County of SAN Bernardino Grand Jury

Recommendations 72

• R1
  Project sales and contracts proposed during delegation.
• R2
  Actual sales completed to date.
• R3
  Has your company increased the number of employees as a result of the trip? If so, by how many?
• R4
  Are you still generating sales from the contacts you made through the trade delegation? If so, amount of sales from January 2007 through June 2007.
• R5
  Do you consider the trade delegation a success? Please explain your answer.
• R6
  Would you participate in future trade delegations? Please explain your answer. Please attach additional pages if necessary. This document is held in confidence. Thank you for your response. 2007-2008 San Bernardino County Grand Jury Final Report Attachment C Summary of Dr. Levitt’s Recommendations x Purpose statements be developed and publicized from perspective of both the county and its delegates. ( ) x Delegates be recruited explicitly for facilitating business growth for the county. Match making be done to expand exports and SBEDA should develop relationships with the municipal governments to insure their appropriate match. ( ) x Clear and direct statements be translated to Chinese, and from Chinese to English for their partners. Statements written would become basis for selection for trip. ( ) x Supervisors have a separate schedule to meet local Chinese government officials to promote long-term business growth in San Bernardino County. ( ) x Use of consultants be focused and minimized. Any consultants, travel agents, etc., used should be located in the County of San Bernardino if possible. ( ) x Pre-mission surveys focus on desired goals and be translated to Chinese. Post surveys may still cover travel questions, but should be expanded to obtain what was learned. These surveys serve as a base for future surveys conducted weeks/months later to determine actual goal accomplishments. ( ) NOTE: Permission has been granted by Dr. Levitt to include a copy of her 2007 China Trade Mission evaluation in this report.
• R08-01
  Review Executive Support staff requirements in the Assessors Office for potential consolidation of positions to increase efficiency.
• R08-02
  Reclassify Operations management positions to civil service protected.
• R08-03
  Enact policy that requires competitive bidding for consulting services.
• R08-04
  Revise the education reimbursement policy to limit discretionary reimbursement for exempt employees. It is ambiguous and open to broad interpretation. Require employees receiving tuition assistance while working towards a college degree, guarantee the county that they will remain in its employ for a fixed period after graduating.
• R08-05
  Enact policies for separation agreements of County employees that link the length of employment with terms of severance.
• R08-06
  Require that County email system have automatic firewalls in place to preclude all political email from being accessed on the County email system and equipment.
• R08-07
  At the time the EDA and Legislative Liaison budgets are established, a “Plan, Justification and Implementation Report” should be generated for each project (each conference, show, class or trip should be an individual project).
• R08-08
  For ease of tracking, each project should be assigned a case number. This case number should be used on all documentation pertaining to that project.
• R08-09
  The total of attendees to conferences, shows, classes or trips should be limited to only the most cost-effective number (see examples 5, 8, 9, 20, 21, 23 and 27). The Grand Jury questions the value to taxpayers of the numbers of officials and employees attending some of the above noted functions.
• R08-10
  The relevance of the location of the conference to San Bernardino County must be taken into account (see examples 1, 4, 6, 7, 10 and 18).
• R08-11
  The type of conference or class should return value to the county for tax dollars invested. Therefore, both EDD and Legislative Liaison proposed spending should be examined closely during the annual budget preparation process. Proposed expenditures should be justified on a “return on investment” basis.
• R08-12
  Once the project is completed, a “goal attainment” report should be filed with the Board of Supervisors. The report should reiterate the strategic or tactical objective of the project, the cost, number of persons attending, if the goal was accomplished, or if not, corrective action to be taken, and finally, the value of the project to the county and the taxpayers.
• R08-13
  As examples 5, 8 and 23 illustrate, elected officials attend some of these conferences. In order to provide clarity to the taxpayers for such expenditures, the Grand Jury recommends that all county elected officials file a quarterly “Expense Accountability Report.” This report would be comprised of “overnight travel” expenses and “out of state” travel expenses, with appropriate justification. These reports should be presented to the public as part of the Board of Supervisors’ agenda.
• R08-14
  Reconsider the amount available for the Senior Home Repair Program from $5,000 to $7,500 in order to qualify more people for the program.
• R08-15
  Improve current application procedures to identify applicants that do not meet the program’s requirements.
• R08-16
  Review the necessity of routinely sending two-man teams to each project.
• R08-17
  Adopt Dr. Levitt’s recommendations to improve and enhance the China Trade Mission, and continue to act as a consultant to assist the County in implementing her recommendations. (See attachment for specific recommendations)
• R08-18
  SBEDA Administrator needs to be accountable to the County Administrative Officer.
• R08-19
  Allow a maximum of two elected officials with one staff member each to accompany any Trade Mission.
