Grand Jury Probe Sought in Frields’ Appointment

Charging impropriety, Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski has asked the Ventura County Grand Jury to investigate the December appointment of Forrest Frields to the Planning Commission and his promotion to chairman two weeks ago.

Zukowski said she filed the complaint with the grand jury, asking it to probe whether the Planning Commission’s decision to select Frields as chairman was a violation of the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law.

She believes the Jan. 8 decision may have been decided in advance by a majority of the commission.

“There was the appearance of a Brown Act violation, a possible decision made before the meeting,” Zukowski said.

Zukowski also asked the grand jury on Monday to investigate Frields’ emergency appointment to the Planning Commission last month and to determine whether any irregularities occurred at the time. She believes other City Council members appointed Frields in an attempt to reestablish a pro-growth majority on the panel.

Councilwoman Judy Lazar suggested appointing Frields to the commission after her original appointee, Joseph Gibson, resigned in December because of illness. Lazar could not be reached for comment Friday, but when Zukowski first criticized the Frields appointment at a City Council meeting on Jan. 16, Lazar strongly defended her appointee, saying an investigation would reveal nothing.

Frields said Friday that he would welcome a grand jury probe into the Planning Commission’s operations because nothing illegal or unethical has happened. He contends Zukowski is muckraking because her appointee to the commission, then Vice Chairwoman Linda Parks, was passed over for the higher post.

“What it is is sour grapes and disappointment on Jaime’s part,” Frields said. “I understand she is upset that her commissioner was not named chair. But there was nothing improper about it.”

He added that he was careful not to break the open meeting law before his selection as chairman.

“I made sure that there were no Brown Act violations,” Frields said. “I was very careful about that.”

Critics of the Frields appointment also contend that he was placed on the Planning Commission to provide him a springboard for the November City Council elections, when the seats of council members Zukowski and Mike Markey will be up for grabs. But Frields calls such accusations ridiculous, saying that he has yet to decide whether he will run for a council seat.

A former commission chairman, Frields rejoined the group after five months as a member of the planning commission for the county.

Markey on Friday criticized Zukowski for going to the grand jury, saying she had no basis for her claims.

“The municipal codes allow for anyone to be appointed to the chair,” Markey said. “People [vice chairs] have been passed over before, and I think she’s reaching a little far and getting totally out of hand. I really don’t know what she is trying to do.”

But Councilwoman Elois Zeanah, who along with Zukowski criticized the circumstances surrounding Frields’ appointment and subsequent promotion, said she agreed with her frequent council ally that an investigation is warranted.

“I am very concerned about a lax attitude toward proper meetings, and meetings that are done behind the scenes,” Zeanah said. “This is just an example. And it takes just a commitment from a strong person like council member Zukowski to do something about the problem.”

At the Jan. 16 council meeting, Zukowski asked council members to join her in removing Frields from the Planning Commission pending a city attorney’s investigation.

But her motion was amended by Mayor Andy Fox, who said it would be “a waste of time” for city officials to look into Frields’ appointment and promotion. The council instead voted 3 to 2 to give planning commissioners a copy of their own bylaws and guidelines for ethical conduct.

Zukowski then threatened to go to the Ventura County district attorney’s office with her gripe.

But as of Friday, Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Bennett, who is in charge of the investigations bureau in the district attorney’s office, said he had not received any requests for an inquiry into Frields’ appointment from Zukowski or anyone else. He added that the district attorney was not investigating the situation.

Times correspondent David R. Baker contributed to this story.