect her replacement. As a result of her delay
in resigning her office and the inability of the remaining CCWD board
members to appoint her replacement or call an election, the decision statutorily
defaulted to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors who then appointed
the fifth member to the CCWD board.
The Grand Jury believes
Eleanor Wittrup is similarly manipulating the electoral process because
she spends most of her time outside the district. These individuals show
a callous disregard for democracy and the rule of representative government.
Issue:
1. Did the Coastside
County Water District (CCWD) err in its interpretation that state law
allows a CCWD board member to continue in office for six months after
becoming a nonresident of the district?
2. Did Carol Cupp's
continuance in office on the CCWD board after becoming a nonresident
of the district constitute a manipulation of the electoral process and,
therefore, deprive district voters of the opportunity to elect a new
member?
3. Does Eleanor
Wittrup's remaining on the CCWD board contribute to the public perception
that the governing process is being manipulated to the detriment of
the community?
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Carol
Cupp, a member of the CCWD Board of Directors, moved with her family to
Weed, California, in August 2001. Although no longer living in the district,
she continued to sit on the CCWD board for the next six months, officially
resigning in February 2002. Her reason for not resigning from the CCWD
board after she became a nonresident was based on the opinion of CCWD's
counsel that Ms. Cupp could live outside the district for up to six months
before she must resign or move back to the district.
Due to Ms. Cupp's
continued membership on the CCWD board, district voters were unable to
vote for her replacement during the November 2001 general election. Under
state law, the CCWD board had a designated time period within which to
appoint Ms. Cupp's replacement or call an election.
After Ms. Cupp finally
resigned in February 2002, the CCWD board was deadlocked and unable to
appoint a replacement. The matter statutorily defaulted to the San Mateo
County Board of Supervisors. Unwilling to allow a contentious deadlock
situation to exist regarding vital issues such as fire safety and water
distribution until the next possible election in November 2002, the Supervisors
appointed John Muller as the fifth member of the CCWD Board of Directors
on April 2, 2002.
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Carol
Cupp became a nonresident of the district when she moved to Weed, California,
in August 2001. There is no issue that she changed her residency to Weed,
her actions and words indicated as much. She remained on the CCWD board
for six months after her move, however, maintaining that it was proper
according to the opinion of CCWD's counsel.
The opinion
of San Mateo County Counsel is that Government Code Section 1770 provides
that an office becomes vacant when the individual ceases to be an inhabitant
of the local area for which local residence is required by law in order
to serve in office. Section 1770 does not provide for a time period to
submit a resignation due to a change in residency; it simply states that
the vacancy is created upon a change in residence. If the individual moved
back into the district within six months or if there is any question as
to whether the move was permanent, then Water Code Section 30508 may come
into play to help determine whether the change in residence was permanent.
Section
30508 provides in effect that, if the individual's place of residence
is moved outside of the district and if within 180 days of the move the
individual fails to reestablish a place of residence within the district,
it shall be presumed that a permanent change of residence has occurred
and that a vacancy exists pursuant to Government Code Section 1770. In
this instance, there is no issue whether Carol Cupp had a permanent change
of residence and, accordingly, Water Code Section 30508 should not come
into play. Ms. Cupp's actions and words clearly indicated a permanent
change of residency in August 2001 when she moved to Weed. A vacancy was
thus created on the CCWD Board of Directors. Further, CCWD counsel should
have advised the CCWD board that Water Code Section 30504 directs that
under Government Code Section 1780, director vacancies are to be filled
either by appointment by the remaining board members or by calling a special
election within a designated period.
The CCWD
counsel's opinion created the perception that a member of the CCWD board
can remain in office for up to six months after becoming a nonresident
of the district and no longer living in the community he or she supposedly
represents. CCWD counsel's opinion, and Ms. Cupp's failure to resign,
prevented the vacancy on the board from being filled. This deprived the
voters of their right to elect her replacement and eventually created
a situation whereby the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors decided
to appoint a replacement. The Grand Jury believes that the CCWD board
manipulated the electoral process and district voters were the losers.
Another
member of the CCWD board, Eleanor Wittrup, sold her home in the district
and purchased a home in Stockton, California, where she holds a full time
position at the University of the Pacific. Ms. Wittrup contends that she
continues to be a resident of the district because she rents an apartment
there. Although she may be able to make a case that she is technically
a resident of the district, the Grand Jury believes that Ms. Wittrup's
continued presence on the CCWD board is also a manipulation of the process
of representative government.
