The Fair Political Practice Commission, Butte County and You

Recommendations 14

• R1
  filing officers/officials to ensure a logical system of maintaining Form 700 filing compliance; as an example, we believe that a review of all positions that have designations for those requirements that are Board appointments should result in assigning responsibilities as Filing Official/Officer to the Clerk of the Board. County Counsel should spearhead an effort to coordinate with the
• R2
  Superior Court an effort to move the Form 700 filing requirement to the responsibility of the Court Executive Officer for the Grand Jury. We acknowledge that the Grand Jury system is in a strange limbo due to the separation of the courts from the county, where the Grand Jury is funded by the county, but acts, by California Penal Code "as an arm of the court" 90 2004-2005 BUTTE COUNTY GRAND JURY (now a state entity), so if this effort cannot be coordinated, County Counsel should work with the Grand Jury foreman to develop training materials to be included in the Grand Jury procedures manual and introduced by County Counsel to the Grand Jury foreman at the beginning of each Grand Jury term to ensure reporting to the Clerk-Recorder's Office. The Board of Supervisors should work with County Counsel and the
• R3
  director of human resources to ensure that job descriptions that have Form 700 filing requirements are appropriately noted with the type of filing and that those job descriptions are reviewed and updated upon every completion of the required biennial review. The required form should be included in every new employee packet carrying this requirement, and personnel staff should be aware of instructions to give new hires on how to get help should they need it as well as the required filing deadlines. The Clerk-Recorder's office should institute an annual training that is
• R4
  required for appropriate personnel staff and available to all designated filers. In departments that have significant numbers of required filers, we recommend that the department head attend or designate a staff member (such as a payroll clerk or administrative assistant) to attend the training to assist compliance within that department by helping distribute forms, collecting and forwarding forms, and by giving people information on who to call for assistance on completing the forms. The director of human resources should identify and request needed
• R5
  technology or automation tools to provide the Clerk-Recorder's office timely reports of new hires, employee attrition, and an annual report of currently staffed designated positions to be available to the Clerk- Recorder not later than January 30 of each year. The Grand Jury does not presume to know the right tool for personnel needs, but we are aware that the Kronos HR module should support automatically generated e- mails for this purpose as an example of the type of automation we are recommending. Should current technology not be sufficient and funding not available for a new solution, a system of flagging personnel files or verifying this legal requirement upon each employee entry and exit for the purpose of notification should be implemented. Then lists must be provided within the first month of each calendar year. Responses Required (Penal Code § 933 & 933.05) Butte County Board of Supervisors Butte County Counsel Butte County Director- Human Resources Butte County Clerk-Recorder/ Registrar of Voters 91 2004-2005 BUTTE COUNTY GRAND JURY Exhibit A Sample Designated Employees for Butte County Conflict of Interest Code (Butte County Board of Supervisors Resolution 03-173, adopted 12/16/2003, Attachment B ) Disclosure Category Agency/ Position Development Services Director- Development Services 1 Building Inspectors I, II, III ı Planning Manager ı Senior Planner 1 Where to File: Exhibit A: County Clerk-Recorder Where: Butte County Elections Department 25 County Center Drive, Oroville CA 95965 92 2004-2005 BUTTE COUNTY GRAND JURY Exhibit B Sample Designated members for Butte County Conflict of Interest Code (Butte County Board of Supervisors Resolution 03-173, adopted 12/16/2003, excerpts from Attachments C, E) Part I- Committees and Commissions Disclosure Category Agency/ Position Airport Land Use Commission Members Alternate Members Part II- Committees and Commissions Disclosure Category Agency/ Position Water Butte County Commission ١ Commissioners Grand Jury Members Part III: Committees and Commissions Disclosure Category Agency/ Position Parole Board Members Where to File: Exhibit B Part I: Clerk of the Board of Supervisors Where: Administration Office 25 County Center Drive, Oroville CA 95965 Exhibit B Part II: County Clerk-Recorder Where: Butte County Elections Department 25 County Center Drive, Oroville CA 95965 Exhibit B Part III: Butte County Consolidated Courts Where: Court Executive Officer One Court Street, Oroville CA 95965 93 2004-2005 BUTTE COUNTY GRAND JURY Butte County Jail Reason for Visit/Investigation The Grand Jury is charged by the California Penal Code to review all detention facilities in the county each year. The Grand Jury visited the Butte County Jail on October 20, 2004, and the Law Enforcement Committee visited again on December 8, 2004, to review procedures and inspect the facility. The Grand Jury also visited the Butte County Juvenile Detention Center on December 1, 2004, to inspect this facility.
• R6
  Erratic application response times are the direct result of the Board of Supervisor's decisions to reorganize the development review process over a long period of time. The inconsistency in choices made by the Board of Supervisors for DDS, the lack of detailed plans for restructuring development related processes, and lack of timely follow through have resulted in bad customer service.
• R7
  The working environment of DDS, the failure of management to address employee issues in a consistent and timely fashion, and the mixed messages of a divided Board of Supervisors are as much a cause of serious employee behaviors as poor choices that were made by DDS employees.
• R8
  The combined Butte County codes, resolutions, policies, practices, and General Plan are vague, inconsistent, and contradictory. This has created significant challenges for Butte County employees in establishing valid criteria for development permit approval. As a result, having their decisions overturned demoralizes employees.
• R9
  For reasons listed above, recruitment and retention of Planning and Building employees has become a serious challenge for Butte County. California Code section 31000 restricts Butte County's ability to use outsourced services as a permanent solution for processing building permits.
• R10
  Poor telephone answering procedures, organization, and implementation of available technology add many unneeded steps and obstacles to permit processing procedures. 139 2004-2005 BUTTE COUNTY GRAND JURY
• R11
  General Fund availability to subsidize DDS has varied from year to year; this has hindered DDS' ability to resolve pressing problems.
• R12
  The current Butte County CAO and his staff have significant expertise and vision to understand what is not working in DDS and its related departments. The current Butte County CAO has some of the groundwork in place for a more functional DDS going forward.
• R13
  When land use laws are abused, and building plans are mislabeled, with or without the knowledge of county staff, it is the taxpayer that ultimately pays the costs. Recommendations
• R14
  Hiring staff to fill vacancies should be given a very high priority. Absolute minimum requirements should be established and Butte County should adequately fund the training of new and existing employees to maintain any and all professional certification requirements. 141 2004-2005 BUTTE COUNTY GRAND JURY