All work on Red Bluff’s proposed community garden has been halted after a Tehama judge granted a temporary restraining order on all work on the site. Stemming from a lawsuit against the city councilor behind the garden alleging fraud and failure of his fiduciary duties.
“He lied and manipulated and actively withheld information and I don’t think that he is the right person to be spearheading a project,“ Priscilla Burke exclaimed.
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Burke is director of the non-profit One Seed at a Time. She has previously alleged Red Bluff City Councilor Cody Strock violated his fiduciary duty as a member of their board by changing a deal from one that would have seen the land for the community garden donated to One Seed at a Time to instead go to Strock’s own non-profit, We the Village Corp.
Bringing it before the his fellow councilors, and now a court of law.
I trusted this person with my family,” Burke said. “I invited him into my home and my family and he threw that all away.
In court Tuesday morning a judge granted a temporary restraining order blocking Strock’s ongoing maintenance work at the site on existing irrigation systems. Something the city confirmed was allowed without a permit
If the case goes One Seed at a Time’s way they could potentially be granted the land. Burke shares she will keep to the garden’s purpose if that happens.
“I want that land to go to the purpose that it was originally intended to, which was as a community space,” she explained. “I have over 400 fruit trees that I am trying to get out to the community and that was one of the places it was gonna go.“
Burke said they’ve also considered trying to return the land to the Sisters of Mercy Convent, or create a larger organization to manage it.
No matter what, Burke thinks Strock can not be the one in control.
“I feel that it’s important for the people within the city to understand their representatives,” Burke said. “When they’re overstepping their authority, and how that can impact them as a private citizen.“
Strock denies the claims of misconduct and fraud laid out by Burke, and says he clearly left the non-profit well before the deal was finalized. A hearing on a permanent injunction is being held July 8th.