⚠️ 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 7 findings
F1
Committee members attended numerous meetings of the Board of Supervisors. They reported that meetings were lengthy at times, but allowed for the public to comment to the fullest. Public comment was actively sought as a rule. Business was conducted in a most professional manner, and posted agenda times were adhered to completely.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
The Arts Council has a history of mishandling employee relations. It should appoint a committee to become familiar with labor law and employee relations. All organizations need training and knowledge in this area. If this experience does not exist on the board or with the director, then consultants should be considered. Other organizations or governmental entities in Mammoth could be useful here.
F2
At its meetings the Administration committee interviewed the County Administrative Officer; discussed revenue and finance issues at length, explored areas for increased cooperation between the Town of Mammoth Lakes and Mono County; and moved toward development of a county Health and Human Services Agency that would combine the current somewhat fragmented system.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
All financial transactions within the organization, whether issuing checks or depositing cash, should be handled by a third party. Contracting with a bookkeeping service could also be more cost effective than handling these functions in-house.
F3
Inquiries into a possible conflict of interest in regard to filling a vacancy on the board of directors of the Mammoth Community Water District determined that a written MCWD procedure in place was followed at the time of appointment, and that financial benefit to the existing board members seemed unlikely.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Personal use of Arts Council credit cards should be specifically prohibited. The board of directors, with the help of its financial advisors, ought to develop "Policies and Procedures" for all financial transactions.
F4
The various governmental agencies reviewed need to establish a system whereby cost benefits could be realized from cooperative and expert capital improvement purchasing. Various agencies purchase similar costly items and appear to rely chiefly on in- house advice and expertise. While tailored function is important, greater communication and joint purchasing could realize cost savings. The planning, design and construction oversight for fixed facilities needed now and in the near future appear to be dealt with on an agency-specific basis. With the tremendous sums of capital involved in one-time only projects for the agencies, the sharing of a resource that might include expertise could prove cost efficient.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Employment contracts entered into by the Arts Council need to be reviewed not only for their substance but also for legality. The payment method in the contract with the Executive Director clearly violates IRS regulations.
F5
Construction of the new football field proceeded under pressure to clear the site for the anticipated start of construction for the middle school. a. The school board members did not have a clear idea of the overall project costs for this facility. b. There was pressure from parents and staff to continue the football program uninterrupted, which necessitated moving forward quickly with construction. c. Interviews with the board of trustees reveal that there was little discussion about alternatives to the field relocation, and a total project cost estimate for field relocation was never presented to the board. FINDINGS
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
Financial reporting to the board of directors needs to be complete and consistent. These reports were found to have little continuity.
F6
The information developed during the steering committee meetings remains in the form of meeting notes and exhibits prepared by NTD Architects.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
Arm's-length transactions and avoiding the appearance of a conflict of interest should be included in "Policies and Procedures."
F7
Public agencies should pay close attention to project budgets in approval of capital projects. There does not appear to be a depth of understanding among the members of the MUSD board concerning the growth and upward movement of estimated project cost during the design development stage and later the bid-and-award stage of its projects.
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
The incoming grand jury should review the Sacramento County Grand Jury Report at www.sacgrandjury.org
Conclusions 9
-
CL1Ann's-length transactions and avoiding the appearance of a conflict of in~t should be included in "Policies and Procedures." COMMENDAn ONS At the writing of this report ~ Executive Directa' and the boord of directors had already started addressingm any of ~ issues. All l:8rties cooperatedo penly widt the ammittee. 20 BUILDING, PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMI'lYl'EE Pete Arrants, Chair Dan Berner. Jeff Mills. Rick Mitchell. Tim Taylor. Sam W~ker
-
CL2The beccme familiar with Iaba' law and employee relations. All organizationsn eedt raining and knowledgei n this area.I f this experienced oes not exist on the board or with the director, then consultantss hould be considered.O dter organizations cx governmentael ntitiesi n Mammotho ould be usefulh ere.
-
CL3AU financial transactionsw id1in d1eo rganization, whether issuing checks or de~iting cash, should be handled by a third party. Contracting with a bookkeeping servi~ could also be more ~ effective thanh andlingt hesef unctionsi n-house.
-
CL4Personalu se of Arts Council credit cardss hould be specifically prohibited. The boord of directors, with the help of its financial advisors, ought to devel~ "Policies and Prtx:eduresf"o r all fInanciabl 'an8iM::tioos.
-
CL5Employmentc ontractse nteredi nto by the Arts Council need to be reviewed not only for their suh5tanceb ut also for legality. The ~yment method in the cootract with the ExecutiveD irecta- clearly violatesI RS regulatioos. S. Financialr eportingt o the boo.rdo f directorsn eedst o be completea nd consistent Theser eportsw ere found to havel ittle cootinuity.
-
CL6The funds spentb y MUSD on constructiono f Sien-aH igh SchoollDistrict Office appeart o fall within the scopeo f items listed on ~ ballot measures ubmitted to vo~rs April 14, 1998. Although the measured oesn ot specIfically statet hat MUSD was planning to build a District Office, the classroomsp rovided at Sien-aH igh School were clearly J:mrt of the descriptionl isted in the text of the measure.T he actionso f the district and the logic of locating the superintendentw, ho acts as principal of Sien-aH igh School, in the same structurea re reasonable.
-
CL7The documentsr evieweds how that the decision to combineS ielTaH igh School and the District Office was basedo n soundr easoning.I t appears,h owever, that this change in srope of the project C3USead m ajor imi:BCot n the budget a. Construction on Sien-aH igh School/DistrictO ffice begane ven though costs for the projecth ad climbeds ignificantly from.the original budget It appears that either little effort was mOOteo bring the costs back into line, or the effort was ineffective. b. Splitting up the earthworka nd building construction did not reduceo verall costs. Therew as no fonnal value engineering review of the project during design process dJat would have identified the areasw here costs could have beenr educed. c. The project was an award-winningd esign. Even taking into accounta difficult site, the ~t for building constructiona ppearsv ery high. d. The final ~t of tile projecto n a dollar-per-square-foobt asis is higher than it neededt o be for the intendedu se.
-
CL8The community was justified in its unhappinessc oncerningd 1et imelin~ of the middle school construction. A review of the records revealed that MUSD gave high priority to Sierra High School/DistrictO ffice. The architectt hen gave it high priority, and the designw as finished aheado f the middle school. a. Part of the reasonf or d1es hift of priority was the overcrowdedc onditions of SierraH igh School, which had beenm oved into a portableo ffice on the MHS campus. b. It should be notedt hat d1em iddle school is a larger project and involved more staff review and comment time than Sierra High School/District Office. If MUSD had sett he middle school as the highestp riority, given the fact that it impacts significantly more students,t herew ould not have been community discontent Community-wides upport for the new middle school is the reason the bond issuep assedw ith such a wide margin. c. The district did not communicatea dequatelyt o the public the decisions and reasonsf or putting SierraH igh School/DistrictO ffice first placei n line. 28
-
CL9The ardritect was working on multiple projectsf a- MUSD. In OOditionto Sierra High School/District Office, NrD was working on mI1traclat w and construction,t o keept rack of capitalp rojectso f this order of magnitude.
* 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.