The City of Bell is still recovering from the corruption that pushed the small city into national headlines and to the brink of insolvency. A new review of audits from 2010 compares the problems that plagued the City as the scandal broke, and steps taken since then to reform the City’s governance and finances.

State Controller John Chiang released a follow-up review  of a series of 2010 audits focused on the City of Bell’s internal controls, management of state and federal funds,  its dissolved redevelopment agency and use of gas tax proceeds. Today’s review identified nearly three-dozen material weaknesses in the City’s financial operations, and noted serious concern with the City’s immediate fiscal condition and cash balances.

“The City of Bell has made some progress since it ejected a corrupt city management two years ago,” said Chiang. ”But many of the same fiscal management and internal control lapses that allowed Bell to fail its citizens in the past remain unaddressed today. This review does more than point out problems. It serves as a blueprint to preventing the return of unlawful taxation, abusive spending and backroom deal-making. Some problems are urgent, others are structural, but none can be ignored.”

This blog posting and video are part of a series being produced by CSAC to highlight county best practices through our annual Challenge Awards. These awards recognize the innovative and creative spirit of California county governments as they find new and effective ways of providing programs and services to their citizens. The Challenge Awards provide California’s 58 counties an opportunity to share their best practices with counties around the state and nation. The programs being highlighted are recipients of the 2012 awards. The Call for Entries for the 2013 CSAC Challenge Awards has been distributed; the entry deadline is June 28, 2013. 

To review a video about San Benito County’s “Booked in a Different Way/Grow Strong San Benito” program, click here.

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San Benito County Librarian Nora Conte calls them “magical moments” – those opportunities a parent has to impact their child’s life in a positive way. And she has seen a number of them through the Grow Strong Benito program.

Chief Probation Officer Brent Cardall likes to call the program, “Booked in a Different Way,” which really does sum up the intent – and success—of the program.

The program helps rehabilitate first-time drug offenders and intervenes in multi-generational cycles of crime and drug abuse by supporting the literacy and educational success of potential at-risk children. Program participants are referred to the county library by the Probation Department and taught family literacy skills through weekly on-site activities.  According to Chief Probation Officer Cardall, the program is hitting at the root of the problem, focusing on offenders’ children who could be at risk. The program’s goal is to stop that before it starts and in effect, change generations for the better.

As we continue emerging from the Great Recession, researchers are beginning to delve deeper into its impacts into public sector job security. Unlike previous recessions, it appears, public sector employees suffered a loss of job security, although job losses in the public sector were less severe than those of the private sector.

This new research continues a dialogue that compares the benefits of being employed in the public versus private sectors. Oftentimes, people highlight the generous benefits packages that make public sector employment comparable to private sector jobs, despite the disparity in pay. Now, The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College has been able to quantify how much additional job security public sector employees enjoy.

In the latest recession, after adjusting for education and other characteristics, public sector employees were 2 percent less likely to lose their jobs during a downturn. This was a change from previous recessions where the gap between public and private job losses were even greater. One chart in the brief shows that in previous recessions in 1990 and 2001, public sector employment simply stagnated without serious decline.

An untold number of non-complying medical marijuana dispensaries now face the real possibility of closure, after votes in Los Angeles approved Measure D and a cap on the number of dispensaries that can operate in the City. Other measures on the ballot that would have imposed different limits and regulations on the business failed.

Measure D establishes a rule that only dispensaries that were operating before the City approved a Moratorium on new pot dispensaries. At that time, there were about 135 operating in the city. Now, there are as many as 1,000 dispensaries in the City, but no one is sure yet how many there really are. Also yet to be decided is how and when the non-compliant dispensaries will be closed.

Already, dispensaries have shown their willingness to turn to the courts to remain open, and there is already talk of challenging Measure D with lawsuits.

Read the full article at the LA Daily News.

In an effort to control wild fires and remove fuel that has contributed to 15 major fires in the East Bay, UC Berkeley, the City of Oakland, and the East Bay Municipal Utilities District have applied for FEMA funding to help remove some 85,000 non-native trees from the East Bay Hills. The 10-year project should cost around $5 million.

The price tag pales in comparison to a single major fire, and between 1923 and 1991 last year, major fires contributed to the deaths of 25 people and caused $1.5 billion in damages. However, for the environmentally sensitive communities in the East Bay, cutting down so many trees is a flash-point of its own. Public comment at a recent meeting was split, but clearly the environmental advocates opposed the plan.

