Sonoma Valley veterans sue county over building, event fees

A local veterans group that uses the Sonoma Valley Veterans Memorial Building filed suit in April against the County of Sonoma, asking for “declaratory relief” from the expectation that they should pay use fees for events held at the facility on First Street West.

The arrival of the suit from VFW Bear Flag Post 1943 dovetailed with an ongoing review of the county’s policies regarding charging vets groups for facility use. “We met in closed session with the board to talk about the lawsuit, and proposed a way forward,” said 1st District Supervisor Susan Gorin.

Gorin declined to speak directly about the suit because it is in litigation, deferring such questions to the county general counsel.

Attorney John Kelly of Sonoma filed the suit on behalf of the VFW Post on April 10 of this year, but it only recently came to light when Bob Piazza, judge advocate of VFW Post 1943, forwarded the suit to the Index-Tribune in early July.

The suit alleges in part that since the county has shown “longstanding failures to manage their finances properly,” the county is now charging for events it formerly did not. It goes on to say that by doing so it “has sought to shirk its duties under Military & Veterans Code 1266 and Civil Code 1568.”

The Military and Veterans Code referred to states that even if the county owns the building, providing that facility to the veterans association “constitutes a dedication of that property to a public purpose,” a dedication which the county may not revoke.

Piazza holds that law and court decisions give veterans organizations free use of such buildings for patriotic purposes, citing not only the Military Veterans Code but a 1929 court decision in Gridley, Butte County. He argues that vets “are entitled to gratuitous use of the meeting room to which they are originally assigned and to other portions of building,” as Piazza phrased it in summary of the Gridley decision.

Gorin said that deferred maintenance of many county buildings is a financial responsibility that needs to be addressed. “I would say that maintenance continues to be an issue for all of the county-maintained buildings. This is not just the veterans building,” she told the Index-Tribune. She listed deferred maintenance at a number of county buildings for factors such as ADA access, bathrooms, leaking roofs and other rehabilitation issue.

And even though the lawsuit implies the Sonoma VFW has been singled out for such charges, Gorin said that “we desperately need rental income from the buildings in order to cover a portion of the maintenance and deferred maintenance costs of the buildings.”

When asked if any no other veterans groups have brought suit against the county, she answered, “No. They have not.”

Although the suit accuses the county of “longstanding failures to manage their finances properly,” deputy counsel David McFadden wrote in 2016, “The (county’s) ability to use the (veterans) buildings for revenue generating purposes is important, because the original funding mechanism for operation and maintenance of the buildings was abolished by property tax reform in 1978.” That is, Proposition 13.

In 2005 the county developed a fee waiver and free use policy to favor veterans organizations in their fundraising events, which nonetheless reaffirmed a 1981 county policy that, “Any activity conducted by veterans open to the public with a fee, will result in the veterans organization paying the established rental fee.”

Piazza’s argument is demonstrated by two applications to the county, dating from 2016 and 2017, for the post’s annual “All American Bad Ass Car Show.” The application for the 2016 car show reflects no charge for facility rental and other fees, but the 2017 application includes $2,075 in fees – all of which were struck out by Piazza when he returned the agreement.

Although the annual event has been free and open to the public, the veterans charge car-show entry fees of $45 per vehicle. Event materials of the 2017 event said that all proceeds would go to support VFW Bear Flag Post 1943 programs and veterans in need.

Terry Leen, the chair of the advisory Sonoma County Veterans Memorial Building Committee, said that in cases of differences of opinion between veterans groups and the county over fees charged, he’s brought in to mediate. He recalled that the veterans car show was not charged fees for either year.

There are seven veterans memorial buildings in Sonoma County. Some of them have third party administrators to share in costs and operations of the facility. Gorin and Leen pointed out that the Sebastopol Veterans Memorial Auditorium has a shared-use agreement with the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. Cloverdale has a similar arrangement, and the Santa Rosa Veterans Hall hosts the annual Sonoma County Fair.

Gorin suggested the Sonoma vets might consider a similar arrangement with another organization in Sonoma. “I suggested that to the Sonoma veterans that they might work with the community and to ask for upgrades of the building and specific projects that are within the realm of feasible for community projects,” she said. “They have not been eager to take that on.”

Instead, John Gray, the commander of the post, wrote a July 5 letter to Leen, requesting that the county amend its current revision of veterans building use policy to waive all fees for veterans fundraising events. This is the position outlined by Piazza as well.

“Bottom line for us… change the wording to say we can use that building for fundraising purposes or patriotic events as defined by Gridley,” said Piazza. “We’re fine with that. It’s consistent.”

Gorin recognizes that’s the point of the lawsuit, but as a county supervisor has to keep the bottom line in mind.

The revision of the county policy on charging veterans for building use is currently in its eighth draft. That shows reduced charges being offered in two cases – a reduction from a charged event to free for veteran fundraisers benefitting veterans and families, and a discount of 50 percent for personal use of facilities by veterans (weddings, birthdays, etc.)

“My hope’s that the modifications that we’re proposing would satisfy them, but the veterans and their attorneys will have to determine that,” said Gorin.

The suit is scheduled to be heard in court on Aug. 9.

Contact Christian at christian.kallen@sonomanews.com.