Imperial County Grand Jury
2007-2008
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Findings & Recommendations
18 findings
F1:
It is not possible to expand the airport. The highway on the east, development on the south and on the west, and the City of Imperial water plant on the North prohibit making the airport larger.
F2:
The second floor of the airport terminal has not been used since 1994/95 because it is not in compliance with American Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements for handicapped persons. Neither access to the second floor nor to access to the restrooms meet ADA standards. Consequently, while the second floor has a number of potential uses, it has remained idle for over ten years.
F3:
The runways are in poor condition.
F4:
The airport rents airplane hangars to the public. The hangars are being used in some cases for purposes other than airplanes. One hangar is used to store a motor home and another is used to store a vehicle. One individual rents two and uses them as a repair garage for airplanes.
F5:
Over the years the locks have been changed on the airplane hangars, but management does not have keys to all of the locks. This poses a problem for airport fire officials who need to be able to inspect each hangar to determine what is stored inside, (gas, oil, paint, etc.) and to determine whether there is proper fire safety equipment in place including flammable lockers and fire extinguishers. Management
F6:
The Airport Director wears many hats. He is also the County Agricultural Commissioner, the Director of Weights and Measures, and the Imperial County Air Pollution Control Officer.
F7:
There have been four airport managers in the past five years.
F8:
The County recently hired a new Airport Manager and gave him the charge to improve the look and image of the airport, with the goal of bringing additional scheduled air service to the airport. 43
F9:
The current Airport Manager has enthusiastically accepted this challenge. He is working on streamlining maintenance services and improving the look of the airport and the quality of its services.
F10:
The Airport Manager does not have access to timely budgetary information about revenues and expenses. Finances are handled in El Centro by the Airport Director, Airport Assistant Director, and the Airport Financial Assistant. None of these persons is located at the airport. The Airport Manager has no idea what monies are being collected or what bills are being paid each month. This makes it very difficult to plan for and manage the facility.
F11:
The County Department of Maintenance sends two workers to the airport daily to maintain the airport facilities. The Department bills county the airport for this service. These workers do not take direction from the Airport Manager with respect to maintaining airport facilities. Apparently, the workers are only responsive to the County Maintenance Department.
F12:
There is a demand for airplane hangars. There is a waiting list of 28 persons wanting to rent a hangar at the airport. There has not been a review of the hangar rental agreements for years and it is not known how comparable the rental rates are with hangars at similarly situated airports. Finances
F13:
The monies collected by the airport are not put into the General Fund. The airport money is handled by the Imperial County Auditor/Controller, and is not mixed with other Imperial County funds.
F14:
The airport receives some money to operate from federal grants that are based on passenger use of the facility. These monies have been declining in recent years.
F15:
The airport leases/rents several acres of land at the airport, office space, T- hangars, and outdoor hangars. There has not been a review of these leases/rental agreements for a number of years. Most are on a month-to-month basis. There is confusion in some cases as to what specific parts of the airport geography are being rented by various individuals. Rental property parcel boundary lines are not clear. 44
F16:
The county has contracted with a firm to survey the airport several months ago so that lease areas can be identified. The Airport Director is waiting for the report.
F17:
A new lease document is being drafted, and all who lease/rent land from the airport will be signing a new lease very soon.
