September 18, 2002

Honorable Quentin L. Kopp

Presiding Judge, Civil Grand Jury
County of San Mateo
400 County Center
Redwood City, CA 94063

Subject:Response to the 2001/2002 Civil Grand Jury

Honorable Judge Kopp;

In accordance with the California Penal Code, the Local Agency Formation Commission submits the attached responses to the recommendations made to the Commission by the 2001/2002 Grand Jury.

Sincerely,

Martha Poyatos

Executive Officer

Response of the Local Agency Formation Commission

to the Recommendations of the 2001-2002 Grand Jury

RECOMMENDATION:

That LAFCo should:

-        Collect total compensation (direct pay, health and welfare benefits, retirement benefits, and reimbursed expenses) data for all public agency governing board members in San Mateo County

Response:

The Commission will continue to publish the data on the compensation of board members of cities and special districts and will implement this portion of the recommendation in the 2002 edition of the Cities and Special Districts Handbook. The Commission will not implement the recommendation that compensation of elected school board members be included in the Handbook because school districts do not fall under the jurisdiction of LAFCo, and other agencies such as the County Office of Education or Elections Division are better able to gather and distribute this data.

RECOMMENDATION:

That LAFCo should:

-        Publish such data on a biennial basis, either in the Cities and Special Districts Handbook or in a separate document, within 90 days of the end of the most recent fiscal year beginning with fiscal year July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2003

Response:

The Commission's adopted work program for Municipal Service Reviews includes update of the Cities and Special Districts Handbook for publication in the 2002-2003 Fiscal Year. Pursuant to the work program, the Handbook update shall be conducted as planned and the data provided to the Grand Jury will be verified and included in the Handbook update.

RECOMMENDATION:

That LAFCo should:

-        Distribute the information widely to the taxpayers of San Mateo County.

Response:

The Commission agrees with the recommendation that the Cities and Special District's Handbook be widely distributed to the County's Taxpayers. Consistent with past practice, the 2002 update of the Handbook will be distributed to all cities and special districts in the County, the Board of Supervisors, municipal advisory councils, County Departments and all libraries in the County. The Commission will also publish a press release and make the Handbook data available on the LAFCo web site.