Power brokers threaten to bail if their group is subject to county oversight.

It’s a remarkable group comprising some of Monterey County’s best-connected power players: The “Permit Streamlining Task Force,” formed to advise the county on how to make life less miserable for developers, contractors and land-use consultants, has been meeting since 2006. On Monday, I was presented a dozen or so emails generated over the course of four days this month as members of the task force grappled with the reality that the work they do in private might be forced to go public.

Who’s in the group? Members include cement gazillionaire and political influencer Don Chapin and land-use attorney Brian Finegan; construction industry leaders Ernie Mill, Christie Cromeenes and Richard Rudisill; and oil industry/land-use consultant Maureen Wruck.

But more remarkable than the composition of the group is what the emails reveal about the advisory process, and how the power players feel about open government.

In short, it appears while they want to dictate how the business of the county gets done, some of them don’t want to do it in a way that’s exposed to scrutiny.

The email chain was prompted by a question from the county Resource Management Agency and centers on whether the task force should formalize and become subject to the Brown Act. The act, California’s open meetings law, would require the group to post notices and agendas of their meetings in advance, open those meetings to the public and keep records subject to the Public Records Act.

The emails also raise questions about whether the Supes might require the group to go through the appointment process.

On March 19, Ernie Mill sent an email to the group saying the Brown Act question had been raised, and that Friday’s meeting was cancelled. That prompted Finegan to ask who the troublemaker was: “Has this whole issue been raised by the Board of Supervisors? Or is it just the staff kicking up the dust in an effort to curtail our influence?”

Finegan is also against the appointment process. In another email, he writes: “That will become political, with each supervisor wanting to have his or her share of appointments, and each making sure that his or her constituent groups (labor unions, women, etc.) are appointed. It won’t be the same, for sure.”

Damn labor unions and women. Always spoiling the fun.

Chapin founded the Salinas Valley Leadership Group PAC, which donated $110,000 in 2012 alone. He’s more direct about the appointment issue: “I am not willing to sit on an appointed committee. Let me know how it is resolved.”

Mill, meanwhile, writes that if the Supervisors decide the county needs a Brown Act committee, the task force can move on: “They cannot prevent the Chamber/AIA/Builders Exchange from forming our own group again… and provide staff our opinion on things.”

County RMA Deputy Director Carl Holm tells me the question of appointments and Brown Act oversight came from his office, when the task force began discussing how to make recommendations and draft ordinances to present to the Supervisors.

“As staff, we said we’re moving into an area that could get into the Brown Act and we need to be thinking about it moving forward,” Holm says. “I haven’t decided if it needs to be presented to the Board of Supervisors. It depends on the direction the task force decides to go. Depending on that, I would want to consult county counsel.”

Carl, it’s time to go ahead and set that meeting. Because even if the Supes decide they want to appoint the committee members, there’s still going to be an effort to control those appointments, as indicated by this, from a Mill email: “We could put language in the committee format or the selection process that would help tailor the committee to have a seat for all of the other No-Growth environmental groups, so the Task Force could potentially still function – versus just a bunch of arguments.”

Even so, Mill writes he can see both sides – the good and bad – of Brown Act oversight, and Finegan writes he won’t fall on his sword to avoid it.

I reached out to all the members of the task force, let them know I had the emails and invited them to contact me to discuss. None took me up on the offer.

MARY DUAN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at mary@mcweekly.com