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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.

Placer County Grand Jury • 2016-2017

Placer County Grand Jury 2016-2017 Final Report  Grand Jury analysis of the Abandoned Vehicle Logs revealed the

Published: June 23, 2017 132 pages Consolidated Report
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Findings 10 findings

F1
A path to making a CPRA request is not intuitive. Filing of a public records request can be difficult.
F2
The non-centralized approach to receiving and responding to public records requests appears to speed up the response time and contributes to Placer County’s compliance with the law but does not provide for tracking or monitoring compliance with all CPRA requirements. Conclusion The Grand Jury determined that Placer County is meeting the requirements of the California Public Records Act. The Grand Jury concludes that there is some room for improvement that could help citizens more easily find information on how to submit a request for public records. The Grand Jury also concludes that there are IT systems improvements that could help the County monitor how many requests they are receiving and how well they are complying with the law.
F3
Elections staff complied with the security procedures required by the State in the use of voting equipment, handling, processing, transporting, determining validity, and counting of ballots.
F4
The processes and procedures of the Elections Office provided Placer County voters with a fair, valid, and accurate voting experience in the 2016 General Election.
F5
Drop-off locations make it easier for the public to return their VBM ballots.
F6
VBM ballots postmarked on Election Day or hand-delivered to polling places do not arrive at Election Headquarters in time to be processed by 8:00 pm on Election Day.
F7
Although there was a delay in processing some of the VBM ballots, ultimately they all were counted within legal timeframes.
F8
Elections staff was diligent in their efforts to overcome the USPS delivery delays of election materials and receipt of ballots. Conclusion: The Grand Jury concludes that the 190,550 ballots cast in Placer County in the 2016 General Election were processed and tabulated in a professional manner. Placer County’s Clerk-Recorder-Registrar of Voters and his staff are to be commended for their hard work and diligence in conducting the 2016 General Election. Elections staff is also to be commended for their diligent efforts to reduce USPS delivery delays of election materials and receipt of ballots. All VBM ballots cannot be processed for release at 8:00 pm on Election Day. However, the number of unprocessed VBM ballots could be reduced, thereby providing the public with more complete election results when the polls close.
F9
For the past two years, the County has been telling local residents that the emergency shelter in DeWitt Center is temporary. Despite these assurances, the County has not identified a site for a permanent shelter located elsewhere and continues to permit renewed operation of the temporary shelter at DeWitt Center through renewed Site Access Agreements, short-term funding and zoning efforts.
F10
While significant efforts have been made by all stakeholders, there has been no substantial progress in resolving the issue of the need and location of permanent homeless shelter(s). Conclusion The 2014 report provided by Dr. Robert Marbut concluded that there should be homeless shelters in Placer County operating 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, providing shelter and services for men and women in need. The BOS established a temporary shelter at the DeWitt Center, overcoming zoning issues with a temporary Site Access Agreement. The operation of the shelter could not be continued without a change in zoning. By adding Heavy Commercial zone district to the zones permitted for emergency shelters, the BOS is able to extend review of the Conditional Use Permit for a shelter at the DeWitt Center beyond the March 31, 2017 termination date for the Temporary Conditional Use Permit. On May 10, 2017 the BOS voted to extend the conditional use permit to allow continued operation of the temporary homeless shelter in the DeWitt Center for up to 5 additional years. While the need for emergency shelter for homeless men and women remains relatively undisputed, the physical location of such a facility has been a point of contention. The BOS vote on expanded zone districts for emergency shelters is a first step toward a long-term solution. The emergency shelter at the DeWitt Center has been repeatedly designated as a temporary facility. Now that Heavy Commercial zone district has been added to those zone districts that are permitted for emergency shelters, the BOS could decide (1) to make the current shelter at the DeWitt Center permanent, (2) decide on another location for a shelter, or (3) decide not to operate a 24/7 facility at all.

Recommendations 4