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Extraído del Informe Consolidado

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El Dorado County Grand Jury • 2009-2010

EI Dorado County Grand Jury 2009-2010 Report

Published: June 30, 2010 106 pages
View PDF View Full Original

Findings 22 findings

F1
A Vote by Mail program will save EI Dorado County significant amounts of budget funds each year.
F2
A Vote by Mail program will likely increase the voter turnout in the county.
F3 Page 15
A Vote by Mail program will not increase the likelihood of voter fraud.
F4 Page 20
The City’s government employs a notable number of married couples and family members among its employees, commission members, and elected officials. Some of the related employees are in positions of significant influence. Although the policy relating to nepotism does not seem to have been violated, the existence of these close relationships has resulted in an atmosphere where many employees are afraid to discuss operational problems in the City. They are concerned that their observations might be viewed as criticism of family members. In testimony received, there is “angst” by City employees who believe, that employees who have spoken about problems within City government have ended up on “layoff lists”. This fear is so pervasive that some witnesses requested assurance, when they appeared before the Grand Jury, that members of the Grand Jury were not related to officers and employees of the South Lake Tahoe City government before they testified.
F5 Page 21
City Council members and City officials have varying degrees of understanding and openly disagree with the Brown Act. Although bound by the laws of the State of California to obey the same, some violate them on a regular basis. For example: a. More than one Council member or City staff member erroneously has reported Brown Act violations by City officials. b. One Council member has publicly and frequently expressed disdain for the Brown Act and has often been identified as the source of improper disclosures about confidential matters within City government. This Council member also disclosed information which was discussed in closed session by the City Council. c. Closed sessions are reserved for discussions of confidential and sensitive information. Disclosures of information from closed sessions could have detrimental consequences for the City. When information about this disclosure was obtained by the other members of the City Council, they failed to take the appropriate corrective action by censuring or officially reprimanding the offending City Council member. d. The instructor selected by the City of South Lake Tahoe gave ethics training to Council members with only cursory information about the Brown Act, and appeared to have limited knowledge about the Act.
F6 Page 21
A City Council member filed a complaint with the Grand Jury that the City Manager was operating without authority and not doing his job. The Council member also made these remarks in public. The Grand Jury received testimony and found these accusations without merit and misleading. The City Council hires and supervises the City Manager and apparently was unwilling to conduct its own investigation to address these accusations. Instead, the Council attempted to use the Grand Jury as its tool to correct a situation that was completely within their jurisdiction.
F7 Page 21
Testimony supports that City officers and employees at times operate using accepted historical practices that conflict with official written policy. This has resulted in misunderstandings, contentious City Council meetings, and a public impression that the City’s government operates outside the law. These misconceptions could expose the City to lawsuits. a. A member of the City Council requested reimbursement for legal fees paid to an outside law firm. The legal advice consisted of a legal opinion and preparation of a letter to the Fair Political Practices Commission. No contract had been signed and the City Council had not approved the expenditure in advance. The City Manager stated that he gave verbal approval for the expenditure. California State Law clearly states that government contracts for payment may not be backdated. All unusual expenditures should be approved in open session. The City’s Purchasing Policy and Procedure Manual calls for the presence of written contracts when professional services are sought, and makes no provision for payment and reimbursement absent the presence of a contract.
F8 Page 30
The Board of Supervisors' decisions regarding the selection of the location for the Animal Control Shelter and the method of construction were strongly influenced by one Supervisor. According to authoritative sources with direct knowledge, that Supervisor "drove the bus". Nonetheless, all members of the Board of Supervisors share responsibility for approving the purchase.
F9 Page 30
The Board of Supervisors failed to make diligent inquiries into the usability of the entire 10-acre parcel, failed to ask important questions about the costs of improvements specified in the purchase agreement, and failed to negotiate a fair cost- sharing agreement with the Sellers for the costs of the improvements.
F10 Page 31
The Department of General Services, and the CAO, failed to provide the Board of Supervisors with all pertinent information concerning the costs of the improvements to be made by the County as described in the purchase agreement for the 10-acre parcel.
F11 Page 31
