Halfway through its one-year term, the current Nevada County Grand Jury still has three openings for its 19-member panel. Foreman Joe D’Andrea says January and February is normally recruiting season for the 2023-2024 panel, which is seated in July. He says among the challenges is that a lot of people don’t even know about grand juries or what they do, since they don’t receive summons like they do for civil and criminal juries…

click to listen to Joe D’Andrea

D’Andrea says grand juries help bring attention to government malfunctions that are otherwise unpublicized…

click to listen to Joe D’Andrea

D’Andrea says grand juries can increase the efficiency of local governing operations, save taxpayer dollars, and improve mandated services. But he says serving on one usually requires 25 to 30 hours a week, so that mostly eliminates anyone with a full-time job. And he says although the county has a lot of retired residents the overall population is small and doesn’t provide a very deep pool of candidates. D’Andrea also says a number of grand jury members opt to stay on for two years, which is the legal maximum, and so a brand-new 19-member panel is seldom needed.