[San Diego County] City to Draft Ordinance Temporarily Banning Gas-Powered Leaf Blowere

Blog note: this article references a 1999 grand jury report.

A proposal to initiate a pilot program restricting the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in certain areas of San Clemente will go before the council for consideration later this year.

During the council’s Feb. 18 meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Laura Ferguson made the proposal for city staff to draw up an agenda report and potential ordinance that would ban the landscaping tool from being used in high-density areas west of Interstate 5 on a one-year trial basis.

“People use these leaf blowers; the gas-powered ones are so polluting, and people have to close their windows on a beautiful day, and a lot of people have their allergies,” Ferguson said, before suggesting the pilot program.

Councilmember Gene James supported Ferguson’s motion, allowing the topic to be agendized for a later council meeting.

Citing residents’ complaints centered on pollution issues and the loud noise created by such devices, the city had previously sought the council’s approval to adopt an ordinance regulating gas-powered leaf blowers.

That draft of that ordinance would have required those who own commercially operated leaf blowers to have their business information displayed on the device. Such information included the business name, address, phone number and business license number.

Those leaf blowers also would have had to be certified by the American National Standards Institute, ensuring they didn’t exceed a 65-decibal noise level, measured from 50 feet.

The city noted that those amendments would have reduced exhaust and noise, as well as helped code compliance staff avoid the use of a noise meter to verify whether the blower violated San Clemente’s noise ordinance.

However, that ordinance died last September in a 2-2 stalemate, with Ferguson and Councilmember Kathy Ward opposed. The two had instead advocated for an outright ban in residential and mixed-use areas, while allowing homeowners associations (HOAs) and golf courses to request exemptions.

Councilors revisited the leaf-blower discussion at their late-February meeting, during which Ferguson cited a 1999 Orange County Grand Jury report on the pollution hazards and other impacts caused by the daily usage of two-cycle gasoline-engine leaf blowers.

In the report, the grand jury implored cities and school districts “to cease using gas-powered blowers in their maintenance and cleanup operations,” stating the use of the blowers “outweigh the questionable economic benefit blowers may bring to the cities and the County.”

It also noted that the California Air Resources Board (ARB) had calculated leaf blowers to “inject 2.11 tons of combustion pollutants per day into Orange County air.”

Mayor Dan Bane expressed concern with how serious of an issue this was to the community, stating that since being elected to office in 2018, he’s only heard from five “vocal” individuals who are calling for a ban on leaf blowers.

“That’s it. This hasn’t been an issue,” Bane said.

He later stated that his position on the matter would be the same as it was last August, when he and Councilmember Chris Hamm backed the ordinance to regulate the gas-powered leaf blowers, but not ban them outright.

HOAs, Bane added, have the ability to ban the leaf blowers, putting the responsibility on them to enforce such a rule, rather than have the city’s code enforcement do so when staff “is already stretched incredibly thin.”

According to news reports, roughly 60 cities in California have imposed bans on gas-powered gardening tools, while the state is currently considering a statewide ban on such items.

Though Ward, who had supported an outright ban last summer, stated that the pollution caused by the gas-powered device is an issue, she said during the latest meeting she was in favor of waiting for the state to decide on the ban.

“It looks like the state is going there, anyway, but what they’re going to do is take away the gas-powered ones, and there’ll be programs to trade to electric,” Ward said. “I can go either way, but I’m leaning toward not doing this for now and waiting for the state.”

Ferguson initially proposed initiating a buyback program as part of her suggested ordinance, allocating city coffers to offer rebates for residents who replace their gas-powered blowers with electric ones.  However, with Councilmember James stating he wasn’t willing to support such an initiative, Ferguson backed off that plan.

Per interim City Manager Robert Dunek’s request, the draft of the new ordinance will include a sunset provision to terminate the ban after one year of implementation.

