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gcramer@santa-ana.org, robyn.macnair@santa-ana.org, jessie.lopez@santa-ana.org, Cc: vsarmiento@santa-ana.org, mmorley@santa-ana.org, smendoza@santa-ana.org, kridge@santa- ana.org, irmapj@yahoo.com, ginelleann@gmail.org Dear Nabil and Tram, We are writing to inform you of a serious problem with conflict of interest regarding the scoring of the South Main Public Art Initiative Proposals by the Arts and Culture Commissioners, which is clearly reflected in the final scores of the applicants and evident in the recording of the Arts and Culture Commission (ACC) meeting of September 16. During the meeting, several Commissioners can be heard raising questions about the scoring. The Arts Commission moved away from using Commissioners as panelists after the first Investing in the Artist grant cycle, because of the potential for panelists to be lobbied and to remove the possibility of any conflict of interest, even a perceived conflict of interest. Conflict of interest compromises the panel process, and violates the City of Santa Ana’s Guiding Principles of Equity, Excellence and Transparency. Unlike standard conflict of interest, the State of California does not recognize a statute of limitations on perceived conflict of interest. Conflict of interest is very serious when public money and the public process are concerned, as it compromises public trust in the City. The City’s Code of Ethics requires Commissioners to disclose any conflicts of interest prior to scoring and discussion of proposals, and at least two Commissioners knowingly failed not do so: Joese Hernandez and Debra Russell. Mr. Hernandez and Ms. Russell have close personal and professional ties to applicant Alicia Rojas, which were not disclosed prior to scoring or discussion. Mr. Hernandez was Ms. Rojas’ roommate and also co- presented an art fundraising event with her on July 23, 2021, less than one month before the South Main Public Arts Initiative deadline. Ms. Russell is a member of Ms. Rojas’ “Santa Ana Community Artist(a) Coalition” and is prominently featured on their internet presence. As such we request that their conflicts be recognized and their scores removed from the tally of all the applicants, in order that everyone who applied may receive a fair and ethical ranking, as conflict of interest does not only result in scoring a preferred applicant with favoritism, it also results in compromised panelists scoring competing proposals poorly. Additionally, applicants were expressly forbidden to contact the panelists during the grant process, and Ms. Rojas can clearly be heard during public comments in the September 16 ACC meeting stating that she had recently contacted ALL of the Commissioners. This is highly unethical and certainly violates the terms of the grant against lobbying panelists. As such, we also request that Ms. Rojas’ proposals be withdrawn from consideration. Santa Ana Art Commissioners usually don’t vote on local art proposals as they can bring personal bias into play with personal friendships or adversarial relationships with applicants. In the attached addendum, you will see details of “perceived conflict of interest” in several instances where commissioners did not recuse themselves and where an applicant actively lobbied all the commission members. We request a cycle of proposal review and scoring/ranking be provided by the South Main Neighborhood Alliance (SMNA), as they are key recognized stakeholders of the South Main corridor. SMNA members are all residents of neighborhoods bordering South Main, and it is important that the residents who will have to live with the Public Art in their neighborhoods have a say on what projects go up. 2