County of San Luis Obispo Board of Supervisors Agenda Item Transmittal (3) Contact/phone (2) Meeting Date (1)*

The County has a large fleet of 777 licensed vehicles; 132 are driven to employees' homes for overnight parking and personal commuting. Recommended County Administrator Response: The County Administrator partially agrees with this finding. The County does have a large fleet of vehicles and a portion of them are taken home on either a partial or full- time basis. At the end of fiscal year 2008-09, the County had 747 vehicles in its fleet and of those, 137 vehicles (or 18%) have been approved for either partial or full exemptions. Of that total, 56 vehicles have been designated for use with partial exemptions. As noted above, these vehicles are driven by on-call rotating personnel. Full exemptions, known as "take-home", have been designated for 81 vehicles.

The County has a policy adopted by the Board of Supervisors in July 2008, which further clarifies the delegated approval and assignment of take-home vehicles in the Sheriff's Department and the District Attorney's Office. All other county departments must seek approval from the County Administrative Officer. Recommended County Administrator and Board of Supervisors Response: The County Administrator and Board of Supervisors agrees with this finding. While the Grand Jury finding concentrates on the approval and assignment of take home vehicles, the County Ordinance on the use of vehicles on County business and the subsequent Rules for Use of Vehicles on County Business governs the use of all County vehicles. While take home vehicles are a component of the Rules, the policy encompasses a variety of issues pertaining to the use of County vehicles, such as how to obtain and A-2 07-21-2009 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS July 21, 2009 keep driving privileges, and seat belts/child safety seats use, reporting vehicle collisions, incidents or damage. The Rules require that departments annually provide justification for the use of their vehicles as it relates to parking and/or county seal exemptions.

The policy and required process to be used by the Sheriff and the District Attorney in the assignment of take-home vehicles does not have a check and balance review process beyond the department. Although the District Attorney argues strongly to preserve his independence in these decisions, there is potential for lax oversight in the assignment of those vehicles. Recommended County Administrator and Board of Supervisors Response: The County Administrator and the Board of Supervisors disagrees with this finding. Section VII - B of the Rules for Use of Vehicles on County Business requires that the District Attorney, Sheriff and County Administrator annually review all exemptions. While the District Attorney and the Sheriff are responsible for approving all take-home vehicles and/or county seal exemptions for their respective departments, the Rules do require they provide written approval criteria annually to the County Administrator as well as the associated justifications for approving those exemptions. In turn, the County Administrator is required to submit the listing of all vehicles approved for exemptions to the Board of Supervisors for informational purposes. Government Code Section 25303 and an opinion from the State's Attorney General state that while boards of supervisors retain the authority to set the budget for sheriff and district attorney offices, it is up to those officials to designate how those funds are expended (i.e. in the case of vehicles, these two departments have the authority to make the final determination). We believe that the process as described in the Rules and the continued dialogue between the County Administrative Office, District Attorney and Sheriff contributes to the oversight of take-home vehicle assignments.

There is significant cost in take-home vehicle use. The total annual cost for all such vehicles is estimated to exceed $1,000,000 of which the commuting miles are a significant portion. There are opportunities for savings with more rigorous justification for the assignment and use of these vehicles. Recommended County Administrator Response: The County Administrator partially agrees. In FY 2008-09, costs for all vehicles, including pool cars, patrol cars, trucks of varying sizes and vans, was $3.52 million. Costs include mileage, fuel, maintenance and annual depreciation. Depreciation (approximately $858,000 in FY 2008-09) is a cost that is incurred whether a vehicle is A-2 07-21-2009 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS July 21, 2009 taken home or not. The total cost for the 81 take home vehicles that are granted full exemption is approximately $596,000 ($7,358/vehicle).

There is additional County liability exposure in the assignment of take-home vehicles. Recommended County Administrator Response: The County Administrator partially disagrees with this finding. The County has exposure to liability whenever County equipment or a vehicle is being used and the Rules set out parameters to help limit the County's liability exposure. There is no evidence that the assignment of take-home vehicles increases this exposure.

The justifications for take-home use presented to the Grand Jury for the Sheriff and District Attorney take-home vehicles were minimal and the Grand Jury found them to be inadequate. Recommended County Administrator and Board of Supervisors Response: The County Administrator and Board of Supervisors neither agrees nor disagrees with this finding. As noted above, Section VII.C-2 of the Rules for Use of Vehicles on County business requires that the District Attorney and Sheriff develop written criteria for all vehicle assignments, whether partial or full exemptions. It is expected that both departments authorize the use of County vehicles according to their individual criteria. Additionally, the Rules (Section VII.B) require that the listing submitted to the Board of Supervisors is for informational purposes and the brief nature of the listing is indicative of this.