February 27, 2020

San Clemente Times

By Shawn Raymundo

[Butte County] Letter: Supervisors must serve all residents of county

In a recent endorsement editorial, you pointed out that 38.4% of Butte County’s population lives in the unincorporated areas. But then you wrongly asserted that, because 61.6% of county residents are represented by city councils and receive city services, it is only right that the Board of Supervisors be controlled by non-urban dwellers who care mostly about fire and police protection, roads and farming.

However, most county agencies — district attorney, clerk-recorder, auditor-controller, libraries and such — serve all county residents. Nevertheless, previous boards have operated as though their responsibility was only the unincorporated areas. This has been especially apparent to those of us who have observed the board’s lack of action to numerous Grand Jury reports over the years.

For example, the 2011-12 grand jury, of which I was a member, identified deep-seated problems impacting the county’s human service agencies — Behavioral Health, Public Health and Employment and Social Services — and strongly recommended that the county live up to its responsibility of oversight for the planning and coordination of these necessary services. This dereliction of duty is evident by the number of mentally ill citizens on every city street. The report also pointed out that these agencies comprised half of the county’s budget and created 6,700 jobs and $366 million in labor income.

We cannot afford to allow this neglect to continue.  It is time for voters to elect people to the Board of Supervisors who will take all of its responsibilities seriously.

February 26, 2020

Chico Enterprise-Record

Letter to the editor from Ken Fleming, Chico

[Contra Costa County] How Finances Trumped Treatment for the Mentally Ill

A Psychiatric Emergency in Contra Costa County — Part Two

Blog note: this opinion piece references a grand jury report.

After months of collaboration between mental health commissioners, patient advocates, and hospital workers, a proposal to re-use an empty hospital ward to remove children from Contra Costa County's violent and chaotic psychiatric facility was summarily squelched in 2016 by the hospital's finance chief.

The empty ward known as "4-D" seemed to offer a promising solution to the growing problem at the county's Psychiatric Emergency Services department — a crowded and dangerous facility that houses adults and children together. A feasibility report prepared by the chief of the children's program, Vern Wallace, showed potential budgetary savings for the hospital by opening a new impatient ward for behaviorally troubled youth.

"We were all excited about the prospect of opening a new inpatient facility in 4-D," former Mental Health Commissioner Kathi McLaughlin said. "The children's program chief felt like he had the support of the administration and he worked with children's advocates, mental health advocates, hospital staff and various committees. It looked good."

But with little ceremony or public explanation, hospital finance Chief Patrick Godley declared Wallace's report was not feasible, and killed the project.

Now, four years later, the overcrowded psych ward has become more dysfunctional and more violent. Instead of creating a safe harbor for troubled and pained minds, the facility breeds aggression, chaos and violence. Traumatized young people experiencing debilitating anxiety and severe depression are just as likely to have their symptoms aggravated in the chaotic facility, rather than soothed.

Psychiatric Emergency Services saw a 68 percent rise in aggressive incidents during 2019, including physical violence and property damage, according to statistics recently released by the county. Meanwhile, a grand jury report last year warned of serious unresolved issues at the facility: overcrowding, chaos, violence, staffing shortages, little to no access for families, patients regularly sleeping on the hallway floors, and emotionally vulnerable children sharing hallways and waiting areas with volatile adults.

Wallace had examined two potential options for separating juvenile patients from adults — one for a 20-bed facility and the other for 10 beds. According to his report, start-up costs such as retrofitting, supplies, and durable goods would have been paid for through the Mental Health Services Act. Consequently, the report claimed that the ward would have saved the county money provided that its unused beds were leased out to public hospitals from nearby counties, which also are experiencing an acute shortage of inpatient beds for children and adolescents.

Wallace had generated interest in potential bed leases from the counties of San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda and Marin as well as Kaiser Hospital. Wallace estimated that full occupancy for a 10-bed program would have saved the county $1.7 million per year, including savings from Contra Costa County no longer having to lease roughly five inpatient beds daily in other counties. Even at 85 percent capacity, Wallace projected the county would save money.

