Solano County Grand Jury
• 2023-2024
• Agency Response
Registry of Public Agencies Filing Process*
⚠️ 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 4 findings
F1
- Agencies' completion and filing of the Statement of Facts Roster of Public Agencies Form in Solano County, in many instances, are inconsistent, incomplete, inaccurate and out-of-compliance with Government Code section 53051. Review of 111 of the most current Forms (regardless of age) on file with the County revealed the following: a) Seventy-two agencies had a single Form on file, many dating back three decades. This represented 65% of the sampled Forms. Sixty-eight agencies' Forms were aged nine years or more, representing 61% of b) the sampled Forms. Thirteen Forms (12%) listed a P.O. Box as the official mailing address despite c) filing instructions indicating that a street address must be given. Update NOTE: 12/2019 updated instructions now state that a P.O. Box is acceptable. d) The actual legal name of the entity was inconsistent in nine instances (8%). e) Thirty-eight Forms (34%) did not meet the regulatory reporting timeframe. f) Accuracy of board membership could not be independently verified on seventy- one Forms (64%). The current status of the agency could not be validated in forty-eight instances g) (43\%).
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
– Approving legislative bodies in Solano County should provide guidance and training to ensure the accurate completion and filing of the required Forms. Consideration can be given to the following points: Suggest that governing bodies of public agencies begin to immediately use the a) Registry of Public Agencies Form (SF-405) available on the Secretary of State's website (See Appendix A). Process Improvement – County Clerk's Office devise and implement a process for agencies to complete and save the SF-405 Form and send it to a specified County email address for filing. Encourage the County Clerk's office to work with the Secretary of State Special Filing Unit to establish a mechanism to electronically transmit the Forms to the State. This process will have minimal impact on the County Clerk's Office and would ensure that County and State records are consistent. Upon commencement of the agency's legal existence the approving legislative b) body direct the newly formed agency's clerk and/or secretary to complete the initial filing within the 70-day requirement. Ensure the training provided by the approving legislative body directs the newly C) formed agencies to file subsequent updates within the required 10-day timeframe.
F2
- Comparative analysis of the most current Forms on file with the State to those on file with the County revealed 92 exceptions representing instances in which: The County Form does not match the State Form. a) The Form is on file with the County but not with the State. b) There is no Form on file with the County but there is one on file with the State. C)
No recommendations for this finding
F3
– There is no comprehensive list of public agencies operating in Solano County that is accessible to residents.
No recommendations for this finding
F4
– There is currently no requirement for an agency to maintain a website, making it difficult to access current information online. However, since 2013 there has been a movement in the State to make information available and searchable online.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
- Individual Solano County Agencies improve their transparency by establishing a website and keeping it current to benefit both agencies and citizens of the County.
* 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.