Commentary:
In the article below, Amy Gittelsohn committed one of the major sins of journalism -- not checking her facts. It's tantamount to printing a press release from the Mountain Valley Unified School District under a reporter's byline to make it appear as a news story. Just more fake news.
All the quotations from Mike Wear and the "Wear contends" summary come from the election contest filed December 12, 2017. The quotations from all the other people were contemporaneous with the article. Gittelsohn let everyone comment on a four-month old filing, but never contacted Wear for his take on their comments. Most importantly, however, Gittelsohn didn't fact check any of the statements made by those castigating Wear's lawsuit.
A minor example of the poor reporting is that Wear's contest named "Trinity County elections official Shanna White as the defendant." The implication is that this was improper, possibly giving credence to Debbie Miller's assertion that Miller didn't know about it. In fact, the law requires that an election contest be filed against the elections official, not the real party in interest, the district.
Gittelsohn quotes Miller as stating that "We were all set to close on our bond funding on Feb. 28." Had Gittelsohn fact-checked that statement, she would have learned that Miller announced at the district governing board meeting on February 14, 2018, that the bonds were sold "this morning."
Gittelsohn also attributes to Miller that the "total estimated cost is approximately $20 million." Where did that number come from? Governing board minutes from February through April 2017 show that the costs were a little over $1,000,000 for the elementary school and about $4,000,000 for the high school. Measure J itself doesn't mention any specific costs and includes a cornucopia of projects not related to the mold abatement that it was promising the voters. What did Miller know and when did she know it?
Gittelsohn lets Miller get away with another whopper. "I'm sure [the community's] wondering why nothing is happening." All the contracts for the work were signed "without bid" back in February and March of 2017. Lot's of things were happening. The construction manager CRM Group even agreed in June 2017 that the district could defer payment "until District receives adequate state funding." CRM Group stopped work when it learned about the election contest.
Gittelsohn doesn't fact check Miller again when Miller says, "We did approve looking into certificates of participation [COPs] and then we didn't move forward on that because we didn't have the capacity to pay them back." The district is in poor financial shape. It is prohibited from taking on anything but voter-approved debt, which certificates of participation are not. When the County Superintendent of Schools Bettina Blackwell found out that Miller was going to use COPs, Blackwell warned Miller that COPs were prohibited in an April 13, 2017 letter. Nevertheless, Miller went forward with the paperwork for the underwriter to sell COPs at the April 25, 2017 meeting. The governing board ratified contracts for COPs with bond counsel and the financial advisor at the June 14, 2017 meeting. Shortly thereafter, notice of intent was filed with the State Treasurer's Office to sell COPs on August 30, 2017. When, exactly, did Miller tell all these people what she already knew on April 13th?
Gittelsohn lets contracted county counsel Kelly Snowden claim that "the measure was reviewed by Trinity County counsel [Margaret Long] and proceeded according to the directives of county counsel." What's he referring to? The Impartial Analysis required by the Elections Code? What directives did Long give and to whom? Snowden is just making it all up.
The most egregious fake fact, perhaps, is when Snowden "disputes that there is any statutory restriction on having a bond measure the sole item on a ballot but adds that in this case it was not [the sole item on the ballot]." This "fact" is really easy to check, produce the sample ballot booklet for the voters in the district. Snowden either hasn't seen one or is just a liar lawyer. This is the ballot on which district voters marked their votes. Is Snowden really going to have a witness that supports his claim?
The only reasonable conclusion one can draw from this story is that Gittelsohn became the voluntary conduit for a hit-piece by Miller and the district under the guise of news reporting.
For further commentary on specific language, place your pointing device over the text in the transcribed document below.
Source: HTML
Reconstruction of buildings at Hayfork High and Hayfork Elementary schools that are off limits because of mold is delayed due to a lawsuit contesting passage of the bond measure to help pay for the project.
"We were all set to close on our bond funding on Feb. 28, and it just went crashing to a halt," said Debbie Miller, superintendent of the Mountain Valley Unified School District. "It's setting us back significantly."
"The community passed that bond with an overwhelming margin," she said, "and I'm sure they're wondering why nothing is happening."
The Measure J Mountain Valley Unified School District bond measure passed with room to spare with 65 percent approval. It needed 55 percent to pass.
Election materials stated a yes vote would allow the district to issue $5,950,000 of bonds for mold, lead and asbestos abatement, upgrade its electrical, heating and cooling and plumbing systems, and modernize outdated school facilities.
To pay off the bond debt, owners of taxable property within the school district are to pay an additional $60 annually on their property taxes per $100,000 of assessed valuation for 30 years.
The mold was discovered in early 2017, and the high school students were moved into temporary, rented portables. Administrators were able to move elementary students to unaffected buildings. A portable kitchen placed at the elementary school is being used for both schools.
After the Nov. 7, 2017, election, the election contest was filed with the Trinity County Superior Court in December by Hayfork resident Michael Wear, naming Trinity County elections official Shanna White as the defendant.
Wear contends that Measure J was improperly placed on the ballot. Measure J was the only item to appear on the ballot for voters in the Mountain Valley Unified School District.
"According to California Election Code, which governs Proposition 39 bond measure elections, a governing board may only order an election for Proposition 39 bonds at a statewide election or when there is already a locally scheduled local election where all the district's voters are participating," according to Wear's contest statement.
The statement continues, "The restriction is intended to prevent a stealth election where the voters won't even realize there's an election going on."
Wear also states that the school district was misleading in statements that the bond money would be used to remediate the mold when certificates of participation (COPs) were already sold for that purpose; that there were vote-by-mail and provisional ballots that weren't processed or counted; and rules of observation of the election process weren't followed.
Regarding the COPs, Miller said, "We did approve looking into certificates of participation and then we didn't move forward on that because we didn't have the capacity to pay them back."
A response filed for White by attorney Kelly Snowden of Prentice, Long & Epperson disputes that there is any statutory restriction on having a bond measure the sole item on a ballot but adds that in this case it was not.
The district's bond measure was lawfully and appropriately consolidated with other local elections, the response states. That includes the election of three district board members to Mountain Valley. "Because fewer than three candidates submitted statements to participate in the election, there was no need for the board member election to appear on the ballot."
The defense response denies the other allegations and states that the measure was reviewed by Trinity County counsel and proceeded according to the directives of county counsel.
Visiting Judge Dennis Murray set a hearing date on pretrial motions for May 25, and a trial for June 25.
From the school district, Supt. Miller said she expects the May 25 motions hearing to include a defense motion to dismiss. Assuming that is successful, the district is required to wait 60 days to ensure there are no further lawsuits before starting the process to get the bond funded.
The building season will likely be missed, Miller said, so the lawsuit is "probably going to delay us a year."
The bond measure for almost $6 million is expected to cover only a small portion of the total expense to abate the mold and rebuild with the rest of the funding to come from state hardship funding. The total estimated cost is approximately $20 million, Miller said.