Grand Jury Report Released for El Dorado County: "Thread of Dysfunction"

The El Dorado County Grand Jury has released their final report for the 2013-14 year and several South Lake Tahoe situations have been brought to light.

According to Jury Foreman Neil Cunningham, the jury compiled 20 reports and recommendations which were created as they followed up on inquiries from citizens and Grand Jury required inspections.

"The Jury feels the recommendations in all of the reports should be followed." said Cunningham. "However, we feel if the recommendations contained in report 20 are accepted and followed," said Cunningham, "El Dorado County will follow the lead of many other California counties and step in to the 21st century."

The Grand Jury is required to inspect county jails, public prisons, juvenile detention facilities and respond to investigation findings and citizen's complaints.

County Charter

The County Charter was created in 1994 and not only provides for a five person Board of Supervisors, and elected Sheriff, District Attorney and Assessor as required in the constitution, it also requires four other elected positions: Auditor/Controller, Recorder/Clerk, Surveyor and Treasurer/Tax Collector.

There are term limits for the Board of Supervisors but no term limits for any of the other elected positions.

The Grand Jury found that elected officials may feel no allegiance to the policies set by the Board. Their longevity in office and higher salaries may remove any motivation to cooperate with the Board. Indeed, it has been alleged that the Auditor/Controller has deliberately obstructed Board initiatives in order to cast himself as the white knight crusading against the failures by others.

They report that they saw a thread of dysfunction running through El Dorado County government early on in their term. They found three practices in the County to be very troublesome:

1. Elected officials can refuse to cooperate with both the Board of Supervisors and the County’s Chief Administrative Officer.
2. Department heads both elected and appointed, went around the CAO directly to the Board of Supervisors in support of their own positions to the detriment of the County as a whole.
3. Individual members of the Board of Supervisors interfered in the day to day administration of the County.

Joe Harn, who recently won reelection as Auditor-Controller, came under fire in the Jury's report. "The Auditor/Controller refuses to cooperate with the CAO in implementing the Board of Supervisors’ initiatives; that he refuses to engage in constructive problem solving; and that his behavior results in minor issues or questions escalating into serious disputes. Specific allegations made were that the Auditor/Controller will not address problems by telephone, forbids his employees to speak to both staff
and department heads, refuses to respond at all to any communication from certain employees and officials, that he is defamatory, disrespectful and disparaging."

Jury recommendations: 1. The Charter should be amended to provide for the election of only those officials mandated by the California Constitution.
2. The Charter should be amended to clearly define and eliminate any ambiguity in the delineation of functions between the Board of Supervisors and the Chief Administrative Officer. The Board of Supervisors is the governing board of the County with responsibility for all policy decisions including adopting the budget for the County. The Chief Administrative Officer serves at the pleasure of the Board and is responsible for implementing the Board’s policies. All county employees should be
hired by and report to the CAO.

Probation Department

They investigated the conditions at the Probation Department in South Lake Tahoe after conditions there were brought to light. Probation Chief Brian Richart was hired in December of 2013 during a time when employees described the work place environment as toxic. The Jury found that both supervisors and managers micromanaged employees which fostered and allowing a clique system that identified employees as either favored, or shunned, by management. While most feel Richart is well motivated and that he'll bring about change, the "toxic" environment still exists with cliques. The Jury found unfair discipline, undeserved job promotions, making employees feel badly about their performance, harsh criticism and relegation to a shunned status is construed as bullying and harassment. "It should not exist for many reasons, both legal and moral," said the report.

"The Grand Jury is hopeful that the new Chief will come to understand the dysfunction in the South Lake Tahoe office and will institute changes that result in positive results." The Jury also said the 11 managers and supervisors with 33 employees should have a more balanced ratio of management to staff. They also recommend that communication is improved so people don't feel they'll face recrimination and to create an atmosphere where employees feel vested in the department's success. "The existing dysfunction does not exist by happenstance," said the Jury. "The skills of all current supervisors and managers should be intensively reviewed."

County Jails

California AB 109 allows inmates to stay at county jails instead of being transferred to state prisons. The Grand Jury found this to be having negative impacts at both the jail in South Lake Tahoe and Placerville. They are going to have a full, separate report on this situation later in the year because, as stated in the findings, "these problems are serious, and affect other county departments including Probation and Sheriff."

They found the jails to be well maintained and operated and commended Captain Randy Peshon for hiring competent leaders and staff. They noted that the jail has a problem with retaining staff and having enough female staff but recent recruitment efforts are alleviating that problem.

The Jury gave four recommendations for the jails, based on their findings: Evaluated the old jails for replacement and/or refurbishment; Use retention tools and look at salaries at nearby Sheriff's departments in order to retain staff; Improve care, treatment and housing of mentally ill inmates;
Find a better process for attorney/client paperwork transfer.

County Juvenile Detention Facilities

"We were impressed with the school principal and program manager." states the report. "We commend the El Dorado County Probation Department for its wide array of schooling and behavior programs for the wards. We liked their stated goal for the kids: 'Don’t Come Back'!" Their only recommendations were for the Placerville facility to be replaced or have extensive refurbishment (it was built in 1971 where the SLT one was built in 2005), for it to get a new outside exercise area because the "wards" are unable to use it, and for it to get a new entrance.

Lake Valley Fire Department

Fire Chief Gareth Harris took on his new position in 2011 after working in the Lake Valley Fire District since 2005. The Grand Jury investigated a report that Harris sold radios and other communication equipment to the department in violation of a code where employees cannot benefit financially because of a contract they are responsible for. The Jury found that Harris was not in violation and that County Auditor-Controller Joe Harn should pay him the $6,784.18 owed on equipment Harris purchased.

Harris owns Tamalpais Emergency Services, which provided radios and radio
equipment to the Lake Valley Fire Protection District. Harris sold the items to the county at 5% above cost and that fee covered installation and programming. Harris has donating his own time doing maintenance, upgrades and work needed to keep the system compliant with FCC rules.

"Procuring equipment through Harris and Tamalpais Emergency Services saved Lake Valley Fire District substantial amounts of money." according to the report. "Without Harris’ assistance in these procurements the District
would have faced significant financial hardship in its efforts to comply with FCC requirements to upgrade its equipment. Public safety may well have been jeopardized. "

For all of the findings of the Grand Jury on all areas investigated, read the full report.

Failure to respond as required to a grand jury report is in violation of California Penal Code Section 933.05 and is subject to further action. Such action is likely to include further investigation on the subject matter of the report by the grand jury.