Fiscal Year 2019 to 2020

Recommendations 9

• R1

  Page 42
  Butte County Sheriff’s Office should continue the pursuit of a new jail facility with the process that is currently in progress.
• R2

  Page 42
  Butte County Sheriff’s Office should simplify the inmate grievance procedure. For example, create a flow chart showing the responsibilities of the inmate and a separate flow chart for the Correctional Officers
• R3

  Page 42
  Butte County Sheriff’s Office, or responsible party, needs to replace the existing examination table per Professional Service Contract by October 1, 2020 (before the start of flu season).
• R4

  Page 42
  Butte County Sheriff’s Office should upgrade the outdated Computer Lab and workstations
• R5

  Page 59
  DMAD should thoroughly comply with LAFCO’s recommendations regarding its website
• R6

  Page 59
  DMAD District Manager should regularly attend the BCDPH West Nile Virus Task Force Meetings beginning September 1, 2020.
• R7

  Page 59
  DMAD should increase the funding for public information and outreach by January 1, 2021. RESPONSES Pursuant to Penal Code 933, the following responses are required: From the following governing bodies: • Director, Butte County Mosquito Vector Control: F12, F13, F14, F15 and R3, R4 • Director, Butte County Department of Public Health: F5, F6 and R1, R2 • Board of Trustees, Durham Mosquito Abatement District: F18, F19 and R5, R6, R7 The governing bodies indicated above should be aware that comment or response must be conducted subject to the notice, agenda, and open meeting requirements of the Brown Act. Reports issued by the Grand Jury do not identify individuals interviewed. Penal Code section 929 requires that reports of the Grand Jury not contain the name of any person or facts leading to the identity of any person who provides information to the Grand Jury. APPENDIX I https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/CDPH%20Document%20Library/GuidetoImportantMosquitoesinCA.pdf 42 APPENDIX II https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/CDPH%20Document%20Library/AedesDistributionMap.pdf 43 [This page intentionally left blank] 44 Public Works Roads Report SUMMARY Butte County Public Works has many divisions that serve the County. However, the focus of this report is road maintenance, repair and the funding this requires. Butte County has elected to be subject to the California Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act (CUPCCAA). Butte County Public Works utilizes Street Saver, an analytic tool, to leverage its funding. This is important to Butte County as road conditions have further deteriorated due to the Oroville Dam Spillway failure, the Camp Fire, normal usage, and delayed maintenance. A secondary focus of this report is the handling of public complaints. Public Works uses Butte County Connect (BCC) to provide better communication between Public Works and the public. Overall, a lack of funding, manpower and training hinder Public Works’ performance. GLOSSARY • BCC – Butte County Connect • BCGJ – 2019-2020 Butte County Grand Jury • BOS – Butte County Board of Supervisors • CalPERS – California Public Employees Retirement System • CUPCCAA – California Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act • FEMA – Federal Emergency Management Act • HUTA – Highway Users Tax Account • ISAP – Information Systems Analyst Principal • PCI – Pavement Condition Index • RMRA – Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account • RWC – Road Work Crew • SB 1 – Road Repair and Accountability Act (2017) 45 BACKGROUND The Public Works Department employs 144 people who make up three separate divisions: • Road & Bridge Engineering/Permits/Land Development/Drainage/Surveys/Right of Way • Fleet Services/Administration/Construction/Road Operations • Solid Waste/Landfill Road maintenance is the process of road preservation that requires less than one inch of new pavement. Repair is the complete reconstruction of the road. Public Works uses the Street Saver analytic software to assist in projecting the life expectancy of a road. Butte County has elected to be subject to the California Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act (CUPCCAA). This allows Butte County to perform larger repair projects. It is also important to note that Public Works is only responsible for roads in unincorporated areas, not for city or private roads. Road conditions have further deteriorated due to the Oroville Dam Spillway failure, the Camp Fire, normal usage, and delayed maintenance. METHODOLOGY • Interviewed: Public Works Director o Assistant Public Works Director o Superintendent of Road/Maintenance Operations o Fleet Services Coordinator o Senior Administrative Analyst o Information System Analyst Principal o Butte County Board of Supervisors Districts 1-5 o • Documents: California SB 1 (2017-2018) o California State Budget: Transportation Proposals (2018-2019) o 46 AB 1591 Transportation Funding (2015-2016) o Butte County Public Works Budget (2019-2020) o Butte County Public Works Construction Projects (2019-2020) o Butte County Public Works Work Program (2019-2020) o Butte County Public Works Fiscal Budget Schedule A (2019-2020) o Butte County Road and Bridge Capital Projects o Butte County Public Works Revenue Impact Analysis o Butte County Connect Program List of Open and Closed Work Orders o Butte County Street Saver Program o HUTA Revenues (2019-2020) and (2020-2021) o • Websites: Blankley, B. The Center Square (February 25, 2020). Critics argue Gov. Newsom is o diverting gas tax money to projects voters did not approve of. