Sierra County Grand Jury
• 2016-2017
• Agency Response
Response to Grand Jury reports of 2017*
⚠️ 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.
Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F5, F6
Findings and Recommendations 7 findings
F1
Beyond the knowledge of this board, and would defer to the opinion of the department manager.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
May or may not be implemented. Issue subject to prioritization in the budget process.
F2
We agree. While the county must pursuant to state law adopt a balanced budget and we do so annually, for the recent past it has been a very tight budget with no reserves and only a $100,000 contingency. To increase spending in any kind of meaningful way, proportionate cuts must occur, additional funding located, or utilize the small contingency budget.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
May or may not be implemented as this is a decision to be made by this board as we fulfill our statuary responsibilities to set an operating budget only after consideration of all demands and resources available.
F3
This appears to be correct with respect to the timeline and agree. This board struggles to set fees in a reasonable level without further impacting a fragile local economy, impacting current property owners, and encouraging the few housing starts we have annually. While able to invoke mitigation fees, the county has never done so and while the school district did for a time, only one local fire district has mitigation fees in place and were only implemented after significant debate. We would support a review of fines and fees as suggested.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
May or may not be implemented as this is a decision to be made by this board as we fulfill our statuary responsibilities to set an operating budget only after consideration of all demands and resources available. Additionally, the term small county in California is somewhat debatable indeed. With the lone exception of Alpine County, every other county in California has a population over three times that of Sierra County, with neighboring Plumas County some six times greater and Nevada County thirty times greater. These are economies of scale so very difficult to compare with ours. It has been suggested that there are rural counties in California, and beyond that, a few like Sierra County, fits the term frontier much better.
F4
We are unsure of what this finding refers to with respect to resource development. The duties and responsibilities of county government are controlled by the state Constitution and 29 different state codes. State law also requires the adoption of a county general plan. Additionally, Sierra County is actively involved in a number of organizations that lobby and provide information for local government. And finally, every meeting of this board is open pursuant to state law so that the public can review and comment on our operation.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
May or may not be implemented as this is a decision to be made by this board as we fulfill our statuary responsibilities to set an operating budget only after consideration of all demands and resources available. Such a review is informally done in nearly every agency. To expect a single employee to undertake such a practice is setting a work priority to be determined by every department manager only when directed by this board. Investigation of Building Code Violations
F7
Assume this is true. No reason to doubt estimates of staff.
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
May or may not be implemented. Issue subject to prioritization in the budget process and workload priorities. In addition, the district attorney is independently elected pursuant to the state Constitution and prosecutorial decisions are not under the control of this board. Section comment: This board appreciates all the recommendations of the grand jury and with unlimited funds, all would or could be implemented. Unfortunately this board is tasked with funding the most important of priorities serving the public and would suggest it would be far more enlightening if grand juries would consider proposing a budget offset or identifiable funding source for the board to consider when suggesting a request with a cost attached. Sheriff's office day-only holding facility
F8
Agree, but issue far more difficult than presented with the issue of the Loyalton Mobile Estates. An absent owner, an issue of back taxes, and the human impacts of strict enforcement make this quite difficult. Most property owners comply with building codes due to mortgage, insurance, and personal financial equity in real estate. When an owner lacks any of the above issues, it is costly to enforce appropriate standards.
No recommendations for this finding
F9
Agree, and refer to findings 5 and 6.
No recommendations for this finding
* 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.