Mono County Grand Jury
2002-2003
Findings & Recommendations
7 findings
F1:
Committee members attended numerous meetings of the Board of Supervisors. They reported that meetings were lengthy at times, but allowed for the public to comment to the fullest. Public comment was actively sought as a rule. Business was conducted in a most professional manner, and posted agenda times were adhered to completely.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1:
The Arts Council has a history of mishandling employee relations. It should appoint a committee to become familiar with labor law and employee relations. All organizations need training and knowledge in this area. If this experience does not exist on the board or with the director, then consultants should be considered. Other organizations or governmental entities in Mammoth could be useful here.
F2:
At its meetings the Administration committee interviewed the County Administrative Officer; discussed revenue and finance issues at length, explored areas for increased cooperation between the Town of Mammoth Lakes and Mono County; and moved toward development of a county Health and Human Services Agency that would combine the current somewhat fragmented system.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2:
All financial transactions within the organization, whether issuing checks or depositing cash, should be handled by a third party. Contracting with a bookkeeping service could also be more cost effective than handling these functions in-house.
F3:
Inquiries into a possible conflict of interest in regard to filling a vacancy on the board of directors of the Mammoth Community Water District determined that a written MCWD procedure in place was followed at the time of appointment, and that financial benefit to the existing board members seemed unlikely.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3:
Personal use of Arts Council credit cards should be specifically prohibited. The board of directors, with the help of its financial advisors, ought to develop "Policies and Procedures" for all financial transactions.
F4:
The various governmental agencies reviewed need to establish a system whereby cost benefits could be realized from cooperative and expert capital improvement purchasing. Various agencies purchase similar costly items and appear to rely chiefly on in- house advice and expertise. While tailored function is important, greater communication and joint purchasing could realize cost savings. The planning, design and construction oversight for fixed facilities needed now and in the near future appear to be dealt with on an agency-specific basis. With the tremendous sums of capital involved in one-time only projects for the agencies, the sharing of a resource that might include expertise could prove cost efficient.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4:
Employment contracts entered into by the Arts Council need to be reviewed not only for their substance but also for legality. The payment method in the contract with the Executive Director clearly violates IRS regulations.
F5:
Construction of the new football field proceeded under pressure to clear the site for the anticipated start of construction for the middle school. a. The school board members did not have a clear idea of the overall project costs for this facility. b. There was pressure from parents and staff to continue the football program uninterrupted, which necessitated moving forward quickly with construction. c. Interviews with the board of trustees reveal that there was little discussion about alternatives to the field relocation, and a total project cost estimate for field relocation was never presented to the board. FINDINGS
Related Recommendations (1)
R5:
Financial reporting to the board of directors needs to be complete and consistent. These reports were found to have little continuity.
F6:
The information developed during the steering committee meetings remains in the form of meeting notes and exhibits prepared by NTD Architects.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6:
Arm's-length transactions and avoiding the appearance of a conflict of interest should be included in "Policies and Procedures."
F7:
Public agencies should pay close attention to project budgets in approval of capital projects. There does not appear to be a depth of understanding among the members of the MUSD board concerning the growth and upward movement of estimated project cost during the design development stage and later the bid-and-award stage of its projects.
Related Recommendations (1)
R7:
The incoming grand jury should review the Sacramento County Grand Jury Report at www.sacgrandjury.org
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.