PLACERVILLE-
El Dorado County Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday morning that they will postpone all consent items on their agendas until their next meeting on June 10.
This decision was made during closed session, after the ongoing controversy involving on of its board members, Ray Nutting.
He was arrested last year on a long list of charges ranging from misdemeanors to four felony counts, including perjury, fraud, conflict of interest, and falsifying documents. He was accused of using up to $70,000 of State Grants for personal use. Last week, he was found guilty of only six misdemeanors. But he is still in office.
“He is a member of the Board of Supervisors, doing whatever he has to do as a member of Board of Supervisors, so he is doing his job,” Norma Santiago, Chair of the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors said.
The reason Nutting was present at Tuesday’s meeting is, three of the four felony charges he faced ended in not-guilty verdicts. One remains in deadlock. By law, the Board cannot oust him from his position unless he is convicted of a felony. So they decided in closed session to wait for the judge’s verdict on the final felony.
“The judge is going to tell us if we need to vacate the position,” Santiago said. “So right now, it is all up to the judge.”
Nutting’s final sentencing is on June 6. Until then, the Board decided they will not vote on anything. At Tuesday’s public meeting, the Board only heard proclamations and presentations, and canceled its June 3rd meeting.
This became a bump in the road for Marshall Hospital’s plan to have the county approve a subsidy for its new $15 million regional cancer center.
“The goal is to have approved an $800,000 grant in two years, toward the cancer center, but that has been delayed,” James Whipple, CEO of Marshall Hospital said.
The approval was supposed to come down Tuesday. Now they will have to wait until June 10.
“It’s disruptive in the fact that we were planning to come today. Now we have to readjust schedules,” Whipple said.
But the Board is confident the delays will not be too much of a burden to its constituents.
“I want to make it perfectly clear,” Santiago said. “El Dorado County is in business and we will continue doing business. And yes, there is going to be some delay in some of the things we wanted to take action on, but it will not hamper our ability to fund those things we wish to fund or to move forward on the discussion.”
“It’s going to work out. It’s just going to work out three weeks later,” Whipple said.