Godley was not impressed. He said there were no contracts in place for bed leases and that Wallace's report underestimated the hospital's staffing requirements. He also asserted that the county's need for inpatient beds was simply not high enough to justify the risk of opening a children and adolescent's ward. "It was more like bar room talk," Godley said of Wallace's report. "Once I saw it, I gave it like two minutes of evaluation and ended it."

The exact reasons that Godley killed the project are not entirely clear. He did not write an evaluation of Wallace's report so there is no formal rationalization for his opinion that the proposed plan was unsalvageable.

Dr. Scott Zeller, the chair of the National Coalition on Psychiatric Emergencies and a consultant who has helped develop more than 20 psychiatric crisis stabilization units, described Godley's response to Wallace's proposal as not unusual.

"All the hospitals I go to, inevitably there's one administrator that uses the same tired Field of Dreams reference: 'I'm worried if you build it, they will come.'" Zeller said. "Meaning 'we don't want too many of those people on our campus.' Guess what, they're already here, and you're just stacking them in the back room. What we've shown if you improve the system, there's rarely unwanted inquiries. Instead you're providing much better service and finding alternatives for these folks, which benefits everybody."

Godley claimed there were no contracts to lease beds in place, but Zeller noted that no hospital is going to lease beds in a project that is years away from opening its doors. McLaughlin said Godley's other stated objections to the plan seemed more like fixable details than deal-killers.

Even Godley himself admitted at a 2017 Mental Health Commission meeting that the plan would be worth considering if the cost of staffing was shared. "Yes, if our county can partner or get another county to commit, we can reconsider the possibility," he said.

But instead of exploring further options for the empty hospital wing, or continuing to seek out partners for an inpatient facility in 4-D, Godley shut the effort down. And then he took steps to push Wallace out and gain greater control of the Mental Health Commission, which had supported the therapist's plan.

In an April 26, 2016 email that Godley wrote to Hospital Director William Walker, he laid out a plan that could be interpreted as retaliatory toward Wallace and the Mental Health Commission. "Find a new 'chief deputy.' Layer over Vern and side line him."

In the same email, Godley also laid out a plan to restructure the Mental Health Commission, which by some accounts, had become dysfunctional. "Meet with CCounsel [County Council]. Validate what we can or cannot do to develop a more functional Commission. Sell it to the Board. Maybe have only the CAO [County Administrator's Office] or HSD [Health Services Director] screen and make recommendations to the Board for appointment."

The result of the project's cancellation was that the Mental Health Commission and various sub-committees never again discussed Wallace's proposal to move children and adolescents into a safer ward. Nor did they ever discuss any new proposals to move minors out of Psychiatric Emergency Services.

"Anytime the children and adolescents were brought up, we were told 'hospital staff was working on it,'" McLaughlin said. "Then we were patted on the head and told what a good job we were doing. It was bullshit."

Hospital administrators have since put forward three options for remodeling Psychiatric Emergency Services. Yet none of the options removes the children and adolescents from the obsolete, windowless facility.

"I hope it isn't another red herring," McLaughlin said. "I would rather see the children moved to someplace healthy and safe."

Godley has no medical or psychiatric training, and is not even a Contra Costa County employee. Rather, he is an accountant whose firm contracts with the county for an undisclosed amount.

He also seems to have an apparent lack of empathy for the kinds of patients and families served by Psychiatric Emergency Services. That attitude was on display in an unrelated 2016 email in which Godley appeared to mock the mother of a boy who suffered from severe psychosis. In a Jan. 2, 2016 San Jose Mercury story about a shortage of emergency beds for children experiencing psychiatric crisis, Alison Morantz, a Stanford law professor, referred to her son by using the affectionate term "polka-dotted swan." Godley emailed the story, along with a snide comment about the pet name, to then Hospital Services Director William Walker. In a recent interview, Godley described the email as "just a joke."

