The League of Women Voters of Humboldt County (LWVHC) has entered the chat on the alleged lack of transparency around the Eureka City Schools (ECS) Board of Trustees action on one now-notorious property swap.

At the Board’s regularly scheduled meeting yesterday, the first since Humboldt County’s Civil Grand Jury released a report slamming the “secretive” nature of the Trustees’ decision making in the Jacobs Campus deal, LWVHC Board Member Anne Hartline read a three-minute excerpt from the League’s statement.

“We were shocked and concerned by the actions of the ECS Board of Trustees on December 14, 2023 when it approved a major real estate transaction with minimal public notification or community input,” the statement reads.

The action in question is, of course, the Board’s Dec. 14 decision to exchange the site of the former George C. Jacobs Junior High School for a small residential property and $5.35 million – entering into a partnership with the AMG Communities-Jacobs, an LLC that was formed just days before.

“The bottom line for us is transparency,” Hartline told the Outpost regarding the League’s decision to weigh in, “we believe that all members of the public should be given opportunity by elected boards to learn, voice opinion and engage in their communities.”

“And we believe this action did not have adequate transparency,” she concluded.

The statement came the same week that some Eureka residents received a mailer from the Housing for All and Downtown Vitality Initiative, sponsored by Rob Arkley’s Security National Properties Holding Company, LLC, which outlines a vision of what the Jacobs site could be – despite the claim on AMG Communities’ frequently asked questions page that Arkley is “not an owner or investor” in the LLC.

LWVHC clearly wants the details on that, as one of their (five) suggestions to the Board was to “disclose the names of all partners in AMG Communities-Jacobs, LLC to establish the bona-fide identity of its members and disclose its financial integrity.”

Because the topic was not agendized for the June 25 ECS Board of Trustees meeting, the trustees could not respond to LWVHC’s statement due to Brown Act regulations. The Board did say that it will respond to the Grand Jury’s findings within 90 days of the report’s June 12 release in one of its regularly scheduled meetings.

The property transfer is on tomorrow’s 6:30 p.m. ECS Board meeting as a closed session item. The meeting agenda can be found here.

Read the full text of the League’s statement below.

To: Eureka City Schools Board of Trustees

Dear Trustees;

The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. The League is nonpartisan in that it does not support or oppose any political party or candidate; it is political in that it takes positions on selected governmental issues after member study and agreement.

One such member study was conducted by the League of Women Voters of Humboldt County (LWVHC) in 2016. The study, which is part of the LWVHC Government Portfolio and is entitled “Civic Engagement”, specifically states that:

All governmental bodies and organizations should:

• Facilitate equitable access to current information about all public meetings open or closed. This shall include all information about the meetings, agendas, and reports. This information should be made accessible to the public with reasonably sufficient time for citizen response and/or input.
• Ensure that equitable opportunities exist for public input from multiple platforms and provide ample opportunities for citizens to participate in the civic process,
• Ensure that sufficient input from citizens is allowed at public meetings and recorded in the minutes
• Ensure transparency for citizens about all policies, practices, evaluations, and decisions of the organization.

The League of Women Voters of Humboldt County feels very strongly about the need for full and open transparency, as well as opportunities for citizen involvement related to the actions of elected governmental boards and governmental decision-making.

For this reason, we were shocked and concerned by the actions of the Eureka City Schools Board of Trustees on December 14, 2023 when it approved a major real estate transaction with minimal public notification or community input. Our concerns were validated by the recent Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury Report released on June 12, 2024.

The League of Women Voters of Humboldt County strongly agrees with the Grand Jury’s summary (page 1): “The Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury concludes that the Eureka City Schools Trustees acted hastily and without sufficient due diligence. While apparently literally complying with the technical requirements of the California Government Code (Brown Act) with respect to a real estate transaction, the Trustees violated the law’s general intent for public participation and transparency in decision-making.”

We also concur with the Deficiencies cited in the report (pages 9 and 10): “There was insufficient time for the ECS Trustees and the public to read, understand, and openly discuss and question the pending deal.”

We were additionally shocked to learn that:

• “Although the ‘agenda packet’ distributed to ECS Trustees approximately 72 hours before the December 14, 2023, meeting included the draft resolution and agreement (17 pages single-spaced), these documents were not available to the public. The publicly announced agenda at the time did not specify the details of the pending transaction.”
• “Prior public notice did not inform that the pending deal involved not just a sale of surplus property but a property exchange bypassing certain provisions of the Education Code.”
• “ECS Trustees did not publicly verify the bona fide identity and finances of AMG Communities-Jacobs, LLC.”

In terms of the Grand Jury report’s statement regarding Due Diligence and Decision-making (pages 10 and 11), the League of Women Voters of Humboldt County agrees that:

• “The public has a right to be informed about pending decisions, to be involved, and to fully participate.”
• “The ECS Trustees did not exercise due diligence and did not inquire about the resolution agreement.” “…On December 14, 2023, the ECS Trustees in effect “rubber-stamped” the Resolution and Agreement.”

And finally, the League of Women Voters of Humboldt County concurs with the Grand Jury report’s statement on Decision-making (page 12): “ECS Trustees, administrators, and advisers did not provide sufficient information regarding the agendized Jacobs property transaction at least 72 hours prior to ECS Trustee action, thereby preventing meaningful public participation in the enactment of the Resolution and Agreement.”

The League of Women Voters of Humboldt County strongly suggests that the Eureka City Schools Board of Trustees take the following actions to address the concerns raised in the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury report and restore transparency to this important transaction between ECS and AMG Communities-Jacobs, LLC:

1. Immediately make the details of the Jacobs property negotiations and ongoing status of the transaction known to the public,

2. Fully disclose the names of all partners in AMG Communities-Jacobs, LLC to establish the bona-fide identity of its members and disclose its financial integrity,

3. Fully explain the need felt by ECS Board of Trustees, the Superintendent and advisers for the “secretive, last-minute, quick judgment, in an intentionally compressed time-period, without public knowledge, behind closed doors”. (Grand Jury Report Conclusion, page 12)

4. Now, and in the future, “provide the public with an opportunity to be informed and to question the details of this decision and its potential relationship to other local public policy issues.” (Grand Jury Report Findings, page 13)

5. Delay the close of escrow on this transaction to allow adequate time to address Items 1-4 above.

Sincerely,

Dr. Sharolyn Hutton, LWVHC Co-President
Jessica Schlachter, LWVHC Co-President
Anne J. Hartline, LWVHC Board Member