By Angela Woodall
Oakland Tribune
Posted: 06/26/2012 03:10:25 PM PDT
An Alameda County civil grand jury found systematic problems in the way Alameda County evaluates and oversees service contracts, including the $520 million allocated to 251 nonprofit groups in the 2012-13 budget and the approximately $700,000 spent annually to hire outside security companies.
Jurors found fault, for example, with the social services agency for weak oversight over the nonprofit groups on which the department relies for help carrying out its mission to assist vulnerable individuals, including children. Jurors also criticized the behavioral health care agency for lax oversight.
Both agencies are improving, jurors added, but they still cited "shortcomings" in their 150-page final report released Monday.
The 19-member panel is made up of nominees selected each year to act as the public watchdog.
Their criticisms were not as biting as the previous year's jury. But they took issue overall with a lack of accountability reflected in poor oversight over the spending of millions of dollars.
They noted that the nonprofit organizations treat renewals of contracts by the county as an entitlement. When they are denied, supervisors have on occasion reinstated funding because of intense political pressure, regardless of performance. In fact, the jury criticized the county for a lack of metrics to evaluate performance of the organizations.
And they recommended the Board of Supervisors authorize the Measure A oversight committee to evaluate how efficiently the approximately $100 million in Measure A taxpayer dollars are being spent by the Alameda County Medical Center and other health-related programs.
In addition, jurors reviewed contracts with Aramark and Prison Health Services, recently renamed Corizon Health Inc. Aramark provides food at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and Corizon provides health care to the Glen Dyer Jail in Oakland. Alameda County supervisors this month awarded a one-year, $32 million contract extension to Corizon, bringing the total paid to the Tennessee-based company since 2008 to $154 million. They based their decision on a two-page letter from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, which administers both contracts.
The jurors recommended that the general services agency, which oversees large contracts once they're awarded, require evaluations to measure a company's performance and perform annual audits.
They were especially critical of StopWaste.org, a "self-perpetuating" joint powers authority whose board is made up of elected officials from around the county. The grand jurors worried the board is not holding StopWaste.org accountable to its voter-approved mandate of solid waste diversion. Instead of paring back and reducing fees, StopWaste.org is creating new programs to promote green buildings and energy efficiency, jurors complained, echoing similar concerns in the 2010-11 grand jury report.
The jury also once again complained about Camp Wilmont Sweeney in San Leandro operated by the Alameda County Probation Department for juvenile offenders. A 2010-11 grand jury noted "major deficiencies" at the aging camp and called the condition of the facility appalling.
This year, grand jurors saw improvements in the overall cleanliness of the facility but concluded that "Camp Sweeney remains outdated and in need of complete replacement," according to the report. Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty said the county still intends to build a new facility but needs to raise the necessary funds.
The jury also recommended consolidating the Oakland and Alameda County Sheriff's Office forensic crime labs to save money and clear some of the backlogs that prevent authorities from identifying suspects, convicting the guilty and exonerating the innocent.
"The public should be concerned about the unacceptable backlog of forensics testing requests that currently exist in Alameda County and, more specifically, within the city of Oakland," jurors cautioned.
Supervisor Keith Carson said Tuesday the board could not respond to the contents of the report until it has had time to read it in full.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_20943558/alameda-county-civil-grand-jury-report-criticizes-county
No comments:
Post a Comment