Photograph by George Sakkestad
Lieutenant Bill Slack demonstrates the cramped space of the locker room in the Westside Substation. The grand jury was critical of the crowded conditions.
By Sue Fagalde Lick
Wanted: Citizens who are willing to devote unlimited hours at secret meetings to study the workings of Santa Clara County government agencies. One-year position; pays $20 a day, no benefits. Contact Santa Clara County Superior Court.
Thus might read a classified ad for members of the Santa Clara County grand jury, which is still taking applications for the 1996-97 panel. Orientation for prospective grand jurors will be held May 17, and the members will be selected June 21, taking their seats right after the current grand jury steps down.
Most citizens, when asked about the grand jury, will mention high-profile criminal indictments, such as the ones handed down in the O.J. Simpson case, but the Santa Clara County grand jury hasn't handled a criminal case since 1992. A separate grand jury is impaneled for criminal cases, selected from the regular juror rolls in the same way municipal and superior court jurors are selected. In most other counties and states, the regular grand jury handles both criminal and civic duties.
Santa Clara County's grand jury is the civil watchdog of the community. Its 19 members study the workings of the county's 14 cities, 43 school districts, 50-plus special districts and the many county agencies. Each year they publish their findings in a bound report, complete with recommendations for change.
Unique among government agencies, the grand jury operates in complete secrecy. City, county and educational boards are all governed by the Ralph M. Brown Act, which requires them to post agendas and open their meetings to the public, but the grand jury is exempt. Even the county employees assigned to assist and advise the citizen jurors do not know what the jurors are working on.
The grand jury has virtually unlimited power to subpoena people and information, and it can choose to study any aspect of government. Its members are sworn to secrecy for life. Whatever disagreement goes on in their meetings stays there. They do not have to reveal their sources of information, and only the written report has to be made public.
The grand jury, which has its roots in English law and was used in the U.S. colonial days, has no power to send anyone to jail, force a city or school district to make changes or do anything except issue an official pronouncement and hope it leads to change.
The secret nature of the grand jury causes one to wonder: Who are these grand jurors and what do they accomplish?
Cream of the crop
Anyone who is eligible to vote and is fluent in English meets the stated qualifications for grand jurors. However, when one looks at the unwritten requirements and the occupations of those who make the cut, it becomes apparent we won't be seeing any busboys, laborers or receptionists on the panel.
Grand jurors can be recruited by the presiding judge of the Santa Clara County Superior Court or recommended by other members, or they can volunteer. A team of judges chooses 30 finalists, looking especially for representatives from each supervisorial district and a good mix of age, gender and ethnic background. The presiding judge then draws the names of 19 people who become the next year's grand jury. Those not chosen are alternates, ready to fill in if a member drops out.
While a cross-section of society is desirable, the grand jury tends to be well-educated men and women retired from high-level academic, civic or corporate jobs. This year's list includes several electronics engineers, an attorney, a financial consultant, a real-estate agent and a social worker. Nearly all are retired.
Sheldon Jacobs, a member of the 1994-95 grand jury from Saratoga, was a business manager at IBM before his retirement, and he became chair of the finance committee.
Brett Melendy, who served the last two years on the grand jury, was an administrator at San Jose State University and the University of Hawaii. His wife Marian, serving on the current grand jury, taught kindergarten, was an administrator for Camp Fire Girls, Girl Scouts and United Way and spent 10 years as a San Jose City Council assistant.
Los Gatan Donald M. Rains, who served on the grand jury last year, was clerk for the Board of Supervisors before retirement. Although Superior Court Judge Leonard Edwards, chairman of the Grand Jury Review Committee, said it welcomes the "average Joe" who didn't go to college and had a working-class job, the membership doesn't reflect that.
Brett Melendy is blunt about it. "Look at the photos. They're mostly old white men."
One of the main reasons is the time commitment. Grand jurors are warned they will put in at least 20 hours a week. It usually comes out to more than that, with meetings at varying hours of the day and evening. Gloria Chacon, the grand jury's secretary, said many panelists spend 40 or more hours a week on grand jury business.
