Kern County Grand Jury • 2023-2024

Report: City of California City

Published: March 07, 2024 21 pages
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Findings and Recommendations 14 findings

F1
The constant turnover of City Managers has been very disruptive to the effective and efficient governance of the City.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By June 1, 2024, hire a full-time, permanent, qualified, and experienced City Manager. (Finding 1)
F2
In accordance with Council Resolution No. 12-23-3012, the City has recognized the need to add a Deputy City Manager classification to its staffing plan. If the City fills the position, it will go a long way toward alleviating the excess burden on the City Manager and allow the City Manager to better focus on key issues related to more efficient governance.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By July 1, 2024, direct the City Manager to hire a Deputy City Manager in accordance with Council Resolution No. 12-23-3012. (Finding 2)
F3
The City has recognized the need to hire a Finance Director but has yet to fill the position. The lack of a qualified and experienced Finance Director means that the City has not established and maintained financial stability and long-term planning city-wide.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By July 1, 2024, direct the City Manager to hire a full-time, permanent, qualified, and experienced Finance Director. (Finding 3)
F4
The City is consistently late in developing and approving its annual budget and filing it with the Kern County Auditor-Controller-County Clerk in accordance with CA Government Code §53901. For this reason, the City does not have a clear picture of its finances and is unable to effectively plan for both current operations and for the drastic revenue shortfalls it is facing.
Related Recommendations (4)
R4
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By July 1, 2024, direct the Finance Department, in collaboration with all City departments, to initiate a process to develop the Preliminary Annual Budget for the next fiscal year to be presented to the City Council for review by June 1, 2025. (Finding 4) 2023-2024 Kern County Grand Jury Report 7
R5
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By August 1, 2024, direct the Finance Director to begin a process whereby all City departments help to develop, manage, and maintain their respective department budgets throughout the fiscal year. The Finance Director should oversee and coordinate this process. (Finding 4)
R6
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By July 1, 2024, direct the Finance Department to ensure that the Adopted Annual Budget include a narrative of an overview of significant changes to the previous budget, the major elements and issues of the current budget, and a fiscal outlook for the future. (Finding 4)
R7
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By September 1, 2024, direct the Finance Director to ensure that a copy of the Adopted Annual Budget has been filed with the Kern County Auditor-Controller-County Clerk in accordance with the requirements of CA Government Code §53901 regarding the filing of financial reports. (Finding 4)
F5
The City does not regularly develop and review budget variance reports. Since the City does not measure its actual performance against its projected performance, it prevents the City from developing appropriate strategies to mitigate variances.
Related Recommendations (1)
R8
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By October 1, 2024, cause quarterly variance reports to be generated and develop an action plan to make appropriate changes to either the budget or expenditures to reconcile or mitigate differences. (Finding 5)
F6
The City has consistently escalated its budget amounts for Legal Services and Litigation, and its expenditure for these has consistently far exceeded the budgeted amounts. This causes a significant fiscal concern regarding City operations and is also a source of frustration for the citizens since the reasons for these apparently excessive costs are not always transparent.
Related Recommendations (2)
R9
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By July 1, 2024, develop and implement a plan to reduce or eliminate excessive costs for legal services and litigation. (Finding 6)
R10
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By July 1, 2024, review the City’s expenditure rates for legal services and litigation, and direct the Finance Department to include more accurate amounts in its annual budget proposal. (Finding 6)
F7
Billings from the City Attorney are based on hourly rates. Unfiltered access to the City Attorney by city staff and citizens contributes to excess City Attorney fees for legal services. 2023-2024 Kern County Grand Jury Report 5
Related Recommendations (2)
R11
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By July 1, 2024, review all detailed costs for legal services and litigation on a monthly basis to verify that all billings are necessary and appropriate. (Finding 7)
R12
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By August 1, 2024, direct the City Manager to begin a process to review and approve all interactions between City staff and the City Attorney and eliminate unnecessary interactions. (Finding 7)
F8
The reasons for termination of the City’s CIRA and ERMA memberships are of significant concern with respect to the City’s ability to manage its liability risks. The Grand Jury asked for, but did not receive, the actual letters of termination. However, both CIRA and ERMA advised the City that they were considering termination unless the City entered into respective Performance Improvement Plans. In accordance with a staff report from the City Manager in June of 2022: • CIRA was considering termination due to … significant concerns regarding the City's governance and risk management practices, public works, contractual risk transfer, accident investigation, law enforcement use of [a private consulting firm] and hiring practices for department heads. • ERMA was considering termination due to … significant concerns regarding the City's governance, risk management practices, claims history, and employment practices. The termination of the CIRA and ERMA memberships leaves the City unable to take advantage of the cost savings inherent in a statewide pooled risk management solution.
