An Update on the Issues Covered by the 2019–2020 Marin County Civil Grand Jury Reports

Recommendations 6

• R3
  Firearm Safety in Marin Against a backdrop of proliferating gun sales at the national and local levels, a trend that only accelerated during the Covid pandemic, the jury addressed a range of gun safety issues. All respondents reacted favorably to the jury’s recommendations to increase education, make gun locks more readily available, and commit to a countywide buyback program sponsored by the Marin County District Attorney. The DA’s Office indicated that the gun buyback program will be implemented once Covid protocols are eased. Additionally, the DA’s Office and local community leaders partnered in planning a yearlong gun safety and awareness campaign.
• R4
  Mental Health Challenges in Our Schools The Grand Jury made recommendations for improvements in programs to mitigate the mental health crisis in Marin’s schools where many students are experiencing increased anxiety and a sense of hopelessness. The jury recommended that the schools begin implementing elements of the County’s suicide prevention plan. Measures have been taken to improve program collaboration and access to mental health services throughout Marin County schools.
• R5
  Climate Change The County and most of Marin’s municipalities rejected a Grand Jury recommendation to establish a multi-jurisdictional task force charged with developing a comprehensive strategy for mitigating and adapting to climate change. A jury recommendation to reorganize and add climate change adaptation to the mission of the County’s flood control agency was also rejected. Instead, local agencies opted to continue relying on established strategies, including updating their respective climate action plans for 2030 and 2045.
• R6
  A Comprehensive List of Marin’s Public Agencies Marin County has more than 150 local government agencies. Several Marin County Civil Grand Juries have recommended the development and maintenance of a single comprehensive list. As this has never been fully implemented, the 2019-2020 Grand Jury developed the list along with a proposed methodology to maintain it. The list was issued on June 30, 2020, but a recommendation that the list be maintained and regularly updated by either the County Clerk or the County’s Department of Finance was rejected.
• R7
  Cyberattacks Following security breaches and subsequent Grand Jury recommendations, Marin’s county and municipal governments strengthened their cybersecurity policies and systems. Marin’s local governments now publicly report breaches and share best practices with one another. In July 2020, the County also committed to installing new hardware that provides a menu of enhanced security features that can be requested and implemented by each municipality.
• R8
  Web Transparency of Agency Compensation Practices Despite the State’s legal requirements and two prior Grand Jury reports (2015-2016, 2016-2017) that recommended Marin public agencies make compensation for their elected officials and employees fully transparent on their websites, the Grand Jury found that many jurisdictions had failed to do so. Following recommendations by the 2019- 2020 Grand Jury, a sample audit by the jury indicated that agencies had successfully updated their websites to report the required information properly.