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 take into consideration two merchandise to handle the ongoing financial turmoil related with the Auditor-Controller’s Business office during the board’s frequent assembly on Tuesday.

The board will examine a letter signed by 13 of the county’s 19 section heads who assert that Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez “has failed to fulfill the duties and obligations of her place.” According to a staff members report, the board will then take into consideration getting further motion from Paz Dominguez, including referring the county’s fiscal reporting shortfalls to numerous point out companies.

The staff report states:

A memo signed by office heads representing additional than 90% of county workforce was submitted to the Board on April 4, 2022, stating that, despite division heads’ attempts to support the Auditor-Controller, she has failed to satisfy the obligations and obligations of her position and as a outcome has put the county in a fiscal disaster.

Even though the Board has obtained related letters from outdoors businesses in education and learning, community municipal govt, workforce improvement, public basic safety and the non-public sector, as perfectly as letters from people within the county, the hooked up memo is the 1st time that a bulk of department heads have submitted these types of documentation to the Board.

The memo is despatched from office management, both of those elected and appointed, expressing that their departments are not able to collaborate with the a single office by means of which all money transactions will have to be recorded, and as a final result they are going through harmful economical worries which must be set.

The board packet contains a truth sheet that lists upwards of 40 present deficiencies connected with the Auditor-Controller’s Office, which include past-because of fiscal reports, communication failures and a lot more.

The board narrowly accredited a vote of “no confidence” in Paz Dominguez in November 2021. Previously this month, the board was established to contemplate a next vote of “no confidence” but Paz Dominguez was unable to attend the board’s dialogue.

The personnel report notes that the county Workforce Growth Board has recommended that “the issue be referred to the California Reasonable Political Tactics Commission, Business of the Point out of California Attorney Typical and the Condition of California Division of Justice for suitable motion.”

Realignment of Payroll Expert services

The board will also contemplate the operational realignment of payroll services, a county purpose that has been rife with troubles and controversy considering that the board voted to shift payroll from the Human Sources section to the Auditor-Controller’s Business office in August 2021.

Past thirty day period, the board directed personnel to glimpse into relocating payroll solutions back again out of the Auditor-Controller’s Office. “Specifically, your Board directed the Interim Director of Human Means (HR), the County Administrative Officer, and the Auditor-Controller to interact in discussions relating to the collective objective with regard to payroll operations, evaluate beforehand collected details pertaining to payroll functions, present your Board with up to date results, and present your Board with refined selections similar to the placement of the payroll operate,” the personnel report says.

The board will take into account 3 possibilities:

• Preserve payroll features in the Place of work of the Auditor-Controller, which would be “the the very least disruptive to the latest payroll procedure,” but would probably result in “additional useful resource requests, existing communication problems, and issues relevant to services shipping.”

• Change payroll to the County Administrative Workplace, which could supply an option to stabilize payroll functions “through improved stakeholder engagement and interdepartmental collaboration, improved conversation and responsiveness, and perseverance to support shipping and delivery.” Even so, there is no precedent for these kinds of a change and it would only be non permanent.

• Or, to permit the payroll purpose to continue being in the Auditor-Controller’s Office environment “for additional time.” This alternative seems to be just about identical to the very first solution but specifies that payroll would “remain with the [Auditor-Controller’s Office] for the close to future” and includes a checklist of further suggestions if the item ended up to be picked, which include the ongoing support of monetary expert KOA Hills.

The staff members report also endorses that the county retain companies from CliftonLarsonAllen (at a charge of $259,000) to carry out an audit of payroll expert services to identify deficiencies. 

“[CliftonLarsonAllen] will assess the county’s procedures surrounding one particular check payroll period,” the personnel report states. “…[CliftonLarsonAllen] will supply outcomes with an executive summary describing the scope, targets, solution, and general summary of the internal audit evaluation. In addition, [CliftonLarsonAllen] will explain inner command deficiencies identified along with method advancement tips.”

TOT Workgroup

The board will also take into consideration the development of a transient occupancy tax (TOT) workgroup comprising stakeholders who would oversee and critique TOT profits and work with county staff members to acquire tips for the Board of Supervisors as to how the funds ought to be used.

The make a difference was agendized in an effort to ease problems from community hoteliers and hospitality field representatives who strongly oppose Measure J, the Humboldt County Lodge Tax Update Evaluate, which seeks to maximize the TOT charge in the county’s unincorporated regions from 10 per cent to 12 p.c while also generating the tax relevant to right away RV parks and non-public campgrounds. 

Associates of the Humboldt Lodging Alliance (HLA) have criticized the county — in particular the County Administrative Business — for failing to incorporate business representatives in initial discussions on the subject matter. The group has also elevated concerns about the timing of the ballot initiative and known as its wording “misleading.”

“The timing of the evaluate to nearby hoteliers could threaten the fragile gains designed by the marketplace in current months as the economy recovers from Covid-associated actions,” the alliance states in an April 22 letter. “…Moreover, though County Workers and elected officials have said that the money would go to specific uses, these types of as rural hearth departments, homeless guidance and the arts, it would nonetheless go into the unrestricted basic fund, which indicates the TOT cash could be applied for any functions relevant to the functions of the County Government. There are only no laws or ordinances to assure very best use of the TOT resources.”

The HLA is calling for a “no” vote on Measure J, but if it were to move, the corporation stated it “would want to be an energetic participant” in the proposed workgroup.

The Board of Supervisors conference will just take put at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, April 26. The agenda can be uncovered here.