F18:
Interviews suggest that the Imperial County Board of Supervisors is not enthusiastic about investing money in the existing airport. Supervisors would prefer to see a cargo airport established in the county and think that this would be a wiser investment. CONCLUSIONS Based on the findings from the interviews and tour, the Civil Grand Jury Investigative Committee arrived at a number of conclusions. Among them is that the airport has been badly neglected. It is in need of a lot of maintenance and improvements that have been known about for years. At a time when the airport appears to have great needs, it appears to be receiving very little attention from those who are managing it. The excessively high turnover in the Airport Manager position appears to be a reflection of the problems with the management of the airport operation. The current Airport Manager appears to be a competent and conscientious employee who is capable of maintaining the airport and making it grow and become more profitable. However, the Committee found a number of circumstances that appear to complicate the efforts of the Airport Manager and make it difficult to perform his job. Among these is a lack of communication and cooperation between the Airport Director, the Airport Assistant Director and the Airport Manager. While the Airport Manager seems to have much responsibility, he appears to have little authority to carry out his job responsibilities. He lacks timely budgetary information and has limited interaction with the Airport Financial Assistant who is located across town. He has limited or no authority to direct grounds maintenance workers. The state of the lease / rental agreements for airport grounds and facilities is chaotic. While the Airport Director is working on it, this situation is likely to have already cost the airport considerable revenue. The lack of information about competitive hangar rental rates and no review of existing rental agreements for years are also likely to have cost the airport revenue. Importantly, there are also several potential safety problems that need to be addressed, including the lack of access to hangars by fire officials, appropriate use of hangars, materials stored in hangars, and the availability of appropriate fire safety equipment. 45
Additional Recommendations
6
Not linked to specific findings.
R1:
The management of the Imperial County Airport should be examined to improve its productivity and functioning. Consideration should be given to reorganizing the existing management structure to ensure that the many outstanding issues and problems identified above in this report are addressed in a timely fashion, and to enable the Airport Manager to perform his duties in a more efficient and effective manner. The Civil Grand Jury is concerned that part of the airport’s neglect and management difficulties arise from (1) the Airport Director having too many roles to play and (2) not enough delegation of authority within the agency. Lines of authority and responsibility appear to be problematic. Given the scope of the problems at the airport and the need for them to be addressed in a timely manner, the Civil Grand Jury recommends that the Imperial County Board of Supervisors consider the many jobs that the Airport Director is already responsible for and consider allocating airport direction responsibilities differently or elsewhere so that the airport can function more productively in the future.
R2:
A better system of communication should be developed within the Imperial County Airport chain of command.
R3:
Annual budget and monthly revenue and expenditure information should be provided to the Airport Manager in a timely fashion.
R4:
Consideration should be given to assigning the Airport Manager authority over the activities of the crew from Imperial County Department of Maintenance.
R5:
The review of present lease / rental agreements, the competitive pricing of facilities and services, the survey of property boundaries, and the execution of new lease / rental agreements should be completed as quickly as possible to ensure that the airport is receiving the revenue that it is capable of generating.
R6:
The alternative uses of the second floor of the airport terminal and their revenue generating capacities should be evaluated with respect to the cost of bringing this portion of the terminal up to ADA standards. RESPONSE The county Civil Grand Jury requests to be notified as to the actions taken by the Imperial County Supervisors, the Airport Director and the Airport Manager in these matters. 46
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Findings & Recommendations
3 findings
F1:
Imperial Negotiated Net Amount (NNA) Contract Compliance Review Dates of review: October 2 and 3, 2007, carried out by the Performance Management Branch of the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, State of California, Health and Human Services, for the purpose of meeting requirements for the Treatment Block Grant. Annual funding amount: $64,292.00.
F2:
State Department of Mental Health (DMH) Medi-Cal Oversight Review Dates of review: April 16-20, 2007. ICBHS performed well with only one item requiring a Plan of Correction.
F3:
APS Healthcare. California External Quality Review Organization (CAEQRO) Dates of review: March 13-14, 2007. The purpose of the review was to evaluate the quality of mental health services provided to beneficiaries enrolled in the Medi-Cal managed mental health care program. Key findings: • Fiscal year 05-06 Denials of Medi-Cal claims (7.06%) ranked 26 on a scale of 1- 56: 1 being the highest percentage of denied claims and 56 being the lowest. In fiscal year 03-04 the denial rate was 2.95% and in 04-05 the denial rate was 6.22%. • More barriers exist in accessing mental health services for females than males. • During the consumer/Family Member Focus Group meeting with CAEQRO, one of the aspects that troubled all participants was that upon calling the Crisis Center for help, the staff would refer the caller to the police. It was stated that “the police are the only ones who can initiate a 5150, and the Mental Health staff does not accompany the police on these field calls. The person is handcuffed and put in the back of the police car ‘with no dignity.’ No one thought this was a good way to handle someone in crisis.” 40 Client Satisfaction Survey Reported below are the findings on the outcome of services provided: • Adults: 63% were satisfied (40%) and very satisfied (23%) with the outcome of services provided in comparison to the State’s 61% for the same indicators. • Older adults: 82% were satisfied (50%) or very satisfied (32%) with the outcome of services received in comparison to the State’s 69% for the same indicators. • Youth: 55% were satisfied (48%) and very satisfied (7%) with the outcome of services provided in comparison to the State’s 67% for the same indicators.