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/critics-argue-gov-newsom-is- diverting-gas-tax-money-to-projects-voters-did-not-approve-of Fresno Bee Editorial Board (Fresno Bee Oct. 11, 2019). Did Governor Newsom pull a o fast one on California with the gas tax? https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/editorials/article235929407.html Governor Newsom Executive Order (September 20, 2019) N-19-19. o https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/9.20.19-Climate-EO-N-19- 19.pdf Rosales, E. YourCentralValley.com (Oct. 4, 2019). CBS47 Investigation: Gov. o Newsom redirects gas tax money to fund railway systems, not highways. https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/cbs47-investigates/cbs47-investigation-gov- newsom-redirects-gas-tax-money-it-wont-fun-highways-railway-system/ DISCUSSION Funding Many residents wonder why roads in their communities are in such poor condition and why their property taxes are not used for improvements. In fact, Butte County taxes fund almost none of our needed road work. County funding for Public Works’ road budget has been declining since 1980, and that budget is normally funded by the State. Butte County residents’ property taxes 47 provide less than 2% of Public Works’ annual funding. At the time of this report, Butte County property taxes totaled $672,000 of the $44.3 million of the 2019-2020 budget. Temporary FEMA funding has been a large part of Public Works road budget since the Camp Fire. This report does not focus on bridge construction projects, which account for $4.5 million of the 2019-2020 total budget. Bridge construction projects are primarily federally funded. Funding Sources • SB 1: California State Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 HUTA: California State Highway Users Tax Account. Gas tax money from SB 1 o is deposited into this account. HUTA distributes money to county agencies. RMRA: California State Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account. Gas tax o money from SB 1 is deposited into this account. RMRA distributes money to county agencies. • HBP: California State Highway Bridge Program • California State Grants: Available for improving motorist safety or air quality • Butte County Property Tax Discretionary Funds: Tax funds collected from a non- obligated account and assigned to Public Works • FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency - post-disaster assistance Note: The State of California controls SB 1 funds, and these can be redirected by the Governor at any time. This occurred in 2019 when Governor Newsom, through Executive Order N-19-19, redirected $1 billion from this fund. 48 this type of project without any spending restrictions from the state, provided funds are available for the maintenance. Many Butte County roads currently in use were constructed without the engineering available today. Large areas of Butte County sit on a bed of red clay soil. Over time, the roads built on this soil break down to a point requiring repair (rebuilding) prior to repaving. When this occurs, under CUPCCAA guidelines, a road repair project can only be completed by Public Works in $60,000 annual increments. Under this requirement, it can take several years for Public Works to complete a road repair project. Alternately, Public Works can seek bids from outside contractors to rebuild an entire section of road. Contracted road projects range in cost between $500,000 to $1,000,000 per mile to repair. The repair cost depends on many different factors, including road topography, rural versus urban areas, etc. The prioritization of road repair is based on average daily vehicle use, current road conditions, road location, budget, and safety. Street Saver Public Works utilizes an analytic tool called Street Saver, which assists with the logistics of scheduling road maintenance and repair. Street Saver benefits Public Works by producing a very accurate evaluation of road conditions. An important feature of Street Saver is its ability to incorporate a Pavement Condition Index (PCI) into the data. PCI is a numerical index between 0 –100 which indicates the life expectancy of the pavement. County engineers determine this number by assessing the roads. Currently, the average PCI for all Butte County roads is 53. A road that has been evaluated at less than 50 PCI is considered in poor condition requiring repair/rebuilding rather than maintenance. Unfortunately, many roads in Butte County have no PCI designation because Public Works does not have the money to hire additional engineers to perform necessary evaluations. Quotes from outside engineering firms to calculate the PCI on Butte County roads have proven to be prohibitively expensive at an estimated cost of $750,000. Street Saver Analytical Tool Butte County Connect In 2016, Butte County purchased a software program called PublicStuff to promote strong communication between the public and county government. Renamed Butte County Connect (BCC), its purpose is to facilitate the reporting of residents’ complaints and/or concerns. Public Works uses this platform to receive complaints regarding roads and other issues. BCC also produces customized reports for Public Works administrators. This software initially cost Butte County $36,000. Butte County also pays the yearly subscription fee of $20,000. Currently, three county departments use BCC: Development Services (Code Enforcement), Public Health, and Public Works. Public Works pays approximately $7,000 of that yearly subscription cost. BCC features smartphone and web page computer access. The smartphone application can be found and downloaded from either the Google Play or Apple App Store. This allows the public to use a smartphone to report a road condition to Public Works and attach a photo if necessary. BCC is also accessible through the Butte County website on the Public Works page; however, a