Thursday, August 28, 2014

(Mendocino County) Board of Supervisors reviews, responds to grand jury reports


August 27, 2014
Willits News
By Adam Randall

The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors reviewed and approved its responses to the 2013/2014 grand jury reports Tuesday, which have to be submitted within 90 days after issuance of each report.
The grand jury requested responses from the supervisors on eight of the reports including, "County Delivery of Animal Control Services; County Delivery of Animal Care Services; Crosswalks: Are you as safe as you think?; County Treasury Investment Pool; Mendocino County Free Library; Appearance of Conflict of Interest; Privatization of Mental Health Delivery Services and Impact of Public Safety and Realignment Act of Mendocino County." The reports regarding the Mendocino County Board of Education didn't require a response from the Board of Supervisors.
Some of the supervisors spoke in general of the accuracy of the reports, which has been a frequent criticism by many county officials in departments affected, who concluded that most of the findings and recommendations were not warranted.
"Some of these reports have personalized characterizations in them, and not just facts," said 2nd District Supervisor John McCowen.
Among the grand jury's research, the "County Free Library," and "Animal Control Services" appeared to create some buzz around the county. The grand jury alleged the library's funding and general operation was being mishandled by the county. In the case of the animal control services, the grand jury outlined the facilities, including the County Animal Shelter, which it claimed to be overcrowded and dirty.
"It makes me wonder what the grand jury is up to in some of these areas," said 5th District Supervisor Dan Hamburg, during the reading of the responses regarding the County Free Library.
(Some of the listed responses are from the Board of Supervisors meeting agenda which was posted prior to the start):
Mendocino County Free Library
Findings:
F10- The Board of Supervisors is not following state law regarding County Free Libraries
"The Board of Supervisors disagrees wholly with this finding. It is difficult to respond to such a broad statement. However, the Board of Supervisors is comfortable saying that it is following all applicable state laws in operating the County's Free Library system. It is clear that the County's Free Library System is a 'county free library' and was enacted under Ed. Code Section 1900 et. seq."
Recommendations:
R2- The Board of Supervisors immediately begin to recruit a county librarian
"This recommendation will not be implemented, because it is not warranted. The appointment of the county librarian is done by the Board of Supervisors which has currently appointed an acting county librarian to manage the day-to-day operations of the county library. The Board of Supervisors is not obligated to follow any precise process in making a permanent appointment, and can, if it so decides, simply appoint a person to the position that it feels is best qualified, without conducting a recruitment."
R19- The County Librarian's salary be paid from the general fund as required by state law.
"This recommendation will not be implemented as it is not deemed reasonable. Section 19147 of the Education Code states that 'The salary of the county librarians shall be paid by each of the counties in equal monthly installments, at the same time, and in the same manner and out of the same fund as the salaries of other county officers are paid.' This section does not state nor require that the County Librarian's salary be paid out of the general fund.
"All Mendocino County Department Heads are paid in the same manner and out of the fund in which they work. As stated before, if the legislature had wanted the county librarian to be paid from the general fund, they could easily have stated that in Section 19147."
Animal Care Services
Findings:
F5- The overcrowding has a very serious effect on staff morale and is severely detrimental to the well-being of animals.
"The Board of Supervisors disagrees wholly with this finding. The Board of Supervisors agrees with and adopts the response of the Health and Human Services Agency director (yet to be posted) to this finding."
All of the grand jury reports and responses can be viewed in their entirety at http://www.co.mendocino.ca.us/grandjury/13-14/index.htm, with the exception of the BOS responses, which will be posted sometime after the submittal date.

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