[Mendocino County] Civil Grand Jury releases reports, forecasts problems with Mendocino County’s emergency notification system and public services funding

MENDOCINO Co., 6/21/20 — Mendocino County’s Grand Jury, an oversight committee comprised of 19 local citizens, has released three reports for the 2019 – 2020 session, including an analysis of the current state of the county’s emergency notification system, a look at safety in county schools, and an examination of how tax dollars are being used to provide local services, particularly those provided by the county’s multitude of special districts.

In particular, the jury found that county government has failed to address long standing issues concerning emergency notifications for residents, and has yet to implemented a plan or allocate adequate funding to upgrade the system efficiently. The jury did not find significant cause to be concerned about school safety in the county, although made recommendations to improved communication and campus response time to increase student safety. In the third report, the committee warned that the current system of special districts collecting taxes for public services is on the brink of being dysfunctional.

Every year, the Grand Jury is empowered to look into the activities of Mendocino County’s various government agencies, and issue a report on their findings. The reports are available on the county’s webpage, and by law require a response from the local officials or agencies named in the reports within 60 days. This year, the reports include: “The Emergency Communications System in Mendocino County,” “School Safety,” and “How Tax Dollars Pay for Services,” along with a report examining the continuity of past Grand Jury responses.

More coverage of the Grand Jury can be found here, and on the county’s website, where past reports are also posted.

Responses to the Grand Jury reports are required within 60 days. However, this year the Grand Jury reviewed the responses to the previous year’s reports, and found that the the responses lacked a specific timeline for implementing changes, and recommended a review of responses be conducted annually.

The reports are fairly simple to read, but include many months of research on issues relevant to Mendocino County residents, although the reports note that some of the group’s inquiries were stymied by the shelter-in-place orders and precautions implemented during the pandemic, including visits to more remote emergency communications equipment. Members of the jury conducted interviews as well as research into past Grand Jury reports to better assess what progress has been made over time, particularly in the case of updates to the county’s emergency notification system, and the efficiency of tax revenue as it concerns the current administration of public services.

Emergency Communications System

The Grand Jury ‘s first report considers the county’s emergency communication systems, which have been a cause of widespread concern for residents after the increasing severity and scale of wildfires over the last several years, and repeated incidents of technical difficulties with the system during those times. The jury found that despite over a decade of concern over the increasing obsolescence of the county’s emergency notification system, and calls for upgrades or repairs, the county has not allocated adequate funds to address the scale of the problem, and has prioritized repairs that they fear will be tangential if larger issues are not addressed first, including significant site issues at a number of more remote microwave sites around the county.

The Mendocino Voice
By Kate Maxwell
June 21, 2020