Score: -2 (0/0/2)
Sonoma County Grand Jury • 2004-2005 • Agency Response
Response to: City of Cotati

Assuming Office Statement*

Published: August 30, 2005 8 pages
View Original PDF

Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F5, F6, F7, F8, F11, F12

Findings and Recommendations 5 findings

F3 Page 4
states: Written plans and checklists are not consistent among county, cities, agencies, and departments, and in some cases are non-existent. Response: The City of Cotati currently utilizes the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), developed by the County Office of Emergency Services. One of the benefits of contracting with the County for the operational plan is that it provides consistency between the City and the County in the event of an emergency. While the City of Cotati and other contracting cities may personalize the plan to meet their individual needs, the base plan is a common document for all to use. This operational plan is fluid and is continually refined based on resources at the City and County level. This is an operational area plan, not just a plan that the City of Cotati will use without resources from Local, State and Federal agencies. The City of Cotati utilizes checklists. Checklists are a tool that is refined based upon experience, personnel assigned to the event, and exposure to new and more effective ways of dealing with disasters. The staff of the City of Cotati, through participating in tabletop and functional exercises, has developed and utilized checklists that are consistent with our neighboring City of Rohnert Park and other County departments. There will always be some deviation between agencies in relation to the checklists as each agency has different capabilities such as staffing levels, which will alter the checklists.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Page 6
states: Each city council should: • Initiate an annual review of its disaster plan, coincident with the budget cycle, starting with the 2006-2007 cycle. These reviews should include the following tasks as a minimum: Examine status of the actions from the previous year's review.
F4 Page 4
states: Where plans and checklists do exist, they are not always stored in multiple safe places for guaranteed access in the event of a disaster. The most 4 common place is "the office," not withstanding that a disaster does not limit itself to regular work hours, and office buildings may not be accessible! Response: The City of Cotati currently houses the disaster plans and checklists in several locations. The information is located at the Police Department's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and in specific police supervisors' vehicles. As the City of Cotati and the City of Rohnert Park have purposely exercised together our plans are extremely similar, as are the checklists. Both departments have also duplicated the type of storage containers and the contents, such as supplies reference material needed for EOC activation, in order to maximize efficiency.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Page 2
– Institute regular, mandatory training Provide Designated Filers with basic informational training. Increase utilization of FPPC for training of Form 700 Filing Officers and Clerks Require Code of Ethics training at the city and county level as similar to that as mandated by state agencies (available online). Require basic conflict-of-interest training for: Incumbent elected and appointed officials New appointees and elected officials Response: As indicated above, the decision making officials of the City of Cotati are provided materials that include papers and information on related conflict of interest issues as well as periodic memorandums with updates reflecting modifications, interpretations or changes in existing laws related to the general topics of conflict of interest. In addition, there are a number of pamphlets from time to time that are provided to the decision-making officials of the Town. It is anticipated and intended that presentations will be made to the City Council at future City Council meetings regarding conflicts of interest. All other public officials for the City will be invited to attend. The City Attorney and City Clerk's 2 offices will continue to advise City officials of any changes, interpretations of new laws relative to the general topic of conflicts of interest. City officials will continue to be invited to these training seminars offered by the City Attorney's law firm. At the time candidates file their nomination forms to run for office, the City Clerk provides each candidate the following information and forms they will need to complete: Statement of Economic Interest Form 700 Limitations and Restrictions on Gifts, Honoraria, Travel and Loans Fair Political Practices Commission - Campaign Disclosure Manual • Campaign Disclosure Forms (501, 410, 450, 470, 496, 497) The City Clerk also advises each candidate to contact the FPPC for further information and advice on their filing requirements. Also, included in this packet is FPPC information regarding workshops for Candidates/Treasurers. The City Clerk provides to the candidates that are elected 700 Form that they are to complete as their "Assuming Office Statement" together with Resolution No. 1272- 02 (designating positions required to file Statements of Economic Interests). This form is due of assuming office and the original is forwarded to the FPPC. As for official designated in Government Code Section 87200 (City Council Members, Planning Commissioners, City Manager, City Attorney, Administrative Services Director/Treasurer) the annual Form 700 statements, the annual forms and notification are sent out in January or February with a deadline of April 1st. These forms are submitted to the City Clerk who forwards the originals to the FPPC who is the "Filing Officer". As a courtesy, in addition to the first notification letter, the City Clerk sends e-mails or telephone calls to those who have not yet filed to remind them of their filing requirements. As for a second category of filers (mainly Department Heads) the City Clerk notifies these filers of the annual filing requirements and provides them with the annual Form 700. The City Clerk sends out letters and forms in January or February with a deadline of April 1st and also sends reminders via e-mail or telephone. These forms are filed with the Deputy City Clerk and retained in her office.
F9 Page 5
states: All county employees are listed as disaster recovery resources, as indeed are members of the grand jury, but there is no clear plan on how they will report in for duty, or how they will be used. Response: The City of Cotati in conjunction with the County Department of Emergency Services provides periodic training on SEMS to our employees. While this finding only pertains to "county" employees, the City does provide training on the basics of emergency management and the functions employees will likely perform.
No recommendations for this finding
F10 Page 5
states: The city plans are not consistent in scope and detail. The City of Santa Rosa has a well structured but dated plan, Cotati's plan is literally a copy of the county plan, Cloverdale is still using the 1989 two volume door-stopper plan that existed before the adoption of SEMS, and Healdsburg's plan is dated 1987. See Exhibit D for a table comparing the format and date of the county and city plans. Response: The City contracts with the County to provide emergency planning support including the preparation of our emergency plan. It is for this reason that our plan mirrors the county plan. It is important to realize that we are not working alone in our emergency management efforts. The more commonalties in a plan utilized by the county and many other cities, the more efficiencies there are. Our experience has shown that because of "using the same sheet of music", anyone of our personnel could function in another EOC with the same or similar plan with minimal instruction. In our case, the City of Cotati routinely exercises our plans with the City of Rohnert Park and the County using essentially the same plan.
No recommendations for this finding
F13 Page 5
states: There is an agreement dated 1997, between the cities and the county, promising help from the county for the construction of, training in, and testing of city-based disaster plans. This assistance is not provided, nor sought on a continual consistent basis, despite the payment of a $2,000 annual fee by the cities. Response: The City disagrees with this finding. The City enjoys a very good working relationship with the County Office of Emergency Services. Our Police 5 Chief works closely with the County on emergency management operations on several levels. There is input into the plans and assistance with training, including tabletop and functional exercises with communication taking place on a quarterly basis at a minimum. An additional benefit to both organizations is that the plans, when developed provide for common policies and procedures.
No recommendations for this finding

Agency Responses 1

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No Responses Found 1

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Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Elected County Office

* 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.