SUPES PREVIEW: Board to Consider Further Action Against Auditor-Controller After Department Heads Sound Alarm Over ‘Precarious’ Financial Situation | Lost Coast

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The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will look at two things to address the ongoing money turmoil related with the Auditor-Controller’s Business during the board’s typical conference on Tuesday.

The board will explore a letter signed by 13 of the county’s 19 section heads who assert that Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez “has unsuccessful to satisfy the obligations and obligations of her placement.” In accordance to a workers report, the board will then consider using additional motion from Paz Dominguez, which include referring the county’s fiscal reporting shortfalls to different point out organizations.

The personnel report states:

A memo signed by office heads representing far more than 90% of county workers was submitted to the Board on April 4, 2022, stating that, irrespective of section heads’ efforts to support the Auditor-Controller, she has failed to satisfy the responsibilities and responsibilities of her posture and as a end result has place the county in a monetary disaster.

While the Board has obtained identical letters from outside agencies in schooling, community municipal government, workforce development, general public safety and the private sector, as very well as letters from men and women inside the county, the attached memo is the initially time that a majority of office heads have submitted this sort of documentation to the Board.

The memo is despatched from section leadership, both of those elected and appointed, expressing that their departments can’t collaborate with the a person department via which all money transactions ought to be recorded, and as a final result they are dealing with perilous economical problems which have to be fixed.

The board packet includes a fact sheet that lists upwards of 40 present deficiencies involved with the Auditor-Controller’s Business office, such as past-due fiscal reports, conversation failures and far more.

The board narrowly approved a vote of “no confidence” in Paz Dominguez in November 2021. Earlier this month, the board was set to consider a second vote of “no confidence” but Paz Dominguez was not able to go to the board’s discussion.

The staff report notes that the county Workforce Growth Board has recommended that “the make any difference be referred to the California Good Political Methods Fee, Business office of the Point out of California Legal professional Common and the Point out of California Office of Justice for appropriate motion.”

Realignment of Payroll Solutions

The board will also contemplate the operational realignment of payroll solutions, a county function that has been rife with problems and controversy due to the fact the board voted to shift payroll from the Human Assets division to the Auditor-Controller’s Workplace in August 2021.

Previous month, the board directed employees to seem into transferring payroll products and services again out of the Auditor-Controller’s Business. “Specifically, your Board directed the Interim Director of Human Means (HR), the County Administrative Officer, and the Auditor-Controller to have interaction in discussions concerning the collective objective with respect to payroll functions, consider previously gathered data regarding payroll functions, deliver your Board with updated conclusions, and existing your Board with refined solutions related to the placement of the payroll functionality,” the employees report says.

The board will take into account 3 alternatives:

• Preserve payroll functions in the Place of work of the Auditor-Controller, which would be “the the very least disruptive to the current payroll method,” but would probable end result in “additional source requests, current communication troubles, and challenges linked to services delivery.”

• Shift payroll to the County Administrative Workplace, which could provide an option to stabilize payroll operations “through enhanced stakeholder engagement and interdepartmental collaboration, elevated communication and responsiveness, and commitment to provider supply.” On the other hand, there is no precedent for such a change and it would only be temporary.

• Or, to permit the payroll purpose to continue being in the Auditor-Controller’s Office environment “for added time.” This solution seems to be approximately identical to the initially possibility but specifies that payroll would “remain with the [Auditor-Controller’s Office] for the in the vicinity of future” and incorporates a checklist of supplemental tips if the product have been to be selected, like the ongoing guidance of money expert KOA Hills.

The personnel report also suggests that the county keep providers from CliftonLarsonAllen (at a value of $259,000) to carry out an audit of payroll products and services to discover deficiencies. 

“[CliftonLarsonAllen] will assess the county’s procedures bordering 1 examination payroll time period,” the workers report states. “…[CliftonLarsonAllen] will supply success with an govt summary describing the scope, aims, solution, and overall summary of the inner audit assessment. In addition, [CliftonLarsonAllen] will explain internal handle deficiencies discovered along with approach advancement suggestions.”

TOT Workgroup

The board will also look at the development of a transient occupancy tax (TOT) workgroup comprising stakeholders who would oversee and evaluate TOT profits and work with county workers to create suggestions for the Board of Supervisors as to how the funds ought to be put in.

The make a difference was agendized in an energy to ease concerns from local hoteliers and hospitality industry reps who strongly oppose Measure J, the Humboldt County Resort Tax Update Measure, which seeks to raise the TOT price in the county’s unincorporated spots from 10 % to 12 p.c even though also making the tax applicable to overnight RV parks and private campgrounds. 

Associates of the Humboldt Lodging Alliance (HLA) have criticized the county — primarily the County Administrative Workplace — for failing to consist of field reps in original discussions on the topic. The firm has also raised fears about the timing of the ballot initiative and called its wording “misleading.”

“The timing of the evaluate to area hoteliers could threaten the fragile gains built by the marketplace in current months as the economic system recovers from Covid-similar actions,” the alliance claims in an April 22 letter. “…Moreover, whilst County Personnel and elected officials have reported that the income would go to certain purposes, such as rural hearth departments, homeless guidance and the arts, it would nonetheless go into the unrestricted common fund, which implies the TOT resources could be applied for any reasons relevant to the operations of the County Governing administration. There are simply no laws or ordinances to ensure most effective use of the TOT cash.”

The HLA is contacting for a “no” vote on Measure J, but if it have been to move, the organization said it “would want to be an active participant” in the proposed workgroup.

The Board of Supervisors meeting will acquire spot at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, April 26. The agen
da can be observed listed here.