A policy should be created by which all contracts, no matter how small, are submitted to the Board of Supervisors. Furthermore, post all contracts on the County website in a location where the public has easy access. Lastly, when any contract exceeds the agreed-upon price, the Supervisors are notified immediately so it doesn’t get out of hand. Contract management is essential. 

The Nevada County Board of Supervisors should be most interested in how the CliftonLarsonAllen contract was procured by County senior staff. The contract entered into without Board approval exceeded the $50,000 threshold which triggers Board action, yet County staff still contracted with CLA without Board approval.

According to Heidi Hall, when a citizen seeks to defend the constitutional rights of Nevada County citizens, and to ensure transparent and fair governance and elections, it is a “waste of funds.” Rather than taking responsibility for what happens in County departments, Hall seeks to infringe on the constitutional rights of a local resident, act in secret, and then bully that resident with fabrications for political gain at a campaign forum.

Natalie Adona thinks Nevada County’s public records are “boring.”

In light of the recent lawsuit, and Nevada County having been ordered to pay $85,000 in legal fees and costs, it would seem the County CEO and County Counsel would be wise to instruct staff appropriately in fulfilling PRAs in order to avoid future litigation. It also seems County Counsel is part of the problem in defending the County against fulfilling the PRAs in a timely manner.

After 10 months of litigation, the Honorable S. Robert Tice-Raskin ordered the Nevada County Election office to release to the public a tranche of public records that Nevada County had been refusing to disclose for nearly two years.

The Nevada County Superior Court continued the hearing until June while ordering the County to produce unredacted versions of the records which were previously submitted by the County in a highly redacted form.

Voting Systems have become the subject of much public scrutiny since the November 3, 2020 election, with Dominion taking most of the headlines. After many requests for public records pertaining to Nevada County’s voting system, and after much research, computerized voting systems are only as transparent as the government allows.