MEMORANDUM
TO: Humboldt County Commissioners
FROM: County Administrator
DATE: January 25, 2016
SUBJECT: Administrators Report – 2016 Retreat
It is hard for me to believe that I have been in the Administrator’s position for more than a year now. As is always the case, the days have moved quickly and the learning process never ends. Having said that, this has been one of the best years of my life. Being a part of the community I love and directing the employees of the County with the guidance of the Board of County Commissioners has been a wonderful experience.
As I look back at my first Retreat experience, I am pleased to say the Commission was able to accomplish much of what it set out to do. As we went through the budget process, it became apparent to me that while revenues were dropping on the CTX front, we were also running strong in our Property tax revenues. The Commission took an unpopular position of setting a goal of cutting all budgets by 10%. We all learned that doing that in most of our budgets (Assessor, Clerk, Treasurer, etc.) was difficult as they run on a shoestring budget, however, we did identify some areas that we wanted to focus on. We are currently tracking extremely well with those expenditures at just over the half way point in the 2015-16 FY. Revenues continue to drop. It is likely we will run a deficit (Revenues versus Expenditures) in 2015-16, however, it is my hope that we can minimize the shortfall through managing our expenditures with this concern in mind.
In review, we discussed establishing a management position in the IT department and the position was approved. We also experienced a number of significant failures in our IT infrastructure. Fortunately, JD Ames and our new hire Devin Fabor were able to clean up the issues and have set the department on a new course. Due to their dedication and focus, we have been able to avoid hiring that management position, saving nearly $140,000 in salaries and benefits. One of our goals was to get JD and Devin background checked so that they could start being cross trained on the communications side. That was completed and we are currently working on a plan to begin that training. Unfortunately, both IT and Communications are so busy that it will be tough to get this done but we are working hard to accomplish that.
The Commission approved the funds to upgrade our GIS system to enhance our 911 Dispatch capabilities. The ground work for that is completed and the team is pouring over the data collected to insure its accuracy. My thanks to Kristi Scheidt, Ben Garrett and Ric Grantham for their work on the project. We hope to have all those updates in the system and benefitting the County in the next 3-4 months.
We also discussed the concerns with the Dispatch Center and the relationship that had deteriorated over the years between the main users of the Dispatch Center, including the need for a Medical Director to guide the Dispatch team in medical emergencies. I am thrilled to report that the Users Group was formed by Sheriff Mike Allen in January and Captain Andy Rorex was tasked with leading the group to identify the issues that challenged the various users and to provide a consistent, planned process that would allow input from all entities to bring the groups together. The Users Group has been a big success. My thanks to Chief Eric Silva, Captain Bill Dalley and their staff from the Winnemucca Police Department, Winnemucca Fire Chief Allen Olsen and Rural Fire Chief Tori Sheen, HGH EMS Chief Pat Songer and assistant Chief Jerod Oscarson as well as Dispatch Supervisor Sheri McDaniel and Ric Grantham and a host of others from various agencies around the County.
The Sheriff is currently working to finalize the Medical Director contract, which should be in place shortly, which will eliminate a great deal of the liability concerns that were expressed by the Board and the Users themselves.
We discussed the current and upcoming battle for land use with respect to the pending Sage Grouse listing by the EPA. The listing never took place, which was a sigh of relief, however the new BLM Land Use Planning Amendment (LUPA) had all the makings of even a bigger problem. Immediately, our partners at NACO and private concerns throughout the western states made our concerns known. In fact, the County joined eight other Counties, some private interests and the State Attorney General in joining a lawsuit to seek a preliminary injunction in opposition to the LUPA. Unfortunately, the motion was denied but the battle continues.
A Water Plan was discussed but did not pass, however, new issues arose with new applications for out-of-basin water transfers, as well as the continuing drought that brought water concerns back to the forefront. The Commission voted to approve a Water Plan at the January 19, 2016 meeting, thus that work will get under way soon with assistance from resource Concepts, Inc out of Carson City.
RCI is also working with the County on a comprehensive Source Water Protection plan, which is another significant project that one, was approved, and two has been under way since late spring and includes all of our Water systems in the County.
In 2015, we discussed the desire to invest in the future of the County through building upgrades and reviewing our maintenance plans for all buildings, especially the Courthouse. I am sorry to say that my office has not made much headway in that department, however, I have included it in our discussion during the Retreat to revisit those issues and set a new course for the 2016-17 budget cycle. As part of that discussion, I am asking the Commission to discuss and formulate a strategy to fund some of the key budgets that are critical, but are currently in the category of “unfunded liabilities.” That includes the issue of the Building Reserve Fund for future building needs, the Road Fund and the Compensated Absences Fund.
Our new Buildings and Grounds manager Enoc Gaitan has done a phenomenal job as I have had many County employees approach me and tell me what a bang up job he is doing!
The Library was a key source of sadness and satisfaction in 2015. The sudden passing of Shari Allen, our longtime Librarian, was a difficult blow to the community, however, her dedication and love for the Library resulted in one of her longtime projects becoming real – the new Bookmobile! Thanks to Shari, Ginny Dufurrena and Ben Garrett, as well as the Library Board, we now have a state of the art Bookmobile that serves our rural communities. We also have a new Librarian in Cyndi O, who brings a new excitement to the Library and has won over her employees with her focus and commitment to continuing the strong Library presence in Humboldt County.
In 2014, the Commission voted to make major improvements to our Public Safety communications systems following a study done by CSI. That effort got final approval in the budget talks of 2015-16 and the work is well under way. Final engineering has mostly been completed and work on our tower sites will begin in the spring when the weather permits access. Included in that will be the first microwave link between the Dispatch Center and Winnemucca Mountain. That will be the first of a series of microwave links that will make up the new system.
It is has been sometime sense our County Codes have been codified, however, that is about to change as the DA’s office is finalizing the agreement with the vendor and that codification should be completed in 2016.
Sheriff Allen has completed his first year in office and has made changes up and down the ranks both in Patrol as well as Detention and Dispatch. In addition, his outreach in the Community has been outstanding.
As is the case all over the world, security is a major focus. We are not immune to the world around us and it is my belief that we must expend time and resources to insuring our employees and citizens are safe when doing business in the County. Approximately 8-months ago, Judge Mike Montero and Sheriff Allen began an effort to assess our current security practices to identify areas of improvement. Discussions have taken place several times in management team meetings to gather the concerns of our managers for their specific areas. Additional studies need to be conducted to understand the scope as well as the priorities to shore up our buildings and grounds. It is my hope that the Commissioner will make security one of their highest priorities. Included in that is the video system at the Detention Center, the Courthouse as a whole as well as other sites.
Thank you for all your hard work and focus in 2015 and I look forward to even greater achievements in 2016!