[Humboldt County] Supes to weigh in on Grand Jury report responses, pension issues

After a series of Humboldt County Grand Jury reports on several topics ranging from airport upkeep to rural safety spending, the county Board of Supervisors is set to discuss its mandated responses to the reports during its Tuesday meeting.

During the afternoon session, the board will hear a presentation on issues relating to the state and county’s employee retirement pension payments — especially its unfunded liability payments which the county is expected to pay back to the state in future years. The board will be given a chance to provide more staff direction regarding the issue.

“Humboldt County has amassed an unfunded liability over the past dozen years, and a number of factors (detailed in previous reports) have caused this unfunded liability for CalPERS pensions to grow to more than $220 million,” the staff report states.

“Staff is concerned about the growth in the annual cost required to address this unfunded liability and the potential for this cost to lead to service reductions in future periods of stagnant or declining local revenues.”

The recently released 2014-2015 county Grand Jury report touches upon a breadth of topics including the transport of released indigent jail inmates, homelessness, spending of the Headwaters Fund, and how the county Probation Department is affected by prison realignment legislation and recent reduction of several felony charges to misdemeanors.

The 19-member volunteer Grand Jury regularly releases reports each year on local government operations and works directly under the California Superior Court system. While the jury cannot press charges against any entity, it has the power to mandate responses from government officials.

One of the topics the Grand Jury revisited was indigent inmates’ right to be transported back to their place of arrest after being released from custody. The issue was included in last year’s report following the slaying of Eureka priest Rev. Eric Freed. The sole suspect in the case, Redway resident Gary Lee Bullock, had been released from the county jail a few hours before he allegedly broke into the St. Bernard Catholic Church rectory in Eureka and tortured and bludgeoned Freed to death on New Year’s Day 2014.

This year’s report called for the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office to inform inmates of their right under state law to get a ride back to their place of arrest if the location is more than 25 miles away from the jail as the crow flies. In his draft response, Sheriff Mike Downey states that the sheriff’s office now displays a sign notifying released inmates of this right.

“There is no legal obligation under (section) 686.5 of the penal code that requires correctional facility staff to inform an arrestee of his or her right to transportation to the place of arrest,” the response states.

 “However, in the spirit of the recommendation, I opted to provide the information in the form of the posted signage as detailed above. I believe this will allow for proper notification and goes above and beyond the legal obligations detailed in Penal Code Section 686.5.”

Responses to the report are due starting in August.

July 18, 2015

Eureka Times Standard

By Will Houston