[Lake County] Record Bee should apologize to the Grand Jury

Blog note: this is a letter-to-the-editor that members of the 2016-17 Lake County Grand Jury sent to the Lake County Record-Bee about an article that the newspaper published on August 4 and that we posted on this blog on August 7. The headline of that article was: Grand Jury apologizes for report.  To our knowledge, the Record-Bee has not yet published this letter.  A member of the 2016-17 Grand Jury forwarded it to us.

Your August 4th, page 1, “above the fold” headline was inaccurate and totally misleading. We request that you publish an equally sized and positioned apology so that the citizens of Lake County have an accurate story to rely on. The 2016-2017 Grand Jury did not/does not apologize for its report. 

The apology to the Board of Supervisors on August 1st, was for any unprofessional actions by members of the Grand Jury during interviews, not about the content of the report. The 2016/2017 Grand Jury stands by the report as published and looks forward to the government’s responses to our findings and recommendations.  

We urge all interested citizens to read the overall report which focuses on many differing areas of government services, efficiency, successes, and areas in need of quite specific improvements. We are well aware of the budgetary challenges Lake County faces. Many of the Grand Jury recommendations suggest means to collect overdue and/or additional funds which have not been implemented. Lack of staff to do so does not negate those recommendations. 

Rather than mislead the residents we suggest that you publish the elements of the report and the official responses when they are issued by the various departments and boards. 

Signed by 2016-2017 Lake County Civil Grand Jurors: Dan DeBonis, Rosemary Dontje, Patricia Elliot, Jack Gingles, Toni Maier, Jeff Markham, Nanette Marschall, Venn Marschall, Vickie Miller, David Morry. Phil Myers, Russ Schroy, John Vance, Carol Vedder

[Monterey County] New day at Laguna Seca: Longtime county employee key to new relationship with SCRAMP

Blog note: this article references a recent grand jury report addressing the relationship between county government and SCRAMP.

Laguna Seca >> Lavonne Chin has come full circle.

When the longtime Monterey County parks employee was hired more than two decades ago as special events manager, Chin’s first office was at the county-owned Laguna Seca Recreation Area and she was charged with overseeing raceway concessionaire the Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula and its plans and operations, and managing a series of county-backed events at the county park ranging from Spirit West Coast and Cherries Jubilee to the Laguna Seca Days concert series and the still-burgeoning Sea Otter Classic.

Over the years, Chin’s duties expanded to encompass a series of events at the county’s other seven parks, and Fort Ord’s county-controlled open space, that she helped build and now number more than 90 per year, even as she built long-standing relationships with the SCRAMP organization from top administrators and staff to volunteers.

Now, Chin is essentially back where she started, returning to Laguna Seca oversight, albeit under a significantly different situation. She has been moved into the Monterey County Administrative Office where she will work for Assistant County Administrative Officer Dewayne Woods as the county’s top liaison between the county and SCRAMP overseeing the new three-year Laguna Seca management contract signed in January that shifted the raceway founder and longtime concessionaire into a management role for the entire facility, including all its events and operations. Woods, the county’s contract manager, said Chin will be available to assist with other parks events given her historical and institutional knowledge, but her main focus will be on the new relationship and cooperation between the county and SCRAMP and efforts to maximize the use of Laguna Seca and its amenities, and grow the business while initiating a series of improvements.

“Lavonne’s priority will be Laguna Seca with her vast background in the Laguna Seca business,” Woods said. “She’ll be the boots on the ground every day. She’ll be the pivot point in managing the contract with SCRAMP. The county has to be very engaged.”

The 62-year-old Chin, a Salinas resident who is married to downtown Salinas restaurateur Gordon Chin, said her new focus does feel like a homecoming of sorts, though the challenge is different.

“(Laguna Seca’s) kind of home for me because that’s where I started,” she said. “A new challenge is always exciting.”