Despite his attitude, Godley does have substantial influence throughout the hospital. Even Health Services Director Anna Roth, Godley's superior, defers to him as "Mr. Godley." Many committee members and hospital employees claim new projects must first have Godley's approval or they don't happen.

Some county officials credit the dapper Godley as being a miracle worker when it comes to finding money for popular hospital programs. He is valued by the Board of Supervisors for staunchly holding the line on hospital spending, which is critical for Contra Costa Health Services because the hospital is always operating at a financial loss.

Psychiatric Emergency Services is the last stop in the county for people suffering mental health crises and Godley is largely credited with keeping its doors open. "He has done some amazing things in terms of finding money for important projects," Supervisor John Gioia said. "There are a lot of people who are very grateful for the work he's done."

When Godley killed Wallace's proposal to open 4-D as a children and adolescents inpatient ward, he may well have saved the county money. But at what cost?

Answering that question is difficult due to the reluctance of hospital officials to provide the public with information, even as conditions for children and adolescents at the facility have worsened.

With regard to the proposal that Godley suppressed, the county's most recent civil grand jury report recommended that "The Board of Supervisors should consider directing Contra Costa Health Services to investigate the use of the Medical Center's vacant wing (4D) as a temporary holding area for children and adolescents waiting for long-term placement in other facilities by December 31, 2019." Yet the administration's response was so terse it bordered on petulant. "The recommendation will not be implemented due to regulatory restrictions." Despite repeated requests from the East Bay Express to spokesmen, administrators, and Godley, no one in the hospital administration could identify what those "regulatory restrictions" are.

A more serious issue is that the hospital has refused to disclose how often it uses mechanical restraints on patients in Psychiatric Emergency Services. With a 68 percent increase in aggression, there is likely a corresponding rise in the use of mechanical restraints.

When used on children, restraints can be particularly dangerous. According to a 2017 story published in Psychiatric Annals, 140 U.S. patients died during the 1990s while being subjected to mechanical restraint. Many of the victims were children who were asphyxiated by chest compression or by being left in a fatal position.

When mechanical restraints are used, health officials are required by state law to monitor and record blood pressure, respiratory rates, and length of time in restraint. For example, because children are the most vulnerable to injury and death from mechanical restraints, they cannot be kept in restraint or seclusion for more than an hour without a renewal order from physician or licensed practitioner.

And that information is considered public provided the identities of the patients is withheld. However, the hospital administration has refused to disclose any information about its use of restraints including how often restraints are used on children.

February 26, 2020

East Bay Express

By John Geluardi

[Alameda and Contra Costa Counties] Opinion: Serve on county grand jury for a life-changing experience

Deadline to apply, to help improve local government in Contra Costa or Alameda County, is March 13

Do you want to have a positive life-changing experience?

That is what most people say they had after serving a year on their county’s civil Grand Jury. In this age of alternate facts and partisan politics you will find it refreshing to work with like-minded people who seek objective and practical ways to improve government.

If this interests you, the Contra Costa and Alameda County grand juries are seeking members for the 2020-21 fiscal year. The application deadline is March 13.

Using citizen complaints or issues generated by jurors themselves, grand juries investigate topics involving local government operations. They can review any public agency or political entity within a county, including agencies such as BART, local water districts, school districts, and all cities.

The juries do independent research, visit work locations, and interview government workers and the people they serve. They then write reports evaluating what they find and make meaningful recommendations on ways operations could be improved.

The grand juries of the two counties from 2017-19 produced reports on topics such as:

• The unfunded liability for retiree health care coverage growing to $860 million in Oakland.  This report prompted police officers and firefighters to step up and make concessions to save taxpayers tens of millions.

• The millions of dollars wasted on Oakland school administration, with recommendations on improvements to free up money for classrooms.

• Alameda County supervisors’ unaccountable spending for non-profit organizations, totaling millions of dollars.

• Concerns about the effectiveness of charter school oversight in Contra Costa. The Contra Costa County superintendent of schools and county Board of Education have or will soon implement the recommendations.

