City of Oroville Office of the Mayor*

Disagree. The City Charter authorizes the City Council to combine Response: positions pursuant to Article VII, section 1. The positions of City Administrator Response to 2021-2022 Grand Jury Report By City of Oroville August 16, 2022 and City Clerk were combined many years ago, and that combined position is to but filled by Bill Lagrone. The position of Fire Chief was eliminated when the City 7 recently contracted for fire service with CalFire. The City of Oroville currently Access has a vacancy in the position of Police Chief, which has been open since the Lill home 9 2022 departure of the prior Police Chief in March 2021. The City Charter proscribes the requirements for filling the position. As a stopgap measure, the Council a recently asked Bill Lagrone to oversee the Police Department on a more frequent basis. As such, Bill Lagrone is serving as Acting Police Chief while the City recruits for a new Police Chief. However, he does not "hold" the office. The practice of a department head serving in an "acting" position for another department is not unique to the City. In fact, almost all public agencies have engaged in this practice when needed. The City has not found any law, and the Grand Jury has cited none, which would indicate that this practice is illegal, or even inadvisable.

There is not a current and complete PPM [Policies and Procedures Manual] accessible to the general public. Agree. As was discussed with the Grand Jury, the City's Policies and Response: Procedures Manual has fallen out of date resulting from senior staff turnover during the past decade. Staff and Council are committed to having a current manual with modern policies completed by the end of 2022.

Emergency declarations have been used to override existing policies. Agreed. However, the City takes great umbrage at the insinuation of the Response: Grand Jury with this factual finding that some nefarious intent existed within the Council by making emergency declarations. The very purpose of an emergency declaration is to override standing policy because of an urgent or emergency situation. In fact, the Grand Jury has found only two examples of this practice occurring in the last five years. As an example, in one instance, the Council declared an emergency to issue a contract to clear clogged City storm drains from ash and debris resulting from local fires. With the rainy season fast approaching, there was not sufficient time for the City to issue a Request for Proposals from contractors, which is the typical practice. The City Council's action was proper given the circumstances, and the City makes no apologies for protecting its citizens and their property in the best manner possible under the circumstances. Response to 2021-2022 Grand Jury Report By City of Oroville August 16, 2022

The procedures on record were frequently not followed. Disagree. The Grand Jury found only two examples of emergency Response: declarations being used to override standing policy in the last five years. See City's response to Finding F3.

The City Council does not fill vacant positions in a timely manner, enabling the mayor to fill those positions by appointment instead of election. Disagree. The procedure to fill positions by the Council is mandated by Response: the City Charter, which does include the potential for an appointment to be made by the Mayor following a detailed process. The appointment to a position by the Mayor has occurred in one instance. On July 16, 2019, the Mayor appointed Bill Lagrone to serve as the City Administrator.