Marin County Grand Jury
• 2024-2025
• Agency Response
Justice Delayed is Justice Denied –*
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 2 findings
F1
Regarding the prior Grand Jury's report entitled Justice Delayed is Justice Denied – Marin District Attorney's Office in Crisis, the current Grand Jury finds that the District Attorney's Office has not implemented Recommendation No. 7, although the District Attorney's Office originally responded that this recommendation would be implemented. Quarterly reports to the Board of Supervisors on the current caseloads are not being submitted and the public is therefore unable to assess whether progress is being made toward clearing the backlog of cases. Response: Partially Disagree. The District Attorney and the Board of Supervisors agree on the merit of regular reports as outlined in their respective responses to Recommendation 7 of the May 15, 2023, Grand Jury Report, "Justice Delayed is Justice Denied - Marin District Attorney's Office in Crisis". While the Grand Jury report recommended a date of November 1, 2023, for this quarterly reporting to begin, the Board of Supervisors' and District Attorney's responses to the report indicate this
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
By September 30, 2024, the District Attorney's Office should start providing the requested quarterly update and statistical report regarding its progress in reducing the backlog of criminal cases to the Board of Supervisors and the County Executive's Office. This recommendation requires further analysis. As stated in the response to F1 above, the Board of Supervisors and the District Attorney have agreed previously that quarterly reports are warranted and feasible in the future. The organizational study referenced in F1 above will provide insight as to when quarterly reporting will be feasible, and we welcome input from the District Attorney on how we can help facilitate the process. We will continue to explore this issue with the District Attorney and will partner on a County of Marin Response to Grand Jury Findings and Recommendations County of Marin Response to Grand Jury Report Findings and Recommendations "What Have They Done? An Update on the Responses to the 2022-2023 Marin County Civil Grand Jury Reports (April 8, 2024) regular reporting process informed by evaluation of an organizational study anticipated to be completed this calendar year.
F2
Regarding the prior Grand Jury's report entitled "The Coming Wave of Older Adults - Is Marin Prepared?", the current Grand Jury finds that the County and the Commission on Aging are in stark disagreement about the implementation of all the prior Grand Jury
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
By September 30, 2024, the Health and Human Services Department should commence open, public discussions with the Commission on Aging regarding the future status of the Office of Adult and Aging Services and the funding of adult programs, including the cost analysis and rationale for not elevating the Office of Adult and Aging Services to a division-level department within the Health and Human Services Department. This recommendation has been implemented. On November 1, 2023, HHS' Chief Fiscal Officer provided key stakeholders, including the Commission on Aging, Aging Action Initiative, Marin Aging and Disability Institute, and Vivalon with a presentation of HHS' core funding sources and their impact on the older adult population in Marin. On March 29, 2024, HHS provided another presentation to the Commission on Aging to discuss the financial structure of the Aging and Adult Services Division within HHS. This presentation provided fiscal and service delivery data demonstrating the positive impact of all HHS divisions on the older adult population in Marin. Both presentations explained the cost estimates, analysis, and implications of moving the Adult and Aging program from Social Services to a stand-alone division. HHS will continue to offer opportunities to further explain the interrelationships of state and federal funding streams and how those revenue streams are leveraged and invested to the benefit of the older adult population in Marin to ensure intended outcomes. As referenced above, the cost to create a standalone Aging division in HHS would cost upwards of $1 million general fund annually. This dynamic exists due to Federal and State funding sources and their prescribed administrative cost caps, including the Area Agency on Aging funding which has a low, capped administrative rate of 10%. In a scenario where a standalone division were created, State Social Services funding would no longer be allowed to be utilized to support those same costs - resulting in local general fund dollars being the only allowable source of funds to maintain existing staffing and program levels. Instead, the County remains focused on elevating older adult services as a priority across County departments as we develop new funding opportunities and initiatives to support older adult residents across Marin. . County of Marin Response to Grand Jury Findings and Recommendations
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.