The grand jury also released its findings from a complaint it received regarding the Joshua Basin Water District in Joshua Tree.
An interim report released Monday by the San Bernardino County Grand Jury Office noted that emergency backup generators at the Rancho Cucamonga jail are not routinely tested, and there is no manufacturer service or certification program for several pieces of critical electrical equipment.
The criticisms come in the wake of back-to-back power outages that hit the jail Aug.18 and Aug.19, forcing a lockdown and sending jail and other county staffers scrambling to fix the problem.
The grand jury recommends that the county shift responsibility for the emergency electrical system at the 18-year-old jail from facilities management to the Sheriff's Department.
Sheriff's Deputy Chief Jim McMahon, who served as captain of the West Valley Detention Center at the time of the power outage, said the Sheriff's Department is in agreement with the grand jury's findings.
"We're already working with facilities management, and it's being studied at this point about the transfer of positions," McMahon said.
He said he wasn't sure how long it would take for the
He said about five employees currently man the power plant at the jail on a 24-7 basis.
Dave Gibson, director of the county's facilities management department, declined to comment Monday because he hadn't had a chance to discuss the issue with staff in the county administrative office.
The first outage hit the jail about 10 p.m. on Aug. 28, and the second hit about 6 a.m. the following morning. Three of seven county-owned transformers were rendered inoperable during the outages, causing the jail's electrical generation system to crash, according to the report.
The county rented two large generators and a number of smaller generators to provide lighting and other essential services at the jail during the outages, which lasted a total of 36 hours.
The jail's power wasn't fully restored until three weeks later.
During an Oct. 23 meeting between grand jury members and facilities management staff, it was learned that an oil leak caused the failure of one of the transformers. Other indicators of neglect and poor maintenance were noted in the discussion, the report said.
Grand jury members were told that the emergency power backup system had been tested once, but failed.
The grand jury also recommended the following:
Create a plant manager position at the jail for the purpose of overseeing all electrical maintenance and testing.
Begin a systematic process for testing the electrical equipment at the jail's emergency power plant.
Institute a servicing and certification program for select electrical equipment at the jail.
The complaint concerning the Joshua Basin Water District in Joshua Tree alleged the district spent public money on engineering and planning studies for sewer construction prior to receiving authorization from the Local Agency Formation Commission. The complaint also alleged the district spent public money in an attempt to purchase county tax sale property for a sewer treatment plant, but the district did not have authority from LAFCO to purchase the property for that specific use.
The grand jury determined the district's expenditures for the feasibility studies were reasonable and appropriate. It also determined that the district's board of directors, while not having authority from LAFCO to purchase property for a sewer treatment plant when approving the April 4, 2007, resolution, did not materially violate any law.
The reports will be included in the final grand jury report to be released July 1.
http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_12087432
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