Response to Grand Jury Report Report Title: Humboldt County Facilities: Owning vs. Leasing Report Date: April 30, 2024*

County of Humboldt facilities in Eureka are widely dispersed, with some departments occupying multiple buildings in multiple locations. This dispersion can result in less efficient county operations. (R1)) Response: Agree.

County of Humboldt facilities in Eureka are widely dispersed, with some departments occupying multiple buildings in multiple locations. This dispersion can result in unnecessarily increased difficulty for citizens who are conducting business with the county. (R1) Response: Agree.

The County of Humboldt Facilities Master Plan from 2020 calls for consolidation of facilities throughout the County. However, the County has yet to meet most of these consolidation goals, which results in continued inefficient operations. (R1) Response: Agree. While the county agrees with this finding, it should be noted that the county has completed the Garberville Campus, collocating the Sheriff's Office and Humboldt County Public Library's Garberville facilities. Additionally, the District Attorney's Victim Witness and CAST teams have been relocated to the Humboldt County Courthouse. Plans are currently underway to co-locate "One Stop Permitting" services and it is hopeful that will occur this fiscal year. The county has also purchased parcels near the courthouse to begin steps in the co- location of additional county services. The Center at McKinleyville has also been operational since 2022 and serves as a one-stop location for services, information and activities for community members in the McKinleyville area. The Center is a project of McKinleyville Family Resource Center, Open Door Community Health Centers, Cal Poly Humboldt's Department of Social Work, the North Coast Regional Department of Child Support Services, Trinidad Rancheria Tribal Social Services and the Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS). Though many staff placed at The Center are DHHS and Child Support Services employees, The Center is not just a county facility. Responsibilities for the facility are shared between service providers operating out of The Center, including the county. The Center is an example of creatively utilizing community partnerships and available funds to consolidate services to better serve the residents of Humboldt County. Additionally, a new Public Health Laboratory is expected to be built in the next few years, after a multi-year search ended when the county found and purchased land less than two miles up the street from the existing location. The property consists of two lots on ISt. in Eureka which are located next to each other and across the street from Behavioral Health's main campus. The existing lab at Public Health's main location is currently split into three separate areas of the 90-year-old building at 529 I St., making it difficult to add services and do upgrades. The new location will make it possible to modernize and consolidate into an efficient, single facility.

Leasing facilities in the long-term is more costly than owning them. Leasing results in additional unnecessary expenses for the County of Humboldt. (R2, R3) Response: Agree.

Consolidation using currently leased buildings is not a viable option. Until consolidation is achieved, operations will continue to be inefficient, and residents will continue to be inconvenienced. (R1) Response: Partially agree. The county agrees that until consolidation is achieved, operations are less efficient, however, consolidating both currently leased and owned buildings will further the county's goals outlined in the 2020 Facilities Master Plan to co-locate county services. Collocating services will allow the county to provide more convenient and efficient services for the public. In the coming year, the North Coast Regional Department of Child Support Services Eureka location will be moving from their leased building, located at 2420 Sixth St., to the Humboldt County Courthouse, which is a county-owned facility. This departure will provide opportunities to explore needed movement to begin the planning and collocation of services. One area to be explored is the relocation of the Planning & Building Department, Department of Public Works' Land Use Division and the Department of Health & Human Services' Environmental Health Division to create a One-Stop Permitting location at 2420 Sixth St. in Eureka. The consolidation of permitting services has been a long term customer service and facilities goal of the county. While the 2420 Sixth St. location is a leased facility, the movement of One Stop Permitting programs or other county programs will create additional program movement and allow the county to begin the planning and design of the county's consolidation need identified in the 2020 Facilities Master Plan - Department of Health & Human Services buildings.

The current budget situation that the County finds itself in is one of limited resources. Without existing funding, the County would have to use other avenues such as bonds to acquire and/or develop property. (R2, R3) Response: Agree.