In today’s Bee the Reclamation Board fixed the mistake it recently made by voting on an important levee issue without an open meeting or having the item on the agenda, both important public sector governance principles, and we applaud the correction.
Here is an excerpt.
Reclamation Board vote voids a levee decision
Earlier action on a luxury development was said to violate open meetings law.
By Deb Kollars -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:01 am PDT Saturday, June 17, 2006
The California Reclamation Board agreed Friday to "cure" an alleged violation of the open meetings law by rescinding an action of two months ago on a housing development in the Delta.
The board then spent another six hours discussing an encroachment permit for the proposed River Islands project in San Joaquin County near Lathrop.
The encroachment permit has been a sticky issue. It involves placing fill between an existing levee and a new levee, creating a 300-foot-wide "superlevee" and building luxury homes on top.
The board voted Friday to permit the fill between the levees. But members left more complex permit matters -- such as where fences, pools and trees can be placed on the levee -- until June 26.
The Reclamation Board oversees flood control in the Central Valley. It approved the initial River Islands encroachment permit -- which addressed fences, trees and structures -- on April 21, despite a warning from board attorney Scott Morgan that the action would violate the Bagley-Keene Act because that day's agenda item addressed only the fill permit.