link to BCC on the Butte County home page does not exist. Public Works staff utilizes BCC for phone-in complaints as well. BCC retains all complaints made to Public Works. If determined to be a safety concern, the Road Work Crew (RWC) Supervisor is alerted immediately by Public Works staff. Currently, all complaints default to medium priority and are reviewed by staff. There is no consistent updating of the BCC complaint to the most accurate priority level. Nine employees can change the priority level. However, the resident logging the complaint has no option to suggest which priority is appropriate. As a result, the priority level is not being utilized fully. BCC was given a soft rollout on January 6, 2017. On February 8, 2017, the Oroville Dam Spillway failure occurred. The dam became the most important issue for Public Works and Butte County, so the soft rollout of BCC was largely overlooked. The RWC Supervisor plays a vital role in the execution of the BCC program. Once a report is made, the RWC Supervisor receives an email notification on a smartphone or tablet. Public Works investigates the complaint, and if possible, addresses it immediately. Using BCC, the supervisor can notify the public of the repair, or explain when the repair can begin. When the job is done, the RWC Supervisor should close out the work order in BCC. Management can extract data from the program to research work activity and produce reports. Reports can be custom or standard and include entries from residents awaiting complaint resolution or requests for pothole repair on a specific road. Public Works management values BCC and believes it is an effective tool. The Public Works Information Systems Analyst Principal (ISAP) has customized the software and can continue to customize it as needed. The 2017-2018 Butte County Grand Jury made a recommendation to Public Works that RWC Supervisors update the complaint log upon completion of the job. The Director of Public Works agreed with the Recommendation and indicated a correction would occur. Currently, updates to the complaint log are not consistently entered upon completion. Training Training on BCC was provided to personnel prior to the soft roll out in January 2017. However, the rapid succession of natural disasters these past few years has required employees to perform beyond their normal duties. As a result, RWC Supervisors were asked to work with a new reporting platform without enough in-depth training. Also, the soft rollout did not adequately inform the public of this program. Most people continue to call in their concerns to Public Works instead of entering them into BCC via a smartphone or a computer. When the office staff receives the complaint over the phone, the complaint is entered into BCC, generating a work order. A training tutorial designed for employees and the public is missing. The Public Works ISAP performed the initial training and believes that more is needed. Additionally, the ISAP believes a re-rollout of BCC would be beneficial. In addition to training on BCC, the Director of Public Works believes training is needed department wide. However, due to the recent emergencies faced countywide, Public Works training has been given a lower priority. The American Public Works Association (APWA) provides guidelines for writing procedures and creating training manuals. The Public Works Director estimates a two-year, full-time employee commitment to create and implement a fully accredited training program. Safety training required by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) consistently takes place. Public Works recognizes the need to cross train the RWC workers, especially in jobs that require a specific acquired skill set. The Director encourages succession planning: workers passing on critical knowledge before retiring. However, allocating a backup person for all jobs is not financially feasible. Training is an ongoing concern for Public Works due to the Board of Supervisors’ (BOS) mandate for a 10% reduction in work force, the loss of personnel post Camp Fire, as well as recent retirements. Employees Public Works has job openings for managers, engineers, and entry level workers. Wages in Butte County are not as competitive as in surrounding counties, which makes it difficult to attract and 53 retain employees. Additionally, the BOS decision to reduce the Butte County workforce by 10%, and follow a fiscally conservative wage policy, is discouraging many qualified candidates from applying for Butte County jobs. Other factors are also discouraging potential applicants. The post-Camp Fire housing shortage contributes to this problem. The rigorous vetting process to become a Butte County employee also restricts some potential applicants from qualifying for employment. Employee retention is also affected by the costly employee contributions which are mandated for the benefit package. Many employees work only five years to become vested in CalPERS, then leave Butte County to pursue higher paying opportunities. Previously, Public Works retained employees for decades. This recent higher turnover rate has placed a strain on Public Works. Native knowledge acquired from years of working at Public Works is disappearing. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The BCGJ found Public Works employees to be dedicated, knowledgeable, forthcoming and professional. The BCGJ was also impressed by the willingness of Public Works employees to work together for the good of all Butte County residents during recent and ongoing emergencies.
• R8

  Page 93
  OUHSD should repair or replace the broken, water-fountain push-bar in the OHS weight room
• R9

  Page 93
  OUHSD should replace the damaged weight bench in the OHS weight room