• BART crime and the budget to combat it. The report included recommendations on ways BART might better use its resources.

The investigated agencies are required by law to respond to the report findings and recommendations.

Grand juries are comprised of 19 volunteers from the county. A Superior Court judge picks a group of 30 qualified citizens from which the jurors are randomly selected. They serve for one year, under the supervision of the county Superior Court.  With the number of investigative journalists on the decline, the role that grand jurors play in being a “watchdog” over local government — county, cities, schools and special districts — becomes increasingly important.

To be a civil grand juror, you:

• must have been a resident of the county for at least a year.

• should be willing to commit about 20-30 hours per week to service.

• must be willing to keep your investigations secret until they are published.

• must be able to work co-operatively with fellow grand jurors.

• need good writing and analytical skills.

• must be a U.S. citizen and age 18 or older.

The application period for becoming a grand juror will end March 13 for the term that goes from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021.  If you are interested, you can get an application at the following sites:

• For Alameda County residents:  http://grandjury.acgov.org/join-us.page?

• For Contra Costa County residents: www.cc-courts.org/civil/grand-jury.aspx

If you do serve, you will be rewarded with knowing you helped your local government improve the way it supports us all, become a more-concerned citizen, and make new friends.

February 26, 2020

The Mercury News, Milpitas Post

By Scott Law and Robert Finlayson. Scott Law, a finance systems expert, served on the Alameda County Grand Jury from 2015-17 and is president of the Alameda County chapter of the California Grand Jury Association. Robert Finlayson, an insurance claims executive, served on the Contra Costa County Grand Jury from 2015-17 and currently trains incoming grand jurors in counties across the state.

[Humboldt County] County: PG&E power shutoffs delayed responses to grand jury

Once a year, a group of citizens are impaneled to sit on the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury to investigate local public agencies to make sure they’re functioning the way they’re supposed to. In return, those public agencies have 60 days to agree or disagree with the reports’ findings and discuss which recommendations they’re planning to implement.

“The 2018-2019 Jury released five reports that dealt with serious issues in our county, including homelessness, (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance, mental health treatment within our correctional facility, the criminalization of the homeless, and financial accountability within the county,” according to a press release from the grand jury.

In evaluating last year’s responses, the newly impaneled Civil Grand Jury found the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors’ responses didn’t get to the Superior Court by the deadline, along with one report from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office. The deadlines for the Board of Supervisors to respond ranged from Sept. 28 to Oct. 9, according to the grand jury report.

“Four of those reports were approved by the Board on time but not sent to the Court by the required date,” the report states. “All of the County Board of Supervisors’ reports were received by the Superior Court on October 21, 2019.”

County spokesperson Sean Quincey said the responses were delayed in large part because of the unanticipated Pacific Gas and Electric Co. public safety power shutoffs.

There was no board meeting on Sept. 24, so the responses were placed on the board’s Oct. 1 agenda, Quincey said. The board wanted a couple of changes made that he said were brought back the following week on Oct. 8, which was the date of the first power shutoff.

“Immediately after getting out of board chambers from that report, the members from our office responsible for delivering that report, namely me, went to the (Office of Emergency Services) and began immediately providing emergency communications preparing for the first power shut off,” Quincey said.

At that time, the community’s safety took priority, he said.

“As soon as we could get back to it, we made the changes and got it into the jury,” Quincey said.

Putting together the responses also takes time because the county “takes the grand jury reports very seriously,” he said. It involves coordinating the responses across agencies and departments, which sometimes involves changing processes, Quincey said.

All of the public entities’ responses to the findings in the five reports were compliant with state law, according to the grand jury report, but 32% of the responses to the recommendations section “were not in compliance with the Penal Code.”

“A few of those non-compliant replies were because the response was requested from a party who did not have the authority to make the recommended changes,” the report states. “Most of the non-compliant responses were due to the respondent not providing a time frame to implement or analyze the recommendation.”