Related Recommendations (2)
R13
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By September 1, 2024, review, revise, and develop as appropriate, its governing policies, procedures, trainings, contracts, and practices to manage liability risks to avoid or mitigate potential litigation. (Finding 8)
R14
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By September 1, 2024, review and revise as appropriate, its hiring and employment policies, procedures, and practices to avoid potential litigation. (Finding 8)
F9
The City now carries property insurance, worker's compensation insurance, and insurance for its Police Department. The City has been unable to acquire a general liability insurance policy, causing significant concern as to whether the City is able to adequately mitigate its potential risks.
Related Recommendations (1)
R15
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By September 1, 2024, review its insurance policies and assess its potential risks. If deemed to be inadequate, seek additional coverage. (Finding 9)
F10
Public meetings are not fully integrated with the software platform developed by a technology and services company for that purpose. The video cameras and microphones for video streaming and voice recordings of most meetings have not been indexed in the technology platform with the meeting agendas and minutes. This means that the City’s public meetings have not been fully accessible or transparent to the citizens.
Related Recommendations (1)
R16
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By August 1, 2024, fully integrate all meetings with the City’s media management software and ensure that the appropriate staff are trained to manage the process on an ongoing basis. (Finding 10)
F11
The City Council does not approve meeting minutes on a regular basis and the minutes are either not published in a timely manner or made available to the public on the City’s website. This means that the City’s public meetings are not fully accessible and transparent to the public.
Related Recommendations (2)
R17
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By June 1, 2024, establish a process whereby every agenda for City Council meetings includes an item for the approval of the minutes of the previous meeting. (Findings 11 and 12) 2023-2024 Kern County Grand Jury Report 8
R18
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By June 1, 2024, establish a process to regularly and timely upload the approved minutes of its meetings to its website for public access. (Findings 11 and 12)
F12
Since meeting minutes from previous City Council meetings are not regularly placed on the agenda for approval by the City Council, it is not clear how the City Council reconciles the resolutions posted in the agendas against the actual resolutions voted on in open session.
No recommendations for this finding
F13
The City’s inability to keep up with monitoring compliance and enforcement of the cannabis industry is largely due to lack of City staff. For this reason, on January 10, 2023, the City contracted with an outside consultant to provide … a thorough analysis of the existing cannabis ordinances and to make recommendations based on gaps of compliance that can help improve the overall success of enforcement. The consultant released an update report in August 2023 indicating that, among other findings, there was a total of approximately $507,000 in unpaid license and permit fees and uncollected excise taxes. This outstanding revenue remains uncollected, and this has a significant negative impact on the financial outlook of the City. 2023-2024 Kern County Grand Jury Report 6
Related Recommendations (2)
R19
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By July 1, 2024, develop an action plan, including qualified personnel, to recover the approximately $507,000 in outstanding revenue from the cannabis industry. (Finding13)
R20
The Kern County Grand Jury recommends that the City Council of the City of California City: By July 1, 2024, establish a managed, coordinated, and consistent approach to cannabis industry code compliance and enforcement. (Finding 13) Photo from: 23ABC News Video 2023-2024 Kern County Grand Jury Report 9 NOTES: • The City of California City should post a copy of this report where it will be available for public review. • Persons wishing to receive an email notification of newly released reports may sign up at: https://www.kerncounty.com/government/other-agencies/grand-jury • Present and past Kern County Grand Jury Final Reports and Responses can be accessed on the Kern County Grand Jury website at: https://www.kerncounty.com/government/other-agencies/grand-jury RESPONSE DEADLINES: • REQUIRED WITHIN 90 DAYS FROM: City of California City, City Council to Findings 1 to 14 and o Recommendations 1 to 20 RESPONSES ARE REQUIRED PURSUANT TO CAL. PENAL CODE §§933(c) AND 933.05 TO: • PRESIDING JUDGE SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF KERN 1415 TRUXTUN AVENUE, SUITE 212 BAKERSFIELD, CA 93301 • TRUXTUN AVENUE, SUITE 600 BAKERSFIELD, CA 93301 Reports issued by the Grand Jury do not identify individuals interviewed. Cal. Penal Code §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. 2023-2024 Kern County Grand Jury Report 10
F14
The City does not have a clear path forward to address the budget shortfalls due to the expiration of the Measure C Public Safety Tax and the closing of the California State Prison. Photo from: California City Correctional Wikimedia Commons COMMENTS: The City of California City provided its responses to the Recommendations of the 2021-2022 Grand Jury Report in accordance with Penal Code §933.05(b). However, it did not provide its responses to the Findings of that report in accordance with Penal Code §933.05(a). The Grand Jury looks forward to the City’s responses to both the Findings and the Recommendations of this 2023-2024 Grand Jury Report. The Grand Jury would like to thank all interviewees, including City officials, staff, and citizens for their assistance with our investigation and for their time and cooperation.
No recommendations for this finding

Comments 6

No Responses Found 2

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.

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