Office of the Sheriff Trinity County*

Recommendations 14

• R1
  Beginning with FY 2015-16, per State Law, the Sheriff must submit annual budget reports detailing expenditures of the inmate welfare fund. Response 1 The FY2015-16 annual budget reports detailing the inmate welfare fund expenditures is currently in progress.
• R2
  The Sheriff should include a justification to the Board of Supervisors for the expenditures of IMWT funds that are left to his discretion - such as mattresses, food carts and clothing. While items should be documented along with the annual budget as discretionary expenses. Response 2 Currently the outside IMWT checking account is a separate account from the Trinity County accounting system, therefore it is not part of the existing budget process. The possibility of making this accounting part of the Counties accounting system was discussed during our initial FY2016-17 budget meeting. I'm sure there will be further discussion about this in the near future. .
• R3
  COMMISSARY The Business Manager should develop and implement a new efficient and inmate accounting system. Response 3 Due to short staffing and a constant increase in workload due to ever increasing deadlines it would be impossible for the sole financial position in the Sheriff's Office to "develop and implement a new efficient commissary and inmate fund accounting system". The current commissary system used in the Jail is the Eagle system and was the industry standard for quite some time. Unfortunately do to the extreme expense of any of the newer systems currently in use by other agencies the Trinity County Sheriff's Office has not been able to upgrade to any of the newer Jail management systems.
• R4
  POLICY/PROCEDURES An annual financial audit and time study of the Inmate Welfare Fund should be completed. Response 4 The Inmate Welfare Fund is reconciled on a monthly bases and the records are emailed to both the County Auditor's office and the Treasurer's office monthly for review. In addition, the County Auditor conducts annual surprise audits on our outside checking accounts.
• R5
  The Business Manager should consider combining the existing accounts related to the Inmate Welfare Fund, The IMWT and Trinity County IMW accounts, to streamline IWF accounting. Response 5 The combining of the existing outside checking account for the Inmate Welfare Fund and the Trinity County IMW account was discussed during our initial FY2016-17 budget meeting. I'm sure there will be further discussion about this in the near future.
• R6
  The Sheriff should consider developing committees, comprised of department staff, to investigate, research, develop and report out on methods to improve department policies and procedures. Response 6 The Sheriff's Office Administration wished the staff existed to develop committees' to investigate, research, develop and report on methods to improve department efficiencies. Unfortunately current staffing levels make this impossible. The current policy and procedure manual in use through Lexipol is an industry standard used by law enforcement agencies and correctional facilities.
• R7
  The Sheriff, or Undersheriff, as head and chief deputy of the department respectively, should take a lead role in developing, overseeing and assigning staff to committees to pursue cost saving and efficiency improving policies and procedures. Response 7 See Response 6.
• R8
  Because improvements in departmental policies and procedures directly relates to the cost efficiency and effectiveness of the department, the Sheriff should allocate funds for the purpose of developing committees to improve Department policies and procedures. Response 8 The Sheriff's Office budget is currently insufficient to keep staffing levels at a minimum standard for officer safety and community safety. With safety being the Sheriff's Office primary objective it is imperative that we use all available funds to improve this vital aspect of operations prior to allocating any funds for the purpose of developing committees to improve Department policies and procedures.
• R9
  In conjunction with the ongoing development of plans to improve for the new jail facility, the Sheriff and his staff should develop plans to improve efficiency of the commissary and the expenditure of the IMWT for the benefit of the inmates. This could include space for GED test taking, a library, meeting rooms for club activities and television viewing which IMWT could subsequently help support financially. Response 9 It is the goal of the Sheriff's Office to develop a new jail facility that is as efficient as possible in all aspects for incarceration including the commissary process. There is program space planned for the new facility that could include GED testing, a library, etc. Historically the IMWT profits have not been consistently significant enough to sustain ongoing programs financially. The new jail project will come with its own financial challenges. Providing the most current and up to date programs and services will be our goal moving forward.
• R10
  The Business Manager should review and/or update the current contract with Swanson Services Corporation to verify compliance. Other vendors should be researched and contracts pursued if deemed an improvement over the existing contract. Response 10 The Business Manager has confirmed that a current contract does not exist between Swanson Services Corporation and the Trinity County Jail. One other vendor has been researched in the past, Keefe Group: Keefe Commissary Services. It is my understanding that Trinity Services Group and Swanson Services Corporation have merged into one company now and that the Keefe Group will also be merging into Trinity Services Group in the near future. With the merger of these three commissary service companies into one company, it is unclear if there are any other vendors to research at this time.
• R11
  EXPENDITURES/ACCOUNT/MANAGEMENT The IMW funds should be used to eliminate any cost overruns in the IMWT to avoid impacting Departmental budgets - currently averaging $566.49 per year. Response 11 Currently the outside IMWT checking account is a separate account from the Trinity County accounting system and County IMW funds, therefore it is not part of the existing budget process. The possibility of making this accounting part of the Counties accounting system was discussed during our initial FY2016-17 budget meeting. I'm sure there will be further discussion about this in the near future.
• R12
  The Board of Supervisors should conduct yearly visits of the jail facility and inspect corrections procedures and policies - including commissary practices and inmate welfare. Response 12 The Sheriff and his staff welcome the possibility of annual visits to the jail facility by the Board of Supervisors to discuss policies, procedures, staffing challenges, and goals and objectives. TRAINING
• R13
  Efforts to provide staff training should continue. Response 13 Efforts to provide the required staff training will be continued.
• R14
  The Sheriff should assure that all employees are familiar with departmental policies, updates to policies and that employees have a means to locate policies - either in hard copy or digital form. Response 14 The department policies and procedures are available to all staff members via an online platform as well as by a hard copy manual that is kept in the dispatch center where it can be easily updated and is accessible to all staff members. 3 1 1 Sincerely, Bruce Haney, SheriffP.O. Box 1228 101 Memorial Drive Weaverville, CA 96093 Cc: Margaret Long, Interim County Administrative Officer .