Gavelly

Add a dedicated findings section — either a stand-alone 'Findings' section, or a combined 'Findings and Recommendations' section that lists them in sequence. Each finding should stand on its own as a verifiable fact, not an opinion or a recommendation. Findings must not be buried in the narrative of the report.

Prefix each finding with a sequential label: 'F1.', 'F2.', etc. Use the same format consistently throughout the report.

Renumber findings so each label is unique and the sequence has no gaps. If you split a finding into parts (F1a, F1b), keep the parent number consistent — don't mix 'F2' and 'F2a' in the same report unless the bare 'F2' is the parent statement and the sub-letters are clearly its children.

Rewrite hedged findings to state the underlying evidence (CGJA's own example: 'The district's failure to maintain the levee resulted in the flooding of six homes,' rather than 'we believe the levee is poorly maintained'). Move any 'should' / 'shall' / 'must' language to Recommendations. CGJA encourages judgment words like 'failed', 'inadequate', and 'wasteful' when backed by evidence.

Add a dedicated recommendations section — either a stand-alone 'Recommendations' section, or a combined 'Findings and Recommendations' section that lists them in sequence. Each recommendation should propose a specific action tied to one or more findings. Recommendations must not be buried in the narrative of the report.

Prefix each recommendation with a sequential label: 'R1.', 'R2.', etc. Use the same format consistently.

Renumber recommendations so each label is unique and the sequence has no gaps. If you split a recommendation into parts (R1a, R1b), keep the parent number consistent — don't mix bare and sub-lettered labels for the same number unless the bare label is clearly the parent.

At the end of each recommendation, reference the finding(s) it addresses: 'R1. The Board should... (F1, F3)'.

Rewrite each recommendation to start with an action verb: 'The Board should...', 'The Sheriff shall...', 'The department must...'.

Append a deadline phrase to each recommendation:

• ... by Dec 31, 2026.
• ... no later than Jun 30, 2027.
• ... beginning FY 2025–26.
• ... within 90 days of receipt.

This is the recommendation's action deadline (when the respondent has finished the work), distinct from the §933.05 response deadline (60 or 90 days from publication for the response itself, which Gavelly checks separately).

For every recommendation, add an explicit 'Required Response' line naming a governing board (Board of Supervisors, city council, special district board) or an elected county official (Sheriff, District Attorney, etc.).

Split respondent sections into 'Required Responses' and 'Invited Responses' with clear headings. List each recommendation's respondents under the correct category.

Replace appointed staff with their governing board: city-level staff (City Manager, Police Chief, Fire Chief) → City Council; county-level staff (County Administrator, Public Defender, Chief Probation Officer) → Board of Supervisors. Move elected city officials (Mayor, City Clerk — except in San Francisco) and subordinate boards (planning commissions, advisory committees) to 'Invited Responses'. Remove state/federal agencies, courts, and private entities entirely.

For each recommendation, identify the entity that must take action (the subject of 'should/shall/must'). List that entity (or its governing board if it is a department) as the Required Respondent. Move other entities you want to inform — but who can't act on the recommendation — to Invited Responses. If a recommendation truly applies to multiple entities ('the County and each city should adopt …'), make sure the action verb is plural and every named entity has the authority to act.

Rewrite the recommendation so the actor is the public agency that has authority to direct or contract with the non-government entity (e.g. 'the City Council shall re-evaluate the agreement with Visit Lompoc Inc.' rather than 'Visit Lompoc Inc. shall…'). If the recommendation is genuinely about private behavior outside any agency's reach, move it to a finding instead.

For each flagged respondent, confirm the named body and the government entity it refers to. If the respondent is named like a private entity, replace it with the public agency that has authority over it (and move the private party to an invited respondent or a finding). If the matcher's link is wrong — most often a county department or program matched to a like-named city — correct it to the proper governing body (the Board of Supervisors for a county department, the city council for a city department).

For each flagged respondent:

1. Confirm the entity is dependent. Check the entity's enabling resolution; check whether its “board meeting” is held at the same time and place as the parent body's; check whether it has separate staff or a website of its own.
2. If dependent, replace the entity name with the parent governing body — the Board of Supervisors for most CSAs, the city council or BoS for CFDs and assessment districts, the school district board for district-operated charter schools.
3. If you intended both (e.g. a recommendation that requires the city council to act and the contracted operator to follow), name the public body as the required respondent and the operator as an invited respondent — never the other way around.

If you only inspected the facility, publish a brief statement like 'The Grand Jury inspected the [facility] and found it in compliance with applicable standards.' If you investigated further, ensure findings are verified and no secret evidence is disclosed.

Add a section like 'Required Responses are due within 60 days (elected officials) or 90 days (governing boards) of this report's release, per Penal Code §933(c).'

