Stanislaus County 2025-2026 - California Grand Jury Reports

June 10, 2026 — Misuse of Vacation Policy at the Stanislaus Council of Governments

10 pages 2 findings 7 recommendations

Findings & Recommendations 2 findings

F1: StanCOG executives and the Policy Board did not fulfill their signed agreement to ensure that the work of StanCOG is implemented in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible.

Related Recommendations (6)

R1a: The Policy Board should direct the Executive Director to implement a process that documents all leave/vacation accruals and use. This ensures that items entered in the payroll system are approved by someone other than the employee entering the data. This should be completed by September 30, 2026.

R1b: The Policy Board should include in their annual evaluation of the Executive Director to what degree employees are using their allotted vacation. Also, that it is truly an exception when cash in lieu of vacation is used and that this extra expense is documented and placed in their employee file. The format for this should be put in place by September 30, 2026.

R1c: The Policy Board should include in their annual evaluation of the Executive Director that there is cross training of staff. This should be in place by September 30, 2026.

R1d: The Policy Board should include in their annual evaluation of the Executive Director the amount of staff turnover, which points to the health of the agency. High staff turnover can make it difficult to have office coverage so that people can take vacation. This should be put into place by September 30, 2026.

R1e: The Policy Board should explicitly be the only authority to approve any Executive Director’s cash outs of vacation time. Past practice was the Executive Director approved their own cash in lieu of vacation. This should be documented in Executive Committee’s minutes as this is income being received above the employment contract. This change should be made by September 30, 2026.

R1f: The Policy Board should keep current on the amount of money spent on cash paid in lieu of vacation for all staff and the Executive Director as this is an extra expense. The amount paid for such expenses should be identified in their financial reporting as a separate line item. This change should be made by September 30, 2026.

F2: One of StanCOG’s JPA requirements, the fidelity bond, was not implemented for years, but it is now.

Related Recommendations (1)

R2: The Policy Board should direct the accounting firm that performs the annual external audit to check whether StanCOG’s financial systems comply with all provisions in its JPA requirements. This should be in place by September 30, 2026.