Amador County – The Ione City Council today (Tuesday, Sept. 20) will consider a draft response to the 2010-2011 Grand Jury report on its investigation of Ione city management and finances, a probe that will continue for another year.

New City Attorney James Maynard, in a report for today’s meeting, said the “response provided the city with an opportunity to rebut the charges against it,” and “once the response is filed, nothing further will be required from the city.” He said the 2011-2012 Grand Jury “is picking up where last year’s Grand Jury left off.”

He said: “I have been in the process of turning over emails between former City Manager Kim Kerr and various city contractors in close coordination with Amador County Counsel’s office.”

He said “the city agrees with many Grand Jury findings, but disagrees with others.” He preferred to “entertain proposals for revision during the council meeting to enable timely transmission” of the response, due next Tuesday.

The draft partially agreed that Ione was “outspending its current income and has been heavily dipping into” its Local Agency Investment Fund. It said the “city receives the majority of its revenues in January (six months after the start of the fiscal year) and May (the last month of the fiscal year) of each year and “uses the LAIF to cover cash flow during those periods.” The draft response said: “This is a standard and acceptable practice for state, county and city government to operate.” It noted that the city has received deposits and impact fees from developers, and the funds are put into the LAIF and “drawn down for infrastructure projects.”

Two weeks ago, Interim City Manager Jeff Butzlaff said the new city administration, including himself, Maynard and the finance director, were still constantly getting a “plethora” of requests for information, including from this fiscal year’s Grand Jury.

Butzlaff said the city is still struggling with day-to-day business while answering Grand Jury requests, and public information requests from residents. He said they want to openly share the information and the city wants to show that it is not operating improperly and they want people to know that “anything but that is the truth.”

The Council at its last meeting terminated a legal services agreement with Cota Cole & Associates LLP, Maynard’s former firm, and approved a new legal services agreement with Maynard’s new private firm, for city attorney services.

Butzlaff said Maynard is the right fit for Ione, and their first couple of months together was “extremely intense,” with the Grand Jury response, and the wastewater treatment plant’s cease & desist order and timeline. Butzlaff said new city staff “hit the ground immediately running.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.