Add a 'Responding to This Report' section (or include this in the cover letter) that lays out the §933.05 response format using the statutory wording:

For each FINDING, the respondent must indicate one of:

1. The respondent agrees with the finding
2. The respondent disagrees wholly or partially with the finding, with an explanation

For each RECOMMENDATION, the respondent must indicate one of:

1. The recommendation has been implemented, with a summary of the implemented action
2. The recommendation has not yet been implemented, but will be implemented in the future, with a timeframe for implementation
3. The recommendation requires further analysis, with an explanation and a timeframe (not to exceed six months)
4. The recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted or is not reasonable, with an explanation

Review the draft for any named witnesses, direct quotes from testimony, vote counts, or references to sealed material. Replace with generic descriptions ('a department employee', 'the Grand Jury reviewed records indicating...').

On the cover page or in the front matter, add a single line:

• Released [Month] [Day], [Year]
• or Published [Month] [Day], [Year]
• or Issued [Month] [Day], [Year]

Use a specific date — not "Fiscal Year 2024–25" alone, which is a range, not a release date.

Add a 'Methodology' or 'Investigation' section listing the records reviewed, number of interviews, site visits, and any other investigation activities.

Add a 'Summary' or 'Executive Summary' section at the start (after the title page) with 2-4 paragraphs covering the topic, key findings, and main recommendations.

Add a 'Background' section after the summary with relevant context: what the entity does, its history, its budget, and any laws or policies that apply.

Two fixes work, in order of preference:

1. Export the PDF from Microsoft Word (or another desktop PDF tool) rather than printing through a browser viewer. Word's exporter sets /Creator to a clean generic value.
2. If you must use a browser viewer, set the Word document's Author field explicitly (File → Properties → Author) before export so the leaked workstation metadata is overridden.

One-time fix: rename the office copier's display name in its admin console to a generic value (e.g. Office Copier). The change applies to every PDF exported from that device thereafter.

If the report has already been scanned through the affected copier, re-exporting it from Word or Acrobat will overwrite the Producer field cleanly.

Before posting:

1. Rename the file to a clean topic-based name (animal-services-report-2025.pdf) that doesn't reference its drafting history.
2. Remove any personal names from the path. Use the bench (Dept5) or a case number rather than a judge's surname; use a generic submission directory rather than the submitter's name.

Add a one-line cover note to each translated edition:

• Spanish: "Traducción del Informe Núm. [N]. Versión autoritativa en inglés."
• Other languages: a parallel one-liner naming the report number and identifying the English version as authoritative.

Use the same finding/recommendation numbering across all language editions so a respondent's response under §933.05 maps cleanly to either version.

When exporting to PDF from Microsoft Word (Desktop):

1. Click File → Save As (or Export)
2. Choose PDF as the file format
3. Click Options... (or More Options...)
4. Check "Document structure tags for accessibility"
5. Click OK, then Save

In Microsoft Word (Desktop):

1. Click in the paragraph you want as a section heading
2. Go to Home tab → Styles group
3. Click Heading 1 for main sections (e.g., "Findings", "Recommendations")
4. Use Heading 2 for subsections, Heading 3 for sub-subsections
5. Do not skip levels — go H1 → H2 → H3, never H1 → H3 directly

Tip: Open the Navigation Pane (Ctrl+F, then click the "Headings" tab) to verify your heading hierarchy.

In Microsoft Word (Desktop):

1. Press Ctrl+A to select all text in the document
2. Go to the Review tab in the ribbon
3. Click Language → Set Proofing Language
4. Select English (United States) from the list
5. Click OK to apply

In Microsoft Word (Desktop):

1. Click File → Info
2. On the right side, find the Properties panel
3. Click the Title field (it may say "Add a title")
4. Type your full report title (e.g., "2024-2025 Grand Jury Report: County Emergency Services")
5. Click elsewhere or press Enter to save

In Microsoft Word (Desktop):

1. Apply Heading styles to all section titles (Home → Styles → Heading 1, 2, 3)
2. When saving as PDF: click File → Save As → select PDF
3. Click Options...
4. Check "Create bookmarks using: Headings"
5. Click OK, then Save

Note: PDF bookmarks are generated from Word heading styles. Without headings, there are no bookmarks to create.

In Microsoft Word (Desktop):

1. Right-click the image that needs alt text
2. Select Edit Alt Text from the context menu
3. In the Alt Text pane on the right, type a concise description of what the image shows
4. If the image is purely decorative (e.g., a divider line), check "Mark as decorative" instead
5. Repeat for each image missing alt text

Tip: Run File → Info → Check for Issues → Check Accessibility to find all images missing alt text at once.