Chin said she has always had a positive relationship with SCRAMP over the years, even during the difficult and often acrimonious past several years when the nonprofit organization struggled financially during and after the recession, prompting the county to begin searching for a potential replacement concessionaire and drawing a public rebuke from SCRAMP leaders.

But she acknowledged things have clearly changed for the better between the two entities, and noted a new enthusiasm coming from SCRAMP representatives, as well as organizational changes in the form of a new Board of Governors to replace a much larger board.

Woods said the new Laguna Seca management contract and increased oversight emerged from years of dysfunction between the two entities, and a recent civil grand jury report that blasted the county and SCRAMP for their lack of cooperation and oversight at Laguna Seca. In response, the county promised to shift Laguna Seca oversight to the County Administrative Office. That move was followed by the new management contract and a settlement agreement in which the county bought out all SCRAMP’s assets in exchange for cash considerations and a resolution of all past financial disputes.

Woods said the result has been a change in the “fundamental business model” from “fragmented” to “unified.” Before, he said, the county and SCRAMP sharing the Laguna Seca facility for a series of events and other track uses with revenue streams spread among many different entities, and now all events and track uses are managed by SCRAMP, along with the park’s campground and pavilion and lake bed venues, under the county’s ownership and oversight.

SCRAMP’s board president Michael Smith, who also serves as interim CEO in the wake of longtime CEO Gill Campbell’s reassignment, said there’s also a new spirit of cooperation between the two entities. Smith praised Supervisor Mary Adams, whose district includes Laguna Seca, and Woods for their willingness to learn without preconceived notions about the SCRAMP operation and Laguna Seca’s importance to the community. He said SCRAMP has also changed for the better, making the transition from a “bureaucratic” relationship with the county to “the closest thing to a true partnership” it has ever had at Laguna Seca.

“It was a difficult painful time but I’m glad it happened; out of crisis new paths developed,” he said. “There’s a culture of problem-solving rather than barriers.”

Smith added that he believed Chin would better be able to help influence the Laguna Seca operation in the future given the new “free flow of ideas.”

“Lavonne has good ideas, and she’s being listened to now,” he said.

In fact, the new relationship is so strengthened in less than a year that county supervisors last month rejected in closed session a bid by the nonprofit Friends of Laguna Seca to secure a long-term concession contract at Laguna Seca, one that included a promise of a $10 million up-front investment, and $25 million over the life of the contract.

Now it appears SCRAMP has the inside track on securing a long-term management deal for Laguna Seca, provided the next few years prove successful.

Smith, Chin and Woods all agree there’s room to expand the Laguna Seca business operation, all within the confines of the 34-year-old use permit, which would help pay for needed upgrades, repair and maintenance.

Woods said the facility is at the beginning of a “transformational period” right now and he has “high expectations for a higher performing facility” capable of funding improvements, such as a new start-finish line, designed to make it “worthy of an international audience.” He noted the partnership had already brought in the prestigious Porsche Rennsport Reunion event for next year, which he called the largest such event in the Northern Hemisphere. He added that SCRAMP’s historical allowed use limit of five major events — based on attendance and noise levels — is currently full, but the county’s limit of five large event days is not, and there’s plenty of room for more of the 12 minor events SCRAMP has been allowed.

Chin said only about a third of the county’s mix of 35 large, medium and small events — based on attendance — are currently full, leaving room for a significant increase. Meanwhile, she said track rental days are up from recent years, as is corporate use of the track for testing, two more important revenue streams for the facility.

August 19, 2017

Monterey County Herald

By Jim Johnson

Mendocino County Board of Supervisors creates committee to review 2017 grand jury reports

The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors has created a new ad-hoc committee to review the 2017 grand jury reports, including the speed of election results; the county’s restriction on formula, or chain, businesses and problems with its Code Enforcement and Family and Children Services divisions.

Supervisors John McCowen and Georgeanne Croskey will serve on the committee.

