The Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury What is it, and why should you apply?

Recommendations 8

• R1
  By December 31, 2025, the Board of Supervisors will direct their Sonoma Public Infrastructure Agency to develop a list of all the county’s properties in three parts: properties which have a use or restriction precluding it from other uses; properties currently full utilized; and, properties potentially available for reuse now or in the near future.
• R2
  By June 1, 2026, the Board of Supervisors will direct County Executive to form a multi- disciplinary team with expertise in real estate, affordable housing and economic development to review underused land assets for potential reuse or sale.
• R3
  By December 1, 2026, after the county develops a plan to evaluate properties, the Board of Supervisors will designate some periodic land review, such as every three to five years because land use changes and properties once needed may no longer be needed in the future.
• R3a
  By August 31, 2024, the Board of Supervisors and ROV develop and implement a plan for enhancing existing ROV security measures and developing new security measures based on recurring threat assessments and recommendations by qualified authorities. The Grand Jury acknowledges that this recommendation has been implemented. ROV Response: “This recommendation is in the process of implementation. The Registrar of Voters has been improving and enhancing security measures based on assessments and recommendations since receiving them and will continue to do so as funding and capacity allows…security cameras added to more areas of the office… Physical security has been enhanced… ROV has been working closer with the Department of Emergency Management and local law enforcement to increase communication and planning for elections.” ROV Update: “We did implement some of the recommendations for the 2024 cycle, including Narcan being available, having detailed procedures for threats being reported from polling sites, waterfall quick
• R3b
  By July 31, 2024, ROV create and maintain a record of all incidents of abusive or threatening behavior to support future risk and threat assessment analysis. ROV Response: “This recommendation has been implemented. The Registrar of Voters has created a tracking spreadsheet for staff and extra-help employees to log any instances of abusive or threatening behavior…and provided to the appropriate authorities” The Grand Jury acknowledges that this Recommendation has been implemented. R 3c By July 31,2024, ROV evaluate all recommendations that resulted from its meeting with the Emergency Management Department and establish an implementation schedule for the recommendations it adopts. The Grand Jury acknowledges that this Recommendation has been implemented.
• R4
  By December 1, 2026, the Board of Supervisors will direct County GIS to make the Sonoma County Surplus Property map publicly available.
• R5
  By December 28, 2024 the Board of Supervisors shall fund and authorize temporary staffing to enable the Assessor’s Office to eliminate the assessment backlog The Grand Jury acknowledges that this Recommendation may be implemented in the future. BOS Response: “This recommendation requires further analysis. The Assessor’s Office continues to meet state-mandated timelines for assessments. Since FY 2021-22 the Board of Supervisors has authorized 10.2 FTE additional positions for the Assessor’s Office, an increase of 16% to staffing in that unit. This includes 1.0 term-limited position added during the FY 24-25 budget process. Given the significant timeframe for training and certification requirements, the full effect of these additions is not yet clear. The Board of Supervisors will consider any requests for additional resources made by the Clerk-Recorder-Assessor. Given the limited resources available to the County, further additions will need to be considered in relation to other County needs. Additionally, any new positions added will require training similar to prior additions, making elimination of a backlog in 12 months unlikely.” MADF A/K/A “The County Jail”: Déjà vu all over again Respondents: SCSO: elected Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office BOS: Board of Supervisors
• R6
  By December 31, 2024, mandated monthly overtime for SCSO Corrections Officers will average no more than 25 hours a month. The Grand Jury acknowledges that this recommendation will not be implemented. SCSO Response: “The recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable and could potentially violate state mandates pertaining to operating a correctional facility. The Sheriff's Office acknowledges the importance of having a minimal amount of overtime per month for our correctional deputies. The Sheriff’s Office is unable to control many factors that contribute to overtime. Aspects such as employee separation, vacation leave, sick leave, FMLA leave, work related injury, non-work-related injury and training make up many reasons for increased overtime hours for our employees. The Correctional Deputy job class is primarily composed of fixed post positions. Therefore, the most efficient method to alleviate overtime for our correctional deputies would be to increase allocations in the correctional deputy job class. More allocations would provide relief staffing, or staffing used to cover vacant posts due to vacation, training, injury, and illness. There are currently 208 allocations in the correctional deputy job class. ln FY 08-09, there were 246 allocations for correctional deputies. Over the course of several years correctional deputy positions have been eliminated, eliminating relief coverage. Therefore, any vacant posts due to vacation, training, injury and illness results in an increased need for mandatory overtime coverage. An increase in allocations would allow the Sheriff's Office to efficiently backfill employees on various types of leave with full-time employees, thus reducing the total overtime per month. For this response to be reasonable, an increase in overall allocations would be necessary.” Often Reported, Never Repaired: Department of Health Services Respondents: DHS: Dept. of Health Services; ACTTC: Auditor/Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector; SPI: Public infrastructure; HR: SoCo Human Resources; BOS: Board of Supervisors