MID board rejects probe into whether one of its own violated closed session on Zoom
The Modesto Irrigation District board will not pursue an investigation into whether member Larry Byrd violated a closed session last month.
Director Stu Gilman said Tuesday he was satisfied with Byrd’s explanation for why an unauthorized person appeared to be present during the Sept. 8 meeting.
That session was via Zoom because of COVID-19 limits on public agency meetings. Byrd took part from the cab of his pickup, next to a harvest on one of his almond orchards near Waterford.
Gilman had said on Sept. 22 that the Sept. 8 video appears to show a left arm and cowboy hat of a person in the passenger seat as the board was shifting from closed to open session. Byrd said his only interaction was when his grandson reached in to retrieve the harvest log.
The grandson, also named Larry Byrd, said at Tuesday’s board meeting that he had briefly rested his arm on the truck seat back.
“I am satisfied that there was no Brown Act violation,” Gilman said after hearing this. This state law sets out which general topics can be discussed out of public view. Only board members and a few other essential people are supposed to be present.
Tensions remain on MID board
No other board members supported launching the formal investigation that they had discussed during the Sept. 22 meeting.
But the conversation indicates that the board continues to have tensions at times, with Byrd allied with Director Nick Blom against the other three. This showed up, for example, in a January 2019 flap over the sensitive topic of selling MID water to outside parties.
Byrd claimed that the closed-session complaint was aimed at stopping his Nov. 3 re-election in the area stretching from La Grange to east Modesto. His opponent, Suzy Powell Roos, said earlier that the accusation troubled her but she has no endorsements from Gilman or other board members.
The Sept. 22 discussion about the closed session is archived on the MID website, www.mid.org. Viewers can fast-forward to 1 hour, 43 minutes, for the start of the exchange.
Byrd urges grand jury probe
Byrd suggested Tuesday that the matter be referred to the Stanislaus County Civil Grand Jury, which can investigate public agencies.
“I’m an open book, and I have nothing to hide,” he said.
Byrd insisted, though, that the grand jury look at possible Brown Act violations by other board members in the past. Blom agreed, but the idea did not get support from Gilman or board members Paul Campbell or John Mensinger.
The 19-member grand jury decides what agencies it will review, but its recommendations are not binding.
This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