Jacobs kept track of his hours. He expected to put in 600 hours and actually served 1,100. It worked out to $3.24 an hour, he said.
Only those who are retired or have very flexible jobs can afford to serve on the grand jury. Chacon is honest with prospective grand jurors about the time commitment. Better they find out early than drop out partway through their term. On average, two members leave the grand jury each year for personal reasons and are replaced by alternates, Chacon said.
They certainly don't sign up for the money. Grand jurors earn a maximum of $20 a day, plus mileage. Their per diem is taxable.
Those who bring expertise in government have a leg up, and those who are skilled writers and researchers and have access to computers also have an advantage. Math skills are handy because the grand jury deals with many financial reports, says current grand juror Robert Weiss, a Saratoga financial consultant and retired school administrator.
Guided by a manual prepared by previous grand jurors and with advice from the district attorney and the county counsel, the grand jury is self-governing. Its members meet all together once a week, then break into committees, with at least two committee meetings a week to work in smaller groups on their various projects.
Each year, they are mandated to tour the local penal institutions. They select other areas of study based on citizen complaints, their own observations or recommendations from previous grand juries. They sit in on city council and school board meetings, delve into county records and conduct interviews. "They're everywhere," Chacon said.
Because they have only a year to conduct their studies and write their reports, Weiss said, "you've got to hit the ground running."
Their time on grand jury was quite an education, former members say. Pat Yeomans of the California Grand Jury Association said her year on the Los Angeles County grand jury was "like having a scholarship to graduate school."
Jacobs has lasting memories of his tours of the county's jails and juvenile facilities. Some of what he saw was heartbreaking and frightening, Jacobs said, but he was impressed with the dedication of the county employees. His ride-along with a sheriff's deputy was a thrilling experience, he said.
The secrecy is a burden they are willing to bear. If the grand jury did not work in secret, citizens might be reluctant to come forward with complaints or problems or to speak openly for fear of repercussions, Chacon said.
Edwards added that because the grand jury has the power to change people's lives, it must work in secret until all the facts are known.
"You don't want to hurt innocent people," Marian Melendy said. If witnesses know their testimony is confidential, they are more willing to talk freely, she said. "There ought to be someplace where people can come, and [the grand jury] is it."
The only outlet for grand jurors is to go out for coffee with their fellow members and talk. They can't say a word to anyone else, even their spouses. Marian Melendy, whose husband is a veteran grand juror, said she can't even tell her husband where she is going for the day.
If there is disagreement among the grand jurors, the public will never hear about it. "We never speak as individuals," Weiss emphasized. "There are no minority reports."
Many members find their year on the grand jury fulfilling enough that they apply for another year. Four or five are held over each year at the discretion of the presiding judge. Grand jurors are limited to two terms in succession.
Some decide one year is enough. "There are other things I get more satisfaction out of at a lower frustration level," said Jacobs, who has been active in Saratoga causes, including opposing Measure G and campaigning for Highway 85.
"It's the greatest gift of public service I've ever given," countered Weiss, who was contemplating reapplying. Rains said he would also consider another term.
Results mixed
Most grand jurors are generally pleased with their experience on the grand jury. Asked if they feel they accomplished anything, however, they reply with a qualified "in some cases."
The 1994-95 grand jury studied the Los Gatos police station and found it cramped and in need of repair. The grand jury reported that conferences had to be held outside the station for lack of space, the roof and walls leaked during rainstorms, rips in the carpeting were covered by duct tape, and showers for male and female officers were divided by a common translucent partition, which provided a potential liability situation. The building offered no way for the disabled to get to the upper floor, and it did not have enough private spaces to process juvenile detainees or interview victims and suspects separately.
When the report came out last spring, Police Chief Larry Todd acknowledged that the building needed work, but said its inadequacies did not inhibit the department's ability to serve the community. Town Manager David Knapp cited money troubles: "When you have limited resources, you don't spend them on office space."
