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Extracted from Consolidated Report
This investigation was originally published as part of a larger consolidated report containing multiple investigations. View the consolidated PDF for the complete document.
El Dorado County Grand Jury
• 2008-2009
Assisting Road Repair Community Service Districts
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings 5 findings
F1
Page 8
Road repair CSD's obtain most of their funds through special assessments previously approved by the district property owners and included as a separate item in their property tax bill. Annual funds accumulate over years and are held by the County Treasurer. The reserve funds are available to hire a contractor to provide road repairs when needed. Typically in a district, a repair project does not occur every year.
F2
Page 8
Road repair CSD's could opt to become Zones of Benefit under CSA #9, but this would necessitate paying fees for County DOT services. Department of Transportation charges hourly rates for time spent assisting ZOB's, and the Auditor- Controller charges one percent of the annual budget for providing financial services. While these fees may be reasonable, road repair CSD budgets on average are considerably smaller than ZOB budgets. 3
F3
Page 9
Road repair districts have limited technical expertise and may have limited understanding of State rules. Roads in their districts are legal public roads and rules must be followed that are not required for private roads in gated communities. Typical problems encountered are: creating or obtaining adequate specifications for road maintenance and drainage construction projects, drafting the scope of work for projects, seeking bids and selecting contractors, inspecting and approving work, and maintaining acceptable financial documentation.
F4
Page 9
Road repair district directors will benefit from more job training. The Department of Transportation provides annual training classes for ZOB advisory committee members that would be very useful to road repair district directors and could be provided to them at negligible incremental cost.
F5
Page 9
Very recently, the DOT prepared a prototype handbook (“Zone of Benefit Advisory Committee Manual”) for advisory committee members. This Manual includes information on: ethics, the open meeting law (The California Brown Act), road maintenance and repair (engineering) guidelines, contracting and purchasing, insurance, volunteer work procedures, and budget preparation. This Manual is an excellent product, put together from existing information at DOT in a very short period of time. The Department of Transportation is commended for this effort. This Manual would also be very useful to board directors of road repair districts.
Recommendations 3
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R1Page 7The County Department of Transportation should invite road repair district directors to its annual training sessions held for Zones of Benefit advisory committee members, and do so on a continuing basis.
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R2Page 7The County should publish the “Zone of Benefit Advisory Committee Manual” and make it available, free of charge, to every road repair district director. As soon as possible, this Manual should also be provided through the internet. This will allow easy upgrading by the Department of Transportation and ready access of the latest upgrade by users. Hard copy Manuals should continue to be published.
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R3Page 7The Manual published by the Department of Transportation should also include the following: A. A section listing contacts, with phone numbers, email addresses and mail addresses, where users can obtain information about sourcing licensed contractors; this listing should include the Builders Exchange of El Dorado County. B.
Agency Responses 1
Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.