The intent
of a law requiring that an officeholder be a resident of the represented
district is that the person be physically in and a part of that community.
As a full time faculty member in Stockton, Ms. Wittrup spends most of
her time away from the citizens and the pulse of the community that she
supposedly represents. The Grand Jury believes that Ms. Wittrup's continued
presence on the CCWD board is contrary to the intent of the law.
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Coastside County Water District Response
The Board of Directors
of the Coastside County Water District considered the above-referenced
report of the County Civil Grand Jury at its meeting held June 10, 2002.
This letter shall serve as the District's response to the Grand Jury
Report as called for in the letter dated June 3, 2002 from Court Executive
Officer Peggy Thompson.
1. Response to the
Grand Jury's Findings:
The Board of Directors disagrees with the finding of the Grand Jury
Report as follows:
a. Findings Concerning
Carol Cupp's residency:
The Board disagrees with the findings of the Grand Jury report analyzing
the issue of Carol Cupp's residency. As the Grand Jury Report notes,
Government Code section 1770 provides that an office becomes vacant
when the individual ceases to be a resident of the district "if
the office be local and one for which local residence is required by
law." In its analysis, the Grand Jury evidently failed to consider
the last clause of that section. The issue, as framed by section 1770,
is whether the office of director on a county water district is one
"for which residency is required by law." And that
issue is addressed by the County Water District law at Water Code section
30508 which provides as follows:
"If
a director's place of residence, as defined in Section 244 of the
Government Code, is moved outside district boundaries or outside
the boundaries of that director's division where elected from a
division, and if within 180 days of the move or of the effective
date of this section the director fails to reestablish a place of
residence within the district or within the director's division,
it shall be presumed that a permanent change of residence has occurred
and that a vacancy exists on the board of directors pursuant to
Section 1770 of the Government Code."
If the Legislature
intended there to automatically be a presumption of vacancy when a
director's place of residence is moved outside of the district, it
could have easily so provided. The statute could then have been written:
"If
a director's place of residence, as defined in Section 244 of the
Government Code, is moved outside district boundaries or outside the
boundaries of that director's division where elected from a division,
it shall be presumed that a permanent change of residence has occurred
and that a vacancy exists on the board of directors pursuant to Section
1770 of the Government Code."
Instead,
the Legislature declared that there is a presumption of vacancy when
a director's place of residence is moved outside of a district and the
director "fails to reestablish a place of residence within the
district" within 180 days. Thus, the notion that a "a member
of the CCWD board can remain in office for up to six months after becoming
a nonresident of the district and no longer living in the community
he or she supposedly represents" is not, as the Grand Jury Report
suggests, merely a "perception". It is rather a plain reading
of the statute.
The Grand Jury's
interpretation, on the other hand, ignores the plain language of the
statute. It states:
"Section
1770 does not provide for a time period to submit a resignation due
to a change in residency; it simply states that the vacancy is created
upon a change in residence. If the individual moved back into the
district within six months or if there is any question as to whether
the move was permanent, then Water Code Section 30508 may come into
play to help determine whether the change in residence was permanent."
The Board of Directors
disagrees with this interpretation. First, Section 1770 does not "simply
state[] that the vacancy is created upon a change in residence."
It states that a vacancy is created upon a change in residence "if
the office be local and one for which local residence is required
by law", thus requiring an examination of the enabling legislation
of the particular public agency in order to determine, in the first
instance, whether residency is a requirement of holding office. Secondly,
section 30508 obviously comes into play "[i]f the individual
moved back into the district within six months..." In that
situation, section 30508 clearly provides that no vacancy has occurred.
The question, however, is when can the determination of whether a
vacancy is "permanent" be made. Reading section 30508
in accordance with its plain meaning, such a determination cannot
be made unless, after 180 days, the director has failed to "reestablish
a place of residence within the district."
In
summary, the Grand Jury's quarrel would appear with the State Legislature
for enacting Water Code section 30508. The Legislature's "intent"
statute appears to be consistent with the plain meaning of the statute,
to permit a director of a county water district to remain in office for
up to 180 days after his or her residence has moved outside of the district.
