COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

County Manager’s Office

 

DATE:

December 22, 2006

BOARD MEETING DATE:

January 9, 2007

SPECIAL NOTICE:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

None

 

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

John L. Maltbie, County Manager

SUBJECT:

2006-07 Grand Jury Response

 

Recommendation

Accept this report containing the County’s responses to the following 2006-07 Grand Jury reports: Pandemic Influenza Preparedness at the San Mateo County Women’s Correctional Facility and Badge Control at the San Mateo County Hall of Justice.

VISION ALIGNMENT:

Commitment: Responsive, effective and collaborative government.

Goal 20: Government decisions are based on careful consideration of future impact, rather than temporary relief or immediate gain.

This activity contributes to the goal by ensuring that all Grand Jury findings and recommendations are thoroughly reviewed by the appropriate County departments and that, when appropriate, process improvements are made to improve the quality and efficiency of services provided to the public and other agencies.

Discussion

The County is mandated to respond to the Grand Jury within 90 days from the date that reports are filed with the County Clerk and Elected Officials are mandated to respond within 60 days. It is also the County’s policy to provide periodic updates to the Board and the Grand Jury on the progress of past Grand Jury recommendations requiring ongoing or further action. To that end, attached is the County’s response to the Grand Jury reports on Pandemic Influenza Preparedness at the San Mateo County Women’s Correctional Facility and Badge Control at the San Mateo County Hall of Justice issued October 12, 2006.

Pandemic Influenza Preparedness at the San Mateo County Women’s Correctional Facility

Findings:

Staff is in general agreement with the Grand Jury’s findings.

Recommendations:

The Board of Supervisors should:

2.1 Ensure that the needs assessment report for the new Women’s Facility to be prepared by the consulting firm, DMJM H&N, adequately addresses the logistics and space planning needed to combat a contagious disease outbreak.

    Response: Concur. The needs assessment for the new Women’s Correctional Facility will include consideration of pandemic flu preparedness requirements.

2.2 Support and participate in the planning sessions among the Sheriff’s Department, Health Department and the Court; establish timelines with realistic deadlines for formalizing a detailed plan for dealing with a pandemic flu outbreak.

    Response: Concur. The Sheriff’s Office, Health Department, and the Court have held a series of meetings to prepare a planned Pandemic Flu response, including a potential outbreak occurring in one of the Sheriff’s secure facilities. A draft plan has been prepared. The team is currently developing a final plan that is due to be completed in March 2007. A Pandemic Flu exercise is being planned for May 2007, so that the plans of the County and other community partners can be rehearsed and assessed to identify any gaps in coverage.

2.3 Revisit the 2006-07 preliminary budget allocation for the Sheriff’s Department and Correctional Health Services to consider (a) whether it can support the hiring of additional nurses to reduce the need to transport inmates to the Maguire Facility/hospital or (b) whether the salaries of additional personnel can be offset by savings in transportation costs and overtime expenses.

    Response: Concur. Nurse staffing levels at the Women’s Correctional Facility will be reviewed as part of the FY 2007-08 budget development for the Sheriff’s Office and Correctional Services Division of the Health Department.

Badge Control at the San Mateo County Hall of Justice

Findings:

Staff is in general agreement with the Grand Jury’s findings, however, there are some minor clarifications that should be noted, as follows:

    In the first sentence of the Background, it reads, “Upon entering the Hall of Justice, the general public and their belongings are processed through a metal detector and then further scrutinized by security.” It should be noted that any carry-in items such as handbags, brief cases, boxes, etc. are screened through an x-ray machine.

    The first sentence of the Investigation reads, “The Grand Jury interviewed representatives of the BSWG (Building Security Work Group) and was provided a copy of the County Administrative Memorandum B-20, Building Security Policy and Court Security Plan, which has not yet been approved by the County or the Court.” Administrative Memorandum B-20 was formally adopted on August 12, 1998; however, it is currently out of date and needs to be updated.

    The second sentence of the Findings, under sub-header Attorneys reads, “Attorneys from other counties appearing before the courts in the Hall of Justice may also obtain badges, which may have active status for years even if they are not used.” Only attorneys in good standing with the San Mateo County Bar Association for a period of at least two years may be issued badges. It is true that on one occasion visiting attorneys for a high-profile case were issued cardkeys, but those cardkeys were terminated immediately following completion of the trial.

Recommendations:

The Board of Supervisors should:

1. Adopt procedures to insure that occasional and unannounced spot checks are conducted at all badge controlled access points to verify that each badge belongs to the user of that badge.

    Response: Concur. The Sheriff’s Countywide Security Unit will be tasked with the responsibility of conducting spot checks by the un-intrusive use of cardkey computer monitors. The results of these spot checks will be documented and forwarded to the Captain of Courts, Custody and Security Services and will be shared with the BSWG in order to identify and address security concerns in the future.

2. Adopt procedures to insure that the badge of every terminated employee is returned to the County and deactivated immediately upon termination.

    Response: Concur. If an employee is terminated for cause, ISD or the San Mateo Medical Center (depending on the employee’s assignment) will deactivate the employee’s cardkey and notify the Sheriff’s Countywide Security Unit. Routine resignations are handled through a termination report, which is generated after each payroll. The report is sent to the County’s Cardkey Administrator at ISD. The cardkeys are deactivated for all employees on the termination report. The Medical Center’s Cardkey Administrator is notified by e-mail from the various Unit Managers that an employee has terminated and immediately deactivates that employee’s cardkey. The result is that the cardkeys, cancelled electronically, will no longer activate the door mechanisms. These processes have been in place for some time but need to be formally adopted in County Administrative Memorandum B-20.

    The issue of the employees returning their cardkeys is a more complicated issue, as some employees feel that the cardkey is their personal property and fail to return them upon termination. The Sheriff’s Office will work with the BSWG to develop a countywide procedure that will ensure that every effort is made to retrieve employee cardkeys upon termination from County service.

3. Re-examine the policies of issuing badges that are valid for more than twelve months and of allowing unused badges to remain valid.

    Response: Disagree. Setting annual termination dates for County employees and members of the Bar Association would create an undue burden on cardkey administration and could have significant impacts on building operations. This past year the County initiated a process whereby departments are required to review a report of all their employees that have cardkey access to the Hall of Justice and verify that the employees are still employed by the County and that their level of access is appropriate. The County’s Health Department has already completed such a review and a review by the Human Services Agency is currently underway. The plan is that all departments would perform a comprehensive review at least once a year. Though in place, this process still needs to be formally adopted in County Administrative Memorandum B-20. The BSWG will also approach the Bar Association about conducting a review of all member attorneys who possess active cardkeys.

4. Re-examine the policy of allowing work crews access to the Hall of Justice without vetting each member of the crew.

    Response: Disagree. It would cause significant workload to do backgrounds on all contract workers. Also, the policy would effectively eliminate the County’s use of contractors that provide rehabilitation services, such as Delancey Street Movers. It should be noted that Public Works and/or County department staff are required to have at least one employee on hand when vendors/contractors are accessing any County building after hours to ensure that workers remain in the authorized areas.

5. Formalize and adopt County Administrative Memorandum B-20, Building Security and Court Security Plan.

    Response: Concur. Although County Administrative Memorandum B-20 was formally adopted in 1998, it needs to be updated. An interdepartmental work group will be established in early 2007 to begin a comprehensive review and update of all County Administrative Memoranda. Administrative Memorandum B-20 will be a high priority item. The County will notify the Grand Jury once B-20 has been updated and adopted.