The Placer County Board of
Supervisors approved responses generated to address the 2021-22 Grand Jury
report findings during its consent agenda Tuesday. The report examined
homelessness and the condition of jail and holding facilities within the
county.
Following its
investigation, the Grand Jury found there was no single county leader
overseeing the homeless issue, a lack of information made it difficult to
accurately report the number of homeless individuals residing within the
county, and Health and Human Services, which provides aid through several
programs, lacked “knowledge as to the specific amount of funds available,
allocated to the homeless, and how it is spent on remedying the problem.”
The first recommendation
of nine was for the county to designate a homeless “czar” with the authority,
budget and resources to oversee Placer’s services for the homeless. According
to the county’s response, there is no single entity, agency or individual
responsible, as homelessness is a cross-jurisdictional, multi-faceted issue.
“Placer County has already
established a staff task force, led by a deputy county executive officer in
coordination with elected and appointed officials, which meets regularly to
address homelessness issues at the Placer County Government Center,” the
response states of the Regional Homelessness Ad-Hoc Committee.
Within the response, it is
noted the Phase 2 report is expected in 2023.
Another recommendation
from the Grand Jury included the county creating an expense report on funding
received and expended on homelessness.
According to the response,
the county’s homeless services are embedded in or overlap with other programs,
projects and services, which makes it infeasible to capture costs, expenses and
funding on programs related to homelessness.
The Grand Jury also
recommended the Board of Supervisors immediately seek and obtain funding for
low-barrier shelters throughout Placer.
“While low-barrier
shelters may provide another short-term housing option, some remain concerned
on how they are implemented and potential community impacts, and thus require
additional analysis by the Regional Homelessness Ad Hoc Committee,” the
response says.
The county confirms the
ad-hoc committee is exploring options for low-barrier shelters and funding and
expects to make final recommendations in February 2023.
Additionally, the Grand
Jury recommended the board evaluate the 2004 and 2015 homeless consulting
reports with the Placer Homelessness Response Emerging Strategies Phase 1
Report to determine why little or no action has been taken on report
recommendations. The county’s response confirms as services have been
implemented and expanded since the completion of the 2004 and 2015 reports, it
will focus future actions on the regional ad-hoc committee’s recommendations
when developed.
The response also
addresses the findings of county jail and holding facilities from the Grand
Jury’s annual inspection.
One recommendation
included the Placer County Sheriff’s Office enabling a camera system to read
license plates in and near the parking lots of the Auburn Historic Courthouse.
The response notes the current camera system was selected due to increased
coverage and the inability of high-zoom capabilities does not hinder security
operations at the courthouse.
The response also
confirmed disagreement with the jury’s finding of the Auburn Jail holding cells
being unclean. According to the county, the holding cells are cleaned twice a
day by inmate workers, at minimum.
“... It is likely their
(Grand Jury) inspection fell at a time between the twice-daily cleaning
sessions. It is common for arrestees to leave trash in the holding cells or
mark up walls, which would have been visible between the cleaning sessions,”
the response states.
The county also confirmed
cells are inspected and cleaned with a hand-held spray gun that contains a
spray solution which “deodorizes, disinfects and acts as a fungicide to
sterilize the cell” anytime an arrestee is removed from the holding cell.
Board Chair and District 5
Supervisor Cindy Gustafson pulled the item from the consent agenda to request
that in the future staff provide the county's responses and the Grand Jury
report within the staff report to "be helpful to the public and honor the
great work of the Grand Jury."
The board also received
one comment noting the item should not have been on the consent agenda due to
being a "contentious item" and that the board should consider the
Grand Jury's recommendations, as the responses "seemed dismissive."
The board approved the
responses in a unanimous vote. According to the staff report, the responses
will be provided to the Grand Jury and the presiding judge of the Placer County
Superior Court.
Gold Country Media
Stacey Adams
August 23, 2022
No comments:
Post a Comment