Contra Costa County Grand Jury • 2024-2025

County Boards, Commissions, Councils and Committees-Improving Transparency for the Public

Published: January 19, 2025 17 pages
View Original PDF

Findings and Recommendations 9 findings

F1
The current County triennial review process for County BCCs provides an effective way to measure and thereby manage their operation and oversight because it establishes a predictable, thorough examination.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
The Board of Supervisors should consider requiring each County board, commission, and committee to create a basic internet presence by June 1, 2026, that includes, at minimum, links to their charter (if available), by-laws (if available), membership information, agendas, and minutes.
F2
As of January 19, 2025, eight percent (nine of 111) of County BCCs have no website or other online presence making it difficult for the public to obtain information about the existence, purpose, membership and progress of these BCCs.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
The Board of Supervisors should consider directing the appropriate staff to create, by January 1, 2026, an online master list of all County BCCs where each listing contains a link to the associated BCC website and a link to the master list is made available on the home page of the main County website and on the home page of Legistar.
F3
The 111 existing BCC websites are spread across multiple department web pages on the County’s main website, making online BCC information difficult to find.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
The Board of Supervisors should consider directing each County BCC to post all meeting agendas and minutes in the appropriate section of Legistar on the central County website
F4
There is no master list of all County BCCs contained on the County main website.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Does the body have a sufficient composition of members/types of seats to achieve its mission? ☐ Yes ☐ No If “No”, please indicate which seats you would modify and why.
F5
As of January 19, 2025, 42 percent (47 of 111) of County BCCs do not have agendas posted in Legistar, the County’s BCC data repository, which results in a lack of transparency to the public.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
Has the body experienced any membership challenges (i.e. high vacancy rates, trouble filling seats, high member turnover, difficulty meeting quorum, or issues with recruitment and retention)? ☐ Yes ☐ No If “Yes”, please describe the membership challenges experienced.
F6
As of January 19, 2025, 56 percent (62 of 111) of County BCCs do not have their meeting minutes posted in Legistar on the central County website, resulting in a lack of transparency to the public.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
Are there special qualifications, requirements, or prerequisites for members to serve on the body? ☐ Yes ☐ No If “Yes”, please explain whether the requirements are important and necessary, or describe any issues where these requirements have limited recruitment of potential candidates. MEETINGS
F7
As of January 19, 2025, of the 49 County BCCs that post their minutes in Legistar, 27 (55 percent) incorporate them into the agenda packets rather than in the Minutes column of Legistar, making it difficult to locate meeting minutes.
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
List activities, services, programs, and/or special projects the body delivers to achieve its current mission. BUDGET
F8
Historic County agenda and minutes data are stored and accessed in two different applications, Legistar and AgendaCenter, which can make the information difficult to find.
No recommendations for this finding
F9
Even though it is preferred to use only one system, Legistar, to access meeting agendas and minutes, those presently contained in AgendaCenter cannot easily be moved or copied to Legistar due to technological constraints too costly to overcome.
No recommendations for this finding

No Responses Found 1

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

Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors Elected County Office