The East Side Mosquito
Abatement District has hired an outside firm to work on the human resources and
management problems revealed in a June grand jury report.
An investigator is talking with
employees about complaints that workers feel intimidated by management. Human
Resources Practitioners of Sacramento also is revising an outdated policy for
handling employee grievances and rewriting a policies and procedures handbook.
The Stanislaus County civil
grand jury said it found widespread management and human resources problems
during an investigation of complaints at the special district, which is
responsible for mosquito control in Modesto and other communities north of the
Tuolumne River.
The investigation found the
district’s employee grievance policy had not been revised since the 1980s. The
district’s 19 employees should have a work environment free of intimidation,
malice and discrimination, the watchdog agency said.
The report said the district
needs stronger oversight by board members, and recommended a study be done on
merging East Side with Turlock Mosquito Abatement District.
East Side General Manager Lloyd
Douglass said Monday that district officials had talked with an outside firm
about updating personnel policies before the grand jury report.
“We have no problem with a lot
of the recommendations that the grand jury had,” Douglass said.
Douglass said the investigator
will complete interviews with employees about management issues and make
recommendations to the board. Douglass said he could not discuss the probe or
other issues that will be included in the district’s response to the grand
jury.
East Side’s formal response to
the grand jury is due in September.
One agency has responded to the
critical report. The Local Agency Formation Commission, which was invited to
comment, said the possible consolidation of East Side and Turlock was studied
in a municipal service review in 2013. The five-year reviews look at the public
service capabilities of special districts.
LAFCO said past discussions
concluded nothing would be gained from combining the county’s two mosquito
abatement districts. For one thing, multiple field offices are needed to
adequately control mosquitoes throughout the 1,500-square-mile county.
A merger also would raise
complicated governance issues because the districts were created under
different acts of state law, LAFCO said. The commission approved its response
to the grand jury July 22.
If the Board of Supervisors
were to call for a study on consolidation, LAFCO would need to hire a
consultant at considerable expense.
“There really is not any
efficiency to be gained (from consolidating the districts),” said Jim
DeMartini, a county supervisor and LAFCO chairman.
The county, which appoints
district board members, is expected to respond to the grand jury by
mid-September. DeMartini said he did not think the county should take action to
make changes at East Side. Most of the management and personnel issues appeared
to involve a labor dispute, he said, and could be handled by the district
board.
The grand
jury concluded East Side needs a board with stronger oversight. It recommended
the county make the public aware of vacancies and generate interest in serving
on the board.
August 11, 2015
The
Modesto Bee
By
Ken Carlson
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