Nevada County CEO’s Office Contracted with Political Marketing Firm to Create Measure V Campaign Without BOS Approval
On January 24, 2023, and only after Measure V failed approval by voters to raise the sales tax in Nevada County, the Board of Supervisors (“BOS”) retroactively approved a contract with political consultants, Lew Edwards Group, in order to provide campaign services to the county chief executive officer’s office with taxpayer dollars.
At the Board Workshop in January of 2022, the BOS simply “directed staff to engage stakeholders in a ‘needs assessment’ and identify a sustainable funding strategy.” The BOS never gave explicit direction to chief executive officer, Alison Lehman, to pursue a sales tax increase nor did the BOS approve any expenditures of taxpayer dollars related to the Measure V campaign.
On March 7, 2023 the Fair Political Practices Commission (“FPPC”) began an investigation into whether Nevada County and the Yes on V Committee violated the Political Reform Act (“Act”) in their advocacy for the passage of Measure V. Measure V was a ballot measure placed on the ballot in November 2022 by the Board of Supervisors to increase the sales tax in the County by a half-percent with the proceeds of the sales tax to be deposited in the County’s general fund.
According to the FPPC, Nevada County is being investigated for sending mass mailers to voters using taxpayer dollars (Case No. 2023-00162), and the Yes on V committee is being investigated for failure to report to the FPPC (Case No. 2023-00161).
Nevada County Contracted with Lew Edwards Group in 2021
The Lew Edwards Group (“LEG”), based in Oakland, California, “is a General Consultant providing Lead Political Consulting services for elected officials, political candidates, labor unions, school and library campaigns, and other political committees.”
Public records requests reveal correspondences referring to contracts and invoices paid for through the County’s chief executive office and the Office of Emergency Services (“OES”) for LEG to craft and implement the campaign in support of the county’s Measure V sales tax increase.
On September 22, 2021, the County (Steve Monaghan, Purchasing Agent) contracted (No. PESP4367) with the consulting firm of Lew Edwards Group (LEG) to:
Facilitate a two-hour workshop with stakeholders, senior county staff, fire representatives and community leaders to discuss Nevada County Emergency Services.
Prepare a public opinion research survey and analyze survey results with CEO’s office.
Work with CEO office to develop a coordinated strategy if survey results indicate a revenue tax measure is viable.
Upon discussion and approval by County to proceed with planning beyond task 1, refine project work plan, timetable, and budget.
Excerpt of PESP4367, Exhibit A. View entire document.
According to Dan Miller, former supervisor from Grass Valley, the BOS was unaware in 2021 of the existence of the contract with LEG and also unaware of the fact that the County was paying LEG to create and guide the Measure V campaign with taxpayer dollars from start to finish.
On July 6, 2022, the County’s chief executive office received an email from the LEG accounts payable office advising Caleb Dardick that the “current contract expires this month” and “we realize, though, that we will need to amend our contract with you to cover the September invoice and October invoice for a total of $15,000.”
On October 19, 2022, in an email from Dardick to LEG, Dardick advises that he “just approved the July invoice so you should have that payment soon-thanks for resending.”
Dardick then realized that the CEO’s office would still “need to amend our contract with [LEG] to cover the September invoice and October invoice for a total of $15,000.” Dardick confirmed a delay in payment, alleging that the resolution could not be presented to the BOS on October 25, 2022, because the deadline for placing the matter on the agenda for the BOS had passed. This email was sent six days before the BOS meeting scheduled for October 25, 2022. The Brown Act provides that the deadline is three days before the BOS meeting, or on October 20, 2022. As there would be no BOS meetings in November (the same month as the vote on Measure V), Dardick suggested that the approval for the amended contract with LEG would be on the BOS agenda on December 6, 2023.
View the Lew Edwards invoices sent to Nevada County’s CEO’s office
On November 25, 2022, LEG confirmed to Dardick the understanding that LEG appreciated the county staff “expediting our two final invoices (Sep/Oct) after the December 6th board (BOS) meeting as Mr. Edwards will be eager to close out your account before the end of the year.” LEG attached their October 30th 2022 invoice which had not been paid.
On November 27, 2022, LEG again demanded payment from the CEO’s office stating that they “had previously flagged for your office the issue of the missing May and July payments, which are not subject to BOS approval. These are amounts that are due and have been previously budgeted for. As your offices had previously acknowledged receipt of the emails and promised to address, these need to be addressed this week as Mr. Edwards would like all payments addressed in full by the County prior to the end of the calendar year.” On November 28, 2022, the CEO’s office confirmed that changes to the contract would be approved by the BOS at its meeting on December 6, 2022, and paid before the end of the year.
Amendment #3 to PESP4367
The amended contract never made it before the BOS on December 6, 2022. On January 24, 2023, Amendment #3 to Professional Services Contract PESP4367, between the County (CEO & OES Offices and the Lew Edwards Group), was passed, “in arrears, (Resolution 23-049), thus increasing the contract by $22,500 to $70,000. It seems like they waited until Dan Miller was no longer on the Board to quickly pass the Resolution on the consent calendar.
Excerpt of Resolution No. 23-049 to approve amendment #3 to PESP4367. View the entire document.
Until January 24, 2023, The Board of Supervisors were never presented with a resolution authorizing the contract with LEG to provide consulting and additional services related to any sales tax initiative. The initial amount of the contract with LEG was for less than $50,000 which does not require approval by the BOS. Three amendments to the original contract exceeded the $50,000.
The County of Nevada engaged the Lew Edwards Group to evaluate the viability of putting a revenue measure (“Measure V”) on the November 2022 ballot to raise funds to support the community’s emergency services’ needs. The original contract scope included stakeholder engagement, preparation of public opinion research survey, collaborate to analyze survey results, and creating a workplan.
Amendment #1
The original purchasing contract (9/22/2021) was amended on March 1, 2022, extending the initial term through July 31, 2022, increased the contract total from $10,000 to $47,000, and amended Exhibit A adding additional services including public education related to the Measure.
Excerpt of PESP4367 Amendment 1. View the entire document.
Amendment #2
The contract was amended in August 2022 to extend the term of the contract through December 31, 2022 to allow for additional time for public education. The parties desire to amend their agreement to increase the contract amount by $22,500 to a new contract not to exceed $70,000 to accommodate the last three months of billing services related to public education. - Item Initiated and Approved by Craig Greisbach.
Excerpt of PESP4367 Amendment 2. View entire document.
None of the Board of Supervisors, however, said “wait a minute”, who authorized the contract with Lew Edwards Group to craft a tax initiative in the first place without our explicit direction and approval? It would seem the CEO’s office has gone rogue and disconnected itself from BOS approval and oversight. It’s surely time for a revisit of who is in charge in Nevada County.
