Marin [County] supervisors reject grand jury’s call to close juvenile hall

The Board of Supervisors this week rejected a civil grand jury proposal to close juvenile hall and contract out for services.

The board found that the recommendation was unwarranted and unreasonable — and not in the best interest of Marin juveniles.

“It’s not all about the money,” Supervisor Kate Sears said. “It’s important we have a facility here in the county so that parents can keep a relationship with a child.”

Chief Probation Officer Mike Daly, whose programs have drawn praise, noted juvenile hall is an “expensive responsibility” requiring a minimum of five staffers during the day to ensure the facility remains safe for all. But he pledged to continue to look for efficiencies.

Jack Nixon, the former San Rafael councilman who served as foreman of last year’s grand jury, said he had “the utmost respect for Mike Daly and his management skills,” and added that the grand jury “may have been overzealous in looking at the figures.”

The jury proposed confining Marin’s young lawbreakers in facilities run by neighboring counties and using the hall for other public services because of costs that amounted to $1,128 per youth per day. The investigative panel found that the county spends about $3.7 million a year and employs 21 people to run the 40-bed Marin County Juvenile Hall round the clock — yet its average daily population was just about nine inmates in 2014. This year the average population has been about 15.

“In short, the grand jury recommendations do not sufficiently take into consideration what is in the best interest of the minor and his or her family structure, and do not adequately anticipate the additional costs and impacts of contracting out to another county,” according to the county response to the jury.

Acting on another jury report, the supervisors endorsed an administration effort to tighten a management program that the grand jury concluded has misfired, generating paperwork but doing little to measure efficiency.

Officials indicated one of the panel’s recommendations has been put to work, and the other will be when the county “reboots” a managing for results program that includes goals and procedures relevant to the mission of each department.

At the Civic Center, most managers the jury talked to were “dismissive of the program, describing it as an administrative burden.” Some measured success by tallying up the number of workshops held, rather than results achieved.

The administration indicated the program will be launched anew and strengthened in coordination with next fiscal year’s two-year budget cycle.

The program’s intent has great merit, the jury noted, because executed correctly it can communicate an organization’s direction, monitor progress toward goals, help invest resources strategically and provide accountability for results.

Nixon urged supervisors to take charge and make sure the program proceeds appropriately. “I hope the Board of Supervisors ... takes a leadership role,” he said.

September 17, 2015

Marin Independent Journal

By Nels Johnson