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Grand Jury Report 2005-2006 Mariposa County




 

The Mariposa Grand Jury report was released to the public on Friday, June, 14, 2006.
The report has fifty pages, including charts and diagrams that cover seven major investigations and four minor investigations, including routine inspections, tours and visits.
Eleven community members served on the Grand Jury and are sworn to confidentiality of the proceedings.
One of the minor investigations was about White Rock Rd maintenance and that calls to Public Works brought no response. The conclusions and recommendations were that the Public Works Department has responded to the complaint and that the department was following a prudent method on what roads are repaired first.
Also a complaint log should be maintained that shows all calls and what the final disposition of the complaint was.
One of the major investigations the grand jury decided to take on was the Mariposa County Unified School Budget.
They were concerned with forthcoming budget cuts, that the school budget was very difficult to understand and documentation was difficult to obtain.
Conclusions were as follows:
After talking to school officials the conclusion reached by the Grand Jury was that budget cuts had been applied equally within the district and at all levels.
Also with the declining enrollment, along with rising property values and no change in state funding levels the district will continue to suffer financially.

Recommendations were that a simple budget synopsis should be made up that can be taken to community meetings along with future projections in the report.
Keep lobbing the state for money through associations for Special Education and other state or federally mandated programs.
Finally to have the district webmaster have a different work year so web site updates are current so that the public can be more involved by reading documentation on the web site.
Two other major investigations involved the Mariposa County Jail and the Juvenile Detention  Facilities.
The Grand Jury found that understaffing at the jail needed to be brought to the Board of Supervisors to see if money can be adjusted in order to recruit and retain personnel, as the staff now has to work overtime costing money that impacts sick leave, workers comp and employee moral.
Also too many inmates are housed in a facility designed for 58 inmates, as this year they have housed an average of 62 inmates daily.
One of their conclusions for this problem would be home monitoring for eligible inmates and to identify resources for construction of  a larger faculty.
The Grand Jury found that the meals provided by John Fremont Hospital were adequate and nutritious and that inmate care was adequate while management looks for ways to cut costs.
There were no problems found at the Juvenile Detention Facility and they commented that the facility was being well run.

A minor investigation involved a complaint that the money for paving Bear Valley Road had been misspent and that the road was still in disrepair.
After visiting the area and inspecting the contract the Grand Jury found no basis for a complaint because the work had been done. But they did recommend that copies of the contracts and completion reports be readily available for the public to view.

Another Major investigation was Department Of Human Services Practices.

The grand jury received four complaints from the public over personnel actions at this department.
Their conclusions and recommendations are that there is no strategic plan for the department. That the Director has a vision for the agency but the vision breaks down after the second layer of management. There is not a form or format for employee evaluations and that these evaluations are not done within county time standards.

They recommend a complete strategic planning process for a  five year window that includes the State Audit, the Directors vision and the Board of Supervisors.
The plan could then be used as a guideline for employees individual goals and objectives as the employees support the goals of the plan.

The workload of this Grand Jury consisted of 25 meetings.
Fifteen citizen complaints were recieved and thirteen were investigated.
They had seven committees.
The public can purchase the report for five dollars at the Mariposa County Courthouse.		    


















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