Published: Sunday, Jun. 21, 2009
Jury finds lesson in rec project
Civil grand jury suggests ways to avoid repeat of Oceano center controversy
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closeAfter reviewing the county government’s involvement in helping to fund the controversial Oceano Community Center, the civil grand jury recommends better coordination of cost estimates and a more secure funding structure for similar future projects.
The center aimed to fill a recreational need in the community, and was proposed in the mid-1990s.
Construction was completed in June 2006. The final cost for the project was about $5.8 million, nearly double the $3 million initial estimate.
No illegal action was suspected or suggested for investigation in the report, but a series of newspaper articles and related discussion prompted the grand jury’s 21-page report.
The review was based on 2,200 pages of documents and interviews of 11 people involved with the project.
The volunteer panel of grand jurors investigates local government issues and other matters based on complaints submitted or self-initiated inquiries. The jury’s recommendations are not binding, but some require agencies that have been reviewed to file responses with the Superior Court.
The report states the grand jury’s concern regarding the large amount of money allocated to the community center project from federal Community Development Block Grant funds.
The initial agreement was for the county Board of Supervisors to award $667,433 in 2003. But the total amount of locally distributed federal funds by 2006 was almost $2 million.
“The amount of (federal grant) funds provided to the Oceano Community Center project represented the equivalent of more than two-and-a-half years of normal (federal grant) funds allocation for the entire unincorporated areas of San Luis Obispo County,” the report noted.
The grand jury report stated that the nonprofit organization that oversaw the project, the Oceano Community Center Inc., planned on raising more than $1 million through private donations, which evidently never came through.
“The grand jury recommends that the Planning and Building Department should be required to keep the county apprised of total estimated costs and associated risks involved in an entire project,” the report stated.
And while crediting the nonprofit group for completing a difficult project with a workforce of volunteers and a single paid employee, it said the organization could have communicated its progress much better.
The Lucia Mar Unified School District bought the center in 2008 because Oceano Community Center Inc. couldn’t generate enough revenue to pay $13,000 monthly toward a $1.7 million construction loan from San Luis Obispo-based Coast National Bank.
The grand jury concluded its report by recommending that the county take a “security interest” — in effect a contractual mortgage-style interest — in any future projects such as this one that it helps to fund.
The panel expressed its support for Lucia Mar’s current oversight of the center, stating now it is in “good hands.”
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