McCowen had a few points in mind on Tuesday, starting with formula businesses. He said the grand jury seemed to contradict itself when it declared the county’s current restriction discourages businesses from developing here and adds time and money to the process, but at the same time recommended that every building permit be subject to design review.

This “would seem to add time and money to the process for every permit,” McCowen pointed out. He added it is the “historic responsibility” of the board to make certain distinctions about who can build in Mendocino County, and that there is “nothing unusual” about exercising its authority in those areas.

The grand jury recommended in June the restriction be eliminated altogether, citing the recent introductions of Chipotle and In-N-Out Burger to Ukiah as success stories.

On the county’s election process, McCowen said the committee will be interested to look into how the grand jury report relates to the California Voter’s Choice Act (approved by the governor in September as Senate Bill 450), which goes into effect on Jan. 1.

The act authorizes specified counties – with a population of fewer than 100,000 people, school districts and special districts – to conduct any election as an all-mailed ballot election.

McCowen said the Board of Supervisors’ position is to expedite election results, asserting that in past years, many residents have mailed their ballots in on Election Day or walked them to the polls, resulting in a slow count.

“We favor and have committed to additional resources, if that will help get speedier results,” he said.

The report stated 21,700 mail-in ballots were sent in before the 2016 Election Day in Mendocino County, which the registrar had 10 days to count beforehand, while only about 6,000 were counted by election night.

The grand jury, however, did praise the Mendocino County Registrar of Voters for its accuracy in voting results.

The committee will also be looking into the Mendocino Coast Recreation and Parks District, which the grand jury deemed “financially irresponsible” in June.

August 19, 2017

Ukiah Daily Journal

By Ashley Tressel

Napa County responds to grand jury criticism of Child Abuse Hotline

County officials both agreed and disagreed with the grand jury’s findings on the Napa Child Abuse Hotline, noting that some of the things the jury recommended were either not applicable or had already been resolved.

The 2016-2017 Napa County grand jury found that although the staff is well-intentioned and committed, operation of the hotline was inefficient, untimely and contributed to worker burn-out. The grand jury also found public awareness of the hotline to be inadequate.

The Napa Child Abuse Hotline receives an average of 1,300 calls per year, 28 percent of which are received after-hours and on weekends and holidays, according to Napa County’s grand jury report response. The number of Hotline calls received after-hours that require an in-person immediate response averages one per week.

During regular business hours, phone calls to the Child Abuse Hotline are answered by social workers in Napa Child Welfare Services’ Emergency Response Unit. During off hours and on holidays, an off-site answering service takes the calls and refers them to an on-call social worker who may then need to travel back to Napa in order to respond to cases, possibly taking up to two hours to respond.

The directors of the county’s Child Welfare Services (CWS) and Health and Human Services agreed that a full and proficient CWS staff would help with efficiency. Since the jury’s deliberations, the Board of Supervisors approved the addition of a new position at CWS’s Emergency Response Unit.

The added position will contribute to more timely responses and decisions on how to process referrals, the county said. CWS is also expanding the after-hours coverage of hotline calls by CWS staff, helping provide “more seamless coverage.”

Instead of having a Crisis Stabilization Unit screen after-hours calls, as referred to in the jury report, CWS increased the after-hours coverage by implementing scheduling changes and with staffing by CWS Division staff, the directors said. The changes in after-hours coverage and scheduling will also help reduce burnout among social workers and supervisors, directors said.

CWS staff is able to remotely access information during and after business hours with county-issued iPads, the directors said.

Long response times after-hours were another problem that the grand jury addressed in its report, noting that the delay is due to CWS workers living outside the county.

“Most of the long response times are because many of the workers live outside Napa County,” the jury said. “The high cost of housing remains a well-known and ongoing factor in recruiting and retaining qualified staff to Napa County.”

