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Findings and Recommendations 7 findings
F1
Amador County's lack of sufficient funding to complete necessary road repairs, maintenance and paving has resulted in the deterioration of county roads. The respondent agrees with the finding.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Amador County Public Works evaluate current internal road work costs versus outsourced road work for labor and material to determine ways to improve cost efficiencies. Evaluation to be completed by January 1, 2026. Execute any process changes by June 1, 2026. The recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted. Public Works always utilizes a "Make vs Buy" analysis for determining whether to perform work in house or to utilize consultants or contractors. With staffing as limited as it is in the Public Works Department, it is typically best to outsource construction and more complex engineering work, which is what is done now.
F2
Due to Amador County's limited use of existing personnel to more proactively seek available road grants, opportunities for funding have potentially been missed. The respondent agrees with the finding.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
The Amador County General Services Administration and/or Public Works allocate more ongoing personnel time to seeking available road grants. The recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted. Staff time assigned to this task is reasonable. The problem is that most grants that offer funds for maintenance projects also require a significant match, which affects the funding available for other projects. Further, roads that are typically eligible for grants may not be the roads in most need of attention,
F3
The Amador County Public Works' current shortage of staff limits the quantity and timeliness of road maintenance and repair work that can be completed. The respondent agrees with the finding but notes that there is no additional funding to increase staff. Amador County Board of Supervisors ⊃ County Administration Center ⊃ 810 Court Street ⊃Jackson, California ⊃ 95642 Telephone (209) 223-6470 - FAX (209) 257-0619
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
To increase efficiency, the Public Works Director identify the training needs of current department staff, including that of road crews, and develop a training plan. To be completed by January 1, 2026. Implement plan by March 1, 2026. The recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted. This is one of those esoteric items that was referred to earlier. Training will be engaged as needed and for specific purposes.
F4
Amador County's lack of short-term and long-term planning for the repair and maintenance of roads has resulted in a reactive rather than proactive approach, leading to an ineffective system in which repairs and maintenance occur mainly in response to complaints, rather than being guided by strategic prioritization. The respondent disagrees wholly with the finding. Having such a plan certainly seems like a solution, but the reality is that we do not have the resources to attach such a plan, and it would sit idle on a shelf becoming stale despite the resources that would be required to create such a plan.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
The County Administrative Officer and the Public Works Director evaluate current Public Works Department staffing numbers, skill levels, and job responsibilities to make any necessary changes to maximize productivity. To be completed by January 1, 2026. The recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted. This activity is completed every year during the budget process. It will be performed again once a new Public Works Director is installed following the retirement of the current Director. Amador County Board of Supervisors ⊃ County Administration Center ⊃ 810 Court Street ⊃Jackson, California ⊃ 95642 Telephone (209) 223-6470 - FAX (209) 257-0619
F5
The Amador County Public Works' lack of a comprehensive method to assess and document road conditions on an ongoing basis has resulted in the Department's inability to conduct remedial action effectively. The respondent disagrees wholly with the finding. The Department has competent professional personnel that are capable of assessing a road failure and determining the best course of action. It is possible that there has been an excessive reliance on consultants to evaluate and design repairs when the most prudent response would be to enact an imperfect repair more quickly, allowing resources to be focused on more repairs versus more design.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
The Public Works Director develop and implement a process to routinely survey and document current County road conditions, based on the Pavement Condition Index (PCI), in the Pavement Management Program on an ongoing basis. Process implementation to begin by April 1, 2026. The recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted. The County has a PCI study that was completed many years ago. Very little has changed, and the roads that were the worst on the list are still the worst - there is no need to spend significant resources to identify what we already know. Any member of the Public Works Department can tell you what the worst roads in the County are, and it is up to the Board of Supervisors to prioritize the significant maintenance projects to address the deficiencies.
F6
The Amador County Public Works' lack of producing ongoing, informative reports to County managers hampers the ability to effectively determine staffing requirements, road work priorities and funding needs for Public Works. The respondent disagrees wholly with the finding. The presence of these reports would not yield the additional resources needed to complete various tasks, and the County does not have the ability to allocate additional resources to Public Works for any purposes without cutting other expenditures. As mentioned previously,
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
The Public Works Director determine, from road condition surveys and updated Pavement Management Program data, the roads that require immediate repair. Initial report to be completed by June 1, 2026. The recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted. The Public Works Director can make that determination now, without the additional cost of a study. The factor that the Grand Jury overlooks when asking the County to assemble this data is the daily traffic that each road sees. There are many roads that are in bad shape that see very little daily traffic other than by those individuals that live on those roads. Roads such as this will typically receive a lower priority for capital maintenance than a road in better shape that serves a higher daily traffic.
F7
Amador County's lack of effective communication to inform the public about planned road repairs, the response to complaints, and the funding mechanisms for road improvements has led to widespread frustration. The respondent agrees with the finding. Amador County Board of Supervisors County Administration Center 810 Court Street Jackson, California 95642 Telephone (209) 223-6470 - FAX (209) 257-0619
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
The Amador County Board of Supervisors oversee the development of a 5-year strategic plan, updated annually, for how the County will work to improve County roads to an overall Good condition, per the rating criteria in Table A in the Road Conditions section of this report. To be completed in time for the 2026/2027 Fiscal Year Budget planning. The recommendation will not be implemented because it is not reasonable. The public at large does not care whether the County has a 5-year plan or not. They want to see progress in the form of asphalt going down - not in paperwork that will sit on the shelf. Having this plan would also do no good because there is no way to fund the projects contained within it without taking serious cuts from other departments. The Grand Jury neglected to identify which programs should be whittled down in order to fund these projects. Suffice it to say that there is very little extra money floating around the County to pay for these projects, let alone the studies being suggested within this report. ٠. Amador County Board of Supervisors ⊃ County Administration Center ⊃ 810 Court Street ⊃Jackson, California ⊃ 95642 Telephone (209) 223-6470 - FAX (209) 257-0619
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.