Yuba County Grand Jury
• 2002-2003
• Agency Response
Response to:
GJR2002-2003 Final Report
SEP 1 0 2003 Memorandum 'uba County Superior Cour H, Stephen Konishi Surerior Court Clerk Yuba County Sheriff's*
⚠️ 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
Page 1
"The laundry room at the Yuba County Jail is in need of a fire exit. The inmates who work there are locked into the room. The only escape, in case of a fire is by traveling in the elevator." Response to Finding #1: The jail laundry is located in the courthouse basement in a room that measures approximately 19 feet by 23 feet. The room contains two commercial washers, two commercial dryers and a small folding area. This portion of the jail was constructed in 1962 and has concrete walls and ceiling. The one entrance to the laundry is through a steel jail security door that remains locked for security purposes. Immediately outside the laundry is an elevator which allows movement into and out of the jail. There are two secured exits in addition to the elevator immediately outside the laundry room door. The laundry workers have the ability to communicate with a control room that is manned seven days per week, 24 hours per day in the event there is an emergency and assistance is needed. All laundry workers receive safety training prior to going to work in the laundry. There is one fire extinguisher in the laundry.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Page 10
Emphasis should be on tourist-type business (small shops), with historical theme. Only retail stores should be located on ground floors of downtown buildings. Large retail store buildings should not be sacrificed for government uses. Response: The City appreciates the Grand Jury's concerns for the well being of the City. However, another layer of regulations, as suggested by the report, may not be the answer to promoting economic revitalization of the community. The real estate market dictates business location behavior. The best thing the City could do would be to create tools, which would help business owner's plan for the future.
F2
Page 8
The Sewage Disposal Ordinance is outdated and gives the Health Department arbitrary powers, with no input from the public. Response: The Board of Supervisors partially disagrees with this finding and concurs with the response provided by the Yuba County Environmental Health Department.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Page 10
Legislation may be necessary to give an incentive to bring buildings up to code. Examples include: tax incentives and a longer period of time to bring buildings up to code when buildings are sold. Punitive recourse should be sought, if no effort is made to preserve buildings. Response: City regulation is generally not an effective method to induce building revitalization. Tools, such as the Downtown Strategic Plan, can help energize the community and therefore, the real estate market, which will improve building renovation. However, the City is currently developing a revised nuisance abatement ordinance that will incorporate a financial penalty for building code violations. These fines accumulate and will provide owners with an incentive to renovate or sell. If not paid, the fines will become a lien on the property. The revised ordinance should help improve the City's code enforcement process.
F3
Page 9
Posting of cemetery meetings: The Cemetery District has posted in newspapers the time and place of district meetings, but it needs to add the date of the meeting in each posting.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Page 11
A historic theme needs to be developed and adhered to throughout the downtown area. City Administrators should have meetings with all segments of City employees to develop programs and ensure that City staff will work from the shared vision. The City is currently preparing a Downtown Strategic Plan with the assistance of a professional planning consultant. The plan is expected to be completed over the next six months. The purpose of the plan is to develop a vision of the needs of the downtown with emphasis on economic development and historical preservation/enhancement. The plan will include a visioning process, which will engage the public and the downtown merchant association in creating a plan for the economic prosperity of the town with a historical theme. The plan will incorporate an economic analysis that will provide direction as to what retail businesses the City should target for success and include a design element to assure future in-fill development is compatible and consistent with a historical theme. The plan will define what regulations should be established which might include emphasis on "tourist-type business (small shops)" and "government uses." The plan will include a detailed Implementation Plan with specific actions, time lines and funding measures to assure the downtown is developed in accordance with the community vision. While the City appreciates the Grand Jury's recommendations, the City finds that it is appropriate to research and develop a coordinated plan with the stakeholders and public before determining what is best for the community.
* 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.