Although directors agreed that some workers may live outside of the county due to housing prices, they said that some prefer to live outside of the county due to the nature of the work and to provide more separation between their work and personal lives. Long response times, the directors said, do not mean that children are in unsafe situations because in referrals that require immediate responses, law enforcement is already present at the scene.

The grand jury suggested that having the technology to record calls to the hotline would be beneficial in training and quality assurance. The directors disagreed with the jury’s finding, saying that recording calls would further inhibit individuals calling in to report suspected child abuse and neglect. Instead, supervisors can sit in on calls and train employees in real time, directors said.

Both the grand jury and the directors agree that individuals may hesitate to report suspected abuse and neglect for fear that children will be removed from their families. In response, the directors said that the CWS Division “strives to make reporters of child abuse and neglect feel as comfortable as possible.” Callers are able to remain anonymous, they noted.

Another reason people may not be calling the hotline is because they don’t know about it, the grand jury suggested.

“Public awareness of the hotline is inadequate,” the jury said. “In order to protect children, Napa County residents must be better informed about the existence of the hotline.”

The CWS director agreed that public awareness could be improved, but noted that the hotline number is “readily available” on the Internet and is promoted during trainings at different organizations throughout the year.

August 18, 2017

Napa Valley Register

By Maria Sestito

[Calaveras County] Mayor: Misappropriations may not be as bad as projected

Angels Camp covered if ‘dishonesty’ is proven

Blog note: this article references a 2016-17 Grand Jury report on the issues.

The mayor does not think the potential misappropriation of public monies in Angels Camp is as bad as projected.

The potential losses could be closer to half of the $29,000 figure former city administrator Michael McHatten allegedly took from the city, said Angels Camp Mayor Scott Behiel Thursday morning.

The Angels Camp Police Department confirmed Wednesday that the California Attorney General’s Office is probing allegations McHatten took money from the city by cashing in administrative leave time he did not have from 2014-15.

McHatten, now the city manager for Soledad in Monterey County, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Behiel declined to comment on the investigation. He said the city is not “in the loop” with specifics of the investigation.

A news release from the police department said Wednesday that city staff was cooperating fully with the investigation and providing assistance when requested to expedite the probe.

The total amount McHatten may have taken is not known, Behiel said. It could range anywhere between $0 and $29,000. The city elected not to hire a forensic auditor because the situation is being investigated by the attorney general and the city’s insurer.

“We have employee dishonesty coverage,” Behiel said. “If there’s a loss and it is proven that the employee was dishonest, we would be covered.”

In McHatten’s mind, he does not owe anything to the city, Behiel said. If anything, the city owes him money, Behiel added.

“He said he did the calculations and said we owe him $1,200,” Behiel said. “His honest opinion is we’re square. If anything, the city owes him a few bucks. But he said he would not sweat it.”

It was from a 2015-16 audit report of city finances that the alleged $29,000 amount emerged. A Grand Jury report citing the same document said McHatten may have received payouts for 533 hours of administrative leave and only had 332.6 hours available, leaving a negative balance. He was only allowed to receive 240 hours maximum in payouts per year.

Also noted in the audit were reports that McHatten used a city-issued credit card for personal expenses as well as receiving two payment advances for two separate pay periods in a span of five days in September of 2015.

The latter two instances were resolved. Behiel said McHatten typically paid back credit card charges before the bills came due and the city had the paycheck returned as soon as officials noticed the discrepancy.

As for why McHatten was not dismissed from his position as city administrator before his departure in December, Behiel declined to answer. He did say McHatten was liked and respected.

“He was doing a good job,” Behiel said.

Representatives from the city of Soledad did not contact Angels Camp when vetting McHatten for the position, but it is not known whether it would have uncovered anything.

Behiel said the Grand Jury investigation into the city did not open by the time McHatten would have accepted the position in Soledad around October. The city would not have revealed financial irregularities even if they had discovered them.

“It was a personnel matter that we would not have disclosed,” Behiel said.

