Received Apr 1 4 2016 Office Sheriff Santa Barbara County Bill Brown Stations Sheriff - Coroner Headquarters Buellton*

R1

That the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office conducts regular performance reviews of the parking citation processing contract. Response to Finding 1: The Sheriff's Office agrees with this recommendation. Any future contract should have built in performance measures that can be monitored. A review of these performance measures will be conducted prior to annual contract renewals.

R2

That the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office, in recognition of the need of some citizens to pay in cash, initiate a mechanism to pay in person or with cash. Response to Finding 2: The Sheriff's Office agrees with this recommendation. The Sheriff's office will look to any future vendor to provide a variety of payment options. These options ideally will include paying cash at a Sheriff's station, mail-in payments and on-line payment options.

R3

That the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office develop procedures to ensure parking citations are processed in a timely manner. Response to Finding 3: The Sheriff's Office agrees with this recommendation. The Sheriff's Office strives to have all reports and citations completed and turned in for processing by the end of the Officer's shift. Processing records in a timely manner is a top priority of our Records Bureau and procedures currently exist to ensure that records are processed as expeditiously as possible. Any third party vendor that the Sheriff's Office contracts with for Parking Citation processing will be held to the same standards and those standards will be outlined as a performance measure of the contract.

R4

That the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office develop procedures to ensure that parking citations paid within statutory timelines are not sent to debt collection agencies. <b>Response to Finding 4:</b> The Sheriff's Office does not agree with this recommendation. The Sheriff's Office contracts with a Vendor to provide parking citation processing. That Vendor collects payment on behalf of the Sheriff's Office and reconciles payments received with the Sheriff's Office on a regular basis. All financial transactions and processing are outside of the Sheriff's Office direct control. In the past 18 months, the Sheriff's Office identified only 2 citations that were paid by the violator, but sent to collections by Duncan Solutions. In both circumstances, The Sheriff's Office stepped in to assist the payee with communicating with Duncan Solutions and the Collections agency to clear the mistake. The Sheriff's Office always strives to provide the best customer service possible; however records and payment management conducted by a third party vendor is outside of our control.

R5

That the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office enter into a new contract with a qualified vendor that will consistently process parking citations expeditiously. Response to Finding 5: The Sheriff's Office agrees with this recommendation. The Sheriff's Office is currently in the process of identifying qualified vendors. Vendors will be considered on several key elements; Technology and ease of use in the field, customer service, user interface, ease of use to the payee, willingness to establish and adhere to recurring performance measures and responsiveness to customer concerns / problems. The Sheriff's Office is confident that we can identify and establish a relationship with a qualified vendor prior to FY 2016/17.