It is time to wrap up the old
year, reflect on past accomplishments and events and plan goals for the new year.
Recently, the Board of Supervisors had the opportunity to meet with several non-elected
department heads to review 2007. http://www.co.siskiyou.ca.us/
Terry Barber is Director of the new Department of Public Health and
Community Development. This integrates County planning, building, environmental and public
health functions under one department. It is currently anticipated that these functions
will be co-located under one roof at the old brick hospital building on Main Street in
Yreka by next spring. This will facilitate a central permit center for builders and
developers. Behind the scenes, plans for information sharing through systems such as GIS
and the consolidation of many administrative and financial services are already in place.
Some tie-in of systems with the Assessors
office, Public Works and Cal Fire are being explored to facilitate applications for new
land-uses.
In the public health area, Dr. Perlman has assumed the medical duties
of the Public Health officer, while Director Barber will oversee the rest. Terry Funk is
now in charge of the Public Health nurses. Due to a shortage of nursing personnel, that
section will be addressing the challenges of programs and services.
Public Defender Lael Kayfetz has been able to strengthen her
department by attracting new talent, increasing the technological efficiency of her
office, finding alternative funding for training, cross training employees and handling a
higher case load. One of the new challenges this department will face next year is the
plan by the state of California Youth Authority to return all youth to the county of
origin except males serving time for very serious violent crimes.
Probation Department Head Adele Arnold shares this same challenge in
her management of the Charlie Byrd Youth Corrections Center. Solutions to providing
appropriate programs for returning youth are being worked on at the regional level. This
year, our juvenile hall was instrumental in bring the “Girl’s Circle”
program to Siskiyou County http://www.girlscircle.com/ and is exploring the potential of
working with Heal Therapy – The Horse Program, to expand services to the hall. They
currently provide a six weeks “Critical Skills” training for youth in money
management, cooking, job acquisition and cultural sensitivity.
County Librarian, Betsy Emry, spoke about the heavy cuts on state
library funding proposed by the Governor. Through grants from Bill Gates and the Siskiyou
County Library Vestal Foundation, the county has purchased 35 new additional public access
computers. The Live Homework Help online tutoring program continues. The library received
a grant to help with early learning (age 0-5) by establishing family-friendly spots in the
library. On the happy side, Fort Jones Library just received a very nice grant. There is
also a new program to deliver age-appropriate early learning material directly to families
who have signed up and agreed to pay for postage.
Susan Pritchett, Director of the Siskiyou Modoc Regional Department
of Child Support Services reported that her department had remained in the top ten in the
State for overall performance. Some of the functions of the department are being
centralized in Sacramento and there will be a changeover to a new system in April. The
state-funded department has also been instrumental in providing access to U.C. Davis
training for County Supervisory staff.
First advertisements for applications for the County Administrator
position vacated by Barry Shioshita brought in only a small interest. The advertisement
was subsequently sent out to a wider West Coast audience and the deadline extended through
the end of January. http://www.co.siskiyou.ca.us/personnel/recruits.htm
Ric Costales was hired to replace County Natural Resource Specialist Jim DePree, who will
be retiring.
Department Heads universally commented on the difficulty they have in
attracting and retaining staff due to the County’s low pay scales in comparison to
other areas and the inability of staff to find housing. Pay
demands will continue to pose a significant challenge to the County faced with static
revenues, increased benefits, the loss of the $4.5 million federal Secure Schools and
Communities monies and severe cutbacks in funding by the state as it faces its
multi-billion dollar deficit. Reserves have emptied and we are going to have to look at
creative ways to continue to conduct County business. In early 2008, the Board of
Supervisors is scheduling a strategic planning session with County Department Heads and
elected officials to set priorities and goals for the future direction of the County. (To
be continued with additional Department updates.)
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