The County Counsel's office, who prepared the purchase agreement for the 10- acre parcel, made a glaring omission by neglecting to insert an "escape clause" that would permit the County to avoid making the specified improvements if the Animal Control Shelter were not actually constructed on the l C-acre parcel. Even if the County received a lower price for the 10-acre parcel because it agreed to build the road and make other improvements, any difference in price did not justify the County being left "holding the bag" or having a costly contractual obligation for the required improvements.
F12 Page 50
It was determined that an employee was allowed to reside for years on GVFPD property at no cost and without a written agreement containing health, safety, tax and other appropriate provisions. This presents a potential liability to the District and its taxpayers.
F13 Page 63
A more cohesive and better coordinated system of governance for the County could result in a certain number of positions needed to oversee a wider scope of service delivery across all departments. Appropriate promotional opportunities would likely exist to provide a higher level of managerial expertise in administering a more diverse and skilled group of administrative personnel. This would also present more opportunity for cross-training of administrative staff. Rather than maintaining the current non-system of departmental silos, a flatter and more systemic County- wide administrative structure could provide more meaningful opportunities for advancement. It should be noted that the County has a relatively high proportion of elected officeholders directing a number of County offices or departments. For example, El Dorado County is the only county in California with an elected surveyor. The departments or offices directed by elected officials are often described as relatively independent entities. While these officeholders are certainly accountable to the voters, they can be less responsive to any higher administrative or managerial authority. Still, as was pointed out by a prominent source interviewed for this investigation, “Even elected officials experience financial pressures.”
F14 Page 63
Significant questions need to be asked about just what services and functions are improved by virtue of the fact that these officials are elected. They are, in fact, mostly beholden to fulfillment of mandated responsibilities under the laws of the State of California, whether elected or not. Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that recent efforts have been made to diminish administrative overhead and realize a greater level of efficiency. Examples include:  Though somewhat controversial, a significant consolidation and merger of the former Department of General Services within the larger Department of Transportation. This affected far more than just administrative services personnel and functions;  There is consideration being given to the formation of a Public Works Department that would include the Departments of Transportation, Environmental Management, and elements of the Office of Surveyor;  Consideration is being given to the partial consolidation of administrative services of the Sheriff, District Attorney, and Public Defender’s Office. A Law and Justice Working Group will likely be assessing just how such a consolidation of services could be implemented;  A merger of the Veterans Service Office with the County Elections Office/Recorder Clerk has, in fact, recently been implemented;  There has been a recent consolidation of the Department of Agriculture and Weights and Measures Office;  It is recognized that considerable potential benefits could be obtained through a greater level of co-location of County offices and diminishment of leased space;  Other initiatives, perhaps most notably a higher and better utilization of access to online or Internet-based services, is underway. An example includes automated business license functions that provide more convenience to the public at less cost;  Various other approaches to a greater level of organizational consolidation are being actively considered. These consolidations, mergers, and generally greater focus on functions serving the public, are clearly centered on identifying and compartmentalizing related or similar services. In the absence of a more directed, purposeful, and cohesive vision of how the County government should be organized and structured to minimize administrative overhead and maximize service to the public, various minor, incremental, and lengthy approaches will prevail. Retirements, for example, generally present challenges to the old way of doing business and can present genuine opportunities for making changes. Job specifications, those broadly based descriptions that provide enough information to classify positions for rank, pay, and benefits, are generally the first level of documentation referenced to begin to determine what type of work employees perform. Actual job descriptions that include a listing of specific responsibilities and duties performed by an employee are the next level of documentation to be referenced when determining what services are performed by which employees. Without such current documentation, some sort of job audit must be performed to identify this key information. Lacking such documentation, it becomes virtually impossible to identify and facilitate a consolidation of administrative service duties and responsibilities. Competent and objective performance evaluations of employees are difficult to complete without current job information describing what job responsibilities and duties exist.
F15 Page 65
