A new Alameda County civil grand jury report outlines a series of ethical issues that have persisted over the past half decade.
Nearly 10 years after a grand jury report noted serious ethical concerns in Alameda County, it is still one of the only counties in the wider Bay Area that does not have an ethics policy, a whistleblower procedure, or both.
A new Alameda County civil grand jury report outlines a series of ethical issues that have persisted over the past half decade, including nepotism and a lack of oversight regarding discretionary spending of public money. The report did not name names or refer to specific incidents.
“Despite repeated findings from prior grand juries on ethical violations, and a specific recommendation to establish an ethics policy and reporting mechanism in 2015, the Board of Supervisors has not acted for nearly a decade,” stated the latest civil grand jury report, released on Friday. “Alameda County’s lack of an Ethics Policy and Code of Conduct specific to the county indicates that ethical government is not a priority.”
Civil grand juries are composed of county residents who serve as local government watchdogs; the county is legally obligated to respond to their recommendations—but not to implement them.
After the 2015 civil grand jury first raised concerns about Alameda County’s “ethical climate,” county officials said they would consider adopting a countywide ethics policy. After some discussion, the county ultimately chose not to, citing existing conflict of interest laws and whistleblower protections.
Even with the added scrutiny, ethical questions have continued to dog the county over the last decade. According to the authors of the report, those questions have contributed to a lack of trust in local government.
Alameda County’s lack of whistleblower and ethics policies are unique in the region. San Mateo County, San Francisco County, and Marin County all have codes of ethical conduct, ethics policies, and whistleblower programs. Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, and Napa counties also have some form of county-wide ethical training.
Some cities within the county such as Berkeley and Oakland have their own ethics policies and whistleblower programs, as do individual county departments. Still, it is a patchwork of policies that the report indicates leads to more ethical lapses and fewer reports of abuse or corruption.
Although the county does have protections for whistleblowers, there is no clear mechanism for reporting complaints. According to data compiled by the civil grand jury, the county received fewer than 12 whistleblower complaints each year—50 times fewer than the City and County of San Francisco, despite having double the population.
Alameda County officials had not responded to requests for comment by press time. In 2015, the Board of Supervisors said they were “committed to avoiding conflicts of interest and maintaining high ethical standards.”
County officials will be required to respond to the civil grand jury’s recommendations by the end of August.