And the Grand Jury's interpretation of the "intent" appears
to be largely conjecture.
b. Findings Concerning
Eleanor Wittrup's Residency:
The Board also disagrees with the Grand Jury's findings concerning Eleanor
Wittrup's "continued presence on the CCWD board" or, more
precisely, her legal right to continue to hold office as an elected
member of the Board of Directors. In this regard, the Grand Jury Report
stops short of stating that Director Wittrup is legally disqualified
from continued office on the Board of Directors. Instead, based on the
fact that President Wittrup has a full-time job and owns a residence
in Stockton, the report states that the Grand Jury "believes
that Ms. Wittrup's continued presence on the CCWD board is contrary
to the intent of the law." [emphasis added]. It is unclear
upon what the Grand Jury bases its views on the "intent of the
law." The District's legal counsel has opined that a basic
rule of statutory construction is that the intent of a statute is to
be determined, in the first instance, from its plain meaning. And the
opinion of the District's legal counsel is that Director Wittrup is
a resident for purposes of qualifying for elective office in the District.
That opinion was
based upon the following facts: Director Wittrup was elected to the
Coastside County Water District Board of Directors in November 1999.
At that time, she owned a residence within the jurisdictional boundaries
of the District. In August 2001, President Wittrup and her husband
George Carman closed escrow on a house in the City of Stockton and
listed their Half Moon Bay residence for sale. Earlier this year,
the Half Moon Bay residence sold, and President Wittrup and Mr. Carmen
leased an apartment located within the District. President Wittrup's
driver's license, voter registration, State and Federal tax returns,
and vehicle registration all list her address as within the District.
She also states that at all times relevant to this matter she was
a resident of the District, has resided within the District on a continuous
basis, and has considered the District to be her place of residence.
While the amount
of time a Director spends within the District may be an important
policy issue, there does not appear to be any legal basis for the
notion put forth by the Grand Jury's that, once elected, a director
must spend "most of her time" in the District in
order to remain in office. In fact, given the plain language of Section
30508, the intent appears to be to provide some flexibility to enable
a director to remain in office when, for business or other reasons,
he or she leaves the District for less than 180 days.
In
summary, as a legal analysis, the Board of Directors believes that the
Grand Jury report is flawed. And as a policy statement, while it appears
to deal with issues which may confront an individual director whose
place of residence has moved outside the District, and offers food for
thought in that context, the Grand Jury Report deals with issues over
which the District Board, as a decision-making body, does not have control.
2. Response to the
Grand Jury's Recommendations:
Although the Board
of Directors disagrees with the findings of the Grand Jury as detailed
above, it has nevertheless implemented the recommendations contained
in the Grand Jury Report as follows:
A.
Recommendation: The Coastside County Water District Board of Directors
should review and publicly clarify what constitutes a board vacancy
under the law and the duties and responsibilities of the board when
such a vacancy occurs.
The District has implemented the Grand Jury's recommendation. In addition
to the meeting held on June 10, 2002, the Board considered the issue
of "what constitutes a board vacancy" in November,
2001 and April, 2002 when it received and considered two separate
reports from the District's legal counsel concerning President Wittrup's
residency. The Board recognizes that the issue of what constitutes
a board vacancy is specified by California Government Code section
1770 generally, and specifically with respect to the residency of
a board member on a county water district, like CCWD, by Water Code
section 30508. And the Board recognizes the District's legal obligations
in the event of a Board vacancy are set forth at Government Code section
1780.
B. Recommendation:
Members of the Coastside County Water District
Board of Directors should remember their public responsibilities and
not manipulate the electoral process and thereby deny district voters
their right to elect their representatives.
The Board of Directors has implemented this recommendation. The Board
agrees with the statement that Board Members should "remember
their public responsibilities" and not "manipulate
the electoral process and thereby deny district voters their right to
elect their representatives."
C. Recommendation: The Coastside County Water District Board of Directors
should ask Eleanor Wittrup to resign her office as her presence on the
board goes against the intent of the law that requires residence in
the district and creates the public perception that the governing process
is being manipulated.
The Board of Directors has implemented this recommendation. The Board
voted at the meeting of June 10, 2002 to "ask Eleanor Wittrup
to resign her office." The vote passed 4-0 with Director Wittrup
abstaining. After the vote was taken Director Wittrup responded "no".
On behalf of the
Coastside County Water District, I would like to thank you for your
consideration of the foregoing and thank the Grand Jury for its important
service to the community concerning these policy issues.
John Muller, President
Ed Schmidt, General Manager
Coastside County Water District Coastside County Water District
Board of Directors
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