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Findings & Recommendations
10 findings
F1:
The Airport Station’s overhead apparatus stall doors will not close. Concerns for safety were expressed.
F2:
The air conditioning unit is not adequate.
F3:
Basic essentials such as toilet paper, laundry detergent and soap are consistently in short supply or not available. (This finding was reported for most of the Department as a whole) • Station 2.
F4:
The sleeping quarters on the second floor do not have windows. Windows serve as a second escape route in an emergency.
F5:
There is a locked room on the 2nd floor with unknown contents and no access as nobody has keys to it.
F6:
There are no smoke or heat detectors.
F7:
There are no portable hand held fire extinguishers hung in the station.
F8:
The upstairs A/C unit is too small to cool the sleeping and kitchen areas during the summer. • Station
F9:
The hot water heater is not strapped to the wall.
F10:
The work required to bring the station up to acceptable standards is placed on the firefighters. The heavy labor the firefighters do may delay or extend their response time to emergencies. RECOMMENDATONS • The Department should consider hiring additional firefighters to meet NFPA standards and provide needed fire and emergency services to the public. Consideration should be given to hiring experienced firefighters, given the relatively large number of inexperienced firefighters in the department. • The personnel reorganization plan should be explained to all Department members to avoid any misunderstandings. • The filling of vacant positions within the Department should be uniform and consistent. Hiring, reorganizing, and promotion practices should be consistently followed to avoid the appearance of favoritism or catering to selected employees. • A succession plan should be in place to smoothly and effectively replace vacancies. The Director of Human Resources and Risk Management should be informed and aware of personnel reorganizations or changes early in the process. • A Chief Officer should be designated to be a facilities safety officer to ensure that the safety issues and basic necessities of the Department’s living quarters are met. • The Department’s upper staff should be more responsive to the needs and concerns of its lower ranking staff. This is likely to build up the morale of the Department and confidence in its leaders. • Coverage for outlying and remote areas of the county should be studied and plans made to shorten response times. • The County Fire Department should prioritize and address the various deficiencies identified by the Civil Grand Jury Investigative Committee at each of the fire stations. RESPONSE The Imperial County Civil Grand Jury respectfully requests that it be notified by the Imperial County Fire Department and the Director of Human Resources and Risk Management of actions taken in response to these recommendations.
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Findings & Recommendations
12 findings
F1:
Do you have any medical problems?
F2:
Have you had any recent illnesses?
F3:
Have you had any recent injuries?
F4:
Do you take any medicines?
F5:
Have you ever been hospitalized for nerves or mental problems?
F7:
Are you hurt or in pain today?
F8:
Do you drink heavily?
F9:
Are you doing drugs?
F10:
Do you expect withdrawal problems?
F11:
Have you ever wanted to end your life?
F12:
Do you feel that way now?
F13:
Do you have special diet needs? Medical personnel observed and documented that the complainant: a. was not ill or disabled; b. did not have any blood or trauma signs; c. was not confused or disoriented; d. did not have behavior suggesting that he was a danger to himself or others; e. did not appear developmentally disabled; and f. did not appear to be intoxicated. He was seen while in detox by a physician who prescribed medication for his previously documented seizure disorder. The physician made no mention in the medical chart of physical injury. His booking photograph shows no trauma to the face. The inmate denied having any injuries and none were noted by medical personnel. The Imperial County Civil Grand Jury finds the inmate’s complaint to be invalid.
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