Of the 91 recommendations the grand jury offered in its five reports last year, 37% were implemented, 16% were to be implemented in the future, 21% required further analysis, and 25% were not going to be implemented, according to the report.

One of the important changes the county has made as a result of the reports is developing a cash-handling policy specifically in response to the “The Mis-Fortunes of Humboldt County” report, Quincey said.

“Hopefully we’ll have a good policy soon to help protect the county going forward,” he said.

Of the 114 findings the grand jury made, the responding agencies agreed with 47% of the findings, partially agreed with 38% of the findings, and disagreed with 15% of them.

The report also states the grand jury invited seven law enforcement agencies to respond to one of the grand jury reports, but none of them did.

More reports from the Civil Grand Jury will be released over the next two months, according to the grand jury release.

February 25, 2020

Eureka Times-Standard

By Sonia Waraich

Kern County Grand Jury releases report on the city of Shafter

The Kern County Grand Jury has released its annual report on the city of Shafter, including recommendations for how the city government should change moving forward.

The grand jury found that the city of Shafter is committed to its residents and displays forward-thinking in the areas of finance, industrial growth, and education.

"The City continues to grow by bringing in new industry, medical clinics, and automotive businesses," read the report.

The grand jury does recommend that the Shafter City Council should annually reconsider converting to a district form of representation to better represent the city's residents.

"The Shafter City Council is aware of lawsuits that have forced other cities to convert from at-large representation to district representation. The City Council has discussed this matter with their City Attorney and has chosen to stay with at-large representation at this time."

February 25, 2020

23 ABCNews Bakersfield

By 23ABC Digital Staff

[San Mateo County] Redwood City eyes $3M to cut pension liability

Mid-year budget report goes before council

Blog note: this article references a grand jury report.

Paying $3 million to reduce pension liability is among spending recommendations that follow higher than expected revenue for Redwood City, which has an unfunded pension liability of $264.5 million.

“Our commitment is that when we have a surplus,” said Vice Mayor Shelly Masur, “a portion of that will go toward paying down our pension liabilities.”

Masur said a range of issues contribute to the liability — including actions by state government.

“During the recession, the state pulled back on its contributions so the costs were shifted to local governments,” she said.

The recommendation to spend $3 million toward pension liability is part of a mid-year budget report that goes before Redwood City Council members Monday.

Jennifer Yamaguma, city spokeswoman, said the council will consider $9.4 million in spending recommendations.

If approved, staff will propose an increase in appropriations as part of the fiscal year-end budget amendment in June, Yamaguma said.

Accelerating payments toward pension liabilities allows the city to realize interest savings — much like making additional payments on a home mortgage, a city report notes.

Other recommendations on city spending include $1.5 million to support residents’ transition from homelessness or vehicle dwelling into permanent housing and spending $1 million toward climate adaptation initiatives.

The mid-year budget report for Redwood City said revenue budgeted at $158 million are now estimated at $165 million. The increase includes $2.9 million in higher than expected sales tax revenue.

A city staff report noted Redwood City is not unique in facing pension challenges and reforms provide long-term relief but are not enough to fully fund promised benefits.

“The city began reforming pension benefits in 2011, and statewide pension reform occurred in 2013,” the report said.

About 20% of the city’s General Fund goes toward paying for pension benefits — an amount that will grow to 24% over the next five years as city pension contributions ramp up to pay for benefits of retired and current employees, according to the city.

Redwood City said it is undertaking most of the actions outlined in a 2018 county civil grand jury report “Soaring City Pension Costs – Time for Hard Choices.”

The Redwood City Council meets 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 24, in the chambers at City Hall, 1017 Middlefield Road.

February 22, 2020

San Mateo Daily Journal

By Ryan McCarthy

[Solano County] Opinion: Walt Scherff: Me? As a grand juror? Why not?

