Sonoma County Grand Jury
• 2024-2025
• Agency Response
Read and Considered Responses to the 2024-2025 Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury Reports Providing Continuity by Following*
⚠️ 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 3 findings
F1
whether future review is needed regarding further analysis and/or implementation.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
By November 1, 2025, Sonoma SCID - Has not yet been implemented but will be in the future County Public Infrastructure will The Airport and Public Infrastructure are finalizing a dual-track plan for FAA determine how to resolve all compliance: 1) negotiate market rent with NCDF, and 2) develop relocation strategy FAA non-airport land use for the Roads Yard. These actions are underway and expected to be presented to issues and submit this plan for the Board by the recommended deadline. Board of Supervisors' review. Update to the Grand Jury, February 2026 As of December 31, 2025, the Airport and Public Infrastructure have made substantial progress toward resolving FAA land use issues, consistent with the dual-track strategy outlined in our August 26, 2025, response. RECOMMENDATIONS RESPONSES With respect to the North County Detention Facility (NCDF), the Airport has engaged in discussions with the Sonoma County Sheriff regarding fair market rents and refined the specific areas to be leased. A recommendation is anticipated to be presented to the Board of Supervisors in 2026. Together, these actions represent meaningful progress toward addressing the uncompensated use issues identified in the Civil Grand Jury report. REPORT #2 - PERMIT SONOMA 2025 - MANAGEMENT REVIEW IS A BEGINNING, NOT AN END View full investigation report here Respondents/Full Response: PS: Permit Sonoma - View Permit Sonoma full response here • CEO: Sonoma County Executive Officer - View Sonoma County Executive Officer full response here • BOS: Sonoma County Board of Supervisors - View Sonoma County Board of Supervisors full response here Overall status update from Permit Sonoma, January 2026: The estimated timing on completion of December 2025 recommendations is now May 1, 2026. The capacity lost in the transitions of Director, Assistant Director, Project Review Division Manager, Code Enforcement Manager, and extended leaves by key department personnel has required staff to be focused on service delivery deadlines and the Board of Supervisors calendar for major policy items. Additionally, the department has had to freeze all nonessential spending due to budget constraints this Fiscal Year. All Recommendations relating to resources will be communicated to the County Executive Officer during the FY26-27 budget development process. RECOMMENDATIONS RESPONSES
F2
While we may not agree with a response, the purpose of the report is to track responses and not to characterize them. A glossary of abbreviations is available at the end of this report. REPORT #1 -SONOMA COUNTY AIRPORT - ADDRESSING CHALLENGES AND PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE View full investigation report here Respondents/Full Response: SCID: Sonoma County Infrastructure Department - View Sonoma County Infrastructure Department full response here
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
By December 19, 2025, PS – has not yet been implemented but will be in the future Permit Sonoma shall
F3
CEO: Sonoma County Executive Officer - View Sonoma County Executive Officer full response here
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
By December 19, 2025, PS - has not yet been implemented but will be in the future Permit Sonoma will
Additional Recommendations 10
These recommendations are not explicitly linked to specific findings.
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R4By December 19, 2025, PS - has not yet been implemented but will be in the future Permit Sonoma shall
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R5By December 19, 2025, PS - has not yet been implemented but will be in the future, also indicates requires Permit Sonoma shall further analysis review and publish its Partial implementation: By December 19, 2025, Permit Sonoma shall review and requirements and publish its requirements and expectations for express permit review and approval, expectations for express third party plan check, permit and inspection self-certification. permit review and approval, third party plan This recommendation either requires more analysis or will not be implemented: Use of check, permit and program management techniques to fulfill all Berry Dunn Report inspection self- recommendations by December 19, 2025. By December 19, 2025, Permit Sonoma certification, and use of will assess the Initiatives not covered in other Recommendations that the Grand program management Jury has found to be incomplete. techniques to fulfill all Berry Dunn Report Update to the Grand Jury, January 2026 recommendations. RECOMMENDATIONS RESPONSES The estimated timing on completion of this recommendation is now by May 1, 2026. Content is drafted for Express Application Review and Over the Counter permits. The two year allocation of discretionary funding for Third Party Plan Check for extra capacity has ended. The Self Certification program has been in effect for the fiscal year and has been successful. Permit Sonoma plans to publish criteria and forms online to facilitate and to call more attention to the program. The department is assessing changes to the program in an effort to further increase its viability.
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R6By December 19, 2025, PS - has not yet been implemented but will be in the future Permit Sonoma shall
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R7By March 27, 2026, PS - has not yet been implemented but will be in the future Permit Sonoma shall
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R8By March 27, 2026, PS - has not yet been implemented but will be in the future Permit Sonoma will
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R9By March 27, 2026, PS - has not yet been implemented but will be in the future Permit Sonoma shall
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R10PS - has not yet been implemented but will be in the future Permit Sonoma shall
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R11By May 1st, 2026, the BOS - Has not been implemented but will be in the future County Executive shall Each year, the County Executive considers existing and emerging county needs review Permit Sonoma's within the context of limited County resources and makes recommendations to the resource requirement Board of Supervisors who ultimately determine and adopt the County budget. As part noted in Recommendation of the FY 2026-27 budget process the County Executive will review any requests 7 for inclusion in the from Permit Sonoma related to recommendation 7 along with other County needs Board of Supervisors' and make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors for consideration. 2026-27 budget review. CEO - Has not been implemented but will be in the future As described in Sonoma County's Recommended Budget Fiscal Year 2025-2026 available here, each year, departments have an opportunity to request funding for following-year programs. The County Executive will review any requests from Permit Sonoma related to Recommendation 7 and include those requests, along with other departmental requests, in a package for the Board of Supervisors to consider during FY 2026-27 budget review. By July 10, 2026, and
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R12PS - has not yet been implemented but will be in the future annually thereafter, Permit
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R13By July 13, 2026, or as PS - has not yet been implemented but will be in the future soon thereafter as allowed
* 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.