Do you want to have a positive life-changing experience?
That is what most people say they had after serving a year on their county’s civil Grand Jury. In this age of alternate facts and partisan politics you will find it refreshing to work with like-minded people who seek objective and practical ways to improve government.
If this interests you, the Contra Costa and Alameda County grand juries are seeking members for the 2020-21 fiscal year. The application deadline is March 13.
Using citizen complaints or issues generated by jurors themselves, grand juries investigate topics involving local government operations. They can review any public agency or political entity within a county, including agencies such as BART, local water districts, school districts, and all cities.
The juries do independent research, visit work locations, and interview government workers and the people they serve. They then write reports evaluating what they find and make meaningful recommendations on ways operations could be improved.
The grand juries of the two counties from 2017-19 produced reports on topics such as:
• The unfunded liability for retiree health care coverage growing to $860 million in Oakland. This report prompted police officers and firefighters to step up and make concessions to save taxpayers tens of millions.
• The millions of dollars wasted on Oakland school administration, with recommendations on improvements to free up money for classrooms.
• Alameda County supervisors’ unaccountable spending for non-profit organizations, totaling millions of dollars.
• Concerns about the effectiveness of charter school oversight in Contra Costa. The Contra Costa County superintendent of schools and county Board of Education have or will soon implement the recommendations.
• BART crime and the budget to combat it. The report included recommendations on ways BART might better use its resources.
The investigated agencies are required by law to respond to the report findings and recommendations.
Grand juries are comprised of 19 volunteers from the county. A Superior Court judge picks a group of 30 qualified citizens from which the jurors are randomly selected. They serve for one year, under the supervision of the county Superior Court. With the number of investigative journalists on the decline, the role that grand jurors play in being a “watchdog” over local government — county, cities, schools and special districts — becomes increasingly important.
To be a civil grand juror, you:
• must have been a resident of the county for at least a year.
• should be willing to commit about 20-30 hours per week to service.
• must be willing to keep your investigations secret until they are published.
• must be able to work co-operatively with fellow grand jurors.
• need good writing and analytical skills.
• must be a U.S. citizen and age 18 or older.
The application period for becoming a grand juror will end March 13 for the term that goes from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021. If you are interested, you can get an application at the following sites:
• For Alameda County residents: http://grandjury.acgov.org/join-us.page?
• For Contra Costa County residents: www.cc-courts.org/civil/grand-jury.aspx
If you do serve, you will be rewarded with knowing you helped your local government improve the way it supports us all, become a more-concerned citizen, and make new friends.
Scott Law, a finance systems expert, served on the Alameda County Grand Jury from 2015-17 and is president of the Alameda County chapter of the California Grand Jury Association. Robert Finlayson, an insurance claims executive, served on the Contra Costa County Grand Jury from 2015-17 and currently trains incoming grand jurors in counties across the state.