Me, a grand juror? Six years ago, my wife handed me an article from our local newspaper, stating that the county was seeking new Civil Grand Jurors. I asked her, ‘me?” She replied as all wives do “Why not? You have some spare time, you like to investigate things, you like to know what is going on in our city and county. Why not you?”

That was then. Since then I have served happily on four Solano County Grand Juries and am now in my fifth grand jury.

Why? I have always worked at jobs that made things better for me and the world I live in. And the grand jury does just that.

For example: Many different organizations of first responders were on different communications networks and could not effectively talk to one another while responding to emergency situations. Fire, police, medical responders, all working to save lives and properties without knowing where others were, or what others were doing. A lot of confusion wasted time and efforts. Not to mention the danger of working blindly in emergency situations.

An investigation by the Solano Grand Jury revealed this problem, then with a published Grand Jury Report, the efforts of the Office of Emergency Services, and the funding from the Solano County Board of Supervisors, a network of linked radios was established, and put into effect throughout the county. We made a difference in safety and efficiency. This is just one example.

A grand jury is part of the Superior Court System and directed by the presiding judge. Each grand jury is made up of 19 citizens from all walks of life. Retired doctors, nurses, educators, law enforcement. Firefighters, IT people, business people and warehouse management are all in the current Grand Jury. Each contributes to the findings and recommendations of the reports made by the jury.

With this mix of backgrounds and interest, I have been exposed to ideas and methods that take me beyond my personal educational background. It is exciting to learn so much from others. Concurrently, learning about the way our county and city governments are constructed and managed has been a revelation.

In many cases, major changes have been made in the efficiency and effectiveness of our governmental procedures and policies. Many agencies have discovered areas where they were not aware of the possibility of improvement to services and increased quality of life for our citizens.

That’s the job of the grand jury.

Editor’s Note: The Solano County Board of Supervisors proclaimed February as Grand Jury Awareness Month. As part of the celebration, members of the Solano County Civil Grand Jury have been sharing their experiences at city council meetings and will focus on encouraging other Solano County citizens to serve on the Civil Grand Jury. The grand jury members will be available to address questions from the public at the council meetings. Prospective Grand Jury members must be at least 18 years of age, residents of Solano County for at least one year, and not currently serving as elected officials. Throughout its term, the Grand Jury examines the various agencies and departments of Solano County by conducting tours, investigations and interviews. Findings and recommendations are presented in published reports.

February 21, 2020

Vacaville Reporter

By Walt Scherff (guest editorial)

[Contra Costa County] A Psychiatric Emergency in Contra Costa County

For years, Contra Costa County has ignored problems at its once-groundbreaking psychiatric unit.  Now the violence and aggression have reached a breaking point.

Blog note: this article references a grand jury report.

Children's advocate Kathleen "Kathi" McLaughlin addressed the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors last summer about an ongoing issue that the county has kept largely hidden, the poor and dangerous conditions for children and adolescents at the county's emergency psych ward.

McLaughlin, a Martinez school board member and former Mental Health Commissioner, recounted a story about a suicidal 14-year-old girl who sought emergency treatment at the facility. She and her mother waited hours at the grim, outdoor waiting area, which is immediately adjacent to a busy roadway. When the teenage girl was finally admitted the following day, a nurse took her to an exam room to check her heart rate. Just as the nurse lifted the girl's shirt, a male patient who had been committed to the facility on an involuntary psychiatric hold barged into the examination room.

"That would be hard for an adult, for a 14-year-old girl, it's really hard," said McLaughlin who has advocated for change at the facility for years.

The Board of Supervisors had just been served with a grand jury report that for a second time outlined problems at the facility, which is known by its oddly truncated name, Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES). The scathing report contained no new information for the supervisors, who have been aware for years of the serious issues at PES: overcrowding, chaos, violence, staffing shortages, little to no access for families, patients regularly sleeping on the hallway floors, and emotionally vulnerable children sharing hallways and waiting areas with volatile adults.

"This report is an opportunity to actually do something about PES," McLaughlin told the board.