• R08-20
  Match the participating businesses with their foreign counterparts.
• R08-21
  Hire skilled interpreters to enhance communication.
• R08-22
  Transfer the Fraud Investigation Unit out of Human Services and place it under the D.A.’s office.
• R08-23
  Create a new tier of investigators that are not part of law enforcement. They would work under the Human Services Department.
• R08-24
  Create and maintain a report regarding welfare fraud rate and the cost to the county.
• R08-25
  Have County Counsel look into “asset forfeiture” regarding properties purchased with illegally obtained welfare money.
• R08-26
  Increase the number of Deputy Public Defenders to align with the Department of Justice’s caseload standards.
• R08-27
  Institute a loan repayment program to support the recruitment and retention of qualified personnel.
• R08-28
  Increase the Public Defenders investigative staff, creating a Level II investigator position.
• R08-29
  Appropriate funds for needed x-ray equipment and security systems.
• R08-30
  Add five deputy sheriff’s, cross-trained as deputy coroners.
• R08-31
  Reinstate the position of a full-time deputy coroner position in Needles.
• R08-32
  Obtain certification by the National Association of Medical Examiners.
• R08-33
  Increase morgue staffing during the next two or three years as demands increase.
• R08-34
  Add additional deputies to bring the staffing to an acceptable and manageable number.
• R08-35
  Hire additional deputies to bring the staffing to an acceptable number.
• R08-36
  Implement a responsive release policy, initiated by the sheriff’s department, with a stronger role in release assistance.
• R08-37
  Increase training and educational opportunities for M.A.I.T. personnel for the purpose of achieving ACTAR certification.
• R08-38
  Standardize equipment, training, and software throughout the county.
• R08-39
  Fund continuing education for M.A.I.T. personnel.
• R08-40
  Encourage ACTAR certification for all M.A.I.T. personnel.
• R08-41
  Provide M.A.I.T. investigators with multi-disciplinary specialists to consult on fatal accident investigations.
• R08-42
  Use technical equipment and mapmaking skills to assist other divisions.
• R08-43
  Increase the number of SMASH/Gang Unit personnel to catch up with and stay ahead of gang growth and criminal activity, particularly in the desert region.
• R08-44
  Provide a separate strategically located facility and support staff to accommodate the desert regional gang team.
• R08-45
  Add SMASH/gang enforcement personnel to the Victorville County Station, the Town of Apple Valley, the City of Adelanto, and the City of Hesperia.
• R08-46
  Provide ample overtime to meet regional team needs.
• R08-47
  Combine city Gang/SMASH personnel with regional teams for special operations and more street presence.
• R08-48
  Add Gang Specialist County Probation Officers to meet regional team needs.
• R08-49
  Provide additional vehicles and equipment, and photographic and surveillance equipment as needed.
• R08-50
  Provide each gang team member with a laptop computer to access and input gang information to the California Gang Database.
• R08-51
  Provide ongoing specialty gang training to team members, along with membership/seminar attendance with the California Gang Investigators Association to maintain “Gang Expert” status.
• R08-52
  Provide additional workspace for the Sheriff’s Scientific Investigation Division taking into account the growth of the county.
• R08-53
  Increase the number of Crime Scene Investigators from 12 to 24.
• R08-54
  Increase the number of DNA/Forensic Analysts from 10 to 20.
• R08-55
  Construct a 93,000 square foot centralized Sheriff’s Training Academy.
• R08-56
  Provide adequate staffing to monitor contract compliance in the workplace, paying particular attention to background checks.
• R08-57
  Complete periodic reviews of existing contracts, checking license status.
• R08-58
  Establish a reasonable distance that a “site supervisor” can be from a site to effectively supervise that site.
• R08-59
  Fund all pending bridge repairs at Yermo, Baker Boulevard and the National Trails Highway.
• R08-60
  The County Board of Supervisors takes a more active role in funding County bridge repair and bridge safety programs.
• R08-61
  The County Board of Supervisors should concentrate efforts to increase interactions with Caltrans to insure our share of the available funding for bridge replacements and repairs.
• R08-62
  Prepare a cost analysis covering the last ten years to show the effectiveness of paving over the ditches, as opposed to bridge repairs and replacements.
• R08-63
  The San Bernardino County Flood Control District host regularly scheduled meetings with State Water Contractors and all other water agencies within the County, to discuss immediate and long term water concerns.
• R08-64
  Recruit qualified engineers to fill vacant positions to meet immediate and future Flood Control District needs.
• R08-65
  Enter the contract operators’ cost in the Public Works budget as a separate line item entry.
• R08-66
  Review financial options in the event the County cannot support enterprise funding for solid waste.