Concerns raised about leadership and public communication
The 2018-2019 Mendocino County grand jury recently released its report that raised concerns about the overall leadership and public communication of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors.
The grand jury found that the Board of Supervisors, made up of five elected officials from each district in Mendocino County, failed to “establish and publish strategic county-wide policies with effective long term goals that address county-wide issues of public safety, health, economic, environmental and other needs of our communities, as it is charged to do. Rather, the BOS reacts to crises as they arise.”
The grand jury found that Mendocino County Chief Executive Officer Carmel Angelo has been providing leadership that has been abdicated by the supervisors, although it also found that Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Carre Brown and the two recently elected supervisors, John Haschak and Ted Williams, were making positive changes. The supervisors appoint the CEO, who is responsible for the day-to-day management of county government.
The overall findings said that the board does not adequately track its directives given to the CEO and needs to do a better job of communicating with the public about different aspects of government. Many times the board does not provide checkpoints or milestones that give the public a better understanding of where goals and projects are, the grand jury stated. Other improvements include making the county website a more responsive and better communication tool, which could consist of better contact information for supervisors, a complaint form, and better communication and understanding with the public during and after public comments at board meetings.
The nine findings bullet points were:
1. There is no published long term county-wide strategic planning by the BOS, e.g., fire response, homelessness, cannabis, housing and economic development.
2. There is no written succession plan for the CEO of Mendocino County.
3. The BOS does not adequately track directives given to the CEO. The current list of directives has inadequate status and descriptors and there are no timelines or milestones for completion.
4. The CEO Report does not include substantive department updates, e.g. new jail addition, Sheriff overtime, BOS directive status, departmental statistics and major road project status.
5. The Consent Agenda has often included controversial items, e.g. salary increases and cost over runs.
6. In the BOS minutes, the name of the public speaker is listed but not a description of the issue raised.
7. There are no scheduled proactive meetings with residents of individual districts to speak with their Supervisor.
8. The GJ could not find a complaint or issue form on the Mendocino County website.
9. There is no procedural requirement for any Supervisor to respond to a constituent complaint or issue.
The grand jury provided a list of recommendations to help the Board of Supervisors improve in a variety of areas.
1. Strategic goals should be formulated by the BOS each year, prioritized and posted on the BOS page of the county website.
2. Develop a succession plan for the CEO position.
3. Determine whether an Assistant CEO position is necessary. If the position is not going to be filled, it should be unfunded.
4. The BOS needs to include expectations for completion at the time directives are given to the CEO.
5. Directive status should include goal, proposed action, funding status and primary agency.
6. The BOS meeting agenda should include directives and status updates.
7. Improve the CEO Report to include information on current major projects, tracking, expenditures and strategic goals.
8. The Consent Agenda should not include controversial items, e.g., salary adjustments or cost Overruns.
9. The BOS minutes should include the name of the speaker and the issue raised during public expression.
10. Publicized, regularly scheduled district town hall meetings should be held by each Supervisor.
11. The BOS page of the county website should contain an embedded complaint/issue form that requires sender contact information sent directly to the individual supervisor.
12. The BOS should draft and publish a policy for responding to constituent complaints and issues. The policy should include an expectation of timely response by the Supervisor.
The Board of Supervisors must respond to the grand jury within 60 days, while the Mendocino County CEO must respond within 90 days.
June 5, 2019
Ukiah Daily Journal
By Curtis Driscoll
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