WCROG HERO Program Available Statewide

Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing (PACE) programs, for residential and commercial properties, were in development throughout the United States when the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) sought to impose limits on such residential PACE assessments. The FHFA directed  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac not to acquire mortgages on properties with PACE liens and to suggest additional measures negative to residential PACE programs.

Western Riverside Council of Government’s (WRCOG) HERO Program, however, continues to thrive, for residential property financing, thanks to the determination of WRCOG to provide this valuable program to its constituents. A commercial program was recently launched, and WRCOG is also expanding both its residential and commercial program statewide, offering many benefits to other jurisdictions thinking of offering a PACE program.

WRCOG’s HERO Program allows home and business owners to finance energy efficiency and water conservation improvements through low, fixed rate financing that is repaid over time through annual assessments collected on the homeowner’s property tax bill. California law allows for local jurisdictions to enter into contractual assessments with property owners for such improvements.

The much derided Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles may soon have another purpose: treating the mentally ill and substance-addicted inmates of the County’s detention system. The plan calls for a thorough investigation of the proposal.

Inmate advocates applaud the idea that offers new attention to the problems facing the system’s inmates, many of whom come from backgrounds of drugs and mental illness. According to their advocates, those needs have been largely underserved. In addition to the jail treatments, advocates hope that the Supervisors will look into community-based programs as well.

The idea to turn the Men’s Central Jail into a treatment center is the newest proposal for the facility. Sheriff Lee Baca has recently proposed tearing down the facility and replacing it with a new, state of the art detainment center. The new jail would have classrooms and medical facilities to help break the cycle of drug abuse and recidivism.

Read the full story at the Southern California Public Radio.

After nearly two years of campaigning, the next Mayor of Los Angeles will be Eric Garcetti. Current City Controller Wendy Greuel called Garcetti to concede early Wednesday morning.

The two former council allies spent a combined $33 million tearing each other down through attack ads, mailers, and billboards. In the end, the election was decided by about 8 points.

Garcetti now inherits a City that has started recovering from a long and painful recession. However, the return of funds means that Garcetti will have the challenge of prioritizing budgeting, deferred projects, and other strains that will emerge on the weakened City finances. One of the potential pitfalls he will have to negotiate are sidewalk repairs that could run into the billions of dollars.

The U.S. Supreme Court, on a 6-3 split decision, has upheld the power of the FCC to mandate that local governments decide whether or not to allow new cell towers to be erected within five months. The decision is a blow to local governments how had contended such a timeline infringes upon local zoning authority.

The decision split the Court’s conservative justices, with Justice Antonin Scalia writing the opinion for the majority, and Chief Justice John Roberts writing the dissent. In the majority opinion, Scalia made a case for limited judicial oversight of regulatory matters, saying that the Courts shouldn’t “waste their time in the mental acrobatics.” Instead deference should be given to the agencies that oversee reasonable regulations.

Los Angeles and San Diego had joined the case with two cities from Texas, claiming that regulations such as these had been left to individual cities.

Chief Justice Roberts disagreed with Scalia and wrote that regulatory agencies such as the FCC can act as legislature, executive, and judicial branches all in one, becoming a fourth branch of the government. Further complicating the broad powers they exert is the non-elected nature of the agencies’ leadership.

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times.

By David Liebler on May 21st, 2013

This blog posting and video are part of a series being produced by CSAC to highlight county best practices through our annual Challenge Awards. These awards recognize the innovative and creative spirit of California county governments as they find new and effective ways of providing programs and services to their citizens. The Challenge Awards provide California’s 58 counties an opportunity to share their best practices with counties around the state and nation. The programs being highlighted are recipients of the 2012 awards. The Call for Entries for the 2013 CSAC Challenge Awards has been distributed; the entry deadline is June 28, 2013. 

To review a video about Sonoma County’s Comprehensive Energy Project, click here. 

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When Sam Ruark starts talking about saving energy, his eyes light up. Sam serves as the energy and sustainability coordinator for Sonoma County, which has been recognized nationally for its Comprehensive Energy Project.  And Sam has every reason to get excited over what Sonoma County has been accomplishing.

When the County adopted its Climate Protection Action Plan in 2006, staff was directed to develop a Comprehensive Energy Project to meet three objectives: 1) reduce greenhouse gas emissions, 2) save the county money, and 3) replace worn out and energy inefficient equipment. An exhaustive inventory of county facility energy usage resulted in 101 energy efficiency measures being recommended. Out of those, county staff selected 38 at 24 county buildings that presented the greatest energy savings and financial return.