Steve Lavagnino Fifth District, Chair Board of Supervisors Janet Wolf Second District, Vice Chair County Administration*

The Santa Barbara County policy Administration of Vehicle Fleet and Employee Use of County Vehicles is found in two sections of the County of Santa Barbara On-Line Policies and Procedures Manual on the County intranet. Response to Finding 1: The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors agrees with the finding.

The current Santa Barbara County policy Administration of Vehicle Fleet and Employee Use of County Vehicles does not contain an issue date, effective date, or any other means to identify it as the most current version. Response to Finding 2: The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors agrees with the finding.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's office does not comply with the County policy requiring the annual reporting of take-home vehicle information. Response to Finding 3: The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors partially disagrees with the Finding. As noted in the Grand Jury report, information related to the approval and reporting of take- home vehicles is found in two separate sections of the County of Santa Barbara On-Line Policies and Procedures Manual. The first section is titled 'Administration of Vehicle Fleet', and the second is titled 'Employee Use of County Vehicles'. In part, the two sections require the following; Department Heads may only authorize the use of take-home vehicles under certain . conditions. This includes use by 'Employees whose duties require them to be on 24 hour 'standby' status (e.g. Sheriff, Fire Chief, Emergency Services personnel). The General Services Director will maintain information on the storage location, designated use, purchase criteria and the responsible line supervisor of each vehicle under its control. In an effort to comply with these requirements, the Sheriff's Office reported the Department Head (The Sheriff) has authorized the designation of 70 vehicles as take-home vehicles, citing the 'standby' status of the employees as justification for this decision. However, based on concerns that providing specific information on each vehicle would create potential danger to the public's safety, the Sheriff's Office has not complied with the requirement to provide to the General Services Director information on each vehicle.

The Santa Barbara County Executive Office has not enforced the take-home vehicle policy by failing to require the Department of General Services to obtain, and the Sheriff's Office to provide, the necessary documentation for each vehicle so assigned Response to Finding 4: The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors partially disagrees with the Finding. As stated in the Response to Finding 3, the General Services Department has obtained information from the Sheriff's Office regarding the specific number of authorized take-home vehicles, as well as the justification for that designation. However, citing the concern that providing specific information on each vehicle would create potential danger to the public's safety, the Sheriff's Office has not complied with the requirement to provide to the General Services Director specific information on each vehicle.