What the grand jury report did not note is that Psychiatric Emergency Services has seen a 68 percent rise in aggressive incidents including physical violence and property damage during 2019. And aggression among youth in the facility has more than doubled. Most worrisome for children and adolescents is that the violence, including kicking, punching, hair-pulling, and throwing heavy objects, occurs suddenly in common areas, like hallways, that children and teens regularly share with adults who have been placed in the facility on an involuntary psychiatric hold because they present a danger to themselves or others.  

There has been no investigation into the sudden rise in aggression, but hospital officials suggest the increase is due to more aggressive acts by minors and overlong detentions of minors who, by law, should not be confined for more than 23 hours. In some cases, according to the report, they are kept for five and six days. But advocates such as McLaughlin claim the problem is due to overcrowded conditions and minors being forced to stay in windowless, confined areas in an outdated building for days without proper treatment for their conditions.

"It's illegal and inappropriate to keep children and adolescents in an emergency psychiatric facility for more than 23 hours," McLaughlin said. "They are meant to be stabilized, assessed and then, if necessary, sent on to a long-term inpatient facility or released to caretakers for outpatient treatment."

The conditions McLaughlin described were not missed by the grand jury. Psychiatric Emergency Services saw a monthly average of 848 patients during 2018, according to the report. Almost 16 percent of those patients, or an average of 134 per month, were children 7 to 12 or adolescents 13 to 17.  

There are only four "beds" for minors at Psychiatric Emergency Services, but the beds are really reclining chairs crammed, two each, into two very small rooms. When there are fewer beds than children, they are given mats to sleep on the floor.

The hidden factor of these poor conditions is the psychological impact on vulnerable and agitated youth who are confined in an overcrowded, chaotic environment of spit guards, restraints and narcotic stares.  

"Upon arrival at PES, and when they leave, children and adolescents must pass through the adult area to reach the assessment rooms," the report said. "Distressed children and adolescents are exposed to adult patients needing psychiatric help. PES staff state this could cause additional trauma to the children and adolescents."

In fact, Psychiatric Emergency Services has become so dysfunctional that at least two staff members regularly and openly warn people to NOT allow their children and teens to be checked into the facility, according to county mental health workers.

Ange Cottone, a registered nurse and union rep for the California Nurses Association, said violence is a problem at Psychiatric Emergency Services and other county hospital departments. "Contra Costa County is required by state law to produce a workplace violence-prevention plan," Cottone said. "We are overwhelmingly disappointed that the county has lingered with a deficient plan and they have neglected any input from frontline employees. They have left hospitals, clinics, detention facilities, and offices unsafe for both staff and patients."

The lack of attention to these issues also lies with the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors. The grand jury report chided supervisors for not addressing the hospital's problems , which have been neglected for years. "The Contra Costa Mental Health Commission recommended changes to PES to improve treatment space for children and adolescents," the report reads. "The grand jury did not find any evidence that the commission's recommendations had been implemented."  

McLaughlin said she has been frustrated trying to get supervisors and hospital administrators to take action regarding Psychiatric Emergency Services and that many other activists who had over the years worked hard to create change at the facility have simply given up — just like the supervisors. "At one time, the Board of Supervisors was interested in fixing this problem," McLaughlin said, "but it seems like they've given up for some reason."

February 19, 2020

East Bay Express

By John Geluardi

Sutter County Grand Jury seeking art submissions from local high school students

The Sutter County Grand Jury is giving Sutter County high school students the chance to have their artwork be the front cover of the jury’s 2019-2020 report, as well as win a cash prize. 

The art contest is open to high school students who live in Sutter County and attend a high school in the county. Home school and independent studies students are also eligible. Each student can submit one original piece  along with an application form and waiver forms. The maximum size of a submission is 16”x20” and the minimum size is 8”x10”. Artists are being asked to consider what Sutter County means to them and have their answers reflected in their art. 

February 17, 2020

Appeal-Democrat