August 17, 2017

Calaveras Enterprise

By Jason Cowan

Napa [County] Supervisors reject grand jury recommendation for a regional jail

Napa County supervisors disagree with a 2016-17 grand jury recommendation that the county should explore teaming up with Solano County to establish a regional jail.

The county is exploring plans to replace its downtown jail with a $128 million, 304-bed jail along Highway 221 near the Syar quarry. It is building a $16 million, 72-bed reentry facility for low-level offenders at the same site.

But these are all-Napa County efforts, not the Napa-Solano team approach that the grand jury advocates.

There’s precedent for the partnership, the grand jury said. For three years, Napa County sent some of its inmates to the Solano jail while the local jail underwent repairs from the South Napa earthquake and was remodeled. Solano County has three jails and extra capacity and is building an inmate vocational education facility.

“The concept behind regional jails is that the cost of construction and operation of individual jail facilities doesn’t make economic sense for small counties like Napa,” the grand jury said.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved responses to this and other issues brought up by the grand jury.

Napa County will receive $23 million from the state to help build a new jail. Under state law, any jail the county builds with this state funding can house only Napa County inmates for 10 years, the Board of Supervisors response said.

Similarly, Solano County opened an $89 million jail in late 2014 using state funding and faces the same restrictions. Napa County inmates kept in Solano County must stay in the older jail, not the new facility.

No regional jail facilities exist in California, making it hard to gauge the potential cost-savings from this approach, the response said.

Finally, non-sentenced inmates who make up most of the local jail population under state law must be housed in neighboring counties. Napa County would face difficulties if it relied on Solano County to house most of its inmates and Solano County didn’t have enough space, the response said.

Supervisors and the grand jury had other disagreements.

“The employees and inmates of Napa County are at risk of physical injury due to understaffing and overcrowding at the Napa County jail,” the grand jury said.

Overcrowding and understaffing can create stress in a jail, the Board of Supervisors responded. But attributing these factors directly to increased risks of physical injury oversimplifies the issue, it said.

More violent and mentally ill inmates are also factors that can affect safety, the response said. Staff is trained to address mentally ill offenders. The county relies on overtime to ensure appropriate staffing levels and relies on court-ordered releases to prevent crowding.

The grand jury said that correctional officer retention is a chronic problem, resulting in high turnover and higher costs and risks. Napa County as of April 1 had 72 allocated correction officer positions and 54 filled, for a vacancy rate of 25 percent, the grand jury said.

The Board of Supervisors said the county has dealt with retirement losses for a few years, but that this should change as replacement correctional officers begin their careers locally. It also said recruitment and retention problems for law enforcement and corrections aren’t limited to Napa County.

“Many agencies are faced with similar issues as younger people are more attracted to work environments that are lower in stress and carry fewer risks,” the Board response said.

Still, the Board said, the county recently recruited eight correctional officers. Recent pay increases of 5 percent and benefit changes should reduce retention problems.

Napa County’s jail is run by the Department of Corrections. The grand jury recommended that the Sheriff’s Office run the jail, as is done in most state counties.

The Board of Supervisors disagreed. Napa County has one of two Department of Corrections in the state where the agency head reports directly to the Board, it said.

“Absent some compelling issue – which has not been identified – there is no compelling reason to consider a change in management structure at this time,” the Board said.

August 17, 2017

Napa Valley Register

By Barry Eberling

[San Mateo County] Schools retire use of tire products on fields

Moratorium in effect until results of health impact released

Cabrillo Unified School District has agreed to a moratorium on the use of crumb rubber in constructing its athletic fields until more conclusive results are available regarding the material’s impact on health.

Three district fields have the material, but, going forward, district officials have no intention of using it until they know more.

“If we do anything in the future, until this evidence is in, we won’t use crumb rubber,” Superintendent Jane Yuster said.