This investigation revealed that there is very little centralized knowledge or objective information (meaning first-hand information outside of the department itself) about just what administrative services personnel in County departments actually do in performing their jobs. For example, it was revealed that approximately 15 separate County departments have a significant number of personnel performing information technology jobs. But it is not known “…what these people are doing.”
F16 Page 65
Testimony from a number of reliable and knowledgeable sources demonstrated that, while job specifications often existed, current job descriptions in County government are “virtually non-existent.”
F17 Page 65
It will, therefore, be necessary to identify what services are performed by administrative services personnel in departments to determine the potential for administrative services consolidation. Specific functions performed and the extent or frequency of workload activity become key determinants of what service functions and personnel may be candidates for greater consolidation efforts. This information is also critical for cross-training purposes. There are a number of approaches and options to achieve a beneficial consolidation of administrative services.  County departments can be grouped into broad categories of service functions. These include, for example, Law Enforcement and Justice, Land Use and Developmental Services, Health and Human Services, and General Government agencies. A system of several key agencies, each containing departments with like or similar functions, could be organized. Administrative services for these key agencies could be consolidated. County government could become more manageable, cohesive, and service or mission-oriented.  Another basic approach could involve identifying those departmental missions and service functions that are the most closely related, and consolidating the administrative services function of those departments or offices. The CAO has, in fact, started this process with respect to the previously mentioned Law and Justice Working Group.  Administrative services staff could be organized along more functional lines across County departments. For example, those staff performing personnel classification and/or transactions could become more cohesive and concentrated. Fiscal analysis and management staff could be similarly consolidated or grouped to perform those services.  Yet another approach worthy of examination could be a greater consolidation of fiscal and budgeting services. This could be accomplished by having a single fiscal officer for each group of closely related departments with similar functions.  Still another approach would be to establish Assistant or Deputy CAO positions over departments providing like or similar functions or services. Though this would lessen the benefits of potential cost savings, it could easily result in other cost savings achieved through greater coordination, efficiency, and enhancement of service levels. The effective use of information technologies is at the core of many attempts to develop management information and enhance service levels.
F18 Page 66
During the course of this investigation, it became clear that El Dorado County is in urgent need of updating and modernizing its “legacy systems” of information technology. These key systems are foundational in their critical importance.
F19 Page 66
The three primary information technology systems are dedicated to financial management, personnel payroll, and property tax administration. A prominent County official described the Personnel Payroll System as “antiquated.” The current Property Tax System was described as “homegrown.”
F20 Page 66
The need to update and modernize these foundational systems was often cited as the kind of effort needed to make County administrative services more efficient and cost-effective. The need was cited as yet another example of how County administrative services, and information technology systems in particular, should become more enterprise or functionally-oriented across departments rather than solely devoted to and functioning within individual departments.
F21 Page 66
Cost estimates to modernize these key administrative systems varied from a low of $6 million to a high of $30 million. The initial estimate for necessary consulting to affect needed changes ranges upward of $100,000.
F22 Page 66
These three key legacy systems, now over twenty years old (numerous generations in the information technology field), are now so dated that it is fast becoming difficult to find people with the expertise to operate them. With an increasing number of impending retirements of qualified personnel, and with maintenance of such systems becoming a very real issue, the County will have to make some key decisions in the very near future. One of those decisions should be whether some type of financial reserve or enterprise fund might be advisable to help cushion the now unavoidable financial impact of converting to more cost-efficient and workable systems. The need to update these key administrative service and information technology systems is very real and becoming quite urgent. Such an effort is integral to the needed modernization of County government. It will not be sufficient to rely on modernizing these systems alone to make the necessary improvements in how administrative services are provided in El Dorado County. This investigation made abundantly clear that there is a wealth of opportunity in further pursuing the consolidation of administrative services throughout County government.

Recommendations 8

Conclusions 1

Commendations 10

No Responses Found 1

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

El Dorado County County