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Extracted from Consolidated Report

This investigation was originally published as part of a larger consolidated report containing multiple investigations. View the consolidated PDF for the complete document.

Siskiyou County Grand Jury • 2018-2019

Request for Responses Pursuant to Penal Code section 933.05, the Siskiyou County Civil Grand Jury requests the Montague

Published: April 25, 2019 58 pages

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⚠️ 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.

Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F7

Findings 8 findings

The Grand Jury found that Charlie Byrd Youth Corrections Center is well managed and operating efficiently. The staff is well trained, the center is clean and properly maintained. By transporting youth to the Tehama County Juvenile Hall, the cost per youth is lower than full-time on-site housing.

Youth are monitored from a centrally operated control room with oversight over the entire facility.

Educational opportunities are excellent and well managed to insure juveniles are given every opportunity to improve themselves. Response (Siskiyou County Probation Department) We would like to thank the Grand Jury for their time and appreciate all of the feedback they provided. This is a time of transition for the CBYCC. We have fully transitioned from a detention facility to a Juvenile Day Reporting Center. There have been many challenges that we have worked through to establish the program. We are now at the point where we are working on the following: 1. Growing and expanding programs to meet the needs of the youth in our county. This requires constant program evaluation and willingness to change what isn’t working. We are also expanding opportunities to assist youth in finding employment and learning key life skills. 2. Beginning to identify and work towards relocating the program for the new jail project. It is imperative to the department that we maintain the program to continue to serve the youth of Siskiyou County and help them become successful adults. We are using detention at Tehama County as a last resort for youth, instead we are proactively using programs and partnerships with the schools to address youth before they are fully in the system as delinquent youth. 3. Meeting the needs of the youth detained in Tehama. Those that are detained pose additional staffing challenges such as transportation, officer safety (those detained have been high level and charged with violent felony crimes) and ensuring that they have no interaction with the program youth. Most recently transportation has become problematic due to multiple road closures with weather and the Delta fire. Overall, CBYCC staff has worked diligently and positively to overcome these challenges and are prepared to address more of the unexpected issues that may arise. DAY REPORTING CENTER Summary: To provide awareness to the citizens of Siskiyou County, of the functions, resources and services provided by the Day Reporting Center. The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office was requested to respond. The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors were invited to respond. *To date, no Response has been received from the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office to this 2017-2018 report.

Deadwood could place more emphasis on training inmates to handle the responsibilities of life outside of prison.

The intensity and rapid spread of this wildfire created a traffic jam on the Horse Creek Bar Road between responding fire crews and citizens evacuating. R5: We recommend the BOS review coordination and communication procedures between the Siskiyou County Sheriff and all fire agencies, including CALFIRE and USFS, for traffic control. Response (Board of Supervisors): The Board partially agrees. The Sheriff is an elected official who routinely coordinates with incident commanders during emergencies. The Board will encourage the Sheriff to discuss the issue at a public board meeting.

There is significant Federal, State and County legislation designed to address the prevention and suppression of wildfires.

Most professional foresters agree that “Active forest management is the most important tool in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and lowering the threat and severity of wildfires…” (Stewart 2010).

There are 22 local Fire Safe Councils in Siskiyou County tasked with fire prevention (firesafeing) on private property and, while most are very active, there is a lack of funding and coordination.

Recommendations 13

R1

Educational and social opportunities should be continued and expanded.
R2

Steps should be taken to raise public awareness of the DRC and the work being done on their behalf. These may include posts to social media, submissions to local newspapers, public service announcements and other informational avenues. Response (Board of Supervisors): The Board agrees with the findings and recommendations. The County appreciates the time and effort the Grand Jury put into the Day Reporting Center Investigation. The Board agrees and recognizes that the Day Reporting Center serves an important role in the justice system and that it has demonstrated many benefits to local communities. The staff are to be commended for their service and commitment to the program. GAP FIRE Summary: The Grand Jury’s goal with the writing of this report was to bring public awareness to the citizens of Siskiyou County about the increase wildfire danger, why fire intensity may be increasing and what procedures are currently in place to address those fires. The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors was requested to respond. The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department was invited to respond. 7
R3

Unable to find out if the investigation into the cause of the Gap Fire is ongoing, we recommend the BOS open its own investigation to find out if there may be a case for negligence or intent. Response (Board of Supervisors): The Board does not agree with R3. The County does not have the authority to open an investigation where Forest Service jurisdiction is considered. We are aware that the investigation is ongoing and that the cause for the fire has not been determined at this time. F4: USFS states that “evacuations remained in place from August 27 until 5:30 September 7, 2016. Some local residents claim they were not notified until the next night when the fire was burning into the community and the Sheriff’s department was dispatched to facilitate evacuations.
R4

It is still not exactly clear what the methods and timelines were for evacuation notification. What is clear is that Horse Creek residents were not given ample time to evacuate. We recommend the BOS review County- wide evacuation procedures and communications protocols including the Code Red system and implement an effective plan for timely notices. Response (Board of Supervisors): The Board partially agrees. The County should routinely review its evacuation procedures to ensure procedure and communication protocols are in order. It is imperative that evacuation decisions provide as much time as possible to warn and allow residents to evacuate, the Sheriff’s Office and Siskiyou Office of Emergency Service communicate continually during an emergency event to coordinate evacuation actions and decisions. The Office of Emergency Services, local cities, law enforcement entities, and others have all done extensive campaigns to encourage residents to sign up for Code Red, which provides evacuation notices and alerts. Code Red has become a valuable tool in communicating with the public.
R5

