Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Sutter County refutes grand jury’s critical findings

Sutter County is denying conclusions of a grand jury investigation claiming to have uncovered evidence of abuses of power, management by intimidation and favoritism at a county department.
In a draft response to the grand jury's findings, the Board of Supervisors said it found no evidence to support the more critical findings of the report.
The response, which the Board will vote to approve this evening, was submitted by County Administrator Jim Arkens.
The final report on the investigation into the Welfare and Social Services Division painted a picture of a workplace where management practices have deteriorated employee morale to the point of potentially impacting services to the public.
"Favoritism and preferential treatment of employees have adversely affected employee morale of the (division)," the report stated. "These practices by management staff involved work schedules, promotion, assignments and discipline. Evidence has shown promotional practices within the division are not solely based on merit."
"Division managers give special assignments and promotions to those who seemingly curry personal favor," the report continued. "In addition, evidence has also shown disciplinary actions are not applied fairly and consistently to all employees."
But Arkens said the county did not discover any such evidence.
"At this point, we've found absolutely nothing," Arkens said. "I asked the grand jury to send people to me or give me cases or names, but they had nothing, and I've received nothing."
During the 2014-15 fiscal year, the county received three complaints from three employees in the department. The complaints were independently investigated by Vida Thomas, a lawyer at Weintraub Tobin, a Sacramento-based law firm.
None of the allegations were sustained by evidence, according to the Board's response.
Arkens also noted the grand jury's foreperson, Rebecca Askins, is an employee of the Welfare and Social Services Division. At the time of Askins' appointment, the Sutter County Taxpayers Association and Arkens expressed concern that a county employee serving on a grand jury represented a conflict of interest.
September 28, 2015
The Appeal-Democrat
By Andrew Creasey


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