Grand jury hits Marysville over preparedness, flag lighting
A pair of Yuba County grand jury reports released last week criticize Marysville over lighting for U.S. flags and the lack of a city emergency plan.
One report, "Emergency Preparedness of Yuba County," found while the county's emergency services department and response plans were organized and efficient, the same couldn't be said for Marysville.
"As the emergency plan is evidently in rough draft form, it has yet to be vetted, approved by the City Council and finally adopted through resolution as the emergency operations plan for the city of Marysville," the report states.
In its recommendations, the report states, "The city of Marysville should consider the negative effects on the community by its apparent unwillingness to work with other emergency responders and other appropriate agencies."
While describing the jury's investigation of emergency response plans for Marysville, the report states Police Chief Wallace Fullerton originally told jury members there was a plan and didn't provide it, then later provided one dated from January and labeled a rough draft.
However, the draft did not match materials the grand jury had previously received from other city staff, and also didn't have required checklists to ensure coordination between agencies in case of an actual emergency, the report states.
By comparison, an emergency response plan by Wheatland was both thorough and suited to be used alongside the county's, if necessary, according to the report.
Fullerton couldn't be reached for comment Friday. City Manager Steve Casey said he didn't agree with some of the report's findings and recommendations, but would spell those out further in the city's official response to the report, in consultation with Fullerton.
The other report, "The City of Marysville's Display of the U.S. Flag," questioned why flags at the top of the archways over four intersections in downtown weren't lit at night, contrary to federal codes for flag display.
"It was also noted there were facilities on the structures to light the flags," the report states, adding after consulting with Casey, the situation was rectified.
Casey said a bad breaker was to blame, and the flags are now being illuminated.
"Unfortunately, someone had to call the grand jury before calling us, but that's the way it goes sometimes," he said.
By law, the city and other agencies investigated must provide a response to both reports within 60 or 90 days.