In Microsoft Word (Desktop):

1. Click anywhere inside the table
2. The Table Design tab appears in the ribbon — click it
3. In the Table Style Options group, check "Header Row"
4. Ensure the first row of your table contains column headers (e.g., "Finding", "Description"), not data
5. If the table spans multiple pages: click Layout tab → Repeat Header Rows

This document appears to be a scanned image, not real text:

1. Do not scan your report and save it as a PDF
2. Write or paste your report text directly in Microsoft Word
3. Export to PDF using File → Save As → PDF
4. If you must start from a scan, use OCR software first, then paste the recognized text into Word and reformat

Use standard black text (#000000) on a white background for body copy. If you need colored headings, verify contrast with a tool like the WebAIM Contrast Checker. Avoid light gray, pale blue, or any pastel on white.

When exporting to PDF from Microsoft Word (Desktop):

1. Ensure your document uses Heading styles and proper paragraph formatting (not manual spacing or line breaks)
2. Click File → Save As → select PDF
3. Click Options...
4. Check "Document structure tags for accessibility"
5. Click OK, then Save

Note: Tagged PDFs can reflow content for different screen sizes and zoom levels.

Darken chart lines, icon colors, and table borders so they contrast strongly with the page background. If a chart uses multiple colors to distinguish data series, ensure each pair has a 3:1 contrast ratio, or add patterns/labels in addition to color.

In Microsoft Word (Desktop):

1. Use Word's built-in paragraph spacing (Layout tab → Spacing) instead of pressing Enter multiple times
2. Use Heading styles rather than manually changing font size and bold
3. When saving as PDF, check "Document structure tags for accessibility" in Options

Note: Tagged PDFs allow assistive technology to adjust text spacing for users who need it.

Put all contact information, 'how to respond' instructions, and help resources in one consistent location — typically the introduction or a dedicated 'Responding to This Report' appendix.

In Microsoft Word:

1. Select all footnote text (View → Draft → click in footnote area → Ctrl+A)
2. On the Home tab, set the font size to at least 9pt (10pt recommended)
3. Alternatively, modify the Footnote Text style: right-click the style in the Styles pane → Modify → set size to 10pt

Rewrite the title to describe the subject. Examples from published reports:

• "Auditor-Controller: Distrust, Disagreements, Dysfunction" (Humboldt, 2022)
• "Hate @Schools — Opportunities Lost" (San Mateo, 2020)
• "Skyline Academy at Juvenile Hall: Delay and Disorganization" (Napa, 2024)
• "Pot Luck: Santa Ana's Monopoly on Licensed Retail Adult-Use Cannabis" (Orange, 2021)

The same descriptive title belongs in both the cover page and the PDF /Title metadata field — one fix solves the SC 2.4.2 accessibility requirement, the discoverability problem, and the citation-manager problem at once.

In Microsoft Word, select the affected text (or the whole document with Ctrl+A / Cmd+A) and set it to the report's standard font on the Home tab. Paste future text with 'Keep Text Only' so it adopts the surrounding font. Use the 'Show the text in other fonts' button above to see exactly which passages differ.

In Microsoft Word (Desktop), export to PDF with accessibility tags:

1. Click File → Save As (or Export) → choose PDF
2. Click Options... and check "Document structure tags for accessibility"
3. Click OK, then Save
4. Upload the PDF to Gavelly for a complete accessibility audit — it checks tagging, bookmarks, reflow, and contrast that cannot be verified from the DOCX

Before posting:

1. Rename the file and set the document title to a clean, topic-based phrase (sheriff-overtime-report-2026.pdf) with no tracking number.
2. Keep the RFI / investigation / case number in the jury's internal records only — never in the published filename, title, or metadata.

Replace the personal-contact block with the agency's public-facing contact information:

• The agency's board-secretary email and office phone, or
• The agency's general public-records request address, or
• Strike the contact block entirely if it is not necessary for the response.

If the report has already been posted with leaked PII, ask the originating agency to republish a redacted copy. UnGovr honors per-document redaction requests on civilgrandjury.org while the agency works on republication.

Use one of these alternatives:

• The Superior Court's clerk address (in counties where the court hosts the jury)
• A county-domain alias such as [email protected]
• A generic forwarding address controlled by the court that future juries inherit

If no such alias exists, request one from the court before publishing — the IT lift is small and the result is durable across jury terms.

Before posting, rename the file:

1. Use a content-based filename (map-proposal-04.pdf) rather than the submitter's name.
2. For court personnel, use the bench number (Dept5) or the case number rather than a judge's surname.
3. File the document in a generic dated directory (/submitted/2024/) rather than a per-person directory.

For each broken URL Gavelly flags:

1. Open the suggested Wayback snapshot if Gavelly found one — it is usually the same content frozen at the cited date.
2. Update the citation to the working URL or the Wayback URL.
3. For any URL that should remain a citation, submit it to web.archive.org/save/ before publication so it remains accessible later.

UnGovr is also building a managed archive (per #1243) that will capture every cited URL automatically when the report is published on civilgrandjury.org — juries that prefer not to maintain their own archive will not have to.