While the district’s official declaration is in response to a San Mateo County civil grand jury report’s recommendations, school officials said they’ve historically strived to put student safety first, particularly with the installation of its newest field at Half Moon Bay High School. There they’ve opted to use organic matter, as opposed to chopped up tires, as infill.

“We made (that) decision with the best safety interest of the students in mind, so that’s why there’s a cork field,” Yuster said.

In recent years, artificial materials — including crumb rubber — have become increasingly popular on school playgrounds and fields across the country.

At first, it seemed to present a win-win situation. Crumb rubber added traction to slippery, artificial surfaces for kids to play on, was often more affordable than natural grass, and recycled tires that might have otherwise led to an annual dump of 4 million tons of waste.

However, there’s growing concern that the material may be toxic. An increasing number of young athletes have gotten cancer after playing on artificial fields.

In 2008, California Gov. Jerry Brown filed suit against several artificial turf companies for using materials that contained hazardous levels of lead.

“Lead is a stunningly toxic chemical that has no place in playing fields for children,” Center for Environmental Health CEO Michael Green warned in a 2009 statement.

As the debate continues about the hazards imposed by tire products, a civil grand jury report recommends that districts consider community involvement and feedback when new fields are up for installation, evaluate current studies, and consider the uncertainty associated with tire products and their effects on health.

“We’re actually ahead of this grand jury report,” Yuster said.

District officials said that they look forward to study results from federal health agencies, though it’s not known when those will be completed.

August 17, 2017

Half Moon Bay Review

By Sara Hayden

[San Diego County] Two North County School Districts Will Provide Training to Improve Administration

In May, the San Diego County Grand Jury issued a report that recommended four school districts provide training to superintendents and school board members in various aspects of running a public agency.

Three of the four districts contacted were in North County: Poway, Carlsbad and San Dieguito, covering Encinitas to Del Mar (Santee rounded out the list). Specifically the grand jury found the districts should implement training in governance, finance, bylaws, the Brown Act and other areas.

Poway responded saying it would require new board members to go through an orientation and attend trainings in their first term. Carlsbad also accepted the recommendations, and will require the board president and vice president attend courses offered through the California School Board Association.

San Dieguito, meanwhile, said that the recommendations have already been a part of the training for its superintendents. Its response also said the Grand Jury lacked any evidence of specific shortcomings in the boards’ training, so the board assumed its voluntary programs were good enough.

August 16, 2017

Voice of San Diego

By Ruarri Serpa

[Calaveras County] State to probe claims against former Angels Camp city administrator

Blog note: this article references a 2016-17 Grand Jury report about Angels Camp governance.

State investigators are probing allegations that a former Angels Camp city administrator may have stolen public funds.

The decision to seek investigative assistance from the California Attorney General’s Office was mutually agreed upon by the Angels Camp Police Department and the Calaveras County District Attorney’s Office, a news release from the police department reported Wednesday.

“Due to the nature of the allegations, and lack of local investigative resources, the decision was made to seek outside, independent investigative assistance,” the release said.

A 2015-16 audit report of Angels Camp financial records alleges a former city administrator, identified as Michael McHatten by current City Administrator Mary Kelly, may have received more payouts for administrative leave than he had available from 2014-16.

The financial report estimated the city may have lost at least $29,000 in public monies through the process. A Grand Jury report citing the same document said McHatten allegedly received payouts for 533 hours but only had 332.6 hours of leave available throughout the span.

McHatten could not be reached for immediate comment regarding the allegations and the investigation Wednesday.

Several inconsistencies were also detailed in credit card statements, per the financial audit. Five purchases were for personal items. In some instances, handwritten excerpts of the purchase were proven false when receipts were provided.

Among some suspicious purchases were about $45 total for a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red and another of Ironstone’s Obsession Symphony varietal after he said he spent $150 for deli trays and drinks purchased for a League of California Cities meeting in 2016.

