2010-2011 Alameda County Grand Jury Final Report
http://www.acgov.org/grandjury/final2010-2011.pdf
June 2011
Grand jury appalled at Oakland building inspectors
If the annual report of the Alameda County grand jury is an accurate account of the operations inside the city of Oakland's Building Services Division, the logical next step must be a criminal investigation
The city's appeals process, if you could actually call it that, operated more like a scam than a legitimate administrative function where property owners' claims were heard by objective parties. Property owners reported being denied on first appeal, often with the code enforcement officer who issued the citation acting as the hearing officer.
Even when residents didn't appeal and did agree to sign a compliance plan to correct the problems, the agency added a 14.75 percent fee for records management and technology enhancement. Yet, when the grand jury issued a subpoena for records, the city could not locate all of them, the report said.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/johnson/article/Grand-jury-appalled-at-Oakland-building-inspectors-2366475.php
June 2011
Bldg Services Mgr Receives a 10 year interest only loan made by a debris removal contractor
One of the more troubling findings was confirmation of a 10-year interest-only loan made by a debris removal contractor to a Building Services manager. The same contractor was awarded "a disproportionately large number of contracts" for debris removal and abatement work, the report said.
The loan was reported to the Fair Political Practices Commission, which is required by law, two years later. The city's Building Services manager "at one time listed her address at a property owned by the contractor," the report said.
Inside the city's Building Services offices, the contractor had free rein, and on more than one occasion submitted the low bid for a contract and then issued a change-order to increase its value. "These change orders inflated the price of the contracts, increasing the cost of the lowest-winning bid," the report concluded.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/johnson/article/Grand-jury-appalled-at-Oakland-building-inspectors-2366475.php
Practices identified in a 1999 Grand Jury Report were still in use in 2011
Another egregious practice, identified previously in a 1999 grand jury report, was still in use until recently.
In its review of property records from 2007 to 2010, the grand jury found "prospective liens" city officials used to issue "warnings" to property owners.
Not only did the practice encumber a property and make it more difficult for an owner to secure funds to comply with city orders, the fines appeared arbitrary and punitive. The report found no correlation between fine amounts and cleanup costs.
