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MAYOR Miguel A. Pulido MAYOR PRO TEM Claudia C. Alvarez COUNCIL MEMBERS P. David Benavides Carlos Bustamante Michele Martinez Vincent F. Sarmiento Sal Tinajero August 16, 2010 The Honorable Kim Dunning Presiding Judge of the Superior Court 700 Civic Center Drive West Santa Ana, CA 92701 Dear Judge Dunning: � A K, A AIN A CITY MANAGER David N. Ream CITY ATTORNEY Joseph W. Fletcher CLERK OF THE COUNCIL Maria D. Huizar This letter is in response to the 2009-2010 Orange County Grand Jury Report entitled "Santa Ana Street Car Project." The City Council approved the content of this letter and the responses at their August 16, 2010 meeting and directed me to convey them on its behalf. Below are the Mayor's and City Council's responses to Findings F-1 through F-5 and Recommendations R-1 through R-5 as required by the report. POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST/BIAS OF A GRAND JURY MEMBER As a preliminary matter, the City Council wishes to raise the issue of potential conflict of interest on the part of one member of the grand jury whose presence and participation may have tainted the entire report. That member has been an active civic participant in Santa Ana for many years. He was serving as a city commissioner at the time this investigation began and was removed from his position by the City Council in October 2009 for reasons unrelated to this investigation or his membership on the Grand Jury. We believe that these along with other facts are sufficient grounds for the subject member to have been required to abstain from any participation in this investigation. Many California grand juries have adopted formal rules and procedures for conducting their investigations and several include standards for abstention. Among the counties that have posted their grand jury procedures on their websites are: Humboldt, Imperial, Mariposa, Mendocino and Modoc Counties. At least two of these counties also rely upon the Grand Jury Resource Manual for California Courts -Model Guide for Civil Grand Jurors -2005 (the "Model Guide"). Under separate cover, the City staff has provided copies of these manuals for your review. All of the guides in one way or another require a grand juror to abstain from participating in or influencing an investigation in which he/she is biased or otherwise has a conflict of interest. The Orange County website does not contain any reference to rules for abstention. The City Attorney 20 CIVIC CENTER PLAZA • P.O. BOX 1988 IgVNI CALIFORNIA 92702 TELEPHONE(714) 647-6900