The audit also noted a few suspected accounting abnormalities with McHatten’s paychecks. He allegedly received two payroll advances for two separate periods within the span of a week in September of 2015. The city was reimbursed a few months later after the payments were discovered by the finance director.

He left his job as city administrator in Angels Camp last December. He is currently the city manager in Soledad in Monterey County.

Earlier this month, the Angels Camp City Council responded to the allegations, many of which were included in a Grand Jury audit of the city.

The council agreed a staffer was taking more administrative time than earned, but they did not think the city accrued a $29,000 loss.

It agreed that the former city administrator was violating the city’s handbook in independently crafting policies rather than implementing and following standards set by the council.

The members disagreed that the payroll advance policy was abused because all alleged instances occurred at a time when no procedures existed. A written policy put in place by the council in 2015 regulating the practice of salary advances was revoked in July.

A news release from the Angels Camp Police Department said Angels Camp staff was cooperating fully with the investigation.

Representatives from the California Attorney General's Office could not be reached for immediate comment Wednesday.

August 16, 2017

Calaveras Enterprise

By Jason Cowan

[Sonoma County] Grand Jury: Coordinate on sales tax measures

As Sonoma County and other jurisdictions including Petaluma consider asking voters to raise sales taxes to shore up lean budgets, officials worry that voters may be inundated with a cornucopia of ballot measures and decide to cast a blanket “no” vote on all of them.

Additionally, as the county nears a state sales tax cap, observers have encouraged jurisdictions to increase coordination to both avoid voter fatigue and maximize what little room is left for raising revenue for unfunded priorities such as road paving, park construction and pension liabilities.

The Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury, in a recent report, urged the county, cities and other governmental bodies with taxing authority to communicate their plans to avoid having three or more tax measures on the same ballot.

The problem is more acute at the county level, where the board of supervisors is hamstrung by a sales tax cap of 2 percent above the state level of 7.25 percent. Sales tax in the city of Cotati is 9.125 percent, meaning that if the board of supervisors wishes to raise sales taxes countywide, there is only .125 percent, or one eighth-cent of room to increase the tax before the cap is reached.

Such a tax increase would raise about $10 million per year for the county, well short of the $150 million per year in new revenue that the board of supervisors needs to fund its priorities, according to the grand jury report.

Petaluma with a sales tax of 8.125, is among the lowest in the county. City officials have unsuccessfully tried several times in recent years to increase the sales tax, but are not considering asking voters for an increase in the near future.

“No countywide sales taxes may be proposed once any jurisdiction in the county reaches the 2 percent cap,” the grand jury report says. “That does not preclude individual cities from submitting additional local sales taxes to their voters, but it does preclude the board of supervisors or any other entity from proposing countywide sales tax measures. That makes Cotati, with a 1.875 percent local sales tax rate, the tail that wags the dog.”

The report says that the board of supervisors should “develop a formal process to work with cities, independent special districts and joint powers authorities to coordinate future sales tax measures to ensure sales tax revenues are maximized across all jurisdictions.”

It also recommends asking a state legislator to introduce a bill that would waive the state sales tax cap, a rare procedure that has been used in three other counties in the state.

The county could propose two sales tax measures on the ballot in 2018. A sales tax dedicated to Sonoma County Regional Parks, which was narrowly defeated at the ballot last year, could be back before voters. Also, transportation officials are looking to extend Measure M, a quarter-cent sales tax for road maintenance, and are thinking about increasing that tax to a half-cent.

Supervisor David Rabbitt agreed with the grand jury and said that the county should coordinate with other jurisdictions.

“Everything we’ve done at the county, we’ve tried to let other jurisdictions know,” he said. “I believe we need to coordinate and not look at things in a vacuum.”

Petaluma last asked voters to increase the sales tax in 2014 with Measure Q, which was defeated. An early attempt last year to raise the sales tax never made it to the ballot after polling showed it did not have the support to pass.

August 16, 2017

Petaluma Argus-Courier

By Matt Brown