School Board members, at a minimum, should have individual voice mailboxes set up through the school. Board members should continue to maintain their individual e-mail addresses.
R6

We recommend the BOS do research into all the relevant legislation in order to bring more resources and funding into our County for fuel treatment and fire suppression. Response (Board of Supervisors): The Board partially agrees. State CCI funding is available to local non-profit operations aimed at addressing healthy forests projects. The County Fire Warden encourages and supports local non-profit groups, such as Fire Safe Councils, to apply for and utilize these funding opportunities. Recently, the Klamath National Forest received a large grant to complete the Craggy Vegetation Project, supported by the Board of Supervisors. Additionally, the County Fire Warden and 9 volunteer fire entities take advantage of various grant opportunities to enhance fire suppression efforts. The Fire Safe Council of Siskiyou County has monthly meetings that are attended by local Fire Safe Councils, the County Fire Warden, CALFIRE, and the Forest Service. During these meetings there are discussions about grant funding, current and planned projects, training, current fire season status and staffing. At these meetings the Fire Safe councils are encouraged to plan projects with their local CALFIRE and/or Forest Service personnel to build cooperative fire prevention and fuel reduction projects that meet the needs of the community as well as the fire service. Lastly, in Fiscal year 2017/2018 the General County Fire received several donations including a Fire Engine, a Type 1 Fire Engine and a Flat Rack Truck; with a total estimated value of $54,270. F7: In spite of the legislation mentioned in F6, not enough is actually being done and two federal bills that should help prevent future wildfires, H.R.2613 and H.R.2862 have been sitting in committee for 9 months. R7: We have attempted to find out why H.R.2613 and H.R.2862 are tied up in committee but have had no response from either our Representative or Senator. We recommend the BOS contact them to determine what can be done to get this vital legislation enacted. Response (Board of Supervisors): The Board partially agrees. County staff contacted Congressman Doug LaMalfa’s office who informed us that these bills have not had any success since their introduction in 2017. However, Congressman LaMalfa’s office continues to support and work on bills that allow for increased active forest management and resiliency to wildfire, and Congressman LaMalfa recently met with Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke, and Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue during their visit to northern California to tour the Carr fire destruction and discuss forest health and wildfire issues facing California.
R7

The County should make full use of escalating fees if for no other reason than to assess their effectiveness. Response (Board of Supervisors): The Board agrees. Although Recommendation 7 uses the term “fees”, the Board interprets Recommendation 7 to refer to administrative 18 fines based on the paragraphs that proceed the recommendation. While the Board agrees that escalating fines can be an effective tool in obtaining compliance in cases where violators are unwilling to voluntarily abate code violations; here, Planning Department staff, in recognition of the complexities of the underlying disagreement with JH Ranch over the limitations of its 1993 zoning approval, and based upon the applicant’s expressed desire to come into conformance, are attempting to address code compliance issues through a voluntary amendment to JH Ranch’s Planned Development District zoning or development plan. However, the Board supports use of administrative fines as a code compliance tool when appropriate. In July 2018, the Board took action to amend the County Code to simplify and streamline the code enforcement process, decrease the time for violators to abate violations, establish a framework for maximizing the corrective effect of fines on violators and authorize use of hearing officers to hear and decide administrative code enforcement matters.
R8

Active forest management is necessary to the health and welfare of our citizens and the forest itself. If H.R.2613 can be encouraged through active involvement of our BOS, perhaps a clear path forward in how we can approach the responsible management of our County’s natural resources can be obtained. Response (Board of Supervisors): The Board agrees. The Board will continue to actively support this type of legislation.
R9

The 22 local Fire Safe Councils in Siskiyou County are the only resource we have to assist private property owners in making their homes more safe from wildfire. Most of these local Councils act independently to acquire funding, buy equipment and hire workers to perform this vital task. We recommend the BOS involve the County in the Fire Safe Council of Siskiyou County with the goal of bringing all local FSCs under one organization for the purpose of efficiency. i.e.: sharing of equipment, workers and other resources, bringing paperwork, reporting, grant writing and fund raising under one roof and ensuring all local FSC’s receive their fair share of such. Response (Board of Supervisors) The Board does not agree. While the Board agrees that coordination of information and sharing of resources is important, Fire Safe Councils are not within the jurisdiction of the County. The County Fire Warden will continue to encourage Fire Safe Councils to coordinate and share resource whenever possible. DEADWOOD CONSERVATION CAMP Summary: In accordance with State of California Penal Code 919(b), “the Grand Jury shall inquire into the condition and management of the public prisons within the county.” This conservation camp falls within the jurisdiction of a public prison. The Grand Jury inspected the camp as directed. Responses were requested from the California Department of Corrections, CALFIRE, Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department, and Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors. *To date, no Response has been received from the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office to this 2017-2018 report.
R10

Design Build Award Approved by Department of Finance November 20, 2020 [Driven by PMIB meeting on: November 18, 2020, 2 days past meeting to allow for funding to occur.] (Please note: this is the date used for the Start of Construction, not the NTP.)
R11

Notice to Proceed November 23, 2020
R12

Construction Completion May 17, 2022
R13

Occupancy August 1, 2022 56