A year later, the police station still has the same shortcomings. Police Capt. Jeff Miller said last week that the Police Department is included in the Town Council's current capital improvement discussions, but he didn't know whether the grand jury report would ultimately affect the council's decisions.
Like Todd, Miller stressed that the problems listed "didn't affect our ability to deliver service."
The grand jury recommended that the town council convene a blue-ribbon citizen's advisory panel to evaluate the facility needs of the police department. No such panel has been formed.
The 1994-95 grand jury also found a space problem at the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department's Westside Substation in Saratoga Village. Parking is inadequate, the disabled cannot enter the front of the station, employees are stuffed into unacceptably small work areas, and the single access to the second floor threatens to make it a firetrap in earthquakes or emergencies. The grand jury urged county officials to expedite planning to relocate, fund and construct a new Westside station and conclude negotiations with city officials in Cupertino, Monte Sereno, Saratoga and Los Altos Hills, all served by the substation at that time.
When asked what has been done since the 1994-95 grand jury report, sheriff's Capt. Bob Wilson wearily responded, "Absolutely nothing. Nobody wanted to spend the money."
To say nothing has happened, however, wouldn't be quite correct. Since the grand jury report, the county, the city of Saratoga and West Valley College seriously considered building a new substation on the West Valley campus. That plan fell through in the face of the high costs that would be involved.
Since the report, the city of Monte Sereno has taken its business away from the sheriff's department and contracted with the town of Los Gatos to provide its law enforcement services. Cupertino has made space available at its city hall for a sheriff's outpost to relieve some of the pressure on the Westside substation.
A new plan to share space with the Saratoga Fire District station next door is currently under consideration. The fire station is suffering from age and disrepair and needs to be rebuilt anyway. That plan, under study by the Saratoga Fire Commission, would entail buying the Post Office property and is a long way from becoming a reality.
Wilson stressed that the department is quite aware of the problems listed in the grand jury report. "It's just a matter of money."
Grand jurors point to successes in other areas, including changes in the operations of the Alum Rock School District and the Santa Clara County Office of Education and in the way the San Jose Police Department classifies teen suspects.
In its 1993-94 report, the grand jury expressed concern about the Santa Clara Valley Water District's plan to construct a new 170,000-square-foot administration building at a cost of $40.5 million. The jurors also questioned the district's debt-refinancing decisions and the fact that it seemed to rely heavily upon consulting contracts with outside engineering firms while it had a large number of engineers on its staff.
Before the grand jury report was published, the water district pared down its plans for a new headquarters building to 85,000 square feet for $18.5 million. The district moved to reduce its dependence on outside consultants and temporary employees, and it has not issued any new debt since the report in 1994.
The grand jury does have some power, Weiss said. Often, by the time the report comes out, the subjects have already begun to take care of the problems listed. However, sometimes the response is that "that's how things are, have been and will continue to be."
"The fact that there is a grand jury is important," Rains said. When members of the grand jury walk into a meeting, people know they're being watched. "The grand jury can be ignored year after year, but they ultimately begin to carry an impact," Rains said.
"It's a rather slow process, not altogether efficient, just like democracy," he added.
Jacobs called grand jury service "fascinating, rewarding and frustrating all at the same time." His committee painstakingly reviewed more than 60 financial reports. "I have not heard one reaction," he said, adding that the audits contained "rather significant observations."
"The biggest value of the grand jury," Jacobs said, "is our presence. They straighten things out because we're on the scene."
The key to effecting change on the grand jury is to make its findings heard, Marian Melendy said. "It is the public who can make change."
Judge Edwards had a more positive view. "There's no question that things get changed as a result of a grand jury report." Some agencies don't respond right away, but it doesn't take many "hits" to make something happen, he said.
"Our main duty as California grand jurors is to inform the public," Yeomans concluded.
Copies of the Santa Clara County grand jury reports are available at public libraries and at the Superior Court offices. For information about the reports or service on the grand jury, call 299-3608.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, May 8, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved