The santa cruz county grand jury released its final report last night. the report by 19-county residents focused on 4-main issues, which were: effectively using county jail facilities, encouraging further scrutiny of the insurance vendors selected by the pajaro valley unified school district, questioning the effectiveness of a decision to forgive penalties imposed on delinquent property taxes, and scrutinizing Watsonville city leaders. The report on watsonville was particularly harsh, with the grand jury noting that the county’s fastest growing city has [quote] “not been conducting its business in a professional way.” Among the issues the report focused on was the city’s lengthy efforts to acquire the now-delivered fire truck purchased 3-years ago, as well as the transparency revolving around the purchase of the manbe-ow property, as well as accounting of redevelopment dollars, approving permits at hazardous materials sites, and on-going litigation costs relating to planning issues near the airport. Watonsville mayor daniel dodge released a statement, saying he was “